We have been feeding our dogs raw food for the last four or five months. Why? Henry had bladder stones removed a couple of years ago and ever since had been on special (and expensive) dog food that he didn’t much like. We always needed to put something else with it to entice him to eat, and he still had occasional issues with bladder irritation. Coco disliked the best reasonably priced kibble available here making every mealtime a chore. She often looked underweight.

We borrowed a couple of books from a friend about raw food diets for dogs. Right away I knew it would be perfect for our pups. I buy organic food whenever possible for Paul and me, preparing meals from scratch with a lot of care… why would I give our dogs a diet that they don’t like and that isn’t anything close to their natural diet? The picture here is just one day’s breakfast, it varies a lot. Sometimes we chop up raw meat and sometimes they have various chicken parts. If we give them hamburger, it is always from the Mercado where we see them grind it right in front of us. No thousand cow hamburger for our pups!

I add a lot of goodies to the meat every morning. Moringa powder. Chia seeds. Coconut oil. Seaweed. Diced Jicama or other veggies. Nutritional yeast. Raw egg. A friend of ours juices a lot of vegetables and adds the fiber residue to his dog’s food. Sometimes I make a sort of soup with leftovers if Paul makes or buys roast chicken… vegies and chicken cooked together, remove the bones and mix in the blender. I add this to their food sometimes. I’ll also add leftovers once in a while – like rice, beans, cooked sweet potatoes, etc.

Both dogs eat very enthusiastically every morning, licking their plates clean as they push them around the kitchen. In the afternoon they get to eat a chicken wing, a couple of feet, or a back or thigh while relaxing on the grass outside. We make sure they stay outside as Henry likes to run inside and eat his on one of our favorite Oaxacan area rugs! Afterwards they get a face wash to get any bits out of their beards. They like that, too.

What do we think now that we’ve been doing this for a while? It’s a bit more work but it’s worth it. We like seeing them so happy, getting to fulfill their dogishness crunching on bones! Henry’s weight is back where it should be, and the cranberries I add to his food have kept the bladder stones at bay. He doesn’t mind cranberries and lemon, and both are good for his stones. If you’re interested in getting your dogs started on raw food, there is tons of information on the web or at your library. Here’s one article that sums it up pretty well.