When raw feeding, many people get stuck in a rut.  Oftentimes its a “chicken” rut – its cheap, its easy to find, its entirely edible bones and all.  While chicken is a great food for you canine no matter what size, feeding novel proteins can go a long way towards making sure your dog is getting everything he needs.  Beef is another popular food for raw feeders and well it should be.  If in fact you have to go heavy on any one particular protein source, beef is a great choice as it has the longest amino acid chains of any meat and provides iron, zinc, B vitamins and selenium.  It is perfect as an energy food for performance dogs as well as for bitches both in whelp and nursing.  While beef does provide a lot, it is still important to branch out occasionally and give your dog all the variety that makes a raw diet THE diet to feed your pooch.

If you feed your dog the same thing day in and day out they’ll soon be begging for more variety!

Turkey is often thought of as quite similar to chicken – I mean both are birds right?  In reality, turkey is a novel protein source that bears scant resemblance to chicken.  They might both be birds but different birds for sure.  Turkey is one of the richest sources of Vitamin B12 as well as niacin.  It also has good amounts of zinc as well as iron, potassium and magnesium.  It is further a very good source of selenium, a trace mineral that is largely depleted in our soils.  Selenium can be a key nutrient in the fight against cancer and just 4 ounces of turkey can provide 47% of what a human needs daily (www.whofoods.com).  Turkey is easy to obtain and the bones are largely edible by most canines though can be slightly large for tinier dogs.  Turkey necks are a popular choice as well as products such as our  Turkey which is already ground for your convenience.  All in all, turkey

Turkey necks are an easy way to give your dog something new

is an easy and often overlooked way to add great variety to your dog’s diet.

Pork, also readily available to most people, is something that many shy away from.  I think it may be due to years of conditioning that humans must always cook cook cook their pork to death to avoid the dread trichinosis and tapeworms.  While humans can and do host the pork tapeworm, not so for dogs, and trichinosis has been virtually eradicated in this country so unless you’re feeding imported pork you rarely if ever see it any longer.  Pork makes a great meal for your dog.  Its a great source of riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6 and four other B vitamins, thiamine and selenium.   Pork ribs and pork chops are generally very edible, bone and all, for most dogs (even the little ones can get some of that bone gone).  Our Pork mix, while perfect for any dog, is especially good for dogs with kidney problems like chronic renal failure because we make it with eggshell calcium instead of bone and light organs to keep the phosphorus levels down.

Lamb is another meat that many don’t feed but one that is a great option for variety.  Yet another red meat, it too is high in both zinc and iron.  Its rich in B vitamins particularly B12.  It is also the best source for the amino acid L-Carnitine which is an integral part of heart health and the lack of which along with taurine deficiency, can cause dilated cardiomyopathy and other heart diseases (www.ag.ansc.purdue.edu).  Lamb chops and ribs are often available at most larger grocery stores as well as specialty or ethnic markets.  Our Lamb Tripe gives you a lamb alternative that is cost effective and hard for any dog to resist!

While its okay to have your dog’s diet consist primarily of chicken and beef, the key to any raw diet is variety.  Without variety you can be sure that your dog is N OT getting the nutrition it needs regardless of the fact that you are feeding as nature intended and giving your dog real food.  Dogs fed only one or two raw protein sources will possibly be healthier than a dog fed commercial kibble but if you are going to go raw than it would benefit them even more to do it right.  So add some variety to your dog’s weekly meal plan and see the great results!