Raw Food for Dogs

• About eighty million species including animals thrive on raw food. Only humans heat their food. Pet food manufacturers claim processed foods are “nutritionally complete and balanced”. In fact, the process of cooking, baking, heating, rendering, drying and so on depletes, and may completely destroy, the amount of proteins, vitamins and other key nutrients your dog needs. Commercial foods also often use poorer qualities of meats, and can be mixed with grains, vegetables, and other ingredients that your dog does not need. These fast foods lead to obesity, inactivity and other health complications. 
• Animal carcasses meet the nutritional needs of your dog perfectly, without any additives. They contain the protein, fats, vitamins and minerals that your dog needs for proper development. Meat, fats and proteins are used for energy, and bones are a source of fiber and calcium. Key dietary components are also found in and around organs, cartilage, joints and tendons.
• Dogs have NOT adapted to a cooked food diet, as evidenced by the millions of pets sitting in the waiting rooms of veterinary clinics with periodontal disease, skin diseases, cancers, organ diseases, diabetes, obesity—diseases that have strong connections to cooked and processed foods.
• Raw meat diets that include a variety of bones and organ meat contain the proper nutrients and ARE balanced. Raw foods contain the exact proportions of fat, protein, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes a dog needs. Your dog has little need for vegetables. Most of the nutrients in vegetables are unavailable to your dog.
• Another concept of balance is the idea perpetuated by the pet food companies: “Dogs need complete and balanced nutrition in every meal.” This is nothing but propaganda designed to make people buy into commercial dog food. Do we eat a complete and balanced meal every time we eat? No! We eat a variety of foods over a period of time, without signs of nutritional deficiencies.
• Cooked bones ARE quite dangerous. Cooking changes the structure of the bone, making it indigestible and brittle. Raw bones are chewable, are fully digestible and are not dangerous for your animal. Bones are a really important part of a dogs diet, and a major source of calcium and phosphorus required for the maintenance of their skeletons.
• There are also things you should not feed your dog. Advice is to stay away from raw pork and raw salmon. Some argue that raw chicken eggs are not good to feed your dog (I do but hardly ever). Grapes are a no go. Vegetables, fruits, rice, grains, etc. are not necessary. 
• Puddle's main diet consist of raw meaty bones (with heavy emphasis for raw bone rather than meat). Consistently he is fed raw chicken backs, either the carcass or ground up. I occasionally supplement his feed with alfalfa powder and kelp powder, with the occasional cod liver oil pill and salmon oil squirt (omega 3/6) going into his bowl. He's is fed approximately 1.2 pounds of food (all in) a day, breakfast and dinner. This amount of food should go down as he ages. 
• 3 or 4 times a week he chews on raw cow bones (neck, femur, knuckle, shoulder, etc), usually a lunch time snack. Treats are never provided. Training is done with respect and rewards are provided through immense praise and love.  
• Total cost per month = approximately $50-$60 CDN. Return on Investement (ROI) is .... off the charts.