Background

Feeding a raw diet is easy - don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Just in the same way that you are more than capable of feeding yourself a well rounded wholesome diet, and just in the way you are already more than capable of feeding your human children, so too are you already well equipped to feed your canine companions. Bravo food makes feeding raw about as easy as it could possibly get.

Common sense tells us that we need good, clean, appropriate food in order to provide our bodies with the building blocks of good health. We cannot possibly expect ourselves or our dogs to remain healthy if we're not providing all the proper nutrients our bodies need. We all know that. However, if we were to take a step back and look at the state of health of our dogs today what we see is that our dogs are experiencing epidemic proportions of cancer, periodontal disease, auto-immune diseases and degenerative organ diseases never-mind the comparatively "minor" conditions of allergies (or hypersensitivities), chronic yeast infections, gunky ears, gastrointestinal disturbances and the like. These conditions are not normal. It is not normal for our dogs to exhibit symptoms of disease. It is also not effective to simply treat the symptoms of disease without looking towards their underlying cause.

Of course, there are many factors that influence overall health including genetics, the environment, toxins and our water. However, the most fundamental building blocks of good health involve something that we, as responsible pet owners, have direct control over and that is the food we're providing to our companion animals. Our dogs are carnivores. Our cats are obligate carnivores. It makes simple sense to feed our dogs and cats food that carnivores are designed to eat. Yet, since the advent of commercial kibbles, we (as a whole) have been feeding our dogs and cats foods that are entirely inappropriate for carnivores. Is it any wonder that our pets of today are in such a state of ill-health when we've been feeding them foods that are extremely high in grain, are highly processed, contain inappropriate rendered meats (or meat meals), may contain 4D food sources, may be high in preservatives and are devoid of the vital nutrients that are contained only in raw food? It's really not reasonable to expect any animal to maintain health, never-mind thrive, when we feed a food that is biologically inappropriate.

The idea of feeding raw isn't anything new at all. It's the diet our dogs ate as they evolved into what they are today. A raw diet is nature's diet and it makes perfect sense to expect that by feeding our dogs in the way that nature intended, we have every right to expect that our dogs have a fighting chance of living up to their genetic potential. A raw diet is certainly not a panacea for every ailment under the sun but it is the one factor influencing overall health that is directly under our control and we owe it to our dogs to give them what their bodies so desperately need.

K9 Raw Diet retails only Bravo foods. There's a very good reason for this: Bravo is, by far, the best raw food company on the market today. The folks who run Bravo care about their dogs. They care about our dogs. Their quality control is extraordinarily tight and the ingredients chosen for each food are truly ultra-premium. The chicken products produced by Bravo and carried by K9 Raw Diet are from Murray's where no antibiotics or hormones are used. In addition, their chickens are humanely raised. All beef and lamb products are from Australia and New Zealand. Each and every product is USDA inspected and approved from Bravo's USDA inspected processing facility. This is a really big deal! By subjecting themselves to voluntary USDA inspection, one can be certain that all food handling techniques are of the highest quality and that each product is being handled according to the same strict standards that are essential for our own human food. There is no contamination or cross contamination and all food items are handled at appropriate temperatures. Bravo is a company that is producing the best of the best which is why this is the only food that K9 Raw Diet will carry. Not all raw food companies are equal! One should be able to read the labels, understand the source of the food, understand the kind of quality that goes into a product and be able to evaluate the overall integrity of the product. In essence, the pre-fabricated products produced by Bravo are the same as if you were to purchase ultra premium grade food and grind it up yourself at home. They've done all the work for you.

Transitioning to a Raw Diet

There are 2 schools of thought with regards to transitioning to a raw diet: switching cold turkey or gradually introducing the raw food. The vast majority of dogs, regardless of age, transition to a raw diet immediately and without complications. Many people find that throwing out the kibble one day and introducing raw food the next day causes no issues whatsoever. Occasionally a dog might have a little bit of gastric upset but by and large, most dogs do very well switching to raw using the cold turkey method.

The other school of thought is to gradually introduce the raw food into whatever the dog is currently eating over about a one to two week period of time. It is very true that some dogs have extremely sensitive digestive tracks and changing from any food to another type of food may cause GI upset. By gradually introducing the new food into the dog's diet, these dogs are slowly exposed to new foods without the risk of gastric irritation. This is a very safe method and this is the method that K9 Raw Diet recommends to all our clients particularly for those dogs who have chronic illness or the senior dogs. Why? Simply to avoid any problems. The bottom line is: what's the rush? If you've decided to change over to a raw food diet, why not play it safe and simply slowly introduce the foods just in case your dog happens to be one of those dogs who has a sensitive stomach? In the big scheme of things, does it really matter if your dog is eating raw food in a day or two weeks from now? As an aside, occasionally we do run into a dog who has trouble transitioning using the gradual process and in the vast majority of cases, this is because the dog is unable to digest both raw and cooked (or commercial) food at the same time. If your dog does have trouble transitioning gradually, then we recommend you try to make the switch cold turkey in addition to providing Berte's Zyme during the transitional phase.

Cats can be a little more tricky where transitioning to a raw diet is concerned. Everyone knows how finicky cats can be and they become very accustomed to the foods they're already eating. I think most of us have seen, at one time or another, that special sneer a cat makes when you put a new food in front of him. "You want me to do what with this stuff?" The trick to transitioning cats is to go very very slowly even if you are only putting one teaspoon of the new food into the food he's currently eating. It is okay if it takes one or even two months for your cat to transition into a raw diet. It has been our experience that the offal blends, rabbit, venison, ground turkey necks and Murray's ground chicken frames and necks go over very well with most cats.

Regardless of which method of transition you choose to use, K9 Raw Diet recommends that you stick to one protein source until your dog has fully transitioned. By sticking to one protein source, we simplify things, we can concentrate only on transitioning the dog to a raw diet and once he is used to his new diet, then we can begin to add some variety into the diet. By adding variety slowly, we can also ensure that a dog is doing well with the addition of each new food item. For dogs, most clients begin by using Bravo's chicken blend or turkey blend and most cats begin with ground rabbit, ground chicken frames and necks or ground turkey necks. These foods are low in fat and very easy to digest.

What to Feed

The foundation of any raw food diet is:
meat
bones
offal

Yes, it is that simple! Those three simple ingredients represent the basis of a raw food diet and if you think of the prey model (a rabbit, for example), think of the percentages of meat, bone and offal that you might find in that one food source. However, it is very important to note that while our dogs are carnivores and opportunists, the key to providing a good raw diet is variety. By providing a good amount of variety into the diet, we can therefore ensure that over time our dogs are getting all the nutrients their bodies need.

Feeding Bravo Blends

Bravo blends are the foundation food for many clients of K9 Raw Diet. Bravo blends contain meat, bone, offal and veg. Many of our clients stick with either chicken or turkey blend as the mainstay of the diet (2 or 3 days per week) to which they will then increase variety by adding lamb blend, beef blend, pork blend, ground rabbit, ground duck, ground lamb breast, tripe or the other exotic meats (buffalo or venison). These clients also increase variety by also occasionally adding other food items such as ground chicken and bones, ground turkey necks, eggs, cottage cheese or fresh fish.

Unlike some other raw foods on the market today, Bravo food is not a kitchen sink food. Each formulation (Bravo blends, Bravo basics and Bravo boneless) consists of single protein sources which means that you have more control over what your dog or cat is eating. By using single protein sources, you know exactly what your pet is eating for each meal and if for some reason your companion animal does not tolerate a protein source well, it's simple business to simply eliminate a particular protein from the diet. This cannot be done with kitchen sink types of preparations which include many different ingredients.

As an example, those who use the Bravo blends as the mainstay of the diet might have a meal plan for one week that looks something like this:

Monday - chicken blend
Tuesday - lamb blend
Wednesday - turkey blend + a little fish
Thursday - ground rabbit + 1 egg
Friday - beef blend
Saturday - tripe
Sunday - pork blend + 1 egg

Perhaps the second week might look something like this:

Monday - venison + 1 egg and its shell
Tuesday - lamb blend
Wednesday - ground duck necks
Thursday - chicken blend + 1 egg
Friday - ground ostrich
Saturday - beef blend
Sunday - buffalo + cottage cheese

You certainly do not have to feed a different food every day and what we suggest to each client is to plan your dog's meals according to what works best for you. If one chub of food lasts you two days then by all means, go ahead and feed that same meal two days in a row. With the wide variety of food that Bravo produces, you should be able to tailor your dog's needs to your own schedule and what works best for both of you.

The beauty of feeding the blends as the mainstay of the diet is that this food already contains offal and it is so easy to mix and match. The idea is to feed a wide variety of foods that create balance over time. You really can't go wrong here.

Feeding Bravo Basics and Bravo Boneless

Bravo basics are simply ground up meat and bones. Bravo boneless is just the meat (no bones). Neither product contains offal nor vegetables.

Many people like to have exact control over what their dogs eat, they prefer to add their offal separately and they prefer to omit vegetables all together (or, alternatively, separately add in as much vegetable matter as they feel their dogs need). Dogs are certainly individuals and one of the most wonderful things about a raw food diet is that we can tailor the diet exactly to each dog's needs. For these reasons, Bravo produces several items that are only meat plus bones or just meat.

K9 Raw Diet carries the following Bravo basics (meat plus bone):

Murray's ground chicken frames and necks
ground turkey necks
ground whole dressed rabbit
ground duck necks
ground lamb breast

K9 Raw Diet carries the following Bravo boneless meats:

buffalo
venison

K9 Raw Diet also carries:

Bravo's grass fed green tripe
Bravo's ostrich necks mixed with ostrich offal
Bravo's pulverised vegetables

Both Bravo basics (meat plus bone) and Bravo boneless can be fed in addition to the Bravo blends. It's all up to you! If you do choose to feed Bravo basics (meat plus bone) as the mainstay of the diet, we recommend that you also include Bravo offal blends (available in beef offal blend and turkey offal blend) three to four times a week. Offal is an essential part of any raw food diet.

The combinations are endless. Between the Bravo blends, Bravo basics, Bravo boneless, tripe and other ingredients that you probably already purchase at your supermarket each week, you can certainly create a very healthy, extremely varied raw diet for your companion animals with a minimal of fuss. Feeding a raw diet using Bravo foods is so easy that you can't possibly go wrong. Keep variety in the forefront of your mind, remember to feed some foods containing offal and truly, that is the heart of feeding a raw diet to your companion animals.

Feeding Bravo Whole Bones

We here at K9 Raw Diet absolutely believe in feeding whole bones. Our dogs are carnivores and they were designed to rip and tear apart prey animals. Ripping and tearing whole bones provides mental stimulation and is nature's way for any dog or cat to brush his teeth. Clean teeth and gums free from gingivitis are essential to sound health which is why it's so important to ensure that regardless of how you choose to feed your animals that we do pay strict attention to dental health.

We feed our animals a diet of approximately 75% ground Bravo foods and 25% whole Bravo bones. Those percentages are not random - they're what work for our personal animals. Feeding all ground bones will definitely keep any dog or cat's teeth cleaner than any of his kibble fed counterparts but because animals who are eating only ground bones are not ripping and tearing their food apart, they're also not getting the kind of dental exercise that's ideal for any carnivore. After much experimentation with ratios of ground bones to whole bones, what we found worked best for our animals is that ratio of approximately 75% ground Bravo foods and 25% whole Bravo bones.

One of the funnest things about formulating a raw diet for your companion animals is that there are endless possibilities and combinations. It's very difficult to go wrong when there's a lot of variety in the diet. K9 Raw Diet does not regularly stock whole bones for one simple reason: most bones must be purchased by the case (there are exceptions - please see our special orders page) and we are adamant about providing only freshly frozen foods to our customers. For that reason, all whole bones are ordered especially for our clients based on their individual requests.

How do you feed those bones? It's up to you! You can feed 100% whole bones (just remember to also feed about 10% organ meat). You can feed 50% whole bones and use the Bravo ground foods to add variety into the diet. You can feed fewer whole bones and feed mostly Bravo ground foods. It's up to you!

Are whole bones essential? Well, quite honestly, this depends on whom you ask. Some will tell you that it's criminal not to feed whole bones (honest!). Others, such as most veterinarians, will only talk about the risks. And yes, there are risks to feeding whole bones which certainly should not be minimised. I can tell you that I had one Chow who only ate ground raw food and she was in her prime when she passed at 14 from non health related reasons. Her teeth were beautiful (save for a small amount of tartar on her canine teeth which I brushed once a week), she had amazing amounts of energy and she was a true testament that not feeding whole bones is not such a big deal. So certainly, your dog does not need whole bones in order to thrive. So long as you are paying attention to dental health, you're making sure that your veterinarian is inspecting the teeth with every check up, you're providing safe alternatives to bones for chewing exercise (such as dried trachea, dried scapula, bully sticks and the like) your dog will be just fine.

K9 Raw Diet strongly believes that whether or not to feed whole bones, or how much whole bone to feed, is entirely up to you. After all, at the end of the day, it's you who's taking care of your companion animals and it's you who needs to feel comfortable with what you're doing.

How Much Do I Feed?

People always ask this question and people always hate the answer which is: it depends. When you think about it, the answer actually makes a lot of sense. How much food to feed depends on:

- the age of your dog - puppies need comparatively more food than adult dogs
- the activity level of your dog - active dogs need more calories than less active dogs
- the current weight of your dog - heavier dogs need to eat fewer calories, skinny dogs need to eat more
- your dog's metabolism - for example, spayed bitches may have slower metabolisms, dogs with a sluggish thyroid might also have a slower metabolism
- the size of your dog - all things being equal, very small dogs might eat comparatively more food per body weight than very large dogs

So really, it just depends. For adult dogs, K9 Raw Diet recommends that clients begin by offering food in the amount of 2% of the dog's body weight per day. So, for example, if your dog weighs 25 lbs, 2% of 25 lbs is .5 lbs (or 8 ounces of food per day). You would feed feed your 25 lb dog one-half a pound of food per day total - either one meal that weighs one-half of a pound or as two meals weighing a quarter of a pound each. If your dog weighs 50 lbs, you would then feed him 2% of 50 lbs which is one pound of total food per day. If your dog weighs 100 pounds you would begin by feeding 2% of 100 lbs which is two pounds of food per day.

Continue feeding your adult dog 2% of his body weight for a couple of weeks and then assess his progress. From there, you can adjust the amount of food up or down if necessary. The "2% guideline" is roughly the amount of food that many adult dogs need; however, because of the factors listed above and because your dog is an individual, it may be necessary to adjust the amount of food up or down just in the same way that most adult humans need a different number of calories to maintain a constant weight. If you have any difficulty trying to figure out how much food to feed your dog, please call us and we will be more than happy to assist.

Please note: when using the "2% guideline" it is important to calculate 2% of your pet's ideal body weight. If your dog is currently at his ideal body weight, great! You can calculate the amount of food according to 2% of his current weight. However, if your dog is too thin or if he needs to lose some weight you will need to calculate 2% of his ideal body weight. This will give you a more accurate representation of what your pet needs to eat based on his current caloric need.

For those of you who are feeding puppies over 12 weeks of age, the 2% guideline does not apply. Puppies are growing little bundles of love and they need more calories in order to grow into big bundles of love. K9 Raw Diet recommends that you begin feeding puppies approximately 4 - 8% of their current body weights and then adjusting their caloric needs as they grow up. Again, it's easy enough to assess the amount of food needed as time goes on simply by looking and feeling the dog. If the puppies seem too pudgy, feed a little less. If they seem to be on the thin side, feed a little more. Puppies go mental for Bravo food so you will have no trouble at all in this department.

Supplements

One of the most frequent questions I'm asked is: do I need to supplement if I'm feeding Bravo foods? The answer is: it is entirely up to you! None of the Bravo foods is AAFCO approved. AAFCO is the governing body that sets the baseline for what nutrients should be in a dog's meal in order to be "complete and balanced." The problem with that is that in nature, none of a dog's meals are complete and balanced. A dog achieves his own balance through time and variety.

Now, given, if a person were feeding one food day in and day out of course we would want to make sure that food had everything (we think) a dog might need as far as nutrients go. But from a logical standpoint, feeding a diet according to nature's rules also means that we're feeding lots of different foods! Think about it: in nature, a dog would kill a prey animal. This is a single protein. The dog would eat that animal, rest a while, and then eventually get ready for his next meal which might be the same protein or a different single protein. That is how Bravo foods are formulated. Every item is a single protein and if the Bravo food also contains organ meat, then you will find the same protein source for that organ meat in that Bravo food.

Bravo is not a "kitchen sink" food which means that you won't find a whole bunch of ingredients in any of their formulations. All you will find is one protein source - plain and simple. As such, any Bravo food taken on its own will not have the AAFCO seal of approval simply because it is not a kitchen sink food. Instead, balance over time (yes, 'complete' balance over time) is achieved through feeding a variety of foods. It couldn't be more simple.

So, if we achieve balance over time does that mean that we don't need to supplement? Well, this is entirely up to you! At K9 Raw Diet, we do believe in supplementation - not because the diet is lacking but because our environment is lacking. The fact is, our dogs are domesticated. They're not in their natural habitat. Our air is polluted, our water might not be optimal, our dogs have their own version of daily stressors and taken as a whole, we feel that it's wise to give our companion animals supplementation that will hopefully attempt to fill in the gaps where our environment is not ideal.

Omega 3 and Daily Vitamins?

All of our companion animals receive:
- Bravo Wild Norwegian Salmon Oil and
- Berte's Daily Blend

Omega 3 is an incredibly valuable nutrient. It provides the building blocks to beneficial eicosanoids (the master hormones of the body), it's fabulous to counter the inflammatory response, it's heart friendly and it does wonders for the skin and coat. Omega 3 is naturally found in grass fed livestock (which most of the Bravo meats are) as well as in fish. But unfortunately, most diets are naturally high in Omega 6 oils - oils that promote the inflammatory response and are the building blocks to unfavourable eicosanoids. In order to counteract the omega 6 which is so naturally abundant in any diet, we supplement with Omega 3 fatty acids.

Why Bravo Wild Norwegian Salmon Oil? Easy! This oil contains 3000 mg of combined DHA and EPA per every tablespoon (translation: a very healthy therapeutic dose), each batch is tested for environmental toxins, it's an extremely clean and natural oil and it's liquid which means that it's very easy to provide to your dogs and cats.

We at K9 Raw Diet also provide each of our companion animals with Berte's Daily Blend. This is a fabulous supplement! Essentially it's antioxidants and a little bit of green supplement. Antioxidants are beneficial in so many ways and you just can't go wrong when you provide your companion animals with a healthy dose of daily antioxidants. They can only do good. Green supplements provide micronutrients and are naturally detoxifying. They also do wonders for coat pigment. The solution? Berte's Daily blend which contains both antioxidants and a green supplement. It's extremely safe and definitely palatable.

Do you have to supplement with either of these two products? Of course not! Supplementation is a highly personal decision and more than anything, we here at K9 Raw Diet believe that if you do choose to supplement, you simply understand exactly what your supplement contains and, moreover, why you feel you need to provide your pet with any particular supplement.

Again, K9 Raw Diet does believe in supplements not because the diet is lacking but because the environment is. If you do choose to supplement with any type of daily vitamin, please read the label carefully. You want to ensure that each ingredient is safe, that there is not added calcium or phosphorus (these are natural nutrients already found in a raw diet based on meat and bones) and that you are not adding extra minerals into the mix. Water soluble vitamins are safe! Calcium, phosphorus and other minerals are generally not. Bottom line: know what's in your supplement if you choose to provide it to your companion animals.

Probiotics and Enzymes

What about probiotics and enzymes? Well, both can be highly beneficial during the transitional period - especially for those animals that have sensitive bellies. Probiotics are the good flora and fauna that naturally live in the gut and they're fabulous for assisting digestion and the immune system. Digestive enzymes are also extremely beneficial for those dogs who need a little extra "something" to help them digest their new diet if they're having some gastric upset during the transitional period. More likely than not, most younger dogs won't need this extra help during the transitional period but you just never know. Dogs and cats are all individuals and each one is going to be a little different from the next. We use probiotics and enzymes as a little insurance policy where we feel that we might have some difficulty during the transitional period.

In addition, we at K9 Raw Diet always supplement our senior pets with probiotics and enzymes. Again, not because there is anything lacking in the diet but simply because as our pets age, they just don't have the natural digestive capability of a younger animal. As such, we at K9 Raw Diet want to ensure that all our seniors are getting the most out of their meals and to give them a little added boost, we personally add probiotics and enzymes to all our seniors' meals.

Those supplements are pretty much the basics. The rest is up to you! Where dogs and cats have specific health needs, adding supplements is a fabulous way to give added support. But as far as nutritional needs are concerned for your average healthy pet, whether or not to supplement is entirely up to you.

Tips & Hints

Make sure to discard the metal tab at the ends of each chub of food (don't lose it down the drain!).

Thaw food in a covered glass or stainless bowl in the refrigerator and give it a stir before feeding; remember, raw food has a high water content.

If you're feeding pulverised Bravo vegetables, please open the chub before it's thawed out! Because the contents are tightly packed in there and because of the high water content, the package will spray all over the place if it's opened after it's thawed (ask me how I know!). Open the vegetable chubs while still frozen!

Treat the Bravo food products in the same manner as you would treat any meat product you might purchase from your supermarket.

Because of the high water content of raw food, dogs will drink drink less water out of their bowls.

Thawing the food in the fridge can take from one to two days depending on the temperature of your fridge.

Store supplements in the fridge for maximum viability.

Freeze dried burgers are great for short term travel and ideal for keeping in your earthquake preparedness kit!

To make your training treats go farther, mix them up with your normal training treats and store them in an air tight container. Your normal training treats will take on part of the aroma of the high quality Bravo training treats (liver, salmon, clams, etc).

If your dog or cat is presenting any symptoms, don't automatically assume it is dietary related. Any holistic vet who is knowledgeable about raw feeding will be able to provide you with an unbiased diagnosis with regards to your pet's symptomatology.