How to Make Your Own Raw Pet Food (Part 3 / 3)

Hello, Pet Parents, and welcome to PureForm Talk!

This is our third episode, and today we are going to be talking about how to make your own raw food at home. Without further ado, let's jump in.

Last week we talked about how to switch your pet to a raw diet.

Today we're going to be talking about calculating the energy requirements as well as how to balance your raw meat-based diet. 

So some good proteins to start with are either turkey, duck or rabbit, sometimes beef. If you can't get a hold of the other ones, try to get a whole ground version with the raw and organs included. Or you can get the organs on the side and add those as protein as well.

Try to include at least two different colors of vegetables, like:

• Kale and carrot
• Broccoli and sweet potato 
• Cauliflower and pumpkin

We buy a frozen vegetable mix that we usually use consisting of carrots cauliflower and Broccoli, and we just add that in. Sometimes we'll add fruits on top of that as well. 

Your raw diet is going to be based on four main components:

• protein
• complex carbs 
• simple carbs
• fats 

Did you know that water is included as well in a raw meat-based diet? Up to 75% moisture compared to 20% moisture in the kibble foods, so this yields for a higher protein and easier absorption.

Option one: 

• We've got 70% protein
• 15% simple carbs—these are your complex carbs, such as starchy foods. So oats, barley, brown rice are great to use. 
• 10% is going to be complex carbs, which are your fruits and veggies. So these will be your dietary fiber
• And then 5% is going to be fats. We recommend the Omega3 Milled Flax because the raw meats are so high in omegas 6 and 9 already, and omega 3 has to be added into the diet. So the recommended ratio of omega-3 to 6 and 9 is 2:1.

Option two:

• 50% protein
• 20% starchy carbs
• 20% complex carbs (that's your fruit and veggies) 
• 10% fat 

This option works because if you're providing enough carbs to meet their energy needs, the protein is available for tissues to do repair and growth.

Now, often rotating ingredients isn't enough to complete the balance of the diet. Some nutrients can't be stored and used for later dates. So it is best if you add something like Essentials to make sure that they're getting all of the vitamins and minerals, and the amino acids necessary for optimal health.

Calculating Calorie Requirements

Okay, next we're going to be talking about calculating the calorie requirements for your pet. It's super simple, let's get started.

Energy has no measurable mass or dimension, but the chemical energy found in food can be transformed by the body into heat, which can be measured.

Energy in the food is expressed as kcals, kilocalories.

To calculate the daily energy requirement (DER), we're first going to need to calculate the resting energy requirement (RER).

For [pets] up to 45 kilos, use this formula:

• RER = 70 x body weight in kg x .75
• For [pets] over 45 kilos, use this formula:
• RER = 30 x body weight in kg + 70

DER is calculated by multiplying the RER by the following coefficients based on your pet's life stage. For example, our dog, Jesse, is a 10 kilo average neutered adult, so her resting energy requirement would be: 

• RER= 70 x 10 kilos x .75 = 525 kilocalories

We then take the 525 kcal and times it by 1.6, which is her coefficient based on life stage and we end up getting 840 kilocalories. This is what we're aiming for for her daily diet.