Homemade Raw

Getting the ingredients ready.

(DISCLAIMER:I am not an expert on raw, and I make no claim that the raw food I make is the only way or even the best way. It is a way that works for me, and it is the same method I've learned from other folks who have done raw far longer than I have!)

There are some wonderful high-quality kibbles on the market and most New Rattitude foster dogs are fed one of these fantastic kibbles - mine included. I feed my personal dogs raw, and I often give my fosters at least some raw food to help them gain the benefit of minimally processed meats.

Grinder is set up and large casserole dish is clean and empty.

There are several ways to feed raw ranging from grabbing scrap meat from the butcher to buying commercial raw at a local independent pet store or online. I feed homemade raw. I do this because I like knowing what goes into the food, but also because this is the most economical for me and is even cheaper than feeding my dogs high quality kibble. 

I use plastic sandwich containers for storing.

I usually do a raw grind every month or so. I try to mix up the protiens but don't do anything exotic - fish, beef, duck, chicken, and turkey are the only proteins I've used so far. Nothing wrong with other proteins, but my goal is to give my dogs the best nutrition at the best price. I may occasionally supplement with a meat like venison or rabbit, for the most part I stick to the common proteins.

Five pounds of ground chicken gizzards

This last round of grinding involved three ingredients - chicken gizzards, chicken livers, and pollock filets. I order from a raw co-op and often I have to order 30-40 lbs per meat type at once. This means if I get too many ingredients I quickly run out of freezer space to store them! Instead I'll do a batch of one set of ingredients, then order a different set of ingredients. For my next set I already have Bravo Turkey Organs to which I'll add turkey muscle meat and likely another protein sources from another species.

Three pounds of ground pollock filets on top of the gizzards.

When creating the ingredients list, I try and shoot for roughly 85% muscle and 15% organ meat. Raw foodists will notice I am missing bone - but only from the preground mix! In addition to the ground product I also feed raw meaty bones a couple times a week in place of their normal meal. My goal is to hit the 80% muscle, 10% bone, and 10% organs ratio over a period of time, or close to those numbers.

One and a half pounds of ground chicken liver.

Making homemade raw is incredibly easy. The only challenge is deciding what grinder you want! The one I have is the STX Turboforce 3000 series which has a moderate price point between cheap grinders and grinders well over $400. It does muscle fine, but despite claims that it can grind near anything I've found it can't grind bone, not even turkey necks.

Mix it together well.

It's beneficial to have a lot of freezer space, especially if you want to purchase through a raw food co-op to get the best prices. However, even if you have limited freezer space but have space to store a few pounds of meat you can still grind in small batches. Our solution is to have a chest freezer out in the garage that is devoted solely to the pet foods so I can buy the ingredients in bulk.

Once everything is ground, it's time to package. I prefer using plastic sandwich containers, and I'll buy 2-3 dozen at a time to make sure I have enough to package all of the meat. I place one-pound of meat into each container, measured on a kitchen scale, and smoothed down. All of my pets (including the cat) are raw fed and they each get 2 ounces of meat twice a day. If they need less then I cut back a little, and if they need more I add in another source such as Ziwi Peak, Honest Kitchen, or extra coconut oil beyond their normal 1 teaspoon daily dose. Since each pet gets 2 ounces, it makes it easy to score 8 sections into the flattened ground meat for fail-proof portioning, even at 5 AM in the morning!

Finished product and a hand-washed grinder and parts!

As a way of ensuring my pets get the vitamins and minerals they need, I additionally supplement them with Missing Link, fish oil, and coconut oil. To round out the diet I include a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables to bulk up the amount of food so they feel fuller as well as adding fiber to their diet for healthy eliminations.

Sorry Cody - the next post is all about you, I promise!