Vitamins and Minerals in Raw

Having a complete and balanced diet for your dog or cat is essential for their health and quality of life. Nothing could have them thriving more than a species appropriate raw diet!

Dogs, cats, and other domestic carnivores obtain ALL of the vitamins and minerals they need from a PMR (Prey Model Raw) diet. In order to achieve optimum nutrition and balance you should provide:

At least 3-4 proteins. Most of them being red meat such as beef, lamb, goat, venison etc.
At least 2-3 sources of liver. Rotated and fed at 5%.
At least 2-3 sources of other secreting organs such as kidney, spleen, pancreas etc. Also rotated and fed at 5%.
Muscular organs, especially heart and tripe.
Oily Fish
Eggs

Recently there’s been some controversy and confusion going around that “all raw meat diets” or “ratio diets” are deficient in certain nutrients. More specifically Manganese, Zinc, Vitamin E, Vitamin D, Iodine, & Eicosapentaenoic and Docosahexaenoic Acid (EPA+DHA). While this can be true IF you aren’t sourcing properly and are not feeding a wide variety (especially of organ meats and fish) all this can be obtained through a PMR diet without the use of synthetic supplements and unnecessary carbs, veg or fruit. Since PMR fed dogs do not need to metabolize carbs, their needs for some nutrients like Vit C and E for example is less than for kibble fed dogs. (Dogs can synthesize their own Vit C.)

Most vitamins are manufactured in the gut by the bacteria that reside there, so vitamin deficiency is just a symptom of a damaged microbiome in many cases. Synthetic vitamins are missing co-factors and don't respond in the body the same way real vitamins do. Real vitamins are complexes while synthetic vitamins are just fractions of vitamins that sometime act unpredictably in the body and therefore not bio available.

The raw diet is a whole nother 'animal' than a processed, starch-filled diet and when it comes to micronutrients you can't extrapolate NRC guidelines. Vitamins and minerals (not to mention nutraceuticals) are a complex, agonistic whole - they all work synergistically and our rudimentary understanding of nutrition can't possibly replace what mother nature made for our pets to eat.

Below we’ll go over these essential nutrients as well as others and where they can be found in a raw (PMR) diet.*Please note this list is not of all sources possible. This is compiled to give you reassurance that feeding a PMR diet is sufficient in nutrients for your companion.*

Manganese: is an essential trace element that is naturally present in many foods. Manganese is needed to produce energy, metabolize protein, and to make fatty acids. It can be found in meat, poultry, green tripe, especially in mussels such as Green Lipped Mussels and of course whole prey.

Quote:

"Similarly, while the concentration of manganese in cereal grains is significant, the high content of phytates and fiber constituents may bind manganese, limiting its absorption.

Thus, while a calculation of intake based on nutrient composition of foods may show that manganese intake is high, the actual amount of manganese absorbed will vary among food sources.

Similarly, although meat products contain low concentrations of manganese, absorption and retention of manganese from them are high, making them good sources of the element in the diet". {source}

Quote:

"Because of the paucity of information, it is difficult to provide absolute recommendations for dietary manganese" -NRC

Zinc: a mineral that’s important for strong immune function, healing wounds, and to support normal growth can be found in:

Whole Prey
Secreting organs such as liver and kidney.
Muscular organs like heart, gizzards, tongue and green tripe.
Muscle Meat (especially from lamb, beef, pork, and turkey)
Eggs
Oysters
Sardines
Salmon

Vitamin E: a fat-soluble vitamin that acts as an antioxidant protecting cells from the damage caused by free radicals can be found in:

Whole Prey
Liver
Kidney
Brain
Heart (pork and lamb)
Eggs
Sardines
Green Lipped Mussels

Establishing vitamin E requirements is complicated because the body stores both vitamin E and selenium. A number of studies to establish requirements for both nutrients have underestimated the requirements by failing to account for their augmentation from body stores as well as experimental dietary concentrations. {source} For all classes of dogs, 50 IU of vitamin E is recommended per kg (22.7 IU per lb) of diet. The need for supplementation of vitamin E depends on the requirement of individuals, how food is processed and the amount of available vitamin E in food sources. If diets have relatively large quantities of meat, fat, organs, and eggs, plenty of vitamin E will be provided.

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Vitamins and Minerals in Raw

Not a member of the World's LARGEST Raw Feeding Advice Group yet?

Come and Join us by clicking here.