Fussy Floofers - Tips for raw feeding fussy Woofies.

You might be surprised to hear that many dogs turn up their nose when offered raw food or treats, but it is not uncommon for some pets to be disinterested in a raw diet.

The reason why some dogs may dislike raw food cab be because of the taste. Cooked food has been prepared to be tasty, while raw means that it is unchanged.

I

n addition, the type of raw diet you give your pet may have something to do with her willingness to try it.

Some diets are of the prey model, some include fruits and vegetables, and some are commercially manufactured. These differences can impact whether your dog will touch her plate or not.

If you’re feeding a raw diet and she’s refusing to eat, here are some tips to make the meal more appetizing:

Add Krill Oil, or Sardines to the Mix

Both fish and krill oil have a strong smell and taste that might entice your dog to give her meal a try, but krill oil is almost 50 times more potent than fish oil, which means you can use a lot less. Krill oil is also rich in antioxidants, which can provide health benefits to your dog’s heart and brain. Also, because Krill are extremely small generally come from Antarctica, a region that is less exposed to contamination, mercury and other heavy metal contamination is not as concerning as it is in other sources of fish. Sardines are also a good option for these same reasons.

Green Thawed tripe

Green tripe is the untreated contents of a grazing animal’s stomach or intestines. It may sound disgusting, but this food is highly nutritious, containing plenty of enzymes, good bacteria, and nutrients that are excellent for your pet’s health. It’s also a very natural part of both dogs and cats’ ancestral diets. Since both dogs and cats were hunters before being domesticated, they would often consume their prey’s stomach and other entrails. For carnivores, this can be one of the sole sources of many essential vitamins and nutrients.

Green tripe is called green not because of its color, but because it is untouched, unbleached and untreated, though it is usually lightly rinsed. While green tripe can be tinted green due to grass or hay eaten by the host animal, it is predominantly brown.

Bleached tripe, available at grocery stores for human consumption offers little to no nutritional benefit and likely will not even smell consumable to your dog.

Try Raw Goat’s Milk

While it’s advised to keep your dog from having too much dairy, raw goat’s milk can be digested properly by adult dogs and contains a number of nutrients. In fact, goat milk is high in protein and contains significant amounts of calcium, vitamin B6 and potassium, Oppenheimer says. It also contains much less sugar (lactose) than regular cow’s milk and almost double the amount of vitamin A.

Goat milk has a strong flavor which some dogs dislike, but others may be enticed to try raw food with the addition of goat milk.

Mix Things Up

A dog may dislike a raw diet for many reasons, including simple things like texture or consistency.

Many people have found that creating ‘balls’ to mimic the kibble shape, feeding in a different location or simply not using a food bowl works for them.

Because many pets care more about texture and consistency than about the actual ingredients in their dish, try adding water to your dog’s meal or mashing it up to match the desired consistency. For example, adding a small amount of water to certain raw foods gives them a pâté-like consistency.

Don’t Shy Away from Heat

While cooking your dog’s food won’t work when feeding raw, heating it up isn’t a problem. In fact, a lot of dogs refuse to eat raw food because it’s cold rather than warm or at least room temperature.

Make sure that if you have a picky eater you always take note of your pet’s preferences to temperature. You can solve this issue by adding a bit of hot water to your dog’s meal, or slightly cooking part of it and blending it into her meal.

Try Different Types of Protein

Finding out what type of meat your dog prefers might be a case of trial and error and will vary by pet.

Add Extra Organ Meat

Studies have been done in regard to the amount of organ meat deemed safe for our dogs and the result is that a dog’s diet can consist of up to as much as 30% organ meat, though most commercial diets contain about 10%.

Pasture Raised Eggs

Eggs are an excellent way to add to your dog’s food dish. You can add them shell and all but do break them open for them. It is important to note though, that like feed lot chickens being highly inflammatory due to their diet causing the meat to be so imbalanced in Omega 3:6, so are their eggs. You always want to source out pasture raised eggs, whether they are chicken, quail, duck, or any other.

Add Kefir

Kefir is made from fermenting small grains that contain bacteria, fungi, and yeasts; all of which are beneficial to the body. There are two main types of kefir – water and milk. It can be made from cow, sheep, or goats’ milk, but it can also be made with coconut water. If your dog is lactose intolerant a water-based kefir might be best, or one made with goats’ milk.

You can make your own kefir at home, but it is now readily available in leading supermarkets and on-line and it is said to be far better than commercially made probiotic supplements.

The health benefits are huge and this comes from over 30 different strains of good bacteria contained in kefir along with vitamin B complex, vitamin A, D and K as well as calcium, phosphorus and magnesium minerals.

Some of the excellent health benefits kefir provides are:

· ANTIBIOTIC AND ANTI-FUNGAL PROPERTIES.

· HELPS PREVENT ALLERGIES.

· PROMOTES HEALTHY SKIN.

· STRENGTHENS THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.

· HELPS WITH HEARTBURN, GAS, IRRITABLE BOWEL AND UPSET STOMACH.

· CAN COUNTERACT BAD BREATH.

· HELPS WITH PANCREATITIS, JOINT DISEASE, ANEMIA, AND LEAKY GUT SYNDROME.

· POTENTIALLY REDUCES THE INCREASE OF CANCEROUS CELLS.

· CAN HELP WITH MALAISE, DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY.

Like people, dogs can consume far too many carbohydrates – commercial pet foods for instance can contain up to 70% carbohydrate. Since carbohydrate breaks down into sugars this then provides an awful lot of sugar which can fuel yeast in a dog’s body. This yeast can be detrimental to overall health; (in humans and other animals).

How much kefir should I give to my dog?

As a guide; Small dogs 1 teaspoon – 1 tablespoon / Medium dogs 1 – 2 tablespoons / Large dogs 2 – 3 tablespoons

If you do not want to give your dog kefir there are other ways you can introduce probiotics into your dog’s diet, and these include foods such as;

Apples, Mushrooms, Fermented vegetables (such as sauerkraut – refrigerated section of the market), Bananas.

Add Bone Broth

What is bone broth?

A true bone broth is different from soup stock or regular broth because it is cooked over a long period of time and uses meaty joint bones, typically beef or turkey, in order to extract the collagen from the joints and many other nutrients when cooking. Additional ingredients are added, such as carrots, celery, potatoes and then water and a small amount of apple cider vinegar, which aids in drawing the collagen and nutrients out of the meaty bones.

What are the nutritional benefits of bone broth?

Bone broth has so many overall benefits that it truly is a holistic health food. Here is a summary of the major categories known to benefit both humans and our animal companions.

Digestive Health and Immune System Support: Studies show that gelatin (derived from collagen) is beneficial for restoring strength of the gut lining and fighting food sensitivities, helping with the growth of probiotics (good bacteria) in the gut, and supporting healthy inflammation levels in the digestive tract. With stronger gut health, there is no poor digestion causing the cells of the immune system to attack foods as foreign invaders in the body.

Dogs that are sick or older dogs’ benefit from the easily digestible nutrients in bone broth that will assist in making them feel better, entice them to eat and replenish lost nutrients from their body.

Joint, Skin & Coat Health: Two of the important nutrients that makes bone broth so special is chondroitin and glucosamine as they are well known for reducing inflammation, arthritis and joint pain. This can be especially beneficial for senior dogs with joint deterioration, small breed dogs suffering from a condition known and luxating patella (floating kneecap) or large breed dogs with hip conditions. Glucosamine and chondroitin work in combination with the gelatin and hyaluronic acid present in bone broth to lubricate and nourish and strengthen your pet’s bones and joints as well as moisturize and elasticize the skin.

How is bone broth made?

Bone broth is brought to a boil quickly and then reduced to a low simmer to cook slowly over a period of at least 24 hours. Slow cooking over at least 24 hours is required to draw out the healthy nutrients contained within the bones and joints. The top layer of fat that is brought to the surface of the broth is removed to reveal the liquid below. When cool, the gelatin (collagen in its broken-down form) makes the broth a thicker consistency, which returns to liquid form if heated. You can portion bone broth out into an ice cube tray, or small baggies to freeze and use as needed.

#rawfeeding #barfdiets #rawfeddogs #ancestraldiets #tipsforrawfeeding #rawfoodaddons #healthypets