The 7 Best Supplements for Your Dog’s Raw Diet
Many dog parents have made or are making the switch to raw food diet for the multitude of benefits it provides: fresh breath and clean teeth, healthier skin and coat, better emotional and mental health, and better digestion. Much of this is made possible because raw food doesn’t preserve or process any of the whole foods that go into it - processes that may ensure longer shelf life but that strip away nutrition at its source.
But does feeding fresh, raw food mean that adding supplements or other fresh foods is no longer necessary?
We don’t think so, and for two main reasons:
Some ingredients don’t freeze or dehydrate well, so adding them as fresh ingredients is essential for unlocking their nutritional potential and providing your dog a complete diet.
Supplementing, whether by adding fresh ingredients or appropriate supplements, is a way of individualizing your dog’s food to fit their precise dietary, lifestyle, and wellness needs.
Like with any diet, make sure that you’re feeding a nutritionally balanced food that's made from reliably sourced ingredients. In this blog, we’re using Formule Raw’s frozen beef formula. This raw recipe is made from 90% antibiotic- and hormone-free beef, 10% fruits and vegetables, and is nutritionally balanced for all breeds and ages of dogs. Not to mention: dogs love it!
So let’s take a look at our favourite supplements that will boost the nutritional availability of any raw food diet:
Happy Days Raw Fermented Goat Milk is easy to feed and looks so delicious that we could almost drink it!
1. Goat milk
Unlike the store-bought cow milk that so many of us are accustomed to, goat milk is more easily digestible and less likely to cause an allergic reaction, thanks to low quantities of a number of proteins found in cow milk that have been linked to allergies. Raw goat milk, which preserves many of its naturally-occurring nutrients, also contains lactase enzymes. This means that even those with lactose intolerance - including dogs - can digest goat milk without any issues.
Goat milk is often considered one of the most complete sources of nutrition available. It contains a balanced source of protein, electrolytes, trace elements, digestive enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids, making it a powerhouse of highly digestible nutrition. Raw goat milk that has been fermented - a process that preserves the natural microorganisms within - contains over 200 probiotics that boost digestive function and immune support. And as we’re coming to find out, your dog’s digestive system plays a huge role not only in their overall health, but in their emotional and mental health, as well.
Best of all, this supplement is suitable for daily use, especially for maintenance of chronic issues such as poor digestion and even liver and kidney disease; or simply add it as a probiotic boost!
The Honest Kitchen’s Beef Bone Broth comes in a powdered form, but can easily be rehydrated and even made into delicious frozen treats!
2. Bone Broth
Bone broth is made by taking bones, especially collagen-dense bones and tissues around the joints, and simmering them in water and an acid (like vinegar) for 24 hours or more. This long process helps to draw out all the beneficial nutrition found in the bones themselves and make them easily digestible.
You’ve probably already heard of bone broth, as it has become somewhat of a celebrity in the health food world - but for good reason. Full of minerals, bone broth contains a number of compounds that help protect and heal joints, particularly glucosamine, chondroitin, and hyaluronic acid.
And with the addition of turmeric in The Honest Kicthen’s Beef Bone Broth, which acts as a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, bone broth also makes for a restorative supplement for digestive upsets. It’s ideal for a dog who’s feeling under the weather, or as an intermittent supplement for a dog who needs an extra spring in his step.
Fresh blueberries and a spoonful of veggie and fruit mix - puréed cranberries, broccoli, raspberries, and ground flax seeds.
3. Fresh Greens
Dogs are facultative carnivores, meaning that they can survive on vegetarian diets, but thrive as meat-eaters. The amount of fresh fruits and vegetables you give to your dog is entirely up to you and your dog’s individual needs. But no matter the quantity, fresh greens help provide and can even accentuate many of the vitamins, minerals, fibre, and antioxidants otherwise unavailable to dogs in a purely meat-based diet.
So selecting greens that compliment your dog’s dietary requirements is key. Some of these include: blueberries, raspberries, cranberries, strawberries, pumpkin, broccoli, kale, spinach, kelp, and various microgreens. Blueberries, for example, contain manganese, a trace mineral that helps metabolism protein and carbohydratess, whereas strawberries can even help whiten your dog’s teeth!
But because fruits are a natural source of sugar, avoid feeding excessive amounts. And because not all dogs will take to eating whole fruits or vegetables, nor is it always feasible for them to easily digest them, blending (and freezing) greens is a painless way of providing a green boost to your dog’s health.
Fresh, organic eggs cracked open and ready to be slurped up!
4. Eggs
No matter what diet you feed your dog, whole, fresh eggs are one of the most balanced and bioavailable sources of additional nutrition you can provide. They’re inexpensive and delicious, but don’t shy away from pasture-raised and organic eggs - you are what you eat, after all, and pasture-raised chickens lay eggs that have a higher nutritional value than conventional eggs, with higher levels of protein, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and even fatty acids.
Eggs can be fed raw or soft-boiled, and are great as added protein after a long or active day. As an added enrichment, raw, pasture-laid eggs can be fed whole, as the shell and membrane contain healthy amounts of calcium and phosphorous, as well as other minerals and proteins that play a role in maintaining good bone and joint health.
Bonnie & Clyde’s Wild Omega-3 Fish Oil uses sustainably caught wild sardines, anchovies, and mackerel, and doesn’t have any funky fish smell!
5. Fish Oil
Fish oil is generally made from fat that’s extracted from fish tissue, but can also be made from the livers of some fish - think cod liver oil. It's most known for being rich in omega-3 fatty acids, including EPA and DHA, that are more potent than those found in plant-based sources. A healthy ratio of omega-3s has been linked to healthy growth and maintenance of your dog’s heart, brain, eyes, skin, and even has anti-inflammatory properties. It’s an all-around powerful supplement for mobility and overall health, particularly for aging dogs.
However, fish oil degrades quickly and doesn’t freeze well, so serving it fresh, preferably right before a meal, is the best way to provide its benefits to your dog. Alternatively, both hemp seed oil and flax seed oil contain a comparable amount of essential fatty acids and are just as beneficial when added to a raw food diet.
Raw honey from your local beekeeper works best!
6. Raw honey
A true product of its local environment, honey is made from the nectar of flowering plants, which is then further broken down in the beehive. Raw, unpasteurized, and unfiltered honey is exactly as you would find it in the hive itself. Pasteurization and filtration may make the honey smoother and give it a longer shelf life, but they ultimately strip away the most nutritious aspects of honey: its many important antioxidants and local pollen.
Antioxidants help protect your dog’s cells against free radicals, which play a role in heart disease, cancer, and some chronic illnesses. But pollen? For dogs that suffer from seasonal allergies, exposing them to incremental amounts of local pollen may alleviate their symptoms.
On top of that, honey has a wonderfully sweet flavour that even dogs adore, so it can be added as a topper to any food to entice picky eaters. Certain kinds of raw honey, notably Manuka Honey from Australia and New Zealand, possess antibacterial qualities and can even be used to treat wounds.
RawPaw’s Green Lipped Mussel powder is made fresh from whole New Zealand mussels.
7. Green Lipped Mussel
Green Lipped Mussels (GLMs), or New Zealand mussels are a type of shellfish found only along the coasts of New Zealand. What set these small, green-streaked mussels apart from many other sustainable food sources are the extraordinary health benefits they possess: even in a powdered extract form, GLMs contain very high concentrations of Omega-3s, which, as said before, play a role in heart and brain health.
Most importantly, GLMs contain high quantities of glucosamine and chondroitin. Both of these not only reduce inflammation and discomfort from regular wear and tear or from degenerative inflammatory conditions like arthritis, but also help build and maintain healthy cartilage and bone - making GLM a safe treatment for joint problems and as a preventative treatment for active dogs. Given that 50% of dogs over the age of eight develop inflammatory joint conditions, GLMs are a highly accessible form of pain and inflammation management. Best of all, this powerful supplement has no known side-effects!
Green Lipped Mussel powder can be fed as a topping to food, mixed into liquids, or even fed as ice cubes.
Supplementing your dog’s diet doesn’t have to be hard, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t incredibly beneficial. Every dog can at the very least benefit from the addition of probiotics, omega-3 fatty acids, and fresh greens to help to promote a healthy body and mind.
Because each dog is unique, differences in breed, size, age, personal history, and even dietary preferences will influence what kinds of supplements will be the most beneficial for them. So if you’ve been inspired by any of the supplements here and you’re curious about what you could be adding to your dog’s diet, come visit us at the store! We always get really excited when someone asks us about supplements - even for cats!
