Comments on: Raw Feeding: A Natural Diet For Labradors

By: MattInMo

MattInMo — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 02:58:18 +0000

I just want to offer encouragement and a bit of guidance. *disclaimer: I’m just some guy on a computer with absolutely no formal training. I’m not a vet, I’m not a nutritionist, I’m not offering advice. I’m simply typing out what my dog eats.* We have a 2 year old black lab that we’ve been raw feeding for over a year. We feed her twice a day, morning at 8 am and evening at 5 pm. For breakfast, it’s 9 oz of food, mostly vegetables. Bell peppers, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, long grain white rice, brussle sprouts, squash, zucchini, cucumber, and celery. Everything is cooked together in coconut oil and olive oil. We add cooked chicken (no bones) to the mix and portion out everything.
For dinner, 4 items. 2.5 oz of liver, heart, or kidney. 1 chicken leg or thigh (bone in). Chicken breast or pork chop. Then topped off with ground beef (73/27 or 80/20). Enough to make 1 lb, 11 oz. in total.
Every other day we give her fish oil. The same one I take.
Every person that sees her has the same initial reaction: “she’s so shiny.” She is super fit, right at 68 pounds. I weigh her every couple of months just to verify I’m not under or over feeding her.
For treats, I’ll just boil chicken breasts and add mint, basil, turmeric, and ginger to the water. I save the water and freeze it and give her about 1 cup per day. She LOVES it! I’ll add this chicken to her breakfasts.
The vet told us “whatever you’re feeding her, keep it up.”
It’s so primal listening her crunch chicken bones. It rarely takes longer than 30 seconds for her to absolutely dominate either meal.
To start we went slow. She instantly knew what to do with the chicken leg. She doesn’t chew her food, but when I give her a pork loin that’s too big for her to just throw back, she’ll “chew” off a piece that’s small enough to swallow. If something goes bad, she’ll just pull it from her bowl and not eat it. It’s happened a few times because of my mistakes with beef liver.
Your mileage may vary. Do your own research.

By: Scott Huntley

Scott Huntley — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 15:49:24 +0000

Thank you for such a detailed and balanced article. I have decided to switch my Labrador to provide him with all the benefits that seem to be available through raw feeding. Fun times ahead I hope!

By: Esther

Esther — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 15:13:36 +0000

I am so glad I found this blog! I am a first time Lab-owner but not a new dog owner. I had three poochies that I rescued at different times, two were mutts and one was pure blue Chihuahua. I always ‘cooked’ for them various meats and veggies, it just felt right; rafely would I ise high quality kibble and they lived up to 19, 18 and the Chihuahua lived 14 years (he came with a long history of bad veterinarian care and lots of medication abuse). Towards their latter years I semi cooked their meat and bones because of the age related weak digestion. It was a joy for me to care for them most of their lives. Seven weeks ago, I rescued a 5-week old lab puppy (i don’t have much experience with puppies since most of my rescues are adults), and I started feeding high-quality puppy food, some egg, a little bit of yogurt, cooked veggies. Now he is 12 weeks old and have started him with raw chicken legs, chicken necks and organs, some raw liver and he loves it. The vet I adopted him from had 5 siblings of my dog and they were still having explosive diarrheas while mine had perfectly formed poop. I know my pup is on the right track. I still give him dry kibble with water sometimes because I want him to eat at a boarding facility if I need to travel. This is the best site I have found about raw feeding, and all the more since it is focused on labs! Thanks so much, Pippa!

By: Jennifer Burt

Jennifer Burt — Sun, 16 Feb 2020 00:10:27 +0000

In reply to USMC Mom. So glad to hear about the age your lab lived to. I have just taken on a lab puppy and was very disappointed to learn about their short life span- 10 to 12 years. I have always fed her raw food so hopefully she'll live a bit longer too :-)

By: Sanjoy B

Sanjoy B — Sat, 04 May 2019 12:02:40 +0000

My lab is now 5.5 old. I usually give him 250-260 gm raw meat in one time. twice in a day. Bu I couldn’t understand the above amount of raw meat is whether sufficient or not. Pls. guide me.

By: Linsey

Linsey — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 20:45:24 +0000

I have a 10 week old lab puppy and was wondering when to introduce the raw diet to him, thanks

By: Alan Sexton

Alan Sexton — Sat, 01 Sep 2018 16:36:19 +0000

Andy my 9 yr old started having seizures about 3 months ago. To date 9-1-2018 he has had 15. I’ve fed him blue wilderness salmon and taste of the wild high prairie for 8 yrs. The vet only recommends drugs. He is very healthy. I ride and he runs and swims on a closed golf course. Any help or suggestions or anything I could do would be appreciated.

By: Delia Seaman

Delia Seaman — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 00:49:25 +0000

In reply to USMC Mom. If you're beginning RAW for the puppies at 10 months old, what did you feed them prior? I have a 9 week old that I'm deciding on whether to start RAW now or wait until he's a little bit older....

By: USMC Mom

USMC Mom — Sat, 07 Apr 2018 01:17:47 +0000

I fed my lab raw for many years, having learned about raw feeding from a Dr. Billinghurst. My black lab looked like black patent leather … beautiful! His teeth were white and never caked at the gum line. It was recommended that ideally, there should be about a 50/50 ratio of meat/bone, but that can’t always be achieved, so I got as close as I could. He also ate what I referred to as “veggie slop”. I ground a large variety of fresh veggies (they kept longer in the freezer) and had fish and veggie slop every Sunday. My boy lived to be 15 years old, which surprised my vet, as he always said that big dogs don’t always live as long as small ones. I never told my vet what my boy ate, because I had known he’d not approve and some vets don’t. I have two 10 month old lab pups now and they are just beginning raw feeding.

By: Julie murphy

Julie murphy — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 13:56:15 +0000

I have been raw feeding for over 10 yrs. I didn’t get a choice, I had 2 dogs that caught their own rabbits daily and weren’t interested in anything else except carrots that I offered. Now they’re older and not fast enough to catch their own I have to supply what they need. Both of my dogs eat hair that is found from either me.grooming them or what comes off my horses.