More and more dog owners are choosing raw dog diets for their puppies. And with good reason too.
Companies dealing in commercially processed pet foods have long claimed to provide well balanced and nutritious diets for dogs.
But the rise in chronic illnesses and frequent product recalls means the ingredients and integrity of the commercial pet food industry are under more scrutiny than ever before.
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Consequently, pet owners are turning to alternative sources of food, including homemade dog food recipes and enlisting the help of businesses that specialise in raw diets, such as Sure4Pets.
If you’re a dog owner, here are six reasons to choose a raw dog food diet for your puppy.
1. Raw Diets Contribute To Healthy Growth in Puppies
Puppies are absolute growing machines. In fact, their bodies grow and develop as much in 12 months as humans do in about 15 years.
To facilitate all that remarkable bone and muscle growth effectively, it’s essential for puppies to eat foods with the right balance of calcium, phosphorus and nutrients.
Unfortunately, processed pet foods often lack the nutrients necessary for a puppy to thrive.
As a result, much of the food on offer hinders their body’s development by causing weight issues that impact bone growth.
Like any animal, a puppy’s body will grow in response to its environment and lifestyle. Even once a puppy has reached its full size, it still takes another 6-12 months for the body to become skeletally mature.
So, if a puppy is eating an unbalanced diet and carrying lots of excess baggage, that weight can have a negative impact on the dog’s overall bone growth.
However, many of these potential problems can be addressed by choosing balanced raw food diets that contribute to healthy growth in puppies.
2. Natural Food For Dogs Help Build Fitness and Strength
Dog owners know just how much energy puppies have. And building their fitness through raw food diets and effective play is key to ensuring puppies develop strong and healthy body compositions.
As mentioned, puppies with poor diets can develop issues when overweight. And if not addressed, these weight issues can contribute to more health problems, such as diabetes, chronic digestive problems and cancer.
To help prevent this, it’s important to make sure puppies are consuming food that contributes to a balanced diet.
The right raw food diet will ensure they are fit and lean from a young age, letting them grow into happy adult dogs
3. Raw Fed Dogs Benefit From Increased Life Energy
From shiny coats to better digestion and cleaner teeth, raw food diets provide puppies with all kinds of increased ‘life energy’ benefits.
For instance, fresh and uncooked food helps the body fend off ageing and disease and improves cell oxygenation and metabolism.
And because raw food is made up of 75%-80% water, they are easier to digest too, making for a comfortable, clean and happy puppy with high energy levels.
The benefits in digestion come with added bonuses too. Not only is a dog’s faecal volume much smaller when compared with commercial dry food, but it degrades much sooner and doesn’t stink either.
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4. Raw Food Diets Are How Nature Intended
There are over 8 million different species on Earth. And just about all of them live off raw food diets.
In fact, it’s only humans and the domesticated animals we feed that regularly eat processed foods at all.
When we think of animals living in nature, birds, lions or wolves, for example, they all eat raw. As too, do their offspring.
And since dogs are descendants of wolves, it’s entirely natural that their diets should consist of raw foods.
Before dogs became domesticated, they survived for thousands of years by scavenging and hunting whatever food was available.
Their diet of bones, organs and partially digested raw vegetables gave them a natural, balanced and healthy diet.
Of course, these days, the domesticated dog doesn’t rely on hunting or scavenging for food. Instead, it relies on its owner to provide balance and nutrition.
And choosing raw food for your puppy that consists of live, fresh food means their diet is just how nature intended it to be.
5. Nutritional Balance and a Stronger Immune System
It’s very important to provide puppies with a nutritionally balanced diet from an early age.
As with humans, it’s necessary for dogs to consume different foods throughout the day so they can store fats, proteins and vitamins effectively.
So, rather than feeding your puppy the same food every day, raw diets let you mix up the ingredients your dog needs, balancing their nutritional requirements over a series of meals.
Furthermore, a raw dog food diet will strengthen your puppy’s immune system by introducing a range of enzymes, essential fatty acids, calcium and minerals.
This intake of good food results in a naturally healthy dog that’s visibly happier and well balanced.
6. Avoid Health Issues Associated with Processed Pet Food
When you consider the health issues associated with processed pet foods, raw diets are much better for puppies.
From allergies to digestive problems and disease, poor diets are causing illnesses in dogs to rise dramatically. For instance:
- Allergies. Poor quality and inappropriate ingredients found in processed foods can cause allergies in puppies, such as itchy skin, vomiting, diarrhoea or digestive problems.
- Periodontal disease. Commercial pet food is a cause of periodontal disease in dogs that can lead to gum infections, bone loss, teeth loss, and more.
- Obesity. Often called “junk food for dogs,” commercial dog food contains lots of unnecessary carbohydrates and synthetic nutrients that lead to obesity issues.
Although you can never fully prevent your puppy from getting sick, choosing raw dog food diets can help them avoid the health issues associated with commercially processed food.
A Summary of Raw Food Diet Benefits for Puppies and Dogs
Here’s a quick summary of some health benefits of far food diets for puppies.
- Raw dog food diets are healthier for puppies, greatly reducing vet bills throughout the life of your dog.
- The natural scrubbing and flossing of raw diets help keep dogs teeth and gums clean and healthy.
- Dogs suffering from arthritis can benefit from greater mobility and comfort when switched to raw diets.
- Raw diets also help your puppy lose fat and gain muscle mass, resulting in a lean dog with higher activity levels.
- Natural foods give puppies healthy digestion that results in smaller stools that degrade into the ground quickly.
For more expert advice on the benefits of raw dog food diets for puppies, get in touch with Sure4Pets.