"Can I Mix Raw Dog Food With Kibble?"
This question gets asked a lot!
At Raw & Fresh we recommend that if your dog has never eaten raw food before, a slow transition is a great way to prevent diarrhea and vomiting. These symptoms are often experienced due to the dog’s acidity level in their gut not being used to breaking down meat, as it had to adapt to only breaking down dry biscuits.
After slowly introducing the raw food little by little ideally with their regular meal, (often starting with plain protein, then after a few weeks introducing offal) the dog's gut becomes more acidic and is able to breakdown the proteins. Whilst only eating biscuits dog's guts do not produce these essential acids.
Having an acidic gut is optimum to a healthy dog, they not only breakdown raw food, but they are also more efficient at killing bad bacteria due to their gut acidity. Meaning they will be less likely to experience upset stomachs in the future, which is another benefit of making the change.
What is Dog Kibble?
Kibble is a highly processed food which can contain high amounts of carbohydrates, fillers, preservatives, meat by products, fat by products (check out our blog on meat by products) and can include synthetic vitamins and minerals.
Need we say anymore?
Why Raw Food?
At Raw & Fresh we produce a raw diet containing, fresh protein, fats, offal (heart, liver, kidney, pancreas etc), and a small number of fresh vegetables because it is the healthiest way to feed your dog.
Your dog is easily able to absorb so much more of the necessary vitamins and minerals contained in an appropriate raw food diet than any synthetic highly processed food. In layman’s terms, instead of eating processed junk food every day, you can eat healthy fresh meat and veg!
As humans, we are able to pick and choose what we like to eat. On a daily basis, most of us would generally choose a healthier option, free from preservatives, fillers, and other nasties. This is because we are educated in knowing that particular foods are better for us and our bodies function and feel better eating nutritious food. This is the same for our pets, however, they rely on us as their owner’s/caretakers to choose wisely for them.
Should I mix kibble with raw?
If you're weaning a dog onto raw food then yes, however if your dog has been on raw and mixing kibble for some time, you should ask the question, why am I feeding kibble? Do I need to feed kibble? Why don’t I just feed a healthy balanced raw diet?
For further questions or queries, please contact us at Raw & Fresh for more information. You can use our raw dog food calculator to determine the right amount of raw food for your pooch.