How to Transition Your Dog to a Raw Food Diet
If you’re new to raw feeding, it’s important to transition your dog gradually onto a raw diet. A structured transition helps support healthy digestion and allows your dog’s digestive system to adapt to new proteins and bone content.
At our raw dog food store, we recommend a proven step-by-step raw feeding transition that has helped thousands of dogs move successfully onto a natural raw diet. However there are some instances where we need a different approach for some dogs and we can help with that too.
Raw Feeding Starter Guide for Dogs Over 6 Months Old
When transitioning an adult dog to raw food, introducing proteins slowly can help reduce digestive upset.
Days 1–7: Plain Ox Tripe or Lamb Tripe
Start with:
- Plain Ox (Beef) Tripe (recommended)
- Lamb Tripe (suitable alternative for dogs needing a lower fat option)
Green tripe is highly digestible and helps prepare your dog’s digestive system for raw feeding.
Best for: Dogs new to raw feeding and sensitive stomachs.
Days 8–14: Chicken & Tripe (10% Bone)
Once your dog is comfortable with tripe, introduce:
- Chicken and Tripe Mince (10% Bone)
This introduces edible bone gradually while maintaining digestive stability. If your dog has a known issue with eating chicken we can also opt for beef and tripe instead.
Days 15–22: Duck & Tripe (10% Bone)
Next, move onto:
- Duck and Tripe Mince (10% Bone)
Adding a second protein source helps broaden your dog’s diet and nutritional intake.
Days 23–29: Complete 80/10/10 Meals
Depending on the choices you opted for above you can then start to add 80/10/10 mixes into the diet, these are the best to begin feeding:
- Ox (Beef) Tripe & Chicken Complete 80/10/10
- Ox (Beef) Tripe & Duck Complete 80/10/10
- Lamb Tripe & Duck 80/10/10
- Beef and Tripe 80/10/10
- Beef 80/10/10
An 80/10/10 raw diet consists of:
- 80% meat
- 10% bone
- 10% offal
This provides a good basis to a balanced nutrition for most healthy dogs.
Day 30 and Beyond: Add New Proteins
Once your dog is thriving on complete meals, gradually introduce additional proteins.
Recommended proteins include:
- Beef
- Lamb
- Pork
- Turkey
- Venison
- Rabbit
- Game meats (Pigeon, Pheasant, Quail, Guinea Fowl, Hare, Boar)
- Chicken
- Alpaca
- Goat
- Oily Fish – multiple types of fish sources
Aim to introduce one new protein every seven days. Variety helps provide a broader range of nutrients and keeps mealtimes interesting, dont go too quickly with adding proteins and when adding a new protein stick with one per time, so that if there are any issues you can pinpoint what the cause might be.
Raw Feeding Starter Guide for Puppies Under 6 Months Old
Puppies generally adapt to raw feeding more quickly than adult dogs and can progress through the transition faster. The
Days 1–3: Plain Ox Tripe or Lamb Tripe
Begin with:
- Plain Ox (Beef) Tripe (recommended)
- Lamb Tripe (suitable alternative for dogs needing a lower fat option)
Days 4–6: Chicken & Tripe (10% Bone)
Introduce:
- Chicken and Tripe Mince
- If your dog has a known issue with eating chicken we can also opt for beef and tripe instead.
Days 7–9: Duck & Tripe (10% Bone)
Move onto:
- Duck and Tripe Mince
Days 10–12: Complete 80/10/10 Meals
Start feeding:
- Ox (Beef) Tripe & Chicken Complete 80/10/10
- Ox (Beef) Tripe & Duck Complete 80/10/10
- Lamb Tripe & Duck 80/10/10
- Beef and Tripe 80/10/10
- Beef 80/10/10
Day 13 and Beyond: Introduce New Proteins
Add a new protein every three days, including:
- Beef
- Lamb
- Pork
- Turkey
- Venison
- Rabbit
- Game meats (Pigeon, Pheasant, Quail, Guinea Fowl, Hare, Boar)
- Chicken
- Alpaca
- Goat
- Oily Fish – multiple types of fish sources
Providing variety during puppyhood can help support balanced nutrition and encourage acceptance of different protein sources later in life.
One of the most common questions new raw feeders ask is: “How much raw food should my dog eat?”, you can use our handy raw calculator to work this out for you, or simply head to our how much to feed page for more information on how to work it out.
