So you’ve got a new dog and you’re wondering what to feed him. The market is full of commercial diets, and you’ve heard that some people feed their dogs raw meat. What should you do?

Dogs are omnivores which means they require meat, fiber, and other nutrients to stay healthy. Generally, adult dogs need a diet that consists of 22-25% protein and 15-19% fat, although puppies, pregnant dogs, and active dogs will have different nutritional requirements.

If you choose to feed your dog a commercial based diet, it is very important to choose a high quality food. You want to make sure that a good quality protein source such as lamb meal, chicken meal, or turkey meal is the number one ingredient. You want to stay away from foods that list a grain as the number one ingredient or contain lots of byproducts and preservatives.

Many people choose to feed their dogs raw food or the BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food or Bones and Raw Food) Diet. This diet consists of raw meaty bones, vegetables, offal (the organ part of the protein source), recreational bones, and proteins like cottage cheese and eggs with the shells. Proponents of this diet claim that it keeps their dogs healthier than commercially prepared diets.

The following are some pros and cons of both diets:

Testing: People who advocate raw diets claim that the diet is tried and true and has been tested positively for centuries on wild dogs. They say that since commercial diets have been around since only the 1950’s, there is no long term testing that has been done on this food. Proponents of raw food claim that the increase in allergies, dysplasia, and other health conditions is as a result of dogs being fed commercial dog food.

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