Feeding Your Dog Raw Food: What We’ve Learned So Far

A few months back, we visited our local Pet Station pet store, and got to talking with the salesclerk about the many benefits of feeding your dog a raw food diet. June, our Mini American Shepherd, is two-years-old and has always been fed half Hill’s Science Diet kibble (recommended by our vet because of it’s rigorous testing and long history) and half Freshpet® (because we like the idea of feeding our dog fresh, natural ingredients).

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Fresh Dog Food

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Pros of Freshpet®

We’ve had a really positive experience feeding our dog Freshpet, so far. June’s is super healthy and active, and has a full shiny coat. We love that we can pick up Freshpet at Costco, along with our other groceries, for a fairly reasonable price. Most of all, we love that June really seems to enjoy it. Like any of us, she can get bored with the same meals everyday, but really seems to get excited when we switch up the flavors. We also really appreciate Freshpet’s commitment to the environment including: going landfill-free, donating excess food to shelters and rescues, and using only wind-power in their kitchens.

Cons of Freshpet®

However, during our discussion with the seemingly knowledgable salesclerk, she talked to us about how FreshPet is not actually raw food. According to their website, FreshPet is steam-cooked and undergoes pasteurization similar to milk and other freshly prepared food, making it safe for handling and serving. However, it’s unavoidable that some of the nutrients will be lost or damaged in the cooking process, so it may not be as healthy as a truly raw pet food option.

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Raw Dog Food

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Pros of a Raw Food Diet

After some careful consideration, we decided to try out the raw dog food option. We chose INSTINCT® RAW LONGEVITY™, but there were quite a few other raw food options that came highly recommended. This type of food comes frozen to ensure freshness, so you just thaw it out for a few minutes before serving it to your dog. June absolutely loves it! We’ve never seen her eat her meals so fast. Her favorite flavor is the beef and cod. We’re still sticking with half dry food and half raw, just to make sure she gets all the nutrients she needs (and to satisfy our veterinarian), but even just 20% raw food can help improve your pet’s overall nutrition.

Cons of Raw Food Diet

One of the biggest warnings you will hear about feeding your dog raw meat is the risk of bacteria. However, according to the Instinct Pet Food website, they use High Pressure Processing (aka cold pressure) to ensure their food is free from pathogenic bacteria like Salmonella, E. Coli, and Listeria. The frozen food (rather than refrigerated) takes a few extra minutes to thaw before you can give it to your dog. Although, we usually add warm water and a few of these liver treats to add flavor, and that also helps speed up the process.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, we had great success feeding our dog FreshPet for her first two years. We love how it’s conveniently located in most grocery stores, and it makes us feel good that our dog is eating food with fresh, natural ingredients that we’d actually eat ourselves like chicken, eggs, spinach, and cranberries. However, we wonder how much nutrition is really lost in the cooking process, and what has to be added to allow this type of dog food to last in the refrigerator for as long as it does.

We’re excited to embark on this Raw Food journey (and to bring all of you – our lovely readers – along with us). June is an extremely active dog and we think she will do really well with the added nutrition of raw dog food. We genuinely believe that quality dog food, and plenty of love and exercise, is the secret to a long and healthy life. So far June seems just as healthy and full of wild, Aussie energy as ever. If her enjoyment of this new diet is any indication, it will be the beginning of a beautiful foodship.