My dog won't eat dry food. Should I feed him raw meat like wolves?

Unless the raw meat is a formulated raw food diet, then the raw meat alone is not a balanced diet. There are a number of raw food diets that are formulated to be complete diets, so if that is all Ma wants to eat right now, you could look into feeding her one of those for now. There are also some freeze dried raw formulations that might be a good option. Stella & Chewy's ( https://www.stellaandchewys.com ) makes both formulations, that might be something to look into. Good luck! Thanks for using PetCoach.

No, meat is not a balanced diet. Even raw meat is not balanced. Balancing a home made diet is difficult and is not recommended unless you work with a veterinary nutritionist. When online, home made recipes where tested, 97% were found to be unbalanced and lacking in 1 or more essential nutrients. Unless you plan on working with a nutritionist, I recommend to feed a normal commercial diet that is AAFCO certified. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

You are right, this is a myth. Some people even believe that today's modern dogs are descended directly from wolves, and therefore should be fed raw. When was the last time you saw a pack of pugs running wild in the woods taking down deer? It's ridiculous! Todays dogs are so far removed from wolves it's even funny. They have evolved, and grains are beneficial to dogs. Dogs are actually omnivores, and even wolves in wild will eat the contents of the stomach of their prey first, which consists of veggies and grains! I hope this helps!

You may need to be a tough owner and not cave in to her desires. I would not recommend feeding any raw meat, particularly raw chicken, as the risk to her (and to you living in the house/preparing her food) for salmonella and e.coli infection is too great. You could try soaking her dry food in water or low sodium chicken broth to make it more appealing, or getting a canned food and mixing it with the dry dog kibble to make it more appetizing, or initially putting chunks of cooked chicken in with the canned food. Info from the Centers for Disease Control on raw pet food can be found here: https://www.cdc.gov/features/raw-pet-food/

Well, technically, a dog can eat a whole bunch of things on the same day! But the better question is SHOULD they eat all of those things. I prefer my patients to be an a commercial dog food for 90% of their caloric intake. This ensures that they are taking in a balanced diet. When you start to add chicken or vegetables to their diet and feed less of the dog food, they may not be taking in the correct amount of vitamins and minerals that their bodies need. It is also very easy to feed too many calories if you add these foods to their normal dog food. If you would prefer to feed a homemade diet (for either part of Soska's meals or all the time), I recommend using BalanceIT to make a balanced diet that contains added nutrients. https://secure.balanceit.com/

Do not give Bailey a raw diet. There is no proof these are beneficial for dogs and are often imbalanced nutritionally. In addition, there is a risk she could get sick from E. coli and Salmonella, and so can you. You'd be hard pressed to find any vet who would recommend a raw diet. I'd give her canned food. I hope this helps!

Great question! I do not recommend feeding any dog a raw diet due to the risk of pathogens (E. coli, Salmonella, etc.) that will remain both in their mouth and in their stool. This poses health risks both for Tux and for you (particularly if there are children or immunocompromised people in contact with Tux). If you want to offer him a supplemental food in addition to his dog food (I'm assuming that he primarily eats a balanced commercial diet), you can try home cooking foods for him. There is a great website out of the UC Davis Vet School - balanceit.com - that has recipes for home cooked diets and lists of ingredients that are considered to be safe for dogs. That said, commercial dog foods are balanced diets that do not NEED supplementation, but I understand if you want to add something extra in for Tux. :-)