Quality Nutrition doesn’t always come in a pretty kibble bag with a big price tag. And the “experts” aren’t always right. Let’s start a conversation on how to keep our dogs healthy and long living with real food.

The past decade has seen a groundswell of people taking back the reins regarding diets for dogs. It’s great to see the change and If you’ve been thinking about transitioning to a real food diet for your coton, there are plenty of options these days.

Transitioning To Quality Nutrition

You can buy prepared cooked or raw meals from one of many new dog food companies springing up around the country, some which ship the food directly to you. Or there are local pet foods stores who have also jumped on the bandwagon and have freezers full of frozen raw or cooked food available. It’s probably the most expensive way of transitioning, from dry kibble but if you figure out how much you pay per meal for your premium dry dog food now, it may not be the massive increase you think.

Also consider that big bag of dry kibble has a variety of ingredients that aren’t necessary for health, but are added:

• in order for the factory to be able to create those individual dry pellets without gumming up the machinery or
• necessary to give you a really big bag so you think you are getting a lot for your money or
• replacing the natural nutrients that were originally in the food but lost during the manufacturing process.

Switching to a company that provides fresh food is a huge improvement in nutrition However, being a control freak, I preferred to prepare the meals here at home for the last 30 years. That also reduced the cost especially when there are multiple dogs to feed. It isn’t as difficult as it may first appear.

That being said, full disclosure, in 2025 I found 2 companies that offer food that I liked. I had to realize that after three decades, some dog food companies figured out a way to make what I would make. I decided that the time it freed up for me feeding multiple dogs was worth the increased cost. I’m trading money for more time, which these days is very valuable to me.

Can You DIY Quality Nutrition?

First, you need to get past the relatively new idea that each and every meal must be “complete and balanced”, which is insane. This philosophy makes people hesitant to feed their dogs without factory formulated meals because we all want the best for our companions, don’t we? Most people believe it is better to leave the creation of meals to the “experts”.

So I have to ask, is every single meal that you and your family consume “complete and balanced”? Can you imagine feeding your child nothing but Ensure and Pedialyte their entire lives because you were afraid to figure out a balanced meal? Reframe the concept to mean “balanced over time”.

Granted, dogs have different nutritional needs and food restrictions than humans but that is certainly within the capacity of any dog owner to learn. You may find you actually like finding out what is good for your dog. It’s called ‘using the internet’. You won’t find just one opinion but many. Read several opinions and decide what makes the most sense to you.

A while back I purchased a rather expensive veterinary book “Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats” in order to answer questions I had about some canine nutritional needs and found there is much that is still unknown about what dogs need and in what amounts. It isn‘t matter of it all being settled science. The “experts” are still fiddling around with it all. I become less impressed the more I read. And that isn’t even taking into account all the FDA recalls of commercial dog food from a variety of “Oopsie!”. Some of which are pretty serious.

My personal belief is that giving the keys to the kingdom to a perceived “expert” does not guarantee safety and since no one cares about my dogs more, their well-being is best left to me. Color me egotistical.

If canines can survive what is in most commercial dog food bags, they can survive very well even if you forgot a vitamin or gave them some veggies they didn’t absolutely need in your personal plan.

For a while I got sucked into the supplement insanity along with real food but eventually decided that a bunch of pills or powders would not be as effective or as pleasurable as real, whole food. I use that same approach for myself.

I make only one supplement from whole food powders that I give my dogs a few times a week and it is for parasites like round worm, hook worm, whip worm and heart worm.

" Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." 
~ Hippocrates 

It’s been years and the only time I’ve had an issue is when I stopped the supplement and a dog came up with a positive fecal test. Not exactly a controlled, double blind, peer reviewed study, but good enough for me.

Raw Versus Cooked

I decided many years ago that raw food was the best for my dogs. So that is what I know best. I don’t feel uncomfortable handling raw foods since I do that for my own meals. Only strict vegans avoid that situation. So I’m not sure of the whole, “handling raw meat is dangerous” mentality when it comes to feeding dogs raw food. It’s nothing different from what we already do.

There are a few sub-philosophies out there regarding canine nutrition. Here are the three basic divisions:

• The “prey” model which says canines need NO carbohydrates, just raw meaty bones. After all, ever see a pack of wild canines attack a wheat field?

Others say…..

• Small amounts of carbs in the form of crushed vegetables, fruits and starches are necessary along with raw meaty bones. Because, they believe what canines eat are meat, bone and stomach contents of herbivores, which are partially digested fruits, grasses, and vegetable matter.

Then there are those who feel quality nutrition should include….

• Vitamin and mineral supplements in addition to the meat, fruits and vegetables are also needed to provide a balance. Because they feel canine nutrition should be optimal rather than just offering minimal daily requirement of nutrients.
• This version is the closest to what is referred to as the BARF diet:
• Bones And Raw Food, or
• Biologically Available Raw Food.

You can find a variety of books on each of these philosophies. Read them, think about what makes sense to you and then take the first step towards feeding your dog REAL FOOD.

OMG! You mean there isn’t just ONE TRUE answer?!?!

I told you…. there are no experts. YOU are your own best advocate.

You will find the extremists that are willing to come to blows if anyone dares disagree with their philosophy on quality nutrition for dogs. My personal attitude is that it’s a diet, not a religion so everyone chill.

As important as what you feed, is watching how your dog reacts to changes in diet and tweak it as necessary. That requires a change in perspective to realizing that it is the you who is in control of the results.

What Shouldn’t Be In The Canine Diet

There are a few things that canines shouldn’t eat. Remember, their digestive system is different than ours. I avoid feeding:

• The sweetener Xylitol. Even in very small amounts can cause hypoglycemia or liver failure and death so I won’t even keep it in the house. I have read that some “sugar free” peanut butters contain it.
• Large quantities of garlic, onions or other foods in the allium family can cause blood dyscrasia.
• Chocolate can cause an allergic reaction in some dogs.
• Large quantities of grapes, raisins or other foods high in iron can cause liver failure and death. (Feeding your dog small amounts will not cause liver failure)

Canine Quality Nutrition Learning Curve

Want to start simple, real simple? Add an egg to the kibble meal. Ah, but do you add a whole raw egg, or just the yolk, or cook it? Do some research on the internet and you will find a few different opinions and then do what you feel makes the most sense. For example:

• some opinions say feed raw whole eggs only
• some say the raw egg white has a substance that prevents the absorption of vitamin B, so remove it.
• some say cooking the egg white removes the vitamin B problem.
• some say the substance in raw egg white that prevents absorption of vitamin B affects only an insignificant portion of vitamin B in that meal so don’t worry about giving it to your dog.

My decision?

• I separate the yolk from the white and plop only the yolk in their meal. Easy peasy.
• If I have time, and don’t want to waste the protein in the egg white, I soft boil the egg just enough to cook the white but not the yolk.

Another way to start simple, is feed just meaty bones without supplements or veggies to begin. Chicken is relatively cheap and easy to find in any grocery store.

Want to see how that works? Here’s a video from long ago of litters of my sheltie puppies polishing off some drumsticks and then Hope, my sheltie bitch, chowing down a chicken thigh:

Continue your research, gain more confidence and add what you think is necessary to the diet little by little. Any one of the three viewpoints I mentioned is head and shoulders above the usual dry or canned options at the grocery store.

Don’t let the details paralyze you into non-action.

I have often said, I can put my money into expensive real food diet or I can put my money into expensive veterinary care / medications / treatments. That seem to be holding true.

Transitioning Your Dog To Raw

Maybe going DIY will be too overwhelming for you, in which case there is an alternate solution.

Regardless of how you transition, you definitely have it much better than I did 30 years ago. You can now buy ground meat with ground bone ready to put in a bowl just like traditional kibble if that makes it easier for you to start, then as you get more comfortable with the idea of raw food, you can add other meats you may find at the butcher’s or local dog food groups that buy meats in quantity.

If you have been feeding your dog the usual kibble fare for a while and want to switch over to raw dog food, you can do it over time. I read when a dog is raised on traditional commercial kibble, the stomach acids becomes weaker and it takes time to build the acidity back up to normal so as to digest whole bone easily. But once that is recalibrated, switching to different animal proteins shouldn’t be a problem.

Feeding meats without the bone may be a good way to go in the beginning weeks. Then move on to ground meats with ground bone and then finally, whole pieces of meat and bone. Do that over the course of a few weeks.

Be aware however that veggies and organ meats soften the stool and bone firms it up, so you will be making adjustments from time to time.

While some people might disagree, I think baby steps are better than no steps at all. Everyone has to start where they feel comfortable and then see how the dog acclimates.

Be prepared, though. Your vet might feel differently. Many feel it is unsafe to feed dogs real food.

My understanding is that vets, like MDs, get very little training in nutrition, other than from the commercial pet food companies, which forgive me, feels a tad like the fox guarding the henhouse. Of course they will say their products are the best. While I respect what veterinarians know in general, when it comes to nutrition, I see it as limited.

The American Veterinary Medical Association released a position paper on raw dog food diets. As expected, they are against it. After all the commercial dog food manufacturers donate money to veterinary causes and education, so it doesn’t surprise me on which side of the fence the AVMA landed.

For those of you looking for a vet who will embrace the natural diet as as the best option, you may find holistic vets more in sync than the traditionally schooled for that issue as well as a variety of other health issues. Although, for what it is worth, my own vet is traditionally trained and he is tolerant of the way I feed my dogs. We have done just fine over the years.

Even Your Coton Thinks You’re Nuts

There are some dogs, strange as it may sound, who initially look aghast at the chicken drumstick or ground veggies the first few times. They are not sure what to do with it. Give them some time to acclimate to the raw dog food.

The cotons I purchased to begin my breeding program were exactly that way for a while. They got over it and now jump into their crates when they see me preparing dinner.

Remember to keep the bone uncooked, unheated, unmicrowaved and all should be just fine. Vary the type of meat whenever your pocketbook allows. Chicken is cheapest, but “variety is the spice of life.” as my mother used to say.

You can juice or puree a bunch of veggies and freeze it in small batches for convenience. Home freeze drying is also a possibility these days.

The commercial food advice that the dog must stay on the same food for life can be thrown out the window when your dog is on a raw. Isn’t that awesome?

What If You Just Can’t Do It?

Like I said in the beginning of this post, there are alternatives now. Find a good dog food company, and eventually when you see your dog healthy and happy, you may just find yourself going full DIY.

You Have Several Options

• Some DO contain grains, so decide what you want and shop accordingly.
• There is frozen raw,
• freeze-dried raw
• dehydrated raw.

Most perform HPP (High Pressure Pasteurization) on their food to kill all the bacteria that may be lurking which I’m not sure is necessary except for liability concerns.

Most of these different types of raw foods you can find in the better pet stores now. But in case you can’t, you can buy them online.

What Do I Do To Offer Quality Nutrition To My Cotons?

I went thru several stages of raw feeding. I have had anywhere from 4 to 13 dogs at a time, which creates its own challenges.

Initially, my shelties were fed raw meat and bones like chicken parts with pureed raw veggies or some starches. A little daunting when weighing out the proper amount of meat for each dog and then adding the veggies in a bowl.

I switched to:

• grinding the chicken with the bone in a meat grinder or
• mixing store bought ground beef or pork with organ meats I had purchased separately and ground up
• pureed raw veggies like green beans or kale
• or cooked starches like sweet potato or rice

and then put all that into individual bowls

This was certainly neater for dogs with long coats rather than collecting chicken juice and bone bits from chomping on whole parts Just not as much fun for them.

Then I went to portioning out meals and freezing it so I could do massive prep at one time. Some owners of my shelties wanted to buy those meals and so I made even more. By time I got to having three full sized freezers in my house (doesn’t everyone have a freezer in their living room?) I realized something needed to change. I’m all for offering my dogs a quality nutrition plan, but even I had limits.

In 2023, I bit the bullet and bought a home freeze dryer and after a few months tweaking how to prepare what I and others needed, I settled on grinding chicken with skin, bone and chicken liver or ground beef with organ meats (liver, kidney, heart or what I can source) and bone.

I prepared and freeze dried the veggie / starch separately so I can mix and match. I have found that my guys stay a tad too lean if they don’t have any grains and can gain too much if starches are in all meals.

Once the meals were freeze dried, I put them in a food processor for about 30 seconds to pulverize it all and then package it in either clear vacuum bags for short term use that I stick in the refrigerator or mylar bags with oxygen absorbers for shelf stable(meaning no refrigeration required) long term storage (as in 25 years stable). That means limitless storage space.

Meal time is opening a bag, scooping out some freeze dried meat, another scoop of veggie, add water to rehydrate back to fresh raw consistency and feed. I DID NOT FEED DRY.

For the dogs’ chewing pleasure, on the days that I bought chicken in mass quantities (usually once a week), the shelties got some of those whole chicken parts before I started grinding. It’s a pretty big gorging meal that they had fun with. The cotons, however have a problem with their long beards getting wrapped around drumsticks and such, so no whole parts for them. It’s all ground up and in a bowl.

I also purchase large knuckle bones for long term recreational chewing.

That was until 2025 when I entered a new phase. I found a company that produced raw freeze dried food WITHOUT synthetic vitamin and minerals, just whole foods, and another company that had the option to buy just the ground meat with bone and organ meat frozen. I decided after all these years that it was time to admit manufacturers had caught on to the fact we were looking for high quality nutrition for our dogs. I now alternate meals between these two companies.

Benefits Of A Raw Food Diet

Water

Among the many benefits your sheltie will experience is that he will drink much less water. That is because the raw dog food has its own “slow release” water system. I am amazed at how dogs “tank up” on water when on dry commercial food. With the freeze dried food I have now, I add water and let it sit quite a while to let it rehydrate, not quite to raw state unfortunately, but pretty close.

Clean Teeth

Another benefit of feeding your dog true quality nutrition includes better dental hygiene. Feeding whole chunks of animal parts like chicken thighs with the bone in, and recreational bones like lamb shank bones, pork neck bones or beef knuckle bones will keep the teeth clean. No need to brush your coton’s teeth.

Do avoid the large beef shank bones though, as they are so hard as to possibly cause broken teeth. and all that marrow can give them diarrhea.

And by the way, if you’ve checked on the price for a full dental cleaning for your dog, you’ll suddenly feel as if buying meat for this diet is a real bargain.

Remember, however, that ground meat will not give you this benefit of clean teeth. The dog must be able to crunch and gnaw at its food to scrape the teeth naturally.

Clean Ears

I can’t remember the last time I had to really clean any one of my dogs’ ears. They are usually pristine. Just another one of many quality nutrition benefits.

Healthy Skin

My dogs rarely have skin issues. Their coats remain in good condition and rarely need flea/tick or fungus treatment. If they do have a rare problem (as when we first moved here to Delaware), it is taken care of with brief use of medication and then we are done. I do not use flea or tick medication on a routine basis.

I have not seen incessant licking of their paws, hot spots or flakey skin.

In order to be able to digest things like whole bone, the digestive juices (acid) increases to handle the load. This lowers the pH a little which is helpful for maintaining acidic urine to keep the bacteria from causing a urinary tract infection.

Lean And Healthy Weight Is Easy When Feeding Quality Nutrition

My dogs maintain a healthy weight easily. Occasionally when one of the dogs is underweight I increase the total amount of food they eat and add a little extra carbs until they gain a little. Remember a dog needs primarily a protein rich diet. The traditional commercial kibble foods fall short of that. But it’s one of the many quality nutrition benefits.

Shall We Talk About Waste Now?

OK, it isn’t exactly great dinner conversation, but I do have to inject this topic into the discussion at some point. What canines eat eventually makes it out the south end. All of us are familiar with the typical, large, mushy, stinky… well, downright disgusting poop most of them have. I forget how bad it is until I’m exposed to it again. Phew!

When your coton switches to a raw dog food diet, after the initial adjustment, the stool becomes smaller and dryer with much less odor. Picking up after him in the backyard may never be fun, but it is much better. And if they eat a pound of meat with bone and only one tenth of that comes out as poop, I figure they’ve gotten some good, quality nutrition.

It also can stimulate those anal glands to prevent getting clogged up because they have to work a little at defecating. (This is a natural thing for a canine to do.) Not one of the more obvious benefits to you, but your pup will thank you for it.

Sometimes the poop is a white color with the extra minerals from the bone that they don’t need, sometimes a darker black color from the fresh blood in the meat (especially when fed the organ meats like kidney or heart).

On an everyday basis this ranks pretty high up on the benefits of high quality nutrition.

Do be aware that veggies and organ meats are what make the stool softer and the bone and raw meat make it harder. So giving 100% beef liver dinner, wouldn’t necessarily be the best thing for your dog’s bowels that day.

Going DIY With A Raw Food Diet

It’s not quality nutrition if it doesn’t include bone that can be consumed. While some meals may be meat only (like a beef kidney/beef and rice dinner for example), the overall diet must have meat with bone soft enough for the coton to crush and swallow.

This would be a “raw meaty bone” for dinner, gone in a few minutes:

Quality Nutrition includes a variety of meats / foods to a home made diet:

• Rabbit with bone
• Beef kidney, liver, heart (although heart is considered a muscle not an organ when figuring percentages) and other organs
• Pork including neck bones
• Beef heart
• Chicken (all parts)
• Ground beef
• Green tripe
• Raw eggs

Part of a quality nutrition diet includes bones for recreational chewing:

• lamb shank bones
• beef knuckle bones

Finding a local butcher or slaughter house is a godsend. You can get all sorts of stuff that the normal grocery stores don’t carry anymore. More and more of them are becoming familiar with the “crazy people” that buy for a raw food diet. You are not alone. You can buy the main bulk of the chicken you need from one of the warehouse grocery stores.

Every time I went to Costco and filled my cart with packages of chicken, I invariably got a few shoppers who would smile and say, “That’s one heck of a barbecue you’re having!” Which of course I would have to correct. I friend of mine actually bought me a tee shirt that said: “No barbecue, I feed my dogs raw”!

How Much To Feed Of This Quality Nutrition You Prepared

General rule of thumb is about 2-4% of your ADULT coton’s IDEAL weight. Not what she weighs now, but what she should weigh.

Feel around where the ribs should be. If you have to press really hard to feel the ribs, the dog is overweight. If you can play a tune on the ribs, it is underweight. So guess a few pounds higher or lower than what s/he weighs now in order to figure out the ideal weight.

PLEASE, just approximate. Don’t spend the day carving chunks of meat to be exact!!! A little more a little less will not kill them. If you think I weigh each and every chicken thigh I feed, you are mistaken. I approximate.

PUPPIES require approximately 10% of their actual weight, so putting the pup regularly on a scale to adjust the food is required.

It’s easy once you let go of the idea of absolute precision.

Target Percentages Of Fat And Bone

• 10 – 20% fat for adult or puppy
• 10-15% bone (adult)
• 15-20% bone (puppy)

Percentages of Bones in Different Parts of a Chicken

• Chicken frames 80%
• Chicken feet 60%
• Chicken wings 46%
• Chicken necks w/ skin 36%
• Whole Chicken 32%
• Chicken Quarter 30%
• Chicken Leg 27%
• Chicken thigh 21%

Carbohydrates Can Be Part Of Quality Nutrition For Dogs

I feel small amounts of carbohydrates in the form of crushed veggies and starches to keep my dogs in good weight.

Why did I decide to add carbs to the diet?

Because I have found that some of my guys are a little too lean on a strictly meat and bones diet. I also figured some extra whole food vitamins and minerals would be a bonus.

I do not feed carbs based on the erroneous story that wolves eat the stomach contents of their prey. Because they don’t. How do I know this?

First, research shows wild canines DO NOT eat the stomach contents of their prey

Second, I’ve given my shelties whole butchered rabbit to see what they ate. They rip the stomach open and SHAKE OUT ALL THE VEGETABLE MATTER, and then eat the stomach itself.

Oh, joy! What fun to clean up after THAT experiment!

Generally speaking, opinions on carbohydrates for dogs are almost as hotly contested as the raw food diet itself. I have found a place comfortable for me. You need to do the same.

Some people think canines eat vegetative matter because of the “Green Tripe” that many raw food diet advocates feed them. But “Green” doesn’t mean the tripe has the grass still in it.

Green means “unprocessed” in contrast to tripe for human consumption which is bleached (dead) white.

The stomach lining is initially a green color due to the chlorophyll residue from the grass. Green tripe is the actual stomach and intestine of the animal, not what was in it. (though there may be a little of the grass left during cleaning).

So when you are thinking about carbs, don’t consider Green Tripe. It isn’t a carb, it’s a protein. And has helpful digestive enzymes.

How To Prepare Carbs

Carbs consist of foods such as rice, beans, vegetables and fruit. I have read that canines are unable to digest the cell wall of vegetables and therefore can’t get the nutrients from the juice. And sure enough, if I feed them whole raw carrots, they present me with carrot poop the next day. Pumpkin seeds are another fun end product.

Carbohydrates for dogs has to be provided in a way the dogs can utilize.

In the past I have used my juicer to extract the juice and then mix the pulp back in (because the pups seem to like the bulk with the juice). They still poop carrot pulp, but I know they’ve gotten the juice nutrients.

Does that mean they never get whole veggies? Nope. For some reason my dogs love to crunch whole vegetables. So just for fun they get some.

The grains / seed such as rice I cook and leave whole.

Veggies/grains I feed:

• Carrots
• Green beans
• Kale
• Swiss chard
• Celery
• White rice

Carbs I Avoid Unless I Plan To Fumigate After The Dogs Have Dinner:

• Beets (OMG! What a stench!!)
• Broccoli (not much juice anyway)
• Beans (kinda gassy)
• Cabbage (belch, belch!) And of course each dog has their own preferences. So try one type of vegetable at a time to see what they may or may not like. It’s one small part of the raw food diet that you can transition into at your leisure.

So my friend, it’s time to take the plunge. Try the raw dog food plan. Come on! You know you want to!