Raw foods

Many people like to feed their dogs raw meat diets, also known as the BARF (Bones And Raw Food or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food diet) There are many, many ways to feed a raw diet, and just as many ways to get it wrong!  If you wish to feed a raw diet, I highly recommend the following:

Pre-Made raw diets

For most pet owners, I highly recommend pre-made raw diets over do-it-yourself type raw diets.   Here are the best I've found:

Aunt Jeni's homemade4life raw diet

Nature's Variety Raw diet

Nature's Logic

 Steve's real Food for Pets

Raw Advantage -Chicken or Turkey Dinner for dogs

    Paw Naturaw- Chicken or Bison formulas best for all life stages. 

     BarfDirect- online raw foods retailer

There are many ways to incorporate raw into your dog's diet, but this is by far the easiest and safest.  These pre-made raw foods can be fed as meal replacements a few times a week, alternated with kibble, canned foods, and freeze-dried foods.  They can also be fed alone, as the staple diet for your dog. 

NOTE ABOUT PREGNANCY AND GROWTH: Some pre-made raw diets are not recommended for use during pregnancy or growth.  They may contain high amounts of calcium that can lead to eclampsia and uterine inertia in a pregnant bitch or to harmful excessive speed of growth in a puppy.  I have noted the formulas which have suitable levels of calcium for growth and reproduction.  Excess calcium is not an issue for lactating bitches. For more information on this subject, click here.

Serving raw food meals:

Use hot tap water to fill a dish with warm water.   Put the raw food in a plastic bag and soak it until it's room temperature or slightly warmed.  NEVER microwave raw food and NEVER cook the ground raw food- the bones will harden and larger fragments may splinter and seriously injure your dog.

Mixers:

Another way to incorporate fresh, raw meat into your adult dog's diet is to use the Wysong "Call of the Wild" supplement along with any fresh meat from the grocery store.

Other high quality mixers than can be used with meat to make a balanced meal for adult dogs include:

       The Honest Kitchen's "Preference"

        Sojos "Europa"

     A note on mixers:  These should not be used as the staple diet as it is impossible for one mix to balance out all types of meat with their varying mineral and vitamin compositions.  Mixers are convenient, can add variety to your dog's diet and are more balanced than just "winging it", but are best fed occasionally rather than daily.

     *NOTE: The reason I recommend using pre-mixers or pre-made raw foods is because Meat cannot be fed alone without edible (raw) bone or appropriate amounts of calcium supplementation!  An all meat diet will be too high in phosphorus and will lead to a calcium: phosphorus imbalance which can create serious health issues.   Too much calcium is just as bad as too little.

It is possible (though unlikely) to create a balanced diet using raw meaty bones, but for the average pet chihuahua owner, this is inconvenient and often confusing. For the breeder, an incorrect amount of calcium in the diet could lead to eclampsia, uterine inertia, c-sections, excessive speed of growth in puppies and other health issues.  For these reasons, I only recommend using pre-balanced raw formulas.  If one wished to make their own raw diet or feed solely raw meaty bones, my advice to them would be to do your homework and don't get stuck feeding a diet that consists of mostly chicken necks, backs or wings because that type of diet is too high in bone and not balanced.  Have your diet checked by a nutritionist familiar with current NRC regulations. 

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Freeze-dried food:

Freeze dried foods are the next best thing to a fresh raw diet. All you do is add water to rehydrate and you have a convenient meal for your dog.  It's great to take with you when you travel and is a convenient substitute to feeding fresh foods any day for any reason. Some people are hesitant about feeding a raw diet- this is a great alternative with many of the same health benefits.

Freeze-dried raw is also the perfect training treat.  It's extremely palatable and healthy and can be broken into tiny pieces for chihuahuas.  It is also easy and convenient to order online, since it requires no refrigeration and is inexpensive to ship.   (Make sure your dog has access to water if you are feeding it dry.) 

Here are the freeze-dried foods that I highly recommend (they are not all created equal and some even contain grain filler, so stick to this list) :

Wysong Archetype  Burgers

Nature's Variety

Steve's Real Food for Dogs