Frequently Asked Questions

Do I change to raw gradually or all at once?

In general, yes you can just convert your dog to raw food (a straight swap), however the transition does need to be carefully managed especially if your dog (or cat) is showing signs of digestive stress or under current veterinary care.

At Raw Essentials we will quiz an owner about the health of their animal and put them on a feeding plan that best fits their history and life stage.

Do I need to feed organs?

A balanced raw diet should contain organs in approximate prey proportions. An easy way to add organs into your pet's diet is by feeding our wild prey mixes with organs such as Possum Mince or Wallaby Mince. Or adding a small amount of one of our Organ Mix or Wild Organ Mix which are purely minced organs. Keep in mind that organs are very rich, so it's best to feed them in small quantities a few times a week. Alternatively Powermix our freeze dried organ powder is packed full of nutrients. This is a good source of organs for pets that don’t usually eat organs and is usually liked by most pets, including cats.

Organs are rich in:

• B vitamins that are necessary for metabolism and energy regulation
• Fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E & K)
• Minerals (phosphorus, iron, copper, magnesium, iodine, selenium, zinc)
• Essential fatty acids (arachidonic acid, omega-3 fatty acids)

How do I know what mixes to feed?

Feeding a raw diet is a bit like feeding yourself: you eat a variety of foods, with the expectation that this will meet your nutrient needs over time.

Our biggest tip for balanced raw feeding is to offer a mix of meat, bones, organ & green tripe from a variety of prey sources. As a rule of thumb, we recommend feeding from at least three different prey species over a week. Wild populations of cats and dogs eat meat, bones, organs, and often tripe. They do not just eat meat. Feeding an all-meat diet will cause mineral deficiencies, and is dangerous to your pet's health.

How do I know what bones to feed?

Before you start feeding bones, it's best to chat to one of our staff members for advice. Bones need to be the right size for your pet and new bone eaters need softer, meatier bones to begin with. Check out our Bone Feeding Guide for more info.

Can I feed biscuits alongside a raw diet?

We believe fully raw is the way to go. Even though it may be convenient at times, we don't advocate combining raw with other dry or processed foods as it interferes with the digestive process. A raw food diet requires a stomach with high acidity. The carbohydrates found in processed foods, like biscuits, can lower stomach acidity and impair digestion.

If you want to add meat into the diet of a biscuit fed dog, we recommend using one of our boneless meat products, but be sure that boneless meat does not make up more than ⅓ of their daily food intake.

For more info, see Mixed Feeding & Gastric Acidity.

How do I store my food?

In the freezer. Lots of our customers buy a chest freezer to take advantage of buying in bulk. It will also last 3 days in the fridge once defrosted.

How much should I feed?

We work out a suggested amount to feed per day based on your pet's age, weight and activity level. As an example, for an adult dog that has an average activity level and wants to maintain current weight, we would recommend they feed approximately 2% of bodyweight per day.

Check out our suggested Feeding Amounts for both cats and dogs.

Remember, though, every pet is different. Monitor their condition closely, and adjust their intake as needed (and let us know if you need help with this too!)

Where should I feed my pet?

Feeding outside:

• This is easiest in terms of cleanliness.
• We recommend that you supervise your dog when they are gnawing on bones.
• You will need to make sure that your pet is able to eat their food without interference from other cats or dogs.
• If food is left sitting around it may bring flies, and it may represent a hygiene risk for children - try to figure out the correct amount of food so that your pet can consume it in one sitting.

Feeding inside:

• Supervising meaty bones is easier inside.
• This option can be the best one for cats, because it will be harder for the neighbour’s cat to raid their food.
• You will need to take extra care disinfecting the eating areas in between meals.
• People often use the bathroom or laundry for indoor feeding.

What to use:

• Some people use feeding mats or towels.
• Some people just pop the food on the back lawn, or bathroom floor.
• A decent sized feed bowl is usually the best option (even if your pet drags some of the food out of it). This will catch the juices (which contain valuable nutrients) so that your dog or cat can lick them up. Licking the bowl is to be encouraged!

Keep separate spaces:

Most of our product is nutritionally suitable for both cats and dogs, so don’t panic if your cat sneaks outside and helps herself to your dog’s dinner. But this situation is best avoided - especially when it comes to dogs accessing the small meaty bone suitable for cats - they could be a choking hazard. Also - pets can find it stressful if they do not have a secure place to eat - and stress can inhibit optimal digestion.

For these reasons, we advise that you plan carefully so that all cats and dogs have their own safe and secure place to eat.

When should I feed my pet?

Fully grown dogs do not need to be fed more than once a day. You can feed them more often if you wish, but just make sure that ‘more often’ doesn’t mean extra food! Some people prefer to feed very active, or very lean dogs twice a day. You may want to feed minced product at one meal, and then a meaty bone with a cube or two of tripe later one. Or you may feed minced product on one day, and a meaty bone and tripe the next day. It will all depend on how much food your dog needs. Remember - you are aiming to get a range of nutrients into them over time, not in the space of any one meal.

Cats do better on two (or sometimes more) meals a day - they may eat several times in a day in the wild.

We suggest putting food into a sealed container in the fridge, and letting it defrost overnight before feeding. In the interests of hygiene, use a sealed container that is for your pet’s food only.

Can I serve a mix of proteins in one meal?

Some care does need to be taken when transitioning onto raw food, so as not to overwhelm the gut. As a general rule we recommend feeding a variety of 3 - 4 proteins over a week to make sure your dog or cat is increasing its nutrient range. These can be in one meal or spread out.

Can pets eat frozen food or is it best defrosted?

We generally recommend feeding defrosted product, but there are exceptions.

It is ok to feed frozen cubes, but you need to be sure that your dog is good at taking their time and chewing. Don’t feed frozen cubes to a ‘gulper’ as they may try to swallow it whole.

Tripe is pretty smelly - some people really struggle to deal with defrosted tripe. In this case, you may wish to feed it frozen, but you need to be sure that your dog is good at taking their time and chewing. In the heat of the summer, food will defrost quickly outside. Again, if your dog is not a ‘gulper’ you may wish to put some frozen food outside and let your dog treat it like a meaty-ice-block.

Some dogs have not had much practice at chewing meaty bones and they will try to ingest them too quickly. Feeding frozen meaty bones can slow a dog down, giving them a chance to get used to using their jaw muscles properly.

We usually find cats prefer their minced products to be defrosted.

When can I start raw feeding my puppy or kitten?

Puppies and Kittens can do very well on a raw diet from 8 weeks of age. You will need to monitor growth closely and adjust the food intake to suit (we can help track this).

Come in store to chat to us ahead of bringing your puppy or kitten home. Also, check out our article on Feeding Puppies and Kittens for more information.

Can I still give my dog treats?

Absolutely! However, we recommend natural, minimally processed treats, with no additives or preservatives. They can be a great way to introduce variety into a diet. We have a range of natural treats to choose from that we deliver throughout all of New Zealand.

Do you need to add supplements?

In most cases there is no need to add supplements to a well-planned raw diet, which means:

• food sourced from NZ-grown animals
• variety of prey-sources (at least three different sources over a week)
• whole prey (a selection of raw meat, bone, organs and tripe)
• highest quality prey sources possible (human-grade and wild products, not stripped out leftovers).

Some pets do well on a course of probiotics, or fish oils. In most cases, this supplementation is a temporary measure to control inflammation, and populate the gut with beneficial microbes in order to assist immune function.

However some cats and dogs have a very compromised immune system, and a major microbial imbalance in their gut. These are the animals that will suffer deficiency even on a really good raw diet, or a processed one. Unless the gut health of these animals can be significantly improved, they may benefit from continuous supplementation.

What does 'novel' protein mean?

A novel protein is a protein source that your pet has not eaten before. For pets previously fed on processed diets (which often contain chicken, lamb, and beef products) rabbit will likely be a novel (or new) protein for them.

What is bone broth?

Bone broth is made when bones and connective tissues are slow cooked to create a gelatinous, nutrient-dense superfood. It is easily digested, even when other foods are not. A highly bioavailable source of protein, minerals, and beneficial nutrients, broth has been used worldwide in nourishing traditions to heal and restore gut health. Broth also aids recovery from wounds, injuries, and surgical trauma and can be used as a nutrient boost for all cats and dogs, it's like liquid gold!

Can I feed eggs to my pet?

Raw eggs are nutrient-dense. They make a nutritious and delicious addition to a raw diet once or twice a week. The egg white contains avidin (an enzyme) which inhibits biotin (a B vitamin); but it would take a large amount of egg white to cause a biotin deficiency, and mother nature thoughtfully put a whole lot of biotin into the yolk to balance things out. Read Feeding Eggs for more information.

Can I feed raw fish to my cat or dog?

Raw fish is an excellent source of nutrients, including essential fatty acids. Some species of raw fish contain an enzyme - thiaminase - which destroys a B vitamin required by cats and dogs for good health. For this reason we suggest limiting raw fish to no more than three times a week. Read this for more information about thiaminase and raw fish.

Can I give vegetables to my pet?

Raw-feeders in the US routinely feed vegetables, but they tend not to be able to access green tripe (which contains plant matter that has been pre-digested by the herbivore that ate it). We are fortunate in New Zealand - we can access a ready supply of high quality green tripe for our pets. We generally don't recommend adding vegetables as we recommend providing your pet with a raw diet based as closely as possible to whole prey.

Although it is possible that some pets may benefit from the addition of vegetables. If you choose to add vegetables to the diet avoid starchy vegetables (such as kumara, potato, chickpeas, pumpkin), and fruit, as they might interfere with digestion and nutrient absorption and potentially toxic fruit and vegetables such as onions, avocado, grapes/raisins, rhubarb, garlic. If adding vegetables it is better to blend, cook or ferment plant matter before feeding, to make the nutrients more available, as they would be from their herbivorous prey’s gut. Also consider Zoopharmacognosy, where you allow your pet to choose whether they eat the plant matter, rather than trying to hide it in their meal.

Read Feeding Vegetables for more information.

Can I feed table scraps?

For the most part, we recommend feeding against table scraps because it keeps the diet simple and easy to control if we follow the rules of well planned, raw, species-appropriate diets.

DOGS: If your dog has any health issues, we strongly recommend against feeding scraps. The best chance we have of helping you improve your dog's health lies within a tightly controlled diet plan. Any inappropriate nutrients or ingredients can be enough to cause a very annoying set-back. For example - a dog with sensitive skin may be doing really well on their novel protein diet, until someone gives them a crust from their toast, and suddenly the dog is super itchy again.

Wild dogs often have robust constitutions. Domesticated dogs have been subject to many of the same pressures (highly processed foods, antibiotic overuse etc) that have correlated with the rise in allergies and chronic disease in humans. Our pet dogs may be less able to thrive on a diet that includes some scavenged food, compared to their wild counterparts.

If your dog is very robust (no gastro upsets, no itchy skin, so other health issues) and you make the decision to feed them some scraps - please be very selective: make scraps a small part of the diet. Some human foods are toxic to dogs (such as onions), and some are dangerous (cooked bones - the dog on the right in the picture could be in serious trouble if he were to eat that chicken!).

CATS: Cats are very rarely interested in table scraps. And being true obligate carnivores, table scraps are seldom suitable. They are unlikely to provide any nutritional value to your cat.

I can't access Raw Essentials, how do I raw feed my pet?

Check out When You Can't Access Raw Essentials for tips and tricks.