How to Feed a Naturally Reared Dog (updated July 8)

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I wasn't really able to nail down a specific amount the puppies eat. The adult dogs are so much more consistent, though at times they vary too.

I'd say puppies eat anywhere from half a pound to a pound and a quarter of meat at a time. From 8-9 weeks of age, puppies ate meat six days a week. A sample menu is as follows:

1. meat a.m., plants p.m.
2. meat a.m., plants p.m. 
3. meat a.m., plants p.m.
4. meat a.m., plants p.m.
5. meat a.m., plants p.m.
6. LOTS of meat in one meal (gorge day, just like dogs do in the wild)
7. plants ONLY (cooked sweet potatoes offered once, fruits and fresh vegetables left out free choice).  

The meats the puppies had their last week here include:
chicken necks
chicken wings
"puppy beef mix" (beef meat/organ/tripe)
rabbit (whole prey)
cornish hen (whole)
lamb 

The plants the puppies had their last week here include:
cooked and peeled sweet potatoes
watermelon
raw cauliflower
cucumbers
sugar snap peas
peaches
blueberries

The most common meat meal I was feeding, is 2 chicken wings with about 1/2 a cup of "puppy beef mix". 

We were feeding chicken necks before feeding chicken wings. These puppies can still benefit from chicken necks, but are also able to chew chicken wings now. Puppy Beef Mix is purchased through the dog food co-op, Farm Dog Raw. It's a good idea to feed puppies/dogs organ and tripe.

Our meat "gorge" meals about once sometimes twice a week, was a whole rabbit, or a whole Cornish hen.

If you join the Facebook group, "Healing Diet for Dogs and Cats", you will be inspired and confident with Raw Feeding a Dog! Please just don't ask questions unless you read the accompanying ebook, "No More Vet Bills". I hung out on the Facebook group for months before purchasing the ebook.  Then I went 100% natural/REAL food for our dogs. This group just takes all the stress out of feeding this way. Other similar-type facebook groups overwhelmed me. 

If you would like to feed kibble to your puppy, they will likely adjust easily. But do not feed kibble and raw foods during the same meal. Some people will choose a part raw, part kibble diet. These are the ways this could look:

1. Raw/Natural foods, but take a break and feed kibble once a week. (My break, though, is that day I only feed plants." My ADULT dogs ONLY eat meat 3-4 days a week (if not nursing puppies). 

2. Raw/Natural foods in the morning. Kibble in the evening. (note that feeding raw meat, means less poop. It can be really good to feed meat in the morning, if you are working away from home. That way puppy/dog isn't likely to need to potty while you are gone. Kibble causes much more poop. Better to feed it when you can let the puppy outside more, when home from work/etc). 

3. Raw/Natural foods every other day. Kibble every other day. (If your puppy goes to daycare, kibble might be preferred at daycare days. But you can feed raw/natural at home).


When I completely gave up the kibble, I was surprised that I spent less money on food for the dogs. They are more satisfied because what they eat is more digestible, so they receive more nutrients. I don't like handling meat. I like that I don't need to handle it daily. And when I prepare ahead of time, it's even easier. So YES, unashamedly, I am a spokesperson for NATURAL feeding of all animals. It makes so much sense that we should feed dogs real foods, just as we know this is best for people too.

I do absolutely support choice though! Our greatest desire is that our puppies are loved well, bond to their families, get play time with their own species too, and receive exercise of mind and body. 

Enjoy your sweet puppies!

I'm here to help if you have questions. Send a text or make a phone call, if desired.  

If you haven't located a dog food co-op near you, keep trying but don't worry. You can do just fine with some grocery store meats: chicken wings, ground beef, beef roast, etc. If you locate a butcher, you have even more options of meat varieties and organs too! 

*make sure the meat has no salt added. 

Our dogs are fed many vegetables and fruits. The favorites so far are: cantaloupe, watermelon, and sweet potatoes. I'll continue to offer a variety to fruits and vegetables so that they dogs are less likely to be picky later.  The puppies receive sweet potatoes at least twice a week and always on a "plant day". 

I've been doing one day a week of only plants. Sweet Potatoes give them higher calories than most plants. The other days are high meat with fruits and veggies available if they are hungry or want something to chew or taste.  




I'll edit and add over time.

These are three resources to help get you started.


No More Vet Bills

No More Vet Bills has an accompanying Facebook Page titled, "Healing Diet For Dogs and Cats". This is a good page to hang out on, take a look at how a simple stress-free diet works! There are so many testimonies of this diet giving vitality to elderly and/or ill dogs. My dogs have not needed "healed", but I recommend this page to help keep dog owners on track with their diet. Before commenting on the page, please be sure to read the ebook. The page may help you decide if you'd like to buy the ebook. Please know, I do not profit at all on the book. I just often recommend it because it works. We used the feeding protocol on a rescue dog we helped, then homed. It healed his skin and ears. I'm glad the author took the time to write our what she has learned. It's definitely helping others.


Farm Dog Raw


My Pet Carnivore



No More Vet Bills is an ebook. The value in reading this, is realizing how simple natural feeding can be. There is also a coordinating Facebook page where testimonies are read. I hung out on the Facebook page a long while before buying and reading the ebook. I saw many dogs healed by following this simple diet. There are several "protocols". The one I chose is basically feeding meat every other day, and feeding fruits and vegetables every other day. This is how we feed our adult dogs, most of the time. We also had a rescue dog for awhile, who smelled horrible and had yeasty ears. By feeding this way, he healed COMPLETELY. No more stink at all. When we first started feeding him this way of No More Vet Bills, the rescue dog got worse. He was detoxing all the junk in his system from a poor diet at the dog pound. He became more itchy and more stinky. But I stayed committed and he became beautifully healthy. He grew the missing hair back. His ears were clean and smooth. His coat was shiny. And best of all, he actually smelled wonderful! This diet is fantastic for healing dogs.

I feed this basic protocol for our Australian Shepherds and for our coated AHTerrrier. I used to feed "good quality" kibble also. About six months ago, I completely stopped all kibble and only feed real unprocessed food to the dogs. This is my first litter of puppies who are completely Naturally Reared. Twizzle, the mother dog, needs a lot of protein to nurse puppies and stay in good condition, so my current way of feeding is meat every other day. And fruits and vegetables every other day ALONG with a smaller amount of meat on those days. So Twizzle gets meat every day, and so will the puppies.

When I was new to natural feeding, I saw dogs as carnivores, but the ebook, No More Vet Bills was convincing that dogs aren't meat-eaters only. Of course they aren't! If dogs were turned out to the wild, they would eat fruits and vegetables between catches of prey. My own dogs WANT and take for themselves: berries when we hike and vegetables from our garden. Dogs will beg for our fresh foods of watermelon, bananas, apples, cucumbers, cantaloupe, kale, and so many others. They also beg for cooked foods: sweet potatoes, yellow potatoes, meat. And of course they eat raw meat. They will also go for protein seeds like quinoa and buckwheat. And even grains, yes I give grains as a small part of their diets. I've stopped worrying over nutrition and I know that as long as I feed MOSTLY a high quality diet, my dogs can still be of superior health being fed the occasional leftover rotini. Just like I eat very healthy home grown chemical free foods, and some store bought healthy food. I am not going to lose all my health by consuming the occasional milkshake.

Opposing the ebook, I agree with most dog food co-ops that the best ratio of raw meat for dogs is actually 80/10/10. This means 80 percent meat, 10 percent organ-tripe, 10 percent bone. Both Farm Dog Raw and My Pet Carnivore have HOW TO pages on their websites. These are excellent and simple. I order from Farm Dog Raw. I have breeder friends who order from My Pet Carnivore. Farm Dog Raw (and maybe MPC also) has COMPLETE diets. These are grinds that are already mixed 80/10/10. I feed a little differently though!
I get the BEEF PUPPY MIX, which is 80 percent meat, 10 percent tripe, 10 percent organ.
To this, I add some meat on-the-bone. Most often it's a chicken leg, chicken wing, turkey wing, beef ribs, goat ribs, or chicken feet. This gives the puppy or dog something to chew. DOGS NEED TO CHEW. Chewing "grounds" a dog. They just absolutely need it. Chewing calms them. So it's quite rare for me to give a grind alone. Dogs just hork grinds. I have fed this way for a long time, and it really helps especially the PUPPIES to keep from taking out their chewing need on the furniture or on your shoes, etc.

On plant days, I feed the dogs all the plant foods I mentioned plus more. My dogs like cooked sweet potatoes a lot, so I need to divide those out and feed them as meals. Then, I'll often leave fruit and vegetables outside on the ground, or inside in a bowl on the floor: apples, cucumbers, blueberries etc. If the dog is hungry, it will eat. If not, it will leave the foods. I do this with raw eggs too. Our dogs know how to break an egg and will eat it if hungry. We raise ducks for eggs, sometimes our dogs help themselves to the duck barn nests. :)

I feed the puppies a lot of VARIETY so that they won't turn their noses up at foods later in life. But it's not necessary to continuously be thinking about variety. I've seen people worry themselves too much over dog nutrition. Understand that the kibble dog food companies aren't the authority on nutrition. For example, good parents wouldn't believe it's right to feed their children a daily diet of boxed breakfast cereal, even though the box says it has all the vitamins and minerals needed. All parents know that it's best to eat fresh, unprocessed foods. So this is how we feed our children. We can apply the same basic knowledge to feeding our dogs. Fresh is best. But a snack here and there of cooked foods will not derail an animals health. We know that a constant processed diet will produce an unhealthy dog. Overtime those health issues show up. So, feed mostly fresh foods. Feed mostly the 80/10/10. Give dogs meats and plants. Give a variety of proteins over the course of a year. That's right, over the course of a year. Have you heard of people eating seasonally (eating foods that are in season, during the season it's ripe)? Wild dogs do that too. We feed more beef and goat in the cold months. And we feed more fish, chicken, and rabbit in the warm months. We feed more watermelon in the warm months and more apples in the cold months. During puppyhood, I change the foods a bit more often though, just to be sure they are exposed to a variety of scents and tastes at a young age. Just like feeding toddlers. :D

I DO NOT recommend the "complete grinds" full of meat, vitamins, vegetables and all sorts of other things. They are needlessly expensive and many people have not been satisfied with the condition of their dogs when feeding these premade grinds. The "grinds" I recommend are just the simple meat, organ, tripe and also feed meat on the bone.

BONES: I do NOT EVER feed cooked bones, dried bones, or huge bones.
I do feed RAW bones from these animals: chickens, turkeys, deer, goats, rabbits, fish.
Beef bones are limited to ONLY rib bones. Large animals like beef have very hard bones, which dogs can break their teeth on.

I NEVER give rawhide chews.

Treat ideas are: dehydrated meat, chopped vegetables and fruit, higher-end kibble dog food. See which treat your puppy enjoys working for.

BACTERIA concerns: Dog's mouths and stomachs contain some strong bacteria fighting properties. That's how dogs can eat rotten foods without becoming ill. So the dog is absolutely fine eating raw meat. Their Creator made them this way. BUT we don't completely trust our raw meats, still right? I don't either. It's recommended to FREEZE all meat for a few days prior to thawing and feeding it to your pets. I freeze all meat that I  didn't raise myself. I do feed my dogs fresh whole prey sometimes. I have zero concern over this. My concern lies most with factory raised, factory processed meats. I do still feed these, but I always freeze first. AND THEN, I wipe my dogs' faces and paws with Seventh Generation Disinfectant spray. I spray a cloth and wipe my dogs off. I also feed meat outside. I don't want that on my floors. The dogs like to carry their food off and eat in the yard. I do allow them to eat plant foods in the house.

It's a good idea to read the above links and stock up on some food for your puppy! Some of the co ops run just every six weeks. Some run more often. I am aiming to stock up with some extra "Puppy Beef Mix" at least one for each puppy, to sell for the cost I get it for. The price is usually $8.50 for 5 pounds. I will let you know if I can get it and how much is available. (Availability depends upon co op availability and my freezer space). Puppy families should bring a cooler along on Puppy Pick Up Day if they would like to purchase.

I am beginning to journal my adult dogs' meal amounts, so that people can estimate the volume and cost to feed their dogs this way. I'll post this after gathering the data for a week or so.

I will also post exactly what the puppies eat each day. :) They will be starting their first meals soon!


I've been weighing our adult Australian Shepherd's food, in order to give an estimate of amounts. 

Twizzle's week (with nursing puppies) 
looks like this:
Day1: 2 pounds of meat, plants
Day2: 3 pounds of meat
Day3: 2 pounds of meat, plants
Day4: 3 pounds of meat
Day5: 2 pounds of meat, plants
Day6: 3 pounds of meat
Day7: plants, grain, refrigerator leftovers


Marv, Spec, Chester's week looks like this:
Day1: 1/2 pound of meat, plants
Day2: 1 1/2 pounds of meat
Day3: plants
Day4: 1 1/2 pound of meat
Day5: plants
Day6: 1 1/2 pounds of meat
Day7: plants

Marv eats slightly more than Spec. 
Winchester usually eats about 1 pound of meat on meat days, but he lost weight when Star came into heat and he wasn't allowed to breed her. :D He got all worked up over her and couldn't eat. So I'm getting his weight back up. He's a small Aussie and will go back down on food when there is no recovery from females being in heat.  

Meat includes:
beef "puppy mix" (beef/organ/tripe)
chicken (on the bone)
turkey (on the bone)
mackerel (whole prey)
goat (on the bone)
rabbit (whole prey)
venison (whole prey)
eggs (our farm raised duck eggs)

Plants include:
watermelon (slices)
cucumbers (whole)
apples (whole)
blueberries
pears (whole)
sweet potatoes (cooked and peeled)
bell peppers (whole)
cantaloupe (whole)

Sweet potatoes are divided out for each dog (they love these and give them 2-3 each). All other plants are usually given by putting a fruit/vegetable bowl down on the floor. They will only take these if they want them. Some days the dogs choose to fast, other days they snack a lot, some days a little. 

I do occasionally feed grains:
buckwheat (not actually a grain)
quinoa (not actually a grain)
oats
rice 

Puppies have been fed these so far:
beef puppy mix (beef/organ/tripe)
chicken necks
sweet potatoes
watermelon
blueberries
mackerel 
BETWEEN WEEKS 7-8, I'LL WEIGH THEIR FOOD SO NEW OWNERS CAN ESTIMATE AMOUNTS. 
I feed puppies as much as they want to eat, until they walk away from the food, twice a day. I leave down pieces of vegetables and fruits for the puppies to snack on/ taste/ chew between meals.