About Meat
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a raw meat diet consist of?
1. Raw Meaty Bones
Chicken, turkey, duck, and pork necks, chicken feet, chicken backs and wings and rabbit.
2. Ground Raw Meat
Chicken, turkey, duck, bison, venison, beef, lamb, pheasant, quail, rabbit….These always contain ground bone and you have the option to include organ meats (liver, kidney, heart, gizzard).
3. Crushed Veggies
All fruits and veggies except onions, grapes, raisins, corn cobs…. Try to get organic whenever possible.
4. Rec Bones
Knuckle bones, knee bones and mysterious joints of animals. These are like TV for your dog.
5. Wholesome Table Scarps – in small quantity
Garlic, oatmeal, eggs with shell, rice, toast crusts, grains (great source of carbohydrates), bread, couscous. And remember, organic is best – no nasty chemicals.
Visit the Meats-n-Treats section to view the various types of Raw Meat, Bones and Veggies that we offer.
What pets can eat raw meat?
Most dogs and cats can eat a raw meat diet, though transition times may vary. It’s good to start integrating raw meat slowly with their regular diet. If they show signs of tummy distress, add some digestive enzymes to their meals. In about a 10 days, your dog or cat will be on the raw meat diet.
How do I integrate raw meat into my pet’s diet?
The key to transitioning your dog to the raw diet is to start slow. Their first raw meal should be 3/4 what they normally eat and 1/4 raw meat. You can slowly work your way from there. If you do notice they have a belly ache, pick up some digestive enzymes at your grocery store and give them a pill with each meal until the bottle is finished. By that time they should be fine with eating raw.
Is it too early to start?
Nope. It’s never too early to start. Moe himself was weened on raw beef and a mixture of Solid Gold kibble.
What if my pet starts vomiting?
Yellow bile?
That means your dog’s belly is totally empty and needs to be fed more. This was happening about once a week in the morning to Maji. We finally realized that she needed a little extra food for dinner and everything would be ok.
Clear foam?
Did your pup drink too much water too fast? Your pup also probably has an empty belly and needs a little more food.
How to help?
Unsweet applesause or Slippery Elm Powder can help an upset belly. Probiotics and digestive enzymes are good as well. If you’re concerned, take your pup to your vet.
What foods should my pet not eat?
Foods to stay away from include:
Chocolate
Chocolate contains theobromine, a cardiac stimulant that can cause dogs to become hyperactive, thirsty, and suffer an irregular or increased heart rate.
Raisins and grapes
Though it’s fun to watch your dog catch grapes or raisins in their mouth, use popcorn instead. Both raisins and grapes can cause liver failure in dogs.
Onions
Raw, cooked, dried – it’s all bad. Onions contain thiosulphate, which causes red blood cells to explode.
Cobs of corn
Choking hazard that is worth mentioning.
Macadamia nuts
Macadamia nuts can cause tremor, weakness, and paralysis.
Fruit seeds
Pear seeds, apple seeds, peach, plum, apricot pits all contain trace amounts of cyanide. Rarely harmful, but important enough to be aware of.
Caffeine
Caffeine can cause hyperactivity, tremors, or seizures. That means no soda, coffee or non-herbal tea.
Alcohol, Tobacco and street drugs
That’s just not cool.
Yeast dough/bread dough
Dough continues to rise in your pet’s stomach and can make them uncomfortable.
What about parasites and bacteria?
It’s natural to be worried about gross meat germs when feeding the raw meat diet. Will my dog or cat get sick? Will I get sick? Will my kitchen be totally filled with bacteria from all the raw meat.
If you have the space, I suggest preparing the meat in a separate place from where you prepare your own food. Perhaps a laundry room, garage or kosher kitchen. I like to wear dishing gloves when I make my own pet food. In fact, I don’t even touch human raw meat – generally I ask Dave to do it.
All meat, regardless of organic status, contains bacteria. Moe’s Meats sells human grade meat, which means it’s as good as what you can buy in the grocery store. Luckily, dogs and cats have a digestive system that is teeming with wonderful enzymes and probiotics that break down the harmful bacteria in the raw meat and allow it to digest without trouble.
It is rare that a pet fed on the raw meat diet will have parasites or bacteria problems. On the raw meat their system is primed to handle all the nasties usually found in raw meat.
Why does my vet not know about the raw meat diet?
Similar to allopathic doctors, most vets aren’t taught about natural nutrition during their schooling. Usually what happens is a representative from a major dog food label attends one class and talks about balanced nutrition and how their dog food can help with X diseases.
If you find a vet that is a naturopath that has studied acupuncture, herbs and the like, than you have most likely found yourself a vet that has done the research on the raw meat diet.
What are the benefits of a raw meat diet?
What about veggies?
The easiest and cheapest way to collect veggies is to keep a bag in your freezer of fruit and veggie scraps from your kitchen. Celery heads, carrot leaves, cabbage core, apple skins, rotten bananas, left over oranges, parsley stalks – you get the picture. Use organic when you can.
It’s also a good idea to ask your local co-op if you can dig through their compost bin and take their veggie and fruit scraps for free.
REMEMBER DON’T FEED YOUR DOGS these things.
Dogs and cats digest vegetables best if they are grounded in a food processor. The most efficient way that once your supply runs out or you have too many bags of collected veggies and fruit, then it’s time to get the food processor out and start processing. Add as much water as you need to. You can then freeze the pre-made veggies so they are handy when you need them.
Myths – They just ain’t true
All meat should be cooked
No matter the breed, size, age or personality, all dogs and cats have the same digestion system as their wild ancestors – it hasn’t changed in thousands of years of breeding and domestication.
This means dogs and cats have a short digestive tract designed to break down and process raw meat quickly. The raw meat moves rapidly through their system, which doesn’t allow bacteria or parasites to develop.
Dogs and cats won’t get sick because they eat raw meat.
I should do what AAFCO tells me to do
The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) is an organization established to provide a mechanism for implementing uniform regulations for the distribution and sale of animal feeds. That’s it. That’s what they do.
Like any national organization that advises government agencies, specifically for the agriculture industry, their advice needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Their standards were developed under the guise that domestic dogs and cats are omnivores and therefore are not physically capable of eating raw meat. Their guidance is also based on cooked and processed meals – not raw meat.
You’ll need to use your best judgment, your pets’ needs, and what you feel is right.
Moe is working on these questions:
