Maelstrom’s Raw Feeding Guidelines

Why Feed Raw?

Raw feeding has the benefit of allowing you to be the Quality Control checkpoint. Additionally, if planning your shopping correctly, many grocery items you buy can be a part of the raw diet you feed, and buying together can become a healthier and more cost effective approach than retail dry food, or even retail fresh/raw options.

Start with a basic supplement

Use 1000mg of salmon or cod oil (from a non-farmed, wild source) or 1 tsp Arctic Vigor (marine oil).

Meat Sources

Organ Meat: 20% of the meat in the diet should be from organs (liver, kidneys, brain, eyes, intestines, etc).

Raw, Meaty Bones: 40% of the diet should consist of what we call a raw meaty bones, such as chicken backs, whole fish/chickens/rabbits/quail. This is any bone that your dog can easily crunch. Bones that are not easily crunched (knuckles, shins, femurs) are recreational bones and are not given as part of the meal.

Meat The remaining 40% of the meal should be ground, cubed, or chunks of muscle meat. A heart is considered a muscle meat, not and organ so keep that in mind when preparing meals. Some dogs can get upset stomachs from mixing meat sources in a raw diet (getting poultry bones and ground beef together, for example), so we recommend having all parts of the meal come from the same animal source. So if you’re feeding lamb organs, the bones and meat for that meal should also be from a lamb. If they’re getting fed twice a day, however, you can pick a different animal for their evening meal to be sourced from.

Vegetables

Vegetables can be mixed into the raw diet intermittently and should be considered an occasional item for dogs. Reduce the meat in your meal by about 5%, 2 or 3 times a week. Your dog should not exceed more than 1 cup of vegetables per week.

We do not recommend root vegetables, such as potatoes or carrots, for dogs. We mostly feed leafy greens, sprouts, and grasses, such as: dandelion, romaine lettuce, parsley, red clover leaf, broccoli sprouts, or wheat grass. For dogs to best utilize the nutrients, vegetables should be “juiced” to break down the cell walls. Otherwise, they do not digest them well. A juicer works best, but you can use a blender and leave it on the highest setting until the greens are pulverized.

You can add the greens to your dog’s diet this way, or use our veggie muffin recipe to provide additional nutrients to your dog’s raw meal.

Fruit and Nuts

Fruits and nuts should be fed in moderation. Fruits can be very sugary, but some berries, such as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and cranberries, have great nutritious and antioxidant benefits.

Nuts and seeds should be fed raw after being ground to get maximum benefit. Sunflower, pumpkin, flax, and sesame seeds are ideal. Avoid peanuts and macadamia nuts. You can use a coffee grinder to grind up nuts and seeds.

We feed these as a part of our veggie muffin recipe, but ground up nuts and fruit can be added to a raw meal after being processed.

Portion and Frequency

Current guidelines recommend feeding your dog 2%-3% of their desired body weight in food. So, if your dog’s ideal weight is 80lbs, they should get at minimum, 1.5-2.4 lbs of food per day. For a very active dog, or for young puppies who are growing, that their meal can weigh up to 10% of their body weight. If they need to gain weight, feed them more. If they need to lose weight, feed less. You will know your dog best. You should be able to feel the ribs but not see them when they are standing still.

We generally feed our adult dogs this diet once a day on days they are not working, twice a day if they are working. Puppies will need to be fed more often. If they are under 8 weeks, we feed them four times a day. 8-12 weeks receive three meals a day. When they are between 12 weeks and 6 months, they get two meals per day.

Use with Caution

Cruciferous Vegetables - If fed in excess, they can contribute to existing thyroid problems. Cruciferous vegetables includes arugula, bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, chinese cabbage, collard greens, daikon, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, radishes, rutabaga, turnips, watercress.

The Nightshade Family - They can aggravate arthritis. This includes tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplants.

Some leafy greens, like spinach, beet greens and chard - can bind proteins and make it harder for your dog to digest their meal.

AVOID!

Grains - dogs can have a hard time digesting grains and they are a common allergen. They are not vital to their diet, so we do not include them in our raw meals. However, some dogs may need COOKED grains in their meals for one reason or another. Please reach out to us for more information on adding cooked grains into this feeding plan.

Onions, Grapes, Avocados - these and related vegetables have been linked to some diseases (Kidney disease, Heinz-Body Hemolytic Anemia, etc), so we avoid these ingredients in our meals.