If you have been feeding raw complete minces for a while and want to start including some DIY meals, it is important to provide a variety of proteins in order to offer a broad range of nutrients and prevent any deficiencies.

Feeding a selection of fresh food and making full use of seasonal variation means that each meal is an opportunity to add nourishment, support good health, build immunity and increase vitality in our dogs.

Muscle meat

The majority of a raw diet is made up of muscle meat, and depending on which type of model you feed it could be as much as 80% as in the 80-10-10 (80% muscle meat,10% offal & 10% raw bone) or, in the Barf model 70%, allowing for the addition of vegetables.

Try and offer a selection of meat from different species, ideally 4 or 5 over a month if you can, plus an oily fish. This can include beef, chicken, turkey, pork, buffalo, venison, rabbit, tripe, guinea fowl, goat and lamb, etc.

Rotate white and red meat from different species but also vary the cuts within the same species. So, for example include chicken thighs rather than just feeding breast meat.

Replace some of the proteins with wild game when it is in season, such as pheasant, partridge, duck and venison.

If free range or grass-fed proteins can be introduced, even in small quantities, there is higher nutritional value, particularly with levels of Omega 3 fatty acids.

When making DIY meals for your dog it is important to establish the difference between what is fed as muscle meat and what is offal, that way you can calculate the 10% offal ration (5% liver, 5% other offal) into your meal plan.

Heart

Although the heart is an internal organ it is often confused as being offal when actually it is a muscle, and a very hard working muscle at that!

Where it does have its similarities is the amount in which it is fed.

It is a rich meat, high in blood content, which like liver can cause diarrhoea if fed in large amounts.

Introduce slowly and work up to between 5% and 10% until your dog can tolerate it. It is not required in large amounts or on a daily basis, but you can incorporate it into the diet within your monthly food balance plan. It is a nutrient dense addition and generally it is cheap to buy, having fallen out of fashion in our own diets over the years.

Heart is high in taurine, iron, folate, carnitine, thiamine, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), gamma linolenic acid (GLA) selenium and B vitamins.

It is particularly high in Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) which is needed to optimize heart rhythm. As CoQ10 levels decrease with age, it is a valuable addition to your senior dog`s diet. Trials show that heart failure patients have low levels, and supplementation can help to stabilise the disease.

With twice as much collagen and elastin as other muscle meat it is a perfect dietary addition for working or competition dogs to prevent fatigue, as well as providing added support for the musculoskeletal system.

Tongue

This is another protein that’s regarded as muscle meat which can be a little high in fat, so is one to limit if your dog has a pancreas issue or is on a strict weight loss plan.

Gizzards

Chicken, duck and turkey gizzards have goods levels of iron, selenium, zinc, riboflavin, niacin, choline, copper and vitamin B12. Gizzards are fed as muscle meat.

Lungs

Lungs, also referred to as “lights,” have some muscle meat and some organ content, so don`t really fit into one specific category.

It can cause loose stools if fed in large amounts or if fed alongside offal, so although a worthwhile addition it is best to limit the amount fed in a single meal and not to exceed 15%.

Trachea

Great as a natural chew to clean the teeth, and particularly helpful for senior dogs who can no longer handle bones due to missing teeth or gum problems. Trachea is naturally high in glucosamine and chondroitin so supportive to joints. Lamb tracheas are better for small dogs and beef tracheas are suitable for medium to large dogs.

Offal

Offal makes up 10% of the diet, 5% of which should be liver and the other 5% made up of kidney, spleen, pancreas, testicles and brain. Offal is different from muscle meat in that they are internal organs which secrete.

The inclusion of offal in the raw or home cooked diet provides an abundance of vitamins and minerals. Just introduce into the diet very gradually and adjust to what your dog’s system can cope with to avoid stomach upsets.

Liver

Liver is the most nutrient dense of the internal organs and makes up 5% of the offal requirement in your dog’s diet.

If you are buying complete meals, you will see on the label that it states 5% liver and 5% other offal.

It provides an abundance of vitamin A, copper, vitamin D, vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin E, folic acid, choline, vitamin B6, B12, magnesium, iron, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, folate, selenium, biotin, calcium and phosphorous.

Some people feed liver just twice a week and others, due to the dog’s sensitivity to larger amounts, just add a small amount every day.

Kidneys

Kidney would be added to make up the other 5% of the offal requirement, possibly mixed with one of the others on the offal list.

It is a good source of vitamin B12, B6, riboflavin, carnitine, iron and folate.

Pancreas (sweetbreads or thymus)

Pancreas is not always easy to get hold of, but you can ask your butcher or food supplier to source some for you.

It contains a rich supply of digestive enzymes and is a worthwhile addition to any dog’s diet but is particularly good if you’re feeding a dog with a pancreatic insufficiency.

Spleen

Spleen is another organ that can be difficult to find but can be ordered from a butcher, or you can ask your food supplier if it is included in any of their offal mixes.

It provides good levels of iron, niacin, riboflavin, vitamins B12 & B6, selenium, zinc, and a broad range of amino acids.

Fish and Shellfish

Most modern-day diets, for ourselves and our dogs, are too high in Omega 6 and 9 due to processed grains, cereals and vegetable oils, which can lead to inflammation, faster aging and can predispose the body to disease.

In contrast, Omega 3 fatty acids offer a wealth of health benefits including anti- inflammatory properties, healthy skin & coat, normal metabolism, joint health and slowing the ageing process as well as supporting brain and cognitive function.

As you can see, this is an important addition to the diet of dogs with skin issues, joint pain, and is an essential for senior dogs in particular.

Feeding the actual fish has far more benefits than fish oil, which can quickly go rancid, causing the inflammation we were trying to prevent.

Pollution is also a consideration when choosing fish. The cleanest are:

· Sardines, mackerel, pilchards, herring, sprats, halibut, anchovies, whitebait and trout.

· Mussels and green lipped mussels are good for joint health.

Other forms of Omega 3 are hemp oil, chia seeds, flax seed oil, seaweed, eggs, pumpkin seeds and phytoplankton.

Should your dog hate raw fish and completely refuse to eat it, then the tinned sardines, pilchards or mackerel are a good substitute in either spring water or tomato juice which can be gently rinsed off or drained.

Try and include an oily fish into your dog’s diet two to three times a week.

Eggs

Eggs provide a high quality, complete source of amino acids which are the building blocks of protein.

A good source of vitamin A, vitamin B12, riboflavin, iron, folate, zinc, selenium, fatty acids, choline, fat soluble vitamin E, D and K.

Just one egg will provide 13 essential vitamins and minerals, including lutein which is essential for eye health.

Free range eggs offer far greater levels of nutrition as the birds would have benefited from a natural lifestyle of foraging and have had sunlight on their backs.

Duck eggs have a larger yolk to white ratio and are higher in protein, fat and contain more Omega 3.

Quail have larger amounts of vitamin B1 and 5 times as much iron and potassium as hen’s eggs. Their protein value is 13% compared to 11% in hen’s eggs. Quail eggs rarely cause allergies, so certainly worth a try if your dog can`t usually tolerate hens’ eggs.

Bones

Raw edible bones will make up on average 10% of your dog’s meals but sometimes as much as 30% and are an important requirement of the diet.

Bones provide calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, potassium and, depending on the type of bone fed, a supply of fat, cartilage and collagen.

They are also needed in the diet to keep the stools firm, and while most dogs will be fine with 10% bone, occasionally you will come across dogs who require more to keep their faeces firm, and others who will always need offal or vegetables in their diets in order to cope with 10% or they become constipated. Therefore, it is important to feed each dog as an individual.

Raw bones are regarded as either edible, which add to the calcium quota, or recreational, which provide very little calcium but give mental stimulation and teeth cleaning benefits.

Edible bones are raw bones that are completely consumed, usually in one sitting. Examples would be chicken and duck wings, lamb ribs, chicken backs, chicken and duck feet, chicken necks and pigs trotters.

Vegetables and Berries

The inclusion of vegetables, herbs and berries in the diet provide, phytonutrients which are compounds found in plants with health giving properties, anti-oxidants which protect cells from free radicals and dietary fibre that acts as a prebiotic to stimulate the growth of beneficial gut bacteria.

Look to add some vibrant leafy green to your dog’s meals, such as kale, spinach, parsley, broccoli, chard, dandelion leaves and red and purple berries including raspberry, blueberry and blackberry.

Start off with a small amount and build up to approximately 10-15% of the meal, if this suits your dog. Vegetables need to be either lightly steamed or feed raw and put into a blender to make a thick puree, this will break down the tough cellular wall in the vegetables and make them more digestible.

Caroline Hearn - Hedgerow Hounds

www.hedgerowhounds.co.uk

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