[Vinniedoggy]

Vinnie has been eating the Nature's Variety medallions for about 5-6 years now and LOVES them. We also do Primal sometimes (a similar concept but they are frozen nuggets instead). I like the premade stuff mainly because it saves time and has everything they need (specifically, the ground up bone).

However, it's also pretty easy to prepare raw food from scratch, although obviously more time-consuming than just thawing out the medallions. What I do is get a variety of meat from the store (including organ meat). Sometimes I very lightly cook it (just to brown the outside, but the inside is still raw). I add to their dish plain pumpkin, some steamed veggies (very small amount because these will give them gas), and plain whole-fat yogurt. I vary the meat, but it will include beef heart, chicken livers, beef liver, lamb, bison, chicken, turkey, and beef. I avoid pork (too fatty) and anything processed.

To ensure they get the right nutrients, I also add some ground up bone meal to their food as well as a couple of whole food supplements recommended by my vet. The bone meal is VERY important to ensure they get the calcium they need.

Then, to top all this off at least once a week they get a raw marrow bone. These things smell disguesting (you can get them in your meat department) but my guys LOVE them. I get small ones that are easy for them to get the marrow out of and then chew on for a few hours.

So, that's how we do raw. I will admit that it totally disguests me, especially the organ meat. I've been a vegetarian for at least 15 years and never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would be chopping up raw meat to serve to my dogs. The things we do for love!