Nowadays, many more pet owners have started to pay close attention to what they include in their pet’s diet. With natural raw food diets becoming increasingly popular, their benefits are also becoming more evident. There are different benefits to giving your pet a raw food diet.

Not only is it more organic and less processed than most of the commercial pet diets available on the market, but your pets would also love it! The best benefit that comes with this diet is that it comes with numerous health benefits for your lovely pet!

So, if you have been searching for “Raw pet food near me” on the internet, you might be interested to know the different benefits you and your pet enjoy from this diet. We share 10 of those benefits in this article. Without further ado, let’s jump right into it!

WHAT EXACTLY IS A RAW PET FOOD DIET?
Giving your pet fresh, organic food made with actual ingredients, similar to what they naturally eat in the wild, is known as “Species Appropriate Raw Pet Food.” Raw food diet for pets tends to preserve its original nutritional value as it’s not cooked. So, it comes without mineral supplements or synthetic vitamins frequently added to most common cooked commercial pet foods, which lose their natural nutrients through processing and applying heat.

Raw pet food can be store-bought, homemade, dehydrated, or freeze-dried. Muscle and organ meats, raw eggs, whole or ground bones, fresh vegetables and fruits that are safe for pets, and dairy products like raw goat milk and kefir are typically included in a raw diet to meet all the nutritional requirements determined by the Association of American Feed Control Officers (AAFCO).

Although this diet has many controversies, it has various benefits for your pets. If you’re searching for a way to plan a raw diet for your pet, you can check out Fetching Dog, which has the most extensive raw pet food selection in Scottsdale (Arizona).

TOP 10 BENEFITS OF RAW FOOD DIETS FOR YOUR PET
Many pet owners prefer raw food for their lovely pets because it provides numerous health benefits. However, this diet offers various other benefits that you might not be well aware of. These benefits include: 

1. SHINIER COAT AND HEALTHIER SKIN
A diet rich in raw, fresh, and natural foods can provide your pet with the essential amino and fatty acids your pet needs to maintain a shiny coat and healthy skin. Omega-3 fatty acids are excellent for pets with inflammatory skin conditions or allergies because they support healthy skin, soft fur, and anti-inflammatory properties.

A pet’s fur and skin are almost entirely composed of protein. Its body uses as much as 30 percent of the protein it consumes to maintain its coat and skin condition.

Due to the easily absorbed protein in high-quality natural raw pet food, a dull and lifeless coat will change into a healthy, glossy, shiny fur. When fed a raw diet, your pet’s skin can also show visible improvements, especially in pets with skin irritations. However, it does take time! The skin is typically the last organ to show symptoms, and therefore it is also the last to show healing. 

2. IMPROVED IMMUNE SYSTEM
Giving our pets a complete and balanced diet is essential for supporting their immune systems, and the nutrients found in all-natural foods are highly digestible for your pet. As dogs and cats are carnivores, meat is essential to their diets.

Raw meat muscle offers high-quality, easily digestible protein for your pets, which is vital for immunity and their overall health. Unlike heavily processed meat products, raw meat contains various vitamins, essential fats, and minerals that remain unaffected by not applying heat.

In addition to ensuring your pet has access to numerous micronutrients, feeding them a variety of fresh meat proteins is suitable for your pet’s overall health. Steve’s has a great collection you might want to check out if you are looking for some raw meat food products for your pet. 

3. DECREASED BOWEL VOLUME AND ODOR
A benefit of feeding your pet a diet composed of highly digestible ingredients is that more of what they consume is absorbed and used, resulting in less waste. Our puppies’ digestive systems function to absorb as many beneficial nutrients from their food as possible. Carbohydrates and fillers like corn, potato, soy, rice, and others may take a long time to digest.

Your pet’s body cannot completely absorb these ingredients, and they act as fillers. So, consuming these ingredients can bulk up your pet’s stool, resulting in a larger stool volume with a strong odor. Most raw diets don’t contain any fillers and have low carbohydrates. So, their stools are often smaller as there is less waste passing through. 

4. OUTSTANDING DENTAL HEALTH
When dogs or cats are three years old, most pets begin to suffer from some form of dental disease. Most pet owners are correctly aware of how much of a challenging activity it is to brush their pet’s teeth. It almost seems impossible to reach some places in their mouth depending on how relaxed the pet is.

However, raw and meaty bones are renowned as natural toothbrushes for our pets. Biting, chewing, and tearing apart bones and raw meat prevents dental diseases. They can get into the tight spaces within their teeth and help remove plaque. Primal has a good collection of raw meaty bones for this purpose that you can check out.

In some cases, a poor diet, especially one containing high processed foods or carbohydrates, can also be linked to terrible dental hygiene. So, a raw diet is comparatively better for your pet’s dental health. You can give your pet a diet full of nutritious natural ingredients for fresh breath—for example, celery and peppermint. 

5. RELIEF FROM FOOD ALLERGIES AND SENSITIVITIES
Although pets can be allergic to many things, wheat, corn, and soy are among the most common ingredients, and a diet high in these foods can result in various medical problems for your pet. Raw food diets are typically gluten and grain-free by nature. So, a raw food diet supports a healthy bowel environment for your pet and, in turn, also leads to a robust immune response. But imbalance can cause numerous unwanted symptoms and health issues for pets.

Therefore, the first step in treating many conditions, including eye, ear, and nose problems, itching, digestive issues, mobility issues, and paw-licking, is giving your pet food nourishing foods and removing irritable foods. Symptoms often improve quickly after switching to a raw dog food or raw cat food diet and eliminating refined, processed, and synthetic ingredients.

Smallbatch, OC Raw Dog, and Primal are some natural food brands with products specifically for pets suffering from itching or allergies. If your pet is sensitive to metabolic diseases or has cancer, brands like The Bones & CO. specialize in raw food products with higher fat content, perfect for their condition.

6. IMPROVED PHYSICAL FITNESS
Starting a raw diet for your pet can improve muscle tone, definition, shape, and posture. By naturally encouraging your pet to lose the extra weight or gain the necessary amount, you can help your pet sustain a healthy physique.  

Check out Stella & Chewy’s fantastic collection of raw food products to promote your pet’s physical fitness. 

7. BETTER DIGESTION
The body’s digestive system ensures that the nutrients needed for the complex organs, systems, and functions are absorbed. Therefore, having a healthy digestive system is essential for good health. Implementing a raw diet for your pet complements their digestive system.

A canine stomach can naturally break down the proteins and bones of a raw diet due to its pH levels, short digestive tract, and gut flora. Their digestive system struggles to digest carbohydrates and highly processed components in processed foods.

So, such ingredients may strain their vital organs, cause unpleasant gases in their stomach, inflammation, and many other issues. So raw feeding is the best way to help your pet’s digestive system remain clean and function properly. Answers is a brand you can consider checking out if you are particularly worried about your pet’s digestive health. The inclusion of fermented veggies in their diets can be helpful for pets suffering from an imbalanced microbiome. 

8. BOOSTS VITALITY AND ENERGY
An organic raw diet is ideal for your pet’s overall health because it prevents sugar dips and spikes they frequently experience from kibble. This diet supports a much more stable and consistent energy level. Their cognitive and focus function can benefit from lesser spikes and dips.

Overall, proteins and fats are the best energy sources for your pets. These essential macronutrients are abundant in a raw food diet, promoting more stable and consistent energy levels. So, they give your pet more energy to support their body’s natural processes, brain, and concentration. Take a look at Smallbatch products for a high-fat content food that helps produce energy. 

9. MANAGEABLE AND HEALTHY WEIGHT
Most owners decide to switch their pet’s diet to natural or raw food to control weight, which works! The primary components of most processed foods are calorie-dense fillers made of carbohydrates. More often than not, such fares are also enhanced with additives to increase the pet’s desire for the food.

These carbohydrate components of such food items cause your pet’s body to release insulin, which promotes fat storage. In addition, the low-quality protein content causes little satiety. So, the pet soon feels hungry after eating. This vicious cycle thus keeps going.

A high-quality raw food diet is a much more effective way to control a dog’s weight because it produces less waste. Biologically appropriate raw pet food is that which your pet absorbs all its nutrients and goodness instead of expelling it as waste. So, your pet feels full for longer and can manage its weight.

One of our favorites here at The Fetching Dog is OC Raw Dog, a great raw food brand for weight management. 

10. GREATER MOBILITY
One of the best physical advantages of feeding older pets raw food is increased mobility. Numerous dogs and cats are bothered by joint mobility issues brought on by degenerative join disease (“DJD”), or progressive osteoarthritis, which tends to get worse with age and calls for healthy bone and joint support.

Omega-3 fatty acids, which ease aching joints and inflamed tissues, are commonly found in high concentrations in specially designed mobility diets.

Feeding your pet crushed edible bone, found in commercially balanced raw diets, is a natural source of calcium, glucosamine, phosphorus, collagen, chondroitin, and marrow as a part of a balanced raw diet. It supports a puppy’s healthy development and sustains excellent bone and joint health for the remainder of your pet’s adult life. Lastly, the lack of starches (carbohydrates) makes a raw food diet naturally produce less inflammation in the body. 

CONCLUSION
Most pet owners are picking raw food diets instead of commercial pet supplies for its benefits. Due to its rising popularity, you might also be searching for “Raw pet food near me” or “pet supplies store near me”.  If so, then we would highly recommend taking a look at our collection of high quality raw foods for cats and dogs.

See you next time at The Fetching Dog, where Healthy Pets are Happy Pets!