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Writer's pictureDr. Heike Jung

What I feed my dog and why.

My dog is a Black Labrador. I rescued him from Kuwait when he was 1.5 years old. He had been adopted but found his way back to the rescue a few times. During all of this he was being fed a good quality kibble dog food (it was convenient and fairly inexpensive). When we found each other, he was 90 lbs (a good 10-15 lbs overweight).


I switched him to raw food almost immediately and here are my reasons:

  1. I knew a raw diet is MUCH healthier than a processed diet. This is true for us humans also and it’s how I eat (you won’t find processed food in my house….my friends always complain that I don’t have food in my pantry, only ingredients). So it made sense for me to feed my dog unprocessed food also.

  2. When I see dogs with spinal cord issues (remember I’m a certified veterinary chiropractor and I see a TON of dogs with IVDD), I know we need to get the inflammation out of the spinal cord ASAP, which in dietary terms means “get your dog off the kibble and onto a raw food”. So why not be proactive and feed my dog a low inflammatory food?

  3. I wanted him to lose weight and be healthy. Feeding a high protein/low carb diet is the quickest and best way for dogs to lose weight.

  4. I wanted him to feel better and have more energy. In the beginning, he was only able to fetch the ball 2 or 3 times before he was out of breath and panting. Now he’ll go for hikes and come home to play some more.

  5. I wanted him to look healthy. People always comment on how shiny his coat is (even when he’s just rolled in the dirt). His teeth are WHITE. I do feed him dehydrated organic beef trachea. He loves to eat them and they do make his teeth look great.


And then there are some amazing side effects from feeding raw: his poop piles are small and firm. He doesn’t have that dog odor that so many dogs have and he doesn’t have skin or ear issues (when I adopted him, he came with a bag of ear flush and meds, as well as antibiotics and anti-fungal pills).


Is a raw diet going to be appropriate for YOUR dog? I believe so, but I always suggest my clients pick up the phone and talk to the wonderful people at BARF World. They’ve been making raw food for dogs for over 35 years; their customer service is EXCELLENT; and they can answer ALL of your questions. Their website is also chock full of information. And if you decide to switch your dog to BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food), you can use my discount code "1612" to save some money on your first order.


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