MYTH: Dogs are carnivores

Well, dog are carnivores, but not true obligate carnivores. All scientific evidence points towards the fact that dogs, while not true carnivores, are opportunistic, carnivorous scavengers. Cats on the other hand are true, obligate carnivores, requiring animal protein to survive.

There is a difference between a carnivorous scavenger and an omnivore though - dogs lack the dental characteristics, longer digestive tract and specific enzymes of true omnivores like humans.

That is the reason why they can not digest grains and vegetables unless they are "predigested" by processing, mincing/grinding, breakdown by enzymes, or fermentation through bacteria. Once converted, they are fully available to the dog.

This does, however, not mean that your dog will thrive on a diet mainly made up of poor quality grains or grain fragments, which is what most cheap foods are. Whole grains, including their entire complement of nutrients are much more valuable - and this does not only apply for a dog's diet, but for humans as well!

Components of a raw diet - Vegetables

Vegetables can include anything except onion and potato. Oninon because it is toxic to dogs, and potato because the carbohydrate and starch content is too high. Vegetables must be completely crushed either in a blender until its like puree, or by putting through a juicer and using the pulp and as much juice as you like. The idea is to keep it raw, but it needs to resemble to stomach contents of a prey animal. Large pieces cannot be digested by dogs.

Green leafy vegetables are great, one or two members of the cabbage family, root vegetables, and anything else that is in season. Use a wide range of colours.

Components of a raw diet - Raw Meaty Bones

I create a big mixture using all the components in my last post, all mixed up together. I then feed half this mixture, and half whole, raw meaty bones.

I use mince made from chicken frames that has been put through a mincer as the
raw meaty bone component as this is cheap and readily available to me. You can use whatever is best for you in your area.

I feed half this mixture, and half whole bones so there is something to chew and keep the teeth clean and mouth healthy.
Because I feed in this ratio, I often add slightly more vegies and offal to the mixture than the recipe dictates.

Another way to do it is to feed all raw meaty bones whole, and just make the mixture using the rest of the ingredients. Bones from young animals and non-load bearing ones are better, as they are softer and allows the whole bone to be crunched up and eaten. This provides very important nutritional benefits. Larger bones like shanks and marrow bones are more "recreational" and may be fed once a week as a time-consuming treat.

The important thing to remember with raw feeding is that you can easily achieve complete balance OVER TIME. WEe dont eat complete and balanced meals every day and our dogs dont need to either. Keep feeding a variety and keep the basic principles in mind and you'll be fine.

Components of a raw diet (BARF)

Dogs require the components of their diet in the following quantities:

RAW MEATY BONES 60%
Crushed Vegetable Material 15%
Offal 10%
Fruit 5%
Remainder as healthy supplements.


I will be expanding on these components in the following posts. Please refer back soon.