How much offal to feed in a raw dog food diet
We received this question through from one of our community members wanting to know some information about how much offal should be fed in a raw dog food diet
So we thought we would share the question here and the answer from our vet
How much offal to feed in a raw dog food diet
Community question:
"I've seen several brands/people suggest keeping offal to a low percentage of daily feed. (Usually about 10%) Or only feeding it once a week.
I have heard many different anecdotal stories about offal being too rich, too high in Vitamin A, too high in Iron etc etc
I normally feed a mix of sheep hearts, liver & kidneys in my Border Collie's homemade meal preps along with minced meats, meaty bones, veggies & fish. All raw.
Q: Is it dangerous/bad for him to have small amounts of offal every day?
And here's the answer from our Pet Nutritionist
"There’s no issue with feeding offal every day in small amounts, and 10% is usually a recommended minimum, not maximum. It’s safe to feed larger amounts so long as the diet is providing all of the necessary nutrients. The mix described sounds well balanced.
Liver is a very concentrated source of vitamin A, but not so dense that a vitamin A excess is likely unless the diet consistently included so much liver that it would be unbalanced in other ways too (ie. not a diet we would recommend or like what’s being described), and is unlikely to be tolerated by the dog (a problem that solves itself).
Heart is also considered muscle meat because it’s not a secreting organ, so it’s not as concentrated or challenging to digest and can be fed more freely. It’s just the secreting organs (liver, kidney, brain, spleen, testes) that you would typically limit."
Is a raw dog food diet good
Yes a raw dog food diet is good because it’s the way nature intended for them to eat.
Modern pet food doesn’t resemble anything even vaguely like what our dogs and cats would eat if they had any say in it, and they’ve never been fatter or sicker for it.
A raw food diet supports their health and wellbeing by providing a steady stream of highly digestible and bioavailable macronutrients, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, antioxidants and water to ensure your pet thrives, not just survives.
See our raw dog food recipes here
And see more on raw feeding dogs here
