My $75-A-Month Raw Food Diet For Dogs
Vol. 6
The Internet can be a weird place. Case in point: If there’s one article I’ve written that’s resulted in the most death threats, it was one describing the raw diet I developed for my dogs three years ago.
The deeply stupid place that social media has devolved into is why I’m building this little newsletter/online community. I’ve developed a really good relationships with a lot of my readers over the years, and a lot of of you guys reach out regularly for help around the topics I write about. It’s my hope that, by putting conversations like this one into a public forum where more people can benefit and participate, I’m adding value for all of us. So, please take part! The comments section is below, and you can contact me through wessiler.com.
That old article details the health problems I had with Wiley that prompted the switch to raw, along with detailed discussion of the poisons that end up in kibble. Rather than repeat all that I’m going to point you to the book by Kymthy Schultze ($1.99 on Amazon) that I base my diet on, detail what I feed my near-300 pound collection of canines now, and give you some tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years.
One of the comments I get most often about raw diets is: Are they vet approved? The answer is yes, with the caveat that not all vets recommend them (if yours doesn’t, find a new one), and that feeding a balanced, complete diet you make yourself takes time and effort. My vet in Los Angeles signed off on this, as has our new vet here in Bozeman. He recommended we add a multivitamin, just to make sure we weren’t missing anything, which I’ve done.
If your dog collection totals 75 pounds or less, you may find it more convenient to simply feed one of the pre-made, frozen, commercially available diets. Stella and Chewy’s is probably the most common, but there’s plenty out there now. Those are complete diets packed into patties. To feed your dog, all you do is defrost the correct number of patties, and stick them in a bowl. That’s what I’d do if they weren’t so expensive. Feeding our three dogs the pre-mades would come out to something absurd like $1,500 a month. Which is why I do the following.
I’ve tried a lot of different meat sources. And while the dogs have liked most of it, chicken seems to provide the most consistent results, and is easiest to find with the right amount and size of bones in it. Obviously the idea with this diet is to feed dogs the kind of stuff they ate before kibble was developed about 100 years ago. And that was raw meat, raw bones, raw organs, and raw eggs. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but dogs cannot be relied upon to make fire, which may explain why they evolved to consume their food without cooking it.
By far the cheapest and most convenient source of bulk chicken I’ve found is Costco. Their drumsticks are the most affordable cut they offer. Pre-pandemic, you could get them for .79 cents a pound. Now they’re 99 cents.
Both Wiley (85 pounds) and Bowie (70 pounds) do well on about one pound of those drumsticks a day. Costco packages them into one-pound packages, six at a time. So, feeding them is as easy as defrosting one package for each in the sink, then dumping that in their bowls. At 115 pounds, Teddy needs probably 1 and 3/4 packages a day. Rather than try to divide them up, I just feed her two packages most days, and occasionally just one.
I can’t tell you how much you should feed your dog. You dog’s size, metabolism, age, and activity levels will dictate that. Start with a reasonable assumption, see how your dog does, watch their weight over time, and adapt the amount of food accordingly. You want to be able to see your dog’s ribs.
Adult dogs should eat once a day on this diet. Puppies twice.
In addition to the drumsticks, I also add either an egg or chicken liver, a spoonful of coconut oil or fish oil (alternate), plus a multi-vitamin and some turmeric. I find the bite size versions of the vitamins and turmeric easiest. Here’s a link to the vitamin, and to the turmeric. Buy your fish oil and coconut oil at Costco too.
That’s it. That’s less $4 a day in meat, plus a few bucks a week for eggs and livers, and $150 a month for vitamins and oils. Or: cheaper than feeding three big dogs even a mid-quality kibble.
Feeding raw will also reduce your vet bills. Since we’ve switched to this diet, the dogs all caught kennel cough once, which wasn’t a big deal, and Teddy got a dry throat earlier this winter that we allowed to become irritated, resulting in some dry heaving (our vet told me to give her Robitussin, which cleared it up). In the three-and-half years we’ve been doing this diet, the dogs have otherwise not had any health problems of any kind.
Now, when I go to the vet for shots or an annual checkup, the vet just looks them over then talks to me about Land Cruisers.
Another benefit? They produce probably a third the volume of poop, which is now reliably firm, less smelly, and easier to pick up. They also fart noticeably less.
Should you worry about salmonella and other bugs? That stuff is in kibble too. Dogs are scavengers, and evolved short, acidic digestive tracts in order to deal with it. You should definitely practice good food safety procedures while transporting, storing, handling, preparing, and cleaning up though. Just like you would with food you prepare for yourself.
Tips:
Having a big chest freezer really helps. Ours allows me to make a Costco run just once a month. I hate going to Costco, so that really helps.
To minimize mess, I keep a pair of scissors on top of the chest freezer, and trim the packs of chicken I need out in the garage, while they’re still frozen.
To defrost, I just put those sealed packs in the kitchen sink, under warm water, for 30 minutes to an hour.
If you’ve ever made your own sausage, you’ll know that partially-frozen meat is easiest to work with. That same consistency works best for dogs too.
For backpacking trips, I buy Stella and Chewy’s freeze dried raw stuff. That’s shelf stable, and super lightweight. Rather than carry bowls, I’ll just dump it out into a pile for each dog, on the ground. Do that somewhere a long ways from camp.
Yes, the dogs eat the bones. Only feed raw bones.
With larger animals, the rule of thumb is that dogs can eat non-weight bearing bones (ribs and similar), but can only gnaw on weight bearing bones (femurs).
Dogs love wild game. Deer or whatever are great sources of livers and other organs, bones, and meat.
While traveling by car, I’ll either pack chicken along in the freezer like normal, or just stop at a convenience or grocery store and grab them some hamburger meat, or whatever they have.
Worry about nutrient balance over time, not in every individual meal.
If the dogs have upset tummies, we’ll boil chicken breasts and cook them brown rice.
When you feed is up to you. With our schedule, late afternoon seems to work best. That gives them plenty of time to get their wiggles out after eating, and calm down before bed time.
Yes, everyone is going to look at you weird at Costco when you push a cart around with all that chicken in it.
No, we don’t worry about petting the dogs or getting licked by them after they eat.
And that’s it. That’s what makes me such a horrible dog owner. Please feel free to leave your threats below.
Oh, and one thing I forgot to say: If you do feed to pre-made raw patties, then you still need to give your dog a raw, meaty bone to chew on once a week or so. That cleans their teeth and gums.
I've been feeding about 75% raw, based on reading you original article. Their energy levels were struggling a bit with the diet, so I added veggies and that seemed to perk them back up. Our boys get carrots, bell pepper, brussels sprouts, kale, and blueberries in their meals; I also occasionally throw in sardines/mackerel and rice.