Choosing whether to feed a wet food, kibble or a raw diet will be a choice you will make based on affordability, ease of use, storage or freezer space and breed of dog. However, when you have spent hours trawling the internet for information, you may then need to start all over again when your dog decides he doesn’t like your choice. So always start with a small amount of whatever you choose.

There are advantages and disadvantages to each type of food and it is down to you to work out what is most important to you and your dog and apply these to your search. Don’t forget  that you may have to change your choices based on your dog’s reaction to its food not only from a taste point of view, but also from any potential food allergy.

Kibble is basically your dry dog food. It comes in different shapes, sizes, flavours, quality, grain and grain free, hypoallergenic and not so. It can be manufactured to a specific nutritional analysis for different needs and is nutritionally balanced, is easy to feed and store and comes in a multitude of flavours and pack sizes.

Some kibbles can be largely carbohydrate based and could be made from low quality products. They might contain preservatives and colourings, which can have an effect on the health and well being of your dog if they are sensitive to these additives. 

Most kibbles use heat in their manufacture which will kill any harmful bacteria but this process also removes some of the nutritional value of the raw ingredients used. This means more additives are used to replace these to produce a nutritionally balanced food. 

Wet food has been around for years. We used to buy this in tins from the supermarket or pet shop. Many are still available others are not, but wet food has come a long way since the original ranges were our only options.  

There is a tremendous amount of wet food on the market to choose from and like kibble they are all nutritionally balanced, unless you are buying a meat only version and will need to add a quality mixer or veg etc to turn it into a complete meal. 

Most of what you can buy in kibble ranges is also available in wet food ranges. So grain free, hypoallergenic, puppy, adult and senior versions etc. However, in addition, the smaller manufacturers have now taken on a large part of the wet food market by promoting the all natural route to feeding your dog. More manufacturers are using better quality raw ingredients and staying away from fillers, artificial flavours, preservatives and colourings.

Raw feeding has taken off massively in the last few years. It has given the dog owner control over exactly what goes into their dog's belly. They can choose the protein source...beef, lamb, chicken, duck, fish, venison, the list goes on. It is also variable depending on where you live in the world and what is available to you. Kangaroo and Crocodile meat are a favourite down under I believe. I even know of a few vegan and vegetarians that are feeding their dogs a raw meat diet as they believe in the species appropriate feeding benefits for their dogs. 

BARF originally stood for 'Bones and Raw Food', but now 'Biologically Appropriate Raw Food' is used as a alternative. The basis of the BARF diet is to ensure that the dog receives an 80% meat, 10% bone and 10% offal diet over a period of time to ensure balanced nutrition. Vegetables and fruits are also fed, along with meat broths and some supplements are used as well. Dogs that need an offal free diet will have this replaced with things like eggs and cottage or ricotta cheese so that their diet is still balanced. 

A raw feeder now has the option to provide their dog with their own individually made up meals or by prepared raw from food manufacturers. Buying in the prepared meals makes for a more simple route to raw feeding and when buying the complete ranges, you can be sure of a balanced nutritional meal. You can also purchase just meat and bone ranges to allow you to add your own additional ingredients. 

We feed a raw diet to our dogs and have used both DIY, purchasing the raw products to make up our own and also the pre-made complete. We like both equally, but do find that using the complete ranges a lot less time consuming during busy times. The downside to the complete is the cost. It is a little more expensive to buy in complete than the raw ingredients for DIY.