Hello again, I am back with another really random obsession. I have fallen down a TikTok rabbit hole again, and I am now obsessed with dogs that have raw diets.
Every time such a video appears on my ‘For You’ page, I stop everything and watch the whole thing. I brought my obsession up to my flatmate and she didn’t know whether ‘bone-eating’ was safe for dogs. This brings me to the question: how healthy is this raw diet for dogs? Is it worth the price difference? As someone who has never had a pet dog, I wanted to do a little hypothetical thought experiment and see what could be the best possible diet for, let’s say, an adult Labrador Retriever.
According to Pet Insurance Australia, a Labrador Retriever needs protein, grains, vitamins, healthy fats and prebiotics. Realistically, you could get all of those nutrients from dry dog food, but would you want to eat the same foods everyday? I wouldn’t! There are studies that suggest dogs can taste, and even have a preference for, foods that are more pungent since their sense of smell is a million times stronger than humans. Hence, their preference for wet dog food over dry dog food. However, is your dog’s enjoyment of food worth the difference in price?
We now encounter our first obstacle: money.
This raw diet is expensive! If you choose to feed your dog raw food, it could cost anywhere from £30 to £90 depending on the size of your dog. To feed an average Labrador Retriever which weighs around 30kg, PLATINUM Pet Food & Care recommends around 325g of dry dog food per day; if my calculations are correct (they are sometimes), 12kg would last me just over 36 days. I did some research on the Tesco website and you can technically feed your dog as little as for £13.5 per month. Purina says that dry dog food is good for dental health and gives dogs all the necessary nutrients, so theoretically you could just feed your dog dry dog food. The question now is whether the potentially £76.5 per month difference in price is worth it.
Source: TikTok/ myboyrudder.
One of the main selling points for these raw diet Tik Toks (aside from the dogs just demolishing the meals) is the crunchy sound when they eat bones; whether a drumstick or a whole duck head, these creators love feeding dogs the bones. But how healthy is that for dogs?
One of the main reasons I found out for why you should definitely not feed your dog cooked bones is because it can cause the cooked bones to splinter and cause internal injury. However, the same cannot be said for raw bones. Turns out, raw bones can “help to keep teeth and gums healthy, provide added nutrition and help cleanse your dog’s digestive tract”, especially “meaty bones” such as chicken wings. I have no idea whether a whole duck head would achieve the same since it is less meaty.
Source: TikTok/ remithecanecorso.
After all this research, I think the argument of whether a raw food diet for dogs is a good idea is very dependent on how much money you are willing to put toward the happiness of your dog. In terms of nutrition, it seems like normal dry dog food would be just fine; but, if you ask me, I would pay more for the raw diet ASMR experience that you can get daily without the addictiveness of social media!
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