đŸ± NEW!

Introducing the Cat Food Advisor!

Independent, unbiased reviews without influence from pet food companies

Reply To: Raw food diet and weight loss

#89170 Report Abuse
GSDsForever
Participant

Be careful with just following the feeding guidelines on commercial foods vs by calorie and individual monitoring of your dog’s body condition scoring/needs — and Ziwi Peak if that’s what you feed.

While many kibbles tend to overestimate calorie needs/cups to feed, I’ve found many raw and freeze dried or dehydrated ones tend to vastly underestimate/recommend. I suspect this is true for the latter because the companies are aware that their products can seem exorbitant, even cost prohibitive for larger dogs. In particular, I’ve had this discussion with Ziwipeak, because their amounts to feed/calories recommended made absolutely no sense for my dog (or breed generally, esp if working).

I’m far from a raw diet (various styles) expert, but from experience with homemade/home prepared with fresh foods and balanced . . . could you not simply boost the fat content by adding from a wholesome source yourself?

Most healthy dogs can do quite well on higher fat diets (as shown by veterinary nutrition research on dogs and wildlife research).