What is a Complete raw dog food?

The word Complete has historically been attributed to several types of raw dog food meals.
You may be wondering what on earth Complete really means, and how can you ensure your dog is getting everything they need from their raw food?
The truth is for a pet food to be sold commercially with title Complete it needs to meet the nutritional guidelines set out by the EU. These are known as the Fediaf guidelines and contain a minimum and a maximum for a set of nutrients deemed essential for dogs, puppies or even cats. This all applies to cat food too!

Naked Dog meals meet the guidelines and thus we can trade legally letting you know on on labels that our food is Complete and Balanced.
The exception this would be our Pure range. As meat only meals these do not meet the Fediaf guidelines and so to provide these wonderfully nourishing meals to your dogs they need to be labelled as Complementary. At Naked Dog we have been true to our commitment to you, all and ensured our meals meet the Complete guidelines through fresh, whole-foods alone. No nutrients have been artificially supplemented.

Is an 80|10|10 raw meal Complete?
All pet foods need to carry the term Complete or Complementary, a sign of a great manufacturer is the inclusion of either of those terms.
Some meat only raw foods, known in raw feeding as 80|10|10 meals, have also become known as ‘Complete’ meals, and so some confusion has arisen to what the term Complete actually means.
An 80|10|10 meal is not nutritionally complete, it is a raw dog food meal that conforms to the belief dogs need 80% muscle meat, 10% bone content and 10% offal every day. This is a belief and is not true for all dogs, in fact with the huge variance in dogs both size, shape and digestive ability there is not a specific way to feed fresh food that would ever be correct for all dogs every time. One of the wonderful aspects of feeding fresh, raw food is that you get to work out which foods work for your dog as an individual. Just as you did with your own diet and that of your children.
Offal for instance has historically been fed only 3 times a week in order to provide the fat soluble nutrients it contains, rather than every day. There are also many, many dogs that receive everything they need on a lower than 10% bone content, and some that have to have less bone content for digestive health.
An 80|10|10 meal does not have everything a dog needs, it is lacking in nutrients such as Zinc, Manganese and Vitamin E.
If your dog is eating our Pure meals as their only diet you will need to add these nutrients in in. Not to meet the guidelines, but because your dog will need them!
At Naked Dog we have The Answer, a supplement that when added to our Pure meals supports your dog to have everything they need in a balanced way.
It is currently the only balanced raw dog food supplement made with entirely wholefood ingredients ensuring that the nutrition is fully bioavailable, absorbable, it is due to be launched very soon! Watch this space

Caroline Griffith
Naked Dog Nutrition Consultant