Prey Model Raw: What You Should Know

German Shepherd Dog Ready For Some Chicken Feet, Owned By Carrie Wright

I woke up this morning and went straight to my usual routine. This morning it consisted of throwing some raw venison, a chicken leg and beef liver into a bowl for Whiskey's morning meal. Whiskey eats a prey model raw diet. Prey Model Raw is a diet consisting of completely raw meat. When at first hearing this, it throws a lot of people off. There are a lot of myths involved in the diet and I will cover some of the most common ones in this article! 

Before I go any further into explaining the benefits of a Prey Model Raw diet, I am going to address some of the most common concerns, after all, isn't raw meat riddled with bacteria? There are usually two main concerns people have when it comes to the bacteria in raw meat. The first being, won't the bacteria in raw meat harm my dog? The short answer is no, as long as your dog doesn't already have an immunocompromised system. Dogs are made to process raw meat. Their mouths contain lysozyme, an enzyme that lyses and destroys any harmful bacteria that raw meat contains, not to mention their incredibly strong stomach acid. Dogs are carnivores, and I can promise, if your dogs were out in the wild, they wouldn't skin and cook their food!

Whiskey Chowing Down On A Venison Ribcage, Owned By Me! 

The next question people usually ask me is: Won't the bacteria spread to humans? Either by licks to the face or shed in their feces? My first recommendation is treating their meals like you would prepping meat for dinner. Keep the area clean. As for licks to the face, as stated before, their mouths do contain lysozyme so any bacteria that is in their mouth is destroyed. That being said, I personally don't allow Whiskey to lick me for 30 minutes after she eats, but I'm a germaphobe. That's right, I'm a germaphobe, so if I can do it, you can too! As for being shed in the feces use proper hygiene, wash your hands after picking up the poop and you have nothing to worry about! Simple hygiene is the secret to keeping any bacteria at bay!

American Bully Eating A Whole Rabbit, Owned By Ashley Faison 

One of the most common arguments I hear from people against a raw diet is that feeding dogs raw meat will make them bloodthirsty. I can confidently sweep this myth under the rug from personal experience alone, but I'll give you guys a little more information than that! Let's start by talking about what a dog is. A dog is a carnivore, a predator by nature, they are meant to go out and hunt. I know quite a few dogs that are fed kibble but still have gotten out and caught and killed a squirrel, while I also know raw fed dogs who would go and play with a rabbit they befriended in the backyard. As humans domesticated the dog, they bred them for a multitude of purposes. Some of those purposes being to watch and protect other animals from other carnivores, while others to go out and hunt. Thus, hunting instincts boil down to genetics, not diet. Some dogs are more genetically prone to want to hunt, while others are not. If you want to make sure Fluffy doesn't bring you a dead bird as a present, then keep an eye on her, but trust me feeding her kibble isn't going to keep her from going out hunting!

Border Collie Working On A Lamb Leg, Owned By Emily Renaud

Now that I've gotten those concerns out of your head, let's move on to the next biggest misunderstanding with Prey Model Raw Diets. People often argue that dogs are omnivores and a common argument they use towards that point is that wolves eat the stomach contents of their prey, but do they really? The answer is no. In small animals like a rabbit, wolves would eat the stomach contents because the animal is so small, however on larger animals they shake out the stomach contents of their prey. L. David Mech writes about it in his 2003 book: Wolves: Behavior, Ecology and Conservation. As can be read on pg. 123:

"Wolves usually tear into the body cavity of large prey and consume the larger internal organs, such as lungs, heart, and liver. The large ruman [which is one of the main stomach chambers in large ruminant herbivores] is usually punctured during removal and its contents spilled. The vegetation in the interstinal tract is of no interest to wolves, but the stomach lining and intestinal wall are consumed, and their contents further strewn about the kill site."

Further along on pg. 124, it will also read, "To grow and maintain their own bodies, wolves need to ingest all the major parts of their herbivorous prey, except the plants in the digestive system." 

German Shepherd Dog Puppies Weaned Onto Raw, Owner Danielle Steenkamp

Now that I've covered some of the more common myths involving prey model raw, let's talk about the benefits of raw feeding! Feeding raw has a lot of health benefits, one of the most notable starting right in their mouths. Kibble fed dogs often have teeth riddled with plaque, which can cause a multitude of issues including leading to heart, kidney and liver disease. Since raw fed dogs eat meaty bones, it keeps their teeth clean, greatly decreasing the risk to any of those diseases. Another thing that raw feeders tend to notice when they switch their dogs to raw is their coat. It becomes lush, thick and shiny. Often times, dogs with skin issues have them clear up just a couple months after switching to raw. The benefits of raw are many, including a lot less vet bills as raw fed dogs tend to be much healthier individuals. In senior dogs I've seen an increase in activity levels, often times owners remarking that they are acting like puppies again. We are what we eat, so why wouldn't it apply to dogs also?

Pork Shoulder, Chicken Feet and Garlic (A Natural Flea Prevention) 

Dogs of all ages can be fed a raw diet, even puppies! Puppies can be weaned right off of their mother's milk straight onto raw. It's a great way to start off their life!

So where can you start? A raw diet should usually consist of 80% muscle meat, 10% bones and 10% Organ Meat, at least 5% of which being Liver. Now remember, these are basic guidelines, some dogs need more bone or organ than others, you will be able to tell that by the solidity of their stool (I'll get to that in a little bit!). You can balance it out by the day, week or month, so don't freak out if you don't use the 80:10:10 guideline every day. This also varies dog to dog, but on average, a good guideline is to feed 2-3% of their weight (if puppies, feed 2-3% of their estimated adult weight). Watch your dog's weight and add or subtract as needed. 

Bull Terrier, Owned By Courtenay Morgan

I always recommend switching cold turkey when switching to a raw diet, usually with a bland meat like chicken or lamb. My usual recommendation is feeding chicken quarters (chicken necks for smaller breeds) for your first week on raw. Bones help to solidify the stool, so it is important to make sure that you use meats high in bone content for the first couple weeks while getting your dog used to the raw diet. I usually don't recommend adding organ meat, which will loosen the stool, until at least two weeks into the raw diet. The first month you want to stick to one protein (Chicken, in this case). As you go along further into the raw diet you can add new proteins, one at a time. After the first two weeks of feeding meat with high bone content you can start to add more muscle meat and gradually introduce organ. As I said before, organ will soften the stool, so don't add too much when you first introduce it to avoid cannon butt! I know that all this information can seem a little intimidating, but don't worry it is a lot easier once you get used to it, and it is well worth it! I will warn you though, most people that start raw will admit that it can be quite a bit of an addiction! There are also plenty of sources on the Internet with lots of information on starting on a raw diet as well as plenty of Facebook Groups with experienced raw feeders who would love to answer any questions that you might have!

I'm going to end this by leaving you some great sources to check out:

http://rawfed.com/myths/index.html

http://preymodelraw.com/page/articles.html/_/raw-chat/how-to-get-started-feeding-a-prey-model-raw-diet-r19

https://www.facebook.com/groups/preymodeldiet/

Doberman Puppies Eating Ground Elk and Chicken Feet, Owned by Connie Morgan