Raw and Kibble
How to have the best commercial dog food

Raw and kibble? You love the ease of bagged dry food but feel guilty dog nutrition isn’t there. The best commercial fare won’t compare to raw so here are ideas for combining the best with the easiest to improve dog health.

I understand its hard to wrap your head around the idea of cooking or preparing the dog's food like your own. Manufactured dog foods have been around for 50 years now so we've gotten used to it.

But now that the cat is out of the bag (or in it) and we are more educated about the low quality and actual dangers of commercial dog foods, here is a simple approach to help you make some painless changes to the dog food diet.

Tips for Adding Real Food

It's best not to feed both raw and kibble at the same time (I'll explain below) but here are some ideas to improve your dog's food:

• Cut back on the kibble and add raw meaty bones as snacks.
• Feed raw dog food on the weekends when you are home.
• Replace a meal with raw chicken necks or wings (all 3 wing sections).
  
• Add healthy table scraps to the food bowl.
• Be sure there is no chlorine in your dog's water.
• Add fresh plain vegetables to food or as snacks (not canned, breaded or fried)
• Replace a meal with 3 raw chicken backs for bigger dogs. They supply much needed calcium from the bones, have bits of organ meat on them, and are very inexpensive.
• Add a human grade nutritional supplement, such as spirulina for dozens of micro nutrients.
  

You should see an improvement in skin, coat and ears by adding real food to dogs diet, especially if you replace at least half the kibble or can dog food and add Nature's Sunshine Spirulina. (Read Why Nature's Sunshine?)

You can either stay with that feeding program, choose to go with 100% raw dog food, or switch to cooked home made dog foods. Whichever you decide works best for you and your dog.

When I started feeding the combination of raw and kibble, I fed them at separate times because I was concerned about stomach upset. Here's my thinking: Raw meat is what a dog was made to eat.

Being uncooked means it still has enzymes needed for the digestion process. Without enzymes, either the body has to make them or the food is simply useless.

Mixing foods that need different enzymes or have different rates of digestion will leave food fermenting in the stomach which defeats the purpose.

For a human example of bad food combining, I'll use meat and potatoes. I love them. Steak and baked potato or Prime Rib and mashed potatoes make my mouth water.

However, if I eat them together I know I’m going to feel like a beached whale. Why?

Because they have different needs to be processed by the digestive system leaving them sitting and literally fermenting inside my digestive tract. I’ll groan from feeling overfull and even feel unable to take a deep breath. (By the way this didn't happen until I got older and my body had used up it's enzymes.)

After 24 to 36 hours, I’ll be okay. On the other hand, I can eat all the steak I want with a large salad or a few cups of cooked spinach and a little applesauce and feel wonderful. It hits the spot.

It cures my hunger, my steak craving and never makes me feel bloated or in need of a nap.

For many months I fed our five dogs a combination of raw and kibble, raw vegetables, cooked meat and cooked brown rice. Usually I fed raw meat in the morning and the rest combined in the evening.

Whatever you choose, be proud of yourself for taking steps to improve your dog's health.

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