Tollden Farms

Kemptville Head Office
613.258.3099
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
GTA
416.840.4485
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
You are here: Home Feeding Raw

Making the Switch to Raw Food

High 5

Tollden Farms is made from humanely raised, government inspected, human-grade ingredients, and where possible we’ve used organic products. We have the widest variety of diet options available with either the meat and veggie diets or the meat and botanical diets. We recommend you rotate between a variety of protein sources for the widest range of available nutrients.

Most dogs and cats can make the switch to raw foods cold turkey. Unless your pet has an intolerance, we recommend starting with the chicken diet, either with vegetables or the botanical version. Stick with the same protein source for about a week, then start rotating between a variety of proteins.

If your pet is straining to defecate, increase the mammal meat diets, like beef, lamb or venison. This straining simply means your pet is not utilizing the calcium of the ground-bone type diets of chicken or turkey. Conversely, if your pet is having too many loose stools, increase the poultry diets. As animals age, we find they use less calcium and require a greater portion of mammal-meat diets.

You know your pet best, if you feel your pet suffers from any severe illnesses, it may be best to make a slower transition. Talk to your veterinarian (who is not opposed to raw food feeding) on how to make the switch.

IMPORTANT: Always use safe handling practices when feeding raw meat products. Never cook products that contain bone. Information contained herein does not substitute veterinary advise. Tollden Farms does not assume responsibility for the care and handling of one's pets.

 

golden retriever

We recommend rotating between as many protein sources as are available to you. The greater the variety, the broader the nutrients available to your pet, which will create the optimum balance over time.

We offer two diet recipes, one is the meat and vegetable blend, consisting of 15% vegetables and fruit and the other is the meat and botanical blend, which consists of about 1% ground roots, grasses, leaves and seeds.

Each offers their own benefits and even rotation between the two diet plans would provide even greater nutrients and variety.

If your dog likes chewing on “recreational” bones (and most dogs do), substitute chicken (neck/mince) for muscle meat and let them get their bone content from the recreational bone. A recreational bone would be a beef, lamb pork, or any other large mammal bone. Along with regular exercise, recreational chewing will round out a well-balanced, healthy dog’s life.

If you have access to fresh/frozen fish, you can include that in the diet. Variety will help ensure your pet is getting all the nutrients it needs to live a long and healthy life.

Variety will help ensure your pet is getting all the nutrients it needs to live a long and healthy life.

If this is your first foray into raw diets there are plenty of sources of information. Check out our testimonials and reference material.

cat

The digestive system in cats and dogs will bear the brunt of poor food nutrition. Other organs affected include the liver, pancreas, kidneys, and skin. The liver and pancreas as part of the digestive process and the liver, kidneys and skin as the elimination process. As with humans, fresh foods provide the healthiest source of nutrition. This is partly because many nutrients like vitamins and enzymes are extremely sensitive and easily destroyed by heat and processing.

Cats being true carnivores derive their entire nutrition from the consumption of other animals. This is critical for health and attempts to feed cats a vegetarian diet or a diet based on grains will ultimately lead to malnutrition. While dogs may tolerate a large amount of non-meat items in their diets, cats are obligate carnivores and they must consume an almost all-animal diet to maintain health.

Cats are frequent eaters of small meals. For that reason, have a small number of meals thawing at all times and be ready to feed these as required. Small pieces of raw meaty bones can be similarly available. Also be sure to feed red meat diets on a regular basis.

Cats manufacture glucose all the time, and are always burning protein. They turn protein into glucose and don’t rely on carbohydrates for energy.

Never fast cats in order to make the transition to raw foods. Cats should never go more than ½ a day without food. If your cat is not accepting the raw food, just add the tiniest amount to their kibble or canned meal and try to make the transition slowly. Some cats can be tricky to switch to raw food. The benefits to cats are well worth the trouble.

 

Some additional information

  • Tollden Farms diets are formulated to meet or exceed AAFCO standards and are balanced for proper nutrition for all life stages.
  • It’s advisable to have your veterinarian’s support in feeding a raw food diet. If you need the names of veterinarians who support raw feeding, ask the owner of the store where you purchased Tollden Farms, or call us for a referral.
  • Because processed/cooked foods digest at a different rate than raw food, we recommend that you don’t feed a com­bination of kibble/cooked with raw in the same meal. If you choose to include kibble as part of your rotation, simply feed as a separate meal.
  • Always supervise bone chewing as bones represent a choking hazard.
  • The object is balance over time, variety is essential for delivering the widest range of nutrients to your pet.
  • Salmonella and bacteria that are dangerous to humans are generally not harmful to dogs and cats. For additional information this subject, read our pamphlet “Bacteria and Raw Pet Foods”