Brand Blindness
As the cost of living crisis grows, and we hunt for bargains, there is a risk of becoming 'brand blind'.
This is a term used for those who only feed 1 or 2 brands of raw food, day in, day out.
This may seem 'fine' and there will be cases of some dogs being 'ok' with this - but this is not necessarily the case when we look deeper into a dogs health and longevity.
1 brands 801010 Beef may consist of:
Heart, Chunks, Lung, Liver, Kidney
Another brands 801010 Beef may contain:
Lung, Chunks, Liver, Spleen
Due to the differing body parts available in each, they will contain slightly different nutrient levels. Neither are a bad choice, but by mixing up brands you enhance your dogs diet easily.
Mixing brands can be done on a budget to using our budgeting tool built into our Brands List so please don’t worry.
Another factor is that different animals for raw dog food are raised in different ways. Farmed animals (which are usually the food source that is cheapest) tend to be higher in fat.
Feeding a diet solely of farmed animals can lead to weight gain, or excess internal fat only seen during surgery or post mortems, around organs.
️By feeding a mixture of brands to include some organic or wild proteins you can counteract that risk somewhat. Check out our fat content protein chart for ideas of low, moderate and high fat meats. A healthy dog should be fed a mixture of all 3 groups.
The final reason we recommend mixing brands, is that your dog may be unable to tolerate a grain fed protein (usual in farmed animals), but may be absolutely fine with eating a grass fed version of that protein. This allows greater variety of proteins, and therefore greater variety of nutrients - win win!
Following on from brand blindness, we have the 2nd most common mistake made by those seeking a healthy species appropriate diet...
Protein Blindness
This is very common, yet very dangerous. This term is used when the diet has been heavily restricted, day in, day out.
Doing this risks:
- boredom
- nutrient deficiencies
- illness
Science is forever evolving but the current advice tells us we should aim to feed 4-5 proteins a week on average. How you do this is your choice, some work on 1 protein a week using several proteins in rotation, some use daily variance.
This should include a good mix (as a base guide, there are more options no doubt) from the following list:
- Beef, Pork, Duck, Goose, Pigeon, Lamb
- Pheasant, Venison, Elk, Ostrich, Veal, Chicken, Turkey, Zebra, Rabbit, Hare, Buffalo
- Horse, Quail, Squirrel, Goat, Partridge, Camel, Kangaroo, Guinea Fowl
The more variety of proteins you feed, the more variety of nutrients your dog gets.
Different animals give your dog different nutrients in different levels.
If you have been suffering from Protein Blindness, we recommend you look to introduce new proteins urgently. You can do this by ensuring you have Dorwest Tree Barks or Proflax Tummy Tastic in ready, then use the same process we use in weeks 2 & 3 of our Transition Guide to introduce new proteins.
⁉️ Variety is the spice of life! Help your dog to thrive, not just survive, by giving them a wonderfully varied diet.
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