Dogs need specific levels of protein, fat, minerals and vitamins depending on their life stage in order to live healthy lives. To understand what your dog’s diet should consist of you need to see the breakdown of their diet and how an all natural raw food diet for dogs is the best alternative to fulfill your dog’s dietary needs.
How Much
The general guideline is for an adult dog to eat 2% of their ideal body weight in lbs per day. Active dogs with high metabolism may need to eat 2.5-3% and less active dogs, seniors or those needing to lose weight should be fed 1.5% of their ideal body weight in lbs per day.
Puppies are a bit more tricky to give standard guidelines. We recommend starting at 5-6% of their current puppy weight and then watching and feeling them weekly and adjusting as needed. Of course every dog is different, and knowing this you can adjust their diet accordingly.
Meat/Bone/Organ Ratios
Following an “80/10/10” diet is a common verbiage in the raw feeding community. This is broken down to consist of Meat (80%); Bone (10%) and Organ (10%). While this common ratio is often referred to as “balanced” it’s critical to remember that true balance comes from wholesome feeding over time.
It is unrealistic to expect that every plate offering is 100% balanced for your pet at all times every day. Just as it is unlikely that we are eating completely balanced meals every time we put food into our own mouths. At Iron Will Raw we work with integrative, nutrition focused veterinarians to develop recipes that are balance when fed in rotation over time. We confirm our recipes by detailed nutritional panels from third party testing laboratories.
In the Iron Will Raw poultry products (Original and Ground) you will find a 10-15% bone content. We add a significant amount of muscle meat to those to ensure the proper meat:bone ratio. Since these formulas use necks, meaty carcasses and whole pieces the exact bone content can vary from time to time (depending on frame of individual animal) but the 10-15% range is maintained and confirmed by our nutritional analysis.
For any Original or Ground red meat recipes (beef, lamb, pork, kangaroo) the bone is added in separately and these formulas are 10%. It's important to note that not all bones have the same density of calcium content so percentages can vary dependent on the specific bone type used. We take this into consideration especially with our Beef blends – even though the bone is added separately and maintained at 10% we still add additional muscle meat to ensure the proper balance since cattle bones are so dense.
Knowing the breakdown of your dog’s diet allows you the opportunity to see where necessary nutrients are coming from. Discover why raw food is the best way to achieve a complete diet for you companion.
