Are You Feeding Your Dog Enough Protein?

A major shift in how we produce food has happened over the last 100 years.

From the 19th century to the 20th century many people were making a transition from rural areas/small farms to metropolitan cities. This affected how people produced food.

Food production transitioned from focusing on health and nutrition to convenience-based. Foods were being cooked excessively and overly processed to meet the increased demands of a dense, on-the-go, population.  

Unfortunately, this phenomenon also changed the way our dogs eat.

But,dogs need a high protein diet.

We have become accustomed to feeding our dogs kibble, by convenience, depriving dogs of the protein they need.

Instead, we should be feeding them the right kind of food and the right amount of protein. The best way to feed the high protein diet your dog needs is by feeding an all-natural raw dog food diet.

Why Is A High Protein Dog Food Best?

Protein is made up of organic compounds known as amino acids. They are essential to your dog’s nutritional needs. Out of the 22 amino acids in a protein, 10 are necessary for a dog’s diet.

Protein is important because they help your dog’s: 

• Immune system

• Metabolism

• Produces vitamin B

• Heart, brain, and eye function

• Tissue repair

Without these certain amino acids, your dog may suffer from protein deficiency.

Symptoms of protein deficiency include: 

•      Growth/soft tissue issues

•      Changes in behavior

•      An imbalance of hormones

•      Skin issues

•      Sudden weight loss

High Protein Dog Food

Now that you know why protein is important, here are some pointers to feed your dog a high protein diet 

1. Keep your dog on a low-fat diet

Feed lean/high-quality meats because low-quality meat has more fat content with less protein. When looking into meats for your pet,we recommend 85/15 which means that the meat is 15% fat or less.

Another reason to feed lean meat is to make sure your dog is getting the correct amount of protein/amino acids without overeating (too many calories).

A high-fat diet would not only reduce the amount of protein your dog is getting, but also the number of vitamins and minerals they receive. Fat contains double the amount of calories as protein per ounce.

If you want to calculate the number of calories your dog should be eating a day to maintain a healthy lifestyle by using our calculator.

2. Feed your dog a raw diet

The BARF acronym stands for “Biologically Appropriate Raw Food” and is one of the raw model diets we use to formulateour raw food. BARF diets are 80% raw meat, 10% bone & organ meats, and 10% fruits & vegetables.

Raw dog food is good for your dog because it follows the diet plan that their ancestors ate. Before dogs were domesticated, they ate raw animal meat, any scraps they could find, and wild berries.

You can tell by a dog’s teeth that their ancestors were carnivores. Their teeth consist of sharp fangs for ripping through and pulling apart animal and fish meat. In contrast, they do not have flat molars for crushing up plants such as the teeth that herbivores have.

Dogs have a short digestive tract with a large stomach because they often went days between meals. Even now,dogs take around 8 hours to fully digest their meals.

3. Stay away from cooked foods

Cooking foods at extreme temperatures strips many of the nutrients and health benefits that kibble may have had.

As I talked about earlier, dogs will have a difficult time getting all their protein from kibble. Serving your dog cooked food lowers their chances even more to get those 10 essential amino acids.

Also, dogs do not digest plant protein nearly as well as animal protein. 

Where To Get Dog Food With High Protein?

One way to ensure that your dog will get all the nutrition he needs, including protein, is feeding dog food from brands like Cali Raw. 

All raw dog food sold by us will meet the nutritional needs of your dog, including protein!