Why is an all meat diet not safe for my puppy's healthy growth?

Growing puppies have specific nutritional requirements that differ from adult dogs, particularly with respect to their calcium and phosphorus balance, and an overall increased calorie demand. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies for a growing puppy can result in a variety of problems, so as a result, a puppy should not eat adult dog food on a regular basis. An occasional bite from their older housemate’s bowl should not pose any problems, but stick with puppy food as their dietary staple.

Good on your for noticing bones in the meat! You are absolutely correct they could perforate the stomach and intestines. I personally never recommend feeding puppies or dogs a raw food diet. There is too much of a risk of E coli and salmonella poisoning from it to both the dog and the humans making the diet. In addition, a raw meat diet will not provide Tyson with all the nutrients he needs to grow properly. It is very difficult to have a home cooked diet that provides everything he needs. As a puppy, he needs larger amounts of calories, protein, and calcium than adult dogs to grow. Tyson should be fed a high quality puppy formulated food, such as Royal Canin or Hills Science diet. If you really do want to give him a home diet, then make it cooked, and I will provide some links to website that give proper and correct recipes for home cooked meals that hopefully will give him all the nutrients he needs: https://secure.balanceit.com https://www.petdiets.com

If you are feeding your pup a high quality puppy formulated food, she doesn't need any additional food with it. Too much additional food can caused her to be overweight, which will lead to heart problems, diabetes, and joint problems among others. As an occasional treat (once or twice a week), you can give her small amounts of cooked meat or dog treats from the pet store :-)

No, I strongly urge you not to do it and you'd be hard pressed to find any vet who would recommend it. It's a fad and it's dangerous for both Kingston and you. Raw food diets contain bacteria like E coli and Salmonella, which poses a risk of poisoning him and you. You can get sick from handling it, and even sick from him licking you because the bacteria lives on his tongue for hours afterwards. In addition, these diets are often imbalanced nutritionally, and it's so vital to have a balanced diet for a growing puppy. I have a vet colleague that just saw an 8 month old puppy who was fed a rad diet and due to the nutritional deficiencies had broken his hip and had severe bone deformities. There is no scientific evidence it's beneficial at all, and all there are is bad things with it. You should feed him a dry puppy food such as Royal Canin, Hill's Science Diet, Purina Pro Plan, and Iams. I hope this helps.

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.

Ideally, growing dogs should be fed puppy food as their nutritional needs are different, especially for minerals such as calcium. Energy demands and protein levels are generally higher for growing dogs so as long as she has not become significantly overweight or has any lameness/joint pain this diet would be unlikely to have any side effects!

Dogs have evolved to eat a very mixed diet similar to ourselves as they have become domesticated, indeed wolves and wild dogs do not eat an entirely meat diet either. Many dogs do very well on a diet with a mixture of meat, cereals and vegetables - the true value is in the correct balance of digestible nutrients - protein/carbs/fibre as well as vitamins, minerals and supplements and not in the actual source they came from as long as they are prepared correctly. Bear in mind however some dogs have particular sensitivities or dietary conditions which require specialist or prescription diets