If raw is not suitable for you or your dog, that's fine! Here are some high quality dry and wet food alternatives to raw.
It is recommended that all dry foods are rehydrated with water; other liquids, such as bone broth; or served with a wet food to increase fluid intake and alleviate dehydration.
Poppy's Picnic Mighty Mince [www.poppyspicnic.co.uk] This is bought raw, but it suitable to be served cooked.
Poppy's Picnic Power Balls [www.poppyspicnic.co.uk] This is bought raw, but it suitable to be served cooked.
Room for improvement:
To complement a nutritionally balanced dry, freeze dried, wet or cooked diet, a small quantity of fresh, unprocessed food can be added. Nutritionally beneficial additions, such as raw or cooked meats, eggs, tinned fish, and fresh fruits and vegetables, can be given alongside the selected diet. These additions should be maintained below 20% of the overall weight of food given per day (so, if 100g of dry food is given, 20g of 'extras' can be given too). Studies have shown that a small quantity of fresh, unprocessed food (particularly those leafy green vegetables!) can have a major impact on your dog's health and longevity. It may be necessary to adjust the amount of base food given, as these additions have different calorie contents; fish and meat have a higher calorie content than fruits and vegetables, so the base diet may need to be reduced to compensate for these.
Mixing Raw with Dry Food:
You may have heard that raw and dry foods cannot be mixed, whether that be in the same meal or just in the same day. Some say that raw and dry foods have varying digestion rates and a different gastric pH is needed to digest the different types of food- this isn't true! The gastrointestinal tract is an amazing set of organs that have the ability to adapt to whatever needs digesting, including making slight adjustments to the gastric pH and digestive enzymes in order to effectively digest food. All aspects of a raw diet are digested differently too- from the bone, to the meat, to the fur, to the organs, so it makes no sense that mixing different foods would "confuse" the digestive system. There is no scientific evidence to suggest that feeding a dry diet mixed with a raw diet is bad and many dogs do very well on a mix (including mine!).
Whether you're feeding a dry and raw together because of financial reasons, to increase variation in your dog's diet or because your dog simply prefers it this way, then there is one thing to consider: as the dry diet you are feeding already is likely to be nutritionally balanced in itself, it is important not to unbalance the balanced bit. If you are planning on supplementing the base diet with meaty chunks, complementary minces or other unbalanced ingredients, then it is important that this is kept below 20% of the overall weight of food per day. This should not have a significant impact on the nutritional balance of the dry food. If you are planning on feeding a higher proportion of raw, such as a 50/50 mix, then it is important that the raw part is nutritionally balanced too. Have a look at our brand recommendations and any with a green tick are good to feed as part of the raw component. Remember to adjust the quantity of base diet, as the recommendations and feeding guidelines on the bag will no longer apply; approximately 2g of raw food is equivalent to 1g of dry food but this will vary depending on the quality and caloric density of both the dry and raw foods. If your dog is not maintaining their ideal weight, then it may be necessary to adjust both the dry and raw parts of the diet in order to compensate for the increase/decrease in calories.