There are so many options when it comes to fresh and raw feeding. When researching the options, it can be extremely overwhelming to even know where to begin. Knowing what is the best for you and your animals comes down to decisions that only you can make for your animal. How I started feeding fresh is a long story, but hopefully this can help guide your decisions on what food to feed your fur kids. It is important to note that there are variety of great pet foods out there. There are so many options to chose from that are healthy and nutritious.

My decision on what to feed came down to the following:

  • Making sure my dogs were eating food that had all needed nutrients
  • Cost effectiveness since I feed 4 larger dogs
  • A food that wasn’t too challenging to make or balance

I am so lucky to have a great local store that also helped guide my decision based off of my dogs specific needs. After a lot of questions and research, I ended up choosing to feed my crew Dr. Harvey’s.

Why Dr. Harvey’s?

I loved that I could easily make all of my pups a homemade meal so easily. I also loved that all Dr. Harvey’s products are natural and chemical free. They are also very particular about where they source their ingredients from, so you know you are getting the best and safest ingredients in each bag. There are many base food mixes to choose from, but they all great ingredients that are healthy for your pet. Dr. Harvey’s provides a detailed feeding guide inside each bag that tells you exactly how much you need to feed your dog, and how to prepare it. You can choose from many options for specific health needs. I rotate my crew between Canine Health and Paradigm.

How Do You Make Dr. Harvey’s?

Making this food is SO EASY! Simply look at the feeding guide located in each bag to determine how much food, water, oil and protein you need.

  1. Measure out your Dr. Harvey’s base mix and throw into your dogs bowl.
  2. Add the indicated amount of warm water to rehydrate the food
  3. Add your oil of choice
  4. Add your protein of choice (this can be cooked or raw)
  5. Optional-add in extras, kefir, yogurt, etc.

Here is what I commonly use for my oils and proteins.

Oils: coconut, olive, flax, hemp and fish. Rotate every couple of weeks so your pups are getting variety.

Proteins: ground beef, chicken breast, pork stew meat, and ground pork. Honestly, I feed whatever I can find the best deals on and often pick up meat items that close to expiring since they are commonly on special at the store. Rotate your proteins every week so your pups are getting different nutrients.

It really is that easy to make a fresh, nutritious meal for your pup! Another thing I like about Dr. Harvey’s is that you can make a few meals ahead and store in the fridge, just wait and add the oil when you are ready to feed. This is especially helpful is you have a busy day coming up, or someone is helping take care of your pets.

My Crew’s Results

I honestly have nothing but good to say about Dr. Harvey’s food. I started the venture of moving to a fresh diet due to finding out Riley had compromised kidneys. But, there were other issues going on with our crew that we thought was normal, or that we had been dealing with for so long we didn’t think too much about it anymore. Overall, all of my dogs have better energy and beautiful coats than what they ever did before.

Riley has finally gained back the weight she lost from a combination of her being on a low calorie diet/kidney issues that all hit at once. Her most recent urinalysis was normal, and we will be doing repeat kidney labs very soon.

Axel has the energy of a puppy again. He plays and keeps up with Zeena like he is a puppy himself. I will frequently see him hopping around like a bunny and running laps with her. Axel suffered from a traumatic back injury a few years ago, and you would never know it now.

Zeena used to have a very frustrating puking habit. In the middle of the night, at least 2 times a week, she would wake up with no warning and puke all over us. We tried withholding water close to bed, adding water into her kibble, not feeding her close to bed, and many other things. Since transitioning her to fresh, we haven’t had that issue since.

Vegas has the most dramatic physical result from changing his diet. He has always suffered chronic allergies. He would frequently have inflamed ears and would chew his paws non-stop. We were frequently bringing him to the vet for medications. His feet got so bad he started to limp due to a nasty fungal infection and non-stop chewing on his foot. He had to take some medication to clear up his infection, but we also changed his diet as his infection cleared. Happy to say we haven’t had any of those issues since changing his diet! We haven’t seen his white paws in so many years.

Before Dr. Harvey’s After Dr. Harvey’s

My only regret is that I didn’t change their diet sooner!