Raw Dog Food Ingredients Used So Far This Year

I counted 71 raw dog food ingredients in Wally’s meals in the last 4 months, how about that?

You’ll see that some of them are individual ingredients, and others are part of pre-mixes that I combine for raw dog food meal prep.

For those of you who are new to the blog and don’t know me yet – hi, I’m Barbara, raw dog food nerd and blogger here at K9sOverCoffee.

I’ve been feeding raw dog food since 2015, began making my own homemade raw dog food in 2016 and became dog nutrition certified by Dogs Naturally Magazine in 2020.

That said, I follow the barf raw dog food ratio of 70/10/10/10:

• 70% Muscle meat (including fish)
• 10% Secreting organs
• 10% Raw meaty bones
• 10% Plant matter (veggies, fruit, herbs, nuts & seeds)

Now, the raw dog food ingredients I’m about to list below can be categorized into the 4 different ingredient groups I just mentioned.

71 Raw Dog Food Ingredients Used So Far This Year

My goal with this blog post is threefold:

1. Underline the importance of variety in raw feeding
2. Let you peek into my home made raw dog food bowls
3. Spark some inspiration for barf dog food recipes in anyone who’s interested in making raw dog food at home.

Disclaimer: This blog post contains affiliate links. I may earn compensation when you click on the links at no additional cost to you.

Let’s jump right in!

Muscle Meat Raw Dog Food Ingredients

• Ground beef
• Ground turkey
• Ground pork
• Ground lamb
• Ground duck
• Goat lung
• Herring
• Mackerel
• Duck hearts
• Beef heart
• Lamb heart
• Ostrich heart
• Rabbit organ mix (heart & lung)
• Turkey gizzards
• Beef green tripe
• Goat green tripe
• Lamb green tripe

Secreting Organ Raw Dog Food Ingredients

• Beef liver
• Pork liver
• Rabbit liver
• Venison liver
• Beef organ mix (liver, kidney, spleen & heart – heart is muscle meat, but it’s part of this mix so I listed it here)
• Goat organ mix (liver, kidney, spleen, heart – heart is muscle meat, but it’s part of this mix so I listed it here)
• Beef kidney
• Rabbit kidney
• Beef spleen
• Lamb spleen
• Beef testicles
• Beef pancreas

Note: The beef organ mix and the goat organ mix I listed are both pre-made mixes I bought as is, but of course you can also make your own organ blends.

Just put the organs into a blender or food-processor and grind them up, then store them in a food storage container.

Check out the blog post below to learn about my favorite way of storing secreting organs:

I use this easy hack to store my secreting organ mixes.

Raw Meaty Bone Raw Dog Food Ingredients

Raw meaty bones come with muscle meat attached to the bone, which is important to know as it affects your calculations for raw meal prep:

• Bone-in rabbit
• Ground rabbit bones
• Rabbit heads
• Duck necks
• Turkey necks
• Pig feet
• Goat ribs

Tip: When you sign up for my weekly digest, one of the two FREE cheat sheets you get is the ratio of bone to meat on 20 common RMBs. For example, chicken leg quarters, turkey necks and duck frames.

Plant Matter Raw Dog Food Ingredients

Veggies, fruit, herbs, nuts & seeds:

• Spinach
• Zucchini
• Celery
• Broccoli
• Kale
• Cucumber
• Red beets
• Rosehip powder
• Kelp
• Bananas
• Apples
• Strawberries
• Raspberries
• Blueberries
• Pineapple
• Pumpkin purée
• Ground almonds
• Ground sunflower seeds
• Chia seeds
• Minced garlic
• Parsley
• Chervil
• Basil
• Fennel
• Artichoke leaf
• Cinnamon
• Dandelions
• Nettles
• Dill weed
• Fermented herbs

Note: The fermented herbs were a suggestion from my wholistic vet here in Germany. They’re called Gut Active by cd Vet and aren’t available for sale in the US as far as I know.

But you can find similar products from Beast Apothecary in their Digestive Health section.

They’re a Canadian brand that ships to the US – I recently ran into them at Global Pet Expo 2023 in Orlando, FL.

Here’s what’s in the fermented herbs:

• Stinging nettle
• Echinacea
• Hibiscus
• Oregano
• Peppermint
• Stevia
• Fenugreek seed
• Ribwort plantain leaves
• Licorice root
• Yarrow herb
• Wormwood herb
• Marshmallow roots
• Thyme
• Chinese rhubarb root
• Anise
• Fennel
• Raspberry leaves
• Cowslip roots
• Arena berries pomace
• Spiny rest harrow roots
• Rosemary leaves
• Sunflower blossoms

Raw Dog Food Ingredients: Add Ons

• Plain goat yogurt
• Beef bone broth
• Turmeric paste
• Brewer’s yeast (part of store-bought greens)
• Bentonite clay (part of store-bought greens)

Raw Dog Food Ingredients: Recipe Ideas

Next up, here’s some concrete examples of how I combined some of these ingredients in Wally’s raw meals.

They’re all homemade dog food with organ meat, muscle meat, raw meaty bones and plant matter.

Barf Dog Food Recipe Idea #1

• Chunked rabbit
• Beef green tripe
• Beef pancreas
• Beef testicle
• Beef liver
• Herring
• Ground pork
• Homemade plant matter smorgasbord (puréed spinach, ripe banana, blueberries, ground almonds, rosehips powder, kelp, chia seeds, sunflower seeds)

Barf Dog Food Recipe Idea #2

• Duck heart
• Rabbit heart and lung mix
• Beef liver
• Beef pancreas
• Ground pork
• Dehydrated cod skin
• Store-bought fermented herbs
• Homemade plant matter smorgasbord (puréed spinach, ripe banana, blueberries, ground almonds, rosehips powder, kelp, chia seeds, sunflower seeds)

Barf Dog Food Recipe Idea #3

• Raw pork chunks
• Ground raw pork & beef mix
• Raw goat ribs
• Calf liver
• Beef kidneys
• Puréed spinach

Barf Dog Food Recipe Idea #4

• Raw pigs foot
• Ground beef
• Mackerel
• Goat secreting organ mix
• Homemade frozen spinach-goat yogurt treat
• Homemade frozen turmeric-spinach treat

Barf Dog Food Recipe Idea #5

• Ground rabbit bones
• Ground rabbit meat
• Beef organ mix (liver, kidney, spleen, heart)
• Rose hip powder
• Store-bought fermented herbs
• Store bought green smorgasbord (zucchini, celery, broccoli, cucumber, spinach, fennel, green apple, kale, kelp, brewer’s yeast, bentonite clay, dandelions, basil, artichoke leaf, nettles, dill weed, parsley, chervil)

Barf dog Food Recipe Idea #6

• Chunked rabbit
• Ground rabbit
• Duck heart
• Goat secreting organ mix (liver, kidney, spleen)
• Goat green tripe
• Homemade frozen turmeric-banana treat
• Homemade frozen red beets-bone broth treat
• Store bought green smorgasbord (zucchini, celery, broccoli, cucumber, spinach, fennel, green apple, kale, kelp, brewer’s yeast, bentonite clay, dandelions, basil, artichoke leaf, nettles, dill weed, parsley, chervil)

For more raw dog food recipe ideas, check out my raw dog food recipe ebooks here – some also include raw feeding charts for dogs!

Why I Use As Many Raw Dog Food Ingredients

So, why don’t I just make Wally’s meals with chicken leg quarters, beef liver and chopped carrots? That seems to be a common raw dog food “recipe” that I’ve come across online repeatedly.

Well, there’s 2 very specific reasons.

First of all, Wally can’t have any chicken. When he does, he gets itchy all over to the point where he just can’t stop scratching.

Second, in order to make “balanced raw dog food”, it’s important to rotate the cuts of meat you’re using both within the same animal as well as between different animals.

What does that mean?

Don’t just feed two cuts of a specific animal like ground chicken and chicken liver.

You’ll also want to feed other parts of chicken. For example, chicken gizzards, chicken hearts, chicken heads, chicken feet and chicken necks.

That’s because different cuts of meat within the same animals have different nutrient profiles.

Liver for example is rich in Vitamin A whereas spleen doesn’t have any Vitamin A at all. But spleen is almost 5 x richer in Iron than liver!

You can check out the different nutrient profiles of raw spleen and raw liver side by side here.

See what I mean?

Additionally, feed similar cuts of meat from other animals because nutrient profiles differ between animals as well!

For example, heart from chicken, beef, turkey, duck, pork and rabbit.

Chicken heart, for example, is super rich in Vitamin B 9 (Folate), while beef heart doesn’t have any!

I broke down the different nutrient profiles of hearts from different animals in my heart blog post here.

Take a look, it’s really interesting!

Also, don’t just feed poultry or just red meats.

Feed both in addition to some oily fish like sardines, herring, mackerel and Atlantic salmon.

That’s particularly important if you can’t afford or source pastured meats.

Any animals who get to roam freely rather than being stuck inside cages or stalls non-stop are obviously going to be happier.

Besides that ethical improvement, pastured animals are also richer in Vitamin D and Omega-3 fatty acids than their non-pastured counterparts.

That’s because pastured animals are exposed to sunshine and get to eat their choice of worms, snails, insects, bugs, herbs, grasses, roots etc. Those are naturally rich in Omega-3s.

Non-pastured animals however rely on grains, corn and soy-based foods all of which are rich in Omega-6 fatty acids.

The problem here is that Omega-6s cause inflammation within the body, and Omega-3s decrease inflammation.

So a dog who only ever gets to eat caged chicken meats is highly likely to experience itchiness, yeast, hot spots, rashes and a dull coat, all symptoms of an inflamed body.

See what I mean?

So rotate, rotate and rotate again!

Where To Buy Raw Dog Food Ingredients

Here are a few suggestions of where to buy your raw dog food ingredients.

Grocery Stores

You’ll find the cheapest meat to use for raw dog food meal prep when it’s discounted at your local grocery store, so always be on the lookout for those meat deals!

Remember, pastured meats are healthiest but more expensive than meat from conventionally raised animals. So when you find some on sale, I suggest you stock up!

Obviously, you’ll need a freezer for that.

Raw Dog Food Retailers

Next, you can buy separate ingredients for raw meal prep at various raw dog food retailers across the US (and other countries too, of course – I personally moved from the US to Germany in 2021 and have lots of options here too).

For example:

• Raw Paws Pet Food. Use code K9Savings for 15% OFF anything.
• Raw Feeding Miami. Use this referral link for 10% OFF your first order.
• My Pet Carnivore
• Hare Today
• Soul’y Raw Pet Food
• Oma’s Pride Pet Food
• BJ’s Raw Pet Food
• White Oak Pastures
• Colorado Raw Dog Food
• The Real Meal Pet Food Company
• Frankie’s Free Range Meat
• Exotic Meat Markets

Amazon

Amazon carries several freeze-dried and dehydrated base mixes for raw dog food that consist of a large variety of plant matter. That’s going to be your most convenient way of sourcing puréed fresh goodness:

• Dr. Harvey’s Paradigm (low starch)
• Dr. Harvey’s Veg-to-Bowl
• Sojos Mix A Meal
• The Honest Kitchen Base Mix
• Grandma Lucy’s Artisan Pre-Mix

Green Juju

Green Juju has wonderful frozen fresh vegetable blends that are also super convenient for homemade barf dog food recipes:

• Just Greens
• Bailey’s Blend
• Golden Blend

These particular products aren’t available for sale on their website, so you’ll have to check their store locator to find the closest one near you that carries these.

Since most well stocked, independently owned pet food stores carry them, so they’re not hard to find! I used to buy mine at a pet store in Fayetteville, NC (Naturally Unleashed).

Other Resources To Shop Ingredients For Raw Dog Food

You can also check ethnic grocery stores, local butchers and farmers for “odd” cuts of meat.

Also see about making friends with hunters and wildlife processors! They’re great for getting your hands on all sorts of cuts of meat from deer.

I made friends with a wildlife processor in NC and DANG, I got lots of (secreting) organs from them that they would otherwise have thrown out.

Actually, I got them started on feeding their pup raw dog food as well!

Read all about feeding your dog wild, raw venison here.

Raw Dog Food Ingredients Used So Far This Year: Bottom Line

I hope you got some recipe inspiration while browsing the raw dog food ingredients I’ve used so far this year.

Remember, variety is key in raw feeding, which is why it’s important to include different cuts of muscle meat, fish, secreting organs, raw meaty bones and plant matter.

I know that it can be tricky to include a large variety of protein sources, especially when your pup has lots of food allergies like my pup Wally.

He can’t have any chicken or quail, no salmon, no sardines, no anchovies, no shellfish including green lipped mussels and no grains along with a bunch of veggies and fruits.

Pumpkin, blueberries and apples are on his list of iffy foods too, but he’s OK with a small amount.

At the same time, making Wally’s own raw meals also gives me control over the raw dog food ingredients that make it into his food, so that’s a plus!

Related Reading:

• Why raw hearts for dogs are a powerful raw organ meat
• Gizzards for dogs – how (much) to feed & more
• What’s so great about fermented dog food?
• 20 Easy no bake Valentine’s Day dog treats
• Vegetables in raw dog food – yes or no?
• Wally’s Halloween raw dog food bowl
• How to make balanced raw dog food
• Secreting organs for raw dog food
• Raw green tripe for dogs