As a dog owner, I’m sure you’ve somewhat considered feeding raw food to your dog. Like me, you’re probably very picky and care about what you feed your companion.
As pet owners, it’s our responsibility for keeping dogs fit and healthy. You need to pay attention to the food you feed them to ensure their optimal health—and giving your dog raw food is one of the easiest ways of achieving this goal.
Generally, raw dog food contains muscle meat (often meat that is still on the bones), bones (can be given ground or as a whole), organ meat (such as kidneys and livers), and vegetables.
Depending on the breed, raw eggs, fruits, and yogurt can also be added to the dog’s raw food.
Introducing raw food to your dogs might be challenging, especially if your dogs aren’t used to eating these. However, there are health benefits your dogs can enjoy once they are fed with raw food.
Let’s take a look at some of them:
1. Raw Food Doesn’t Contain Harmful Chemicals
A variety of dog food is common today. Regardless of your dog’s age and breed, it’ll be very easy to find a dog food that’s suitable for your furry friend.
While buying these commercially-produced pet food might be convenient, feeding these to your dog doesn’t always ensure that they will get the nutrients they need.
Commercial dog food might keep them full for a certain period, but more often than not, these products don’t have any nutritional value.
Because dog food is mass-produced, these products may contain a lot of preservatives to maintain their condition without the need for refrigeration.
Ethoxyquin, for example, is a preservative added to dog food that is also used in pesticides. Over time, feeding your dog with these kinds of food can make them susceptible to developing cancers, obesity, and other health issues.
You won’t have to worry about any of these things once you choose to feed your dog with raw food. When it comes to raw food, what you see is what you get.
This means that raw food doesn’t contain any chemicals aside from those listed on its label. With raw food, you’ll be confident about what goes into your dog’s stomach.
Aside from this, buying raw food from the local farmers in your area is also a good way of supporting them and the local employment sector.
This also gives you more assurance that the raw food you’re purchasing for your dog really doesn’t contain anything that could harm their health. Choosing raw food for your dogs is like hitting two birds with one stone!
2. Raw Food Provides Your Dog With More Energy
Dogs and human beings share some things in common when it comes to their health. Both need an ample amount of sleep, as well as eating good food.
Some dogs might even need to take vitamins or supplements every single day, just like what people do. Similar to human beings, dogs will also have more energy if they are served with healthier meals.
When you regularly feed your dogs with raw food, you’ll be able to provide the best gift every pet owner can give to their pets: a healthy lifestyle.
Read more : 9 Healthy Human Foods that You Can Feed Your Dog
Raw food is packed with vital minerals and nutrients, allowing your fur baby to be energetic during the day. The amount of energy they can get from this type of food will allow them to be physically active and become fit.
Dogs that are fed with raw food instead of commercially-produced ones will also feel less lethargic. This is especially.
As a pet owner, your dog will depend on you as their source of care, companionship, and love. And when you feed them with raw food, you can positively impact your dog’s diet, allowing them to live longer and happier.
Every pet owner wants to live with their furry babies for the longest time possible, right?
3. Raw Food Improves Your Dog’s Oral Health
Neglecting your dog’s oral health can lead to serious health issues. For one, poor oral hygiene can result in gum disease or canine periodontitis. When your dog suffers from this bacterial infection, it will develop stinky breath, swollen gums, and yellowish teeth.
This oral health condition can worsen and can increase your dog’s chances of developing heart disease and other bodily organ damage. This happens because the bacteria found in your dog’s mouth can eventually enter its bloodstream and adversely affect its arteries and heart.
Fortunately, you can steer away from this direction if you allow your dogs to follow a diet that contains a variety of raw food.
The oral health of your dog will gradually improve if you start feeding them raw food. Plaque won’t build up if you give your dog raw meat with consumable bones. Whenever your dog chews small bones, it works like a scrape for its teeth.
As they consume small bones, their teeth are also being cleaned at the same time. Raw bones are also packed with calcium, making your dog’s teeth naturally stronger.
And because these are easy to digest, feeding these to your dogs won’t become an issue for their digestion.
These are some things that your dog can’t experience once you give them dog food. These types of food have a very smooth texture and can likely cause plaque in your dog’s mouth.
The more often you give your furry friends dog food, the sooner and faster plaque will develop in their mouths.
4. Raw Food Improves Your Dog’s Eye Health
As your dog’s ages, it will be susceptible to several eye problems. Just like human beings, their bodies won’t be strong enough to ward off illnesses and diseases as they age.
During this time, your dog’s chances of suffering from common eye problems such as cherry eye, corneal wounds, dry eyes, and pink eye will also increase.
These eye problems might have different symptoms, but one thing is certain: once your dog suffers from any of these, the quality of their lives will degrade, and it will be hard for them to move around.
If you want your dog to have good eye health even when they’re old, add raw food to their diet as soon as possible.
Raw food, especially those that contain balanced fats, can do wonders for your dog’s retina. Raw food that’s packed with carbohydrates and protein can provide essential antioxidants that can protect your dog’s eyes from germs and bacteria.
To create more variety, make sure to also feed your dogs with raw food that contains lutein, zinc, and Vitamins D and E. Some examples of these are sardines and oysters.
Generally, a raw food diet allows your dog to have naturally balanced nutrition.
5. Raw Food Improves The Coat Of Your Dog
How your dog looks can reflect how responsible you are as a pet owner. If your dog is too thin or has matted fur all over, people around you will immediately tag you as an irresponsible pet owner.
They think that you are not exerting enough time and effort into looking after your dog’s health. For you to become a responsible pet owner, and better take care of your dog’s overall health, give them raw food.
Aside from containing all the vital nutrients and minerals, raw food can also improve the coat and skin of your dog.
Many make the mistake of only attributing a dog’s coat and skin to grooming and hygiene. They think that as long as dogs are bathed and combed regularly, their skin and coat are automatically healthy.
However, this isn’t always the case. For dogs to attain the best coat and skin, the quality and quantity of food fed to them should also be considered.
When dogs are provided with the right food, their coat and skin can drastically improve. This is something that raw food can help your dogs achieve as these are healthier and can improve the condition of your dog’s coat and skin.
As a pet owner, you should always pay attention to how your dog’s coat and skin look because aside from contributing to their physical appearance, these also serve as their protection from external elements.
These can protect your dog’s bones, internal organs, and muscles from germs and bacteria. Most importantly, their coat and skin are responsible for maintaining and regulating their body temperature.
In short, a healthier coat and skin can also mean a healthier dog.
Ask For Professional Advice First
Before you decide to give your dog raw food, it’s best if you visit your vet first. Let them know about your plans to change your dog’s diet and ask for their professional advice as well.
Wait for your vet’s go signal before letting your dog eat anything new. Doing this will give you peace of mind because you know you’re not letting your dog eat anything harmful.