Wondering if you can mix raw with kibble aka dry dog food? How about wet and cooked dog foods? Our guide answers this and will help you calculate the ratios, too.
We’re often asked if it’s ok to feed dogs raw food and kibble, wet, or cooked food and there are several reasons that someone might be considering this option.
For some people, it’s a matter of convenience – perhaps their dog goes to daycare, and it isn’t practical to send raw meals, or maybe someone else feeds them sometimes, or they do a lot of travelling and raw food isn’t always an option.
For others, it’s a matter of reducing the food bills for their pet, or not having sufficient freezer space to feed a completely raw diet all of the time.
Whatever your circumstances, there may be a solution to enable you to feed at least some raw food to your pet.
Often people are told that they shouldn’t, or can’t mix feed because it will cause ‘digestion issues’ – but is this true? Let’s take a look at some of the things you might have heard.
The majority of dogs will tolerate mixed feeding very well. Dogs have evolved as scavengers and have a digestive system that is able to cope with a wide variety of different foods at the same time.
Some dogs might struggle with an immediate switch from processed pet food to raw food, due to the different composition being a shock to their system – and those dogs often cope much better when the raw food is introduced gradually, by mixing it with their previous food.
There are a small number of dogs who don’t do so well with mixed feeding – and they may need their raw and dry, or wet, food fed at separate times. If you find that it’s not suiting your individual dog to have the two types of food together, try feeding them at separate meals.
Of course kibble and wet food, or kibble and raw food are very different and you might see someone saying that this means they can’t be fed together. Raw food contains high levels of protein and moisture, while kibble contains high levels of carbohydrate and very little moisture. This means that some people believe that they digest at different rates, or that they require different levels of stomach acid (pH).
Digestion is very sophisticated and is able to easily cope with a variety of different foods. Your dog will produce the required enzymes, and stomach acid, based on the types and amount of protein, carbohydrates, and fats that are eaten, regardless of whether those came from raw food, or processed food, or a mixture of both.
All of us have bacteria in our guts – our ‘microbiome’ – and our dogs are no different. The better our diet is, and the more variety that’s included, the healthier our microbiome is. A healthy microbiome, which consists of ‘good’ bacteria helps to protect against ‘bad’ bacteria growing in the gut, as the friendly bacteria outcompetes the pathogenic bacteria for resources.
We know that there are numerous benefits to raw feeding – including digestion, softer fur, and smaller stools. We all want our pets to be as healthy as possible – but, sometimes, it’s just not possible to feed them on a completely raw diet.
Whatever your circumstances, providing some fresh food in your pets diet will benefit them – some raw is better than none at all.
The best option is the one that suits you, your dog, and your circumstances the best. For some people that might mean feeding mainly raw food and bulking meals out with fresh vegetables, eggs, and sardines for example. While for others it might mean feeding half raw and half kibble, or half wet food.
Once you’ve decided how much raw food you want to include in your dogs diet, you can easily change the amount you get in your online account by logging in and going to the ‘Subscription’ section and then to ‘Daily amount’ Alternatively, our Customer Care team will be happy to help you set up the account to suit.
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Yes – if it suits you to do so, you can feed your dog a mixture of raw food and dry dog food.
Yes, for the majority of dogs, it’s safe to feed a mixture of raw food and kibble. Your dog has a sophisticated digestive system that is able to easily cope with a variety of different food types.
Any wet or dry dog food can be mixed with raw food, although we would recommend going for the best quality that you can afford and preferably one with a higher meat content. The All About Dog Food website is a great resource, where you can get information on various foods along with a nutritional rating and a price guide to help you make an informed decision.
Yes, you can feed your dog on both raw food and wet food together, if you wish to do so.
Yes, it’s safe for your dog to be fed a mixture of wet dog food and raw food. Your dog has a sophisticated digestive system that is able to easily cope with a variety of different food types.
The best wet food is the one that best suits your individual budget, and your individual dog. Have a look on the All About Dog Food website where you’ll be able to explore different types of food, see nutritional ratings, and get a guide on price points to help you make an informed choice.
Yes, you can mix raw food and cooked dog food for your dog if you wish.
Yes, it is safe for you to feed both raw and cooked food to your dog, either in the same meal or in separate meals.
Fresh cooked food for dogs is often expensive, so this may not be a good option for those looking to cut costs. It also tends to need to be stored in the freezer, in the same way that raw food does, which means that it might not be a solution for those with limited freezer space.
The All About Dog Food website is a useful resource where you can see different types of food, and what’s available as well as getting a nutritional rating and an idea of price point to help you make an informed choice.
Yes, you can add homemade cooked food to raw food, provided that the cooked food doesn’t contain any ingredients, such as onions or high amounts of salt, that might be harmful to dogs. Find out what foods are toxic and poisonous to dogs.
In this instance, we would recommend that the home cooked food make up a small part of the diet, or is used as a ‘topper’. Commercially produced dog food has to meet strict standards for nutrition, to ensure that your pet gets all of the nutrients they require and often homemade diets fall short on some key nutrients.
If you would like to add some homemade cooked food to ‘bulk out’ your dog’s meals, scrambled egg is a great choice. You can also include some unseasoned cooked meat as well. Make up some mashed veggies using leftover vegetables, and you can even use the bits you don’t eat yourself – for example, the stalks and leaves of cauliflower and broccoli.
The reduced price shelves of supermarkets are a great place to pick up some bargains that you can use in your dog’s meals. You can get more ideas for healthy food toppers for your dog here.
We would suggest keeping additions of this type to 20% or less of the overall meal, to ensure that your dog is still getting all the nutrients that they need.
For some dogs, a half raw and half kibble or wet food diet plan might mean having the wet or dry food for breakfast and raw food for dinner (or vice versa). While for others it might mean feeding both food types at the same time, for both meals. Whatever best suits your own circumstances and your individual dog is fine.
Ideally we would recommend feeding as much raw food as possible – so your dog’s diet plan might look like 75% raw and 25% wet food, or 50% raw and 50% dry dog food.
To work out how much of each type of food to feed you’ll first need to get the recommended daily amount for each of them. You can check your dogs recommended daily amount for raw food using our feeding calculator (add link to calculator). To get the daily amount for the wet, dry or cooked food you’re using, check on the packet or the manufacturers website.
Once you know the recommended amount, you’ll then need to work out what proportion of that you need to feed. For example, if you’ve decided to feed 50/50 simply divide the recommended amounts in half. If you’ve decided to feed 75/25 take the recommended amount for raw food and, using a calculator, multiply by 75%, then multiply the recommended wet or dry food amount by 25%. The same method can be used for any other proportions you wish to feed.
How you feed a mixed diet is about what best suits you, and what best suits your dog. For some people and dogs that will mean feeding the kibble or wet or cooked food and raw food in separate meals, while for others it will mean feeding both at the same time.
Watch your dog to see how they’re getting on. For example, if you feed the two together, do they pick out the raw, and leave the other food (or vice versa)? If so, you might prefer to feed them in separate meals. Do they have a runny poo if they eat a meal that’s just kibble? If so, you might need to feed the two mixed together in one meal.
Yes, you can mix pre-prepared raw meals with raw meat from a supermarket or butcher and, for some people, this can be a useful way to bulk out raw meals and make the food go further.
Most healthy dogs will be able to tolerate raw meat from the supermarket very well. However, you should be aware that food sold for human consumption is sold with the assumption that it’s going to be cooked, so it doesn’t undergo the strict bacterial testing that raw pet food does. This does mean that there is a higher risk of bacterial contamination so you should be extra careful about hygiene, and take especial care if you have a young puppy, a very elderly dog or one with an underlying health issue.
We would recommend popping any meat from the supermarket or butcher into the freezer for a few days before giving it to your dog – both to inhibit any bacterial growth while it’s being stored, and to kill any parasites that may be present.
Provided it’s unseasoned, you can get any type of meat you wish. Chicken, beef, lamb, and duck are all popular and readily available and can make a tasty addition to your dogs meals.
You can also get raw meaty bones from a supermarket or butcher – chicken wings, or lamb ribs for example. Find out more about how to choose suitable bones for your dog and how to feed them safely here.
Any meat that has been seasoned isn’t suitable to give to your dog – these often contain ingredients, like onion powder or high levels of salt, which aren’t safe for your pet.
If possible, avoid giving meat that hasn’t been frozen first.
You can include some organ meat as well but keep in mind that it is very rich and can cause an upset tummy if you give too much. Stick to a piece the size of your thumbnail for a small dog and a piece the size of your thumb from the top knuckle up for larger dogs.
Pre-prepared raw dog food has been carefully put together to make sure that it includes enough of all of the nutrients that your dog needs to thrive. We therefore recommend adding no more than 20% of the total meal in raw meat from a supermarket or butcher, to ensure that your dog still gets enough of everything that they need.
That means that 80% (or 80g in every 100g of food) will be the commercial raw meal, and 20% (or 20g per 100g) extra raw meat.
Additional raw meat can easily be included with your dogs raw meals, to make them go that little bit further, or to add a tasty topper. It can also be given as a special treat during the day.
As we recommended not feeding more than 20% of your dogs food intake in additional raw meat, it’s unlikely that you’re going to feed this as a separate meal – although an occasional meal of off-cuts can be a lovely treat for some dogs.
Yes, you can feed your dog one meal of raw and one meal of kibble a day
By including some raw food in your dogs diet, you will see many of the benefits of raw feeding, including a glossy coat, smaller and firmer poos, and better digestion. If you’re currently feeding a completely raw diet, you might find that your dogs poos become a bit larger and softer than you’ve been used to.
The extent of any changes will depend on how much, or how little, raw food you’re incorporating.
Just as we want to include as much fresh food in our diets, and in our children’s diets, as possible we should strive to include as much fresh food as possible in our dogs diets. Properly prepared raw food is the most species-appropriate food for dogs and provides them with the protein and fat that they need, as well as vitamins and minerals. It also provides high levels of moisture and, uniquely among pet food, naturally occurring enzymes that aid with digestion and absorption.
Yes – and no.
Kibble will exit the stomach much more quickly than raw food because it’s more quickly broken down (bone digests in the stomach slowest of all) Once it’s left the stomach and entered the intestines, the higher fibre content of kibble means that it passes through the intestines a little more slowly.
We hope this guide helps to answer some of your questions about if you can mix raw dog food with other types of dog food, and how to do that. Why not come and join us in our friendly online community, The Pack, where you can share ideas on mixing up your dogs meals with other dedicated pet parents.
