Raw Dog Food FAQs

What's in RAW WILD raw dog food?

RAW WILD Raw Dog Food is 99.4% wild elk and deer meat and ground bone. The meat/bone ratio is 85%/-15%. There are no organs since they are left in the field when the hunter field dresses the animal. We elected to not add organ meat from domestically raised animals since we feel that would possibly contaminate our completely wild food with organs (particularly the liver) that concentrate mycotoxins, pesticides, and other contaminants from food fed to domestically raised animals. In addition, we elected not to adulterate our product with organs that are processed in a commercial slaughterhouse because of the likelihood of bacterial contamination with slaughterhouse diseases like salmonella, E. coli and listeria. Below is a list of the ingredients in the premix.
RAW WILD Raw Dog Food Premix Ingredients
Minerals – calcium, phosphorus, potassium, iron, zinc, copper, manganese, selenium, iodine.
Vitamins – A, D, E, B12, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine, Pantothenic Acid, Niacin, Biotin, Folic Acid, Choline.
The ratios in this proprietary premix have been calculated by a Ph.D., industry leading expert, with over 30 years’ experience in formulating pet foods.

How many pounds of raw dog food does my dog need?

The short answer is 2-3% of your dog's body weight per day. *
100lb dog = 2-3 pounds of raw dog food per day
50lb dog = 1-1.5 pounds of raw dog food per day
25 lb dog = .5-.75 pounds of raw dog food per day
*For more details, see “How Much Raw Wild Raw Dog Food should I feed my dog per day” below. If you have any additional questions, we recommend consulting your veterinarian.

Our Guarantee

If you are not 100% satisfied with RAW WILD Raw Dog Food, let us know within 7 days of receipt, and we will refund your payment in full.

How should RAW WILD Raw Dog Food be handled?

Raw meat from wild game elk and deer is what RAW WILD raw dog food is made of. As when handling any raw meat of any kind, always wash your hands, surfaces, and utensils with hot soapy water.

How should I store RAW WILD Raw Dog Food?

Upon delivery, please immediately transfer its contents to your freezer. Keep RAW WILD Raw Dog Food packages frozen, while remembering to allow enough time to thaw before feeding. Thaw the sealed packages in a glass or plastic container. Refrigerate thawed, opened and/or leftover RAW WILD Raw Dog Food in an airtight container.

How should I thaw RAW WILD Raw Dog Food packages?

To thaw, place unopened package(s) of RAW WILD Raw Dog Food on a plate or in a glass or plastic container in your refrigerator to capture any moisture as it defrosts. Remember to allow enough time for them to thaw before feeding. Some owners find it more convenient to thaw two or three days’ worth of food at a time.

If I want to return my RAW WILD Raw Dog Food order, won’t it be very expensive for me to ship it back to you?

Please, under no circumstances do we ever want you to ship RAW WILD Raw Dog Food back to us- it will certainly be bad before it gets back to us. If you are not 100% satisfied with RAW WILD Raw Dog Food, let us know within 7 days of receipt, and we will refund your payment in full.

My dog is a finicky eater. Can I return my RAW WILD Raw Dog Food shipment to you for a refund if he doesn’t like it?

At RAW WILD Raw Dog Food, we have a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. We are so confident in the quality of RAW WILD Raw Dog Food that if you are not completely satisfied for any reason, let us know within 7 days of receipt, and we will refund your order in full.

Is RAW WILD Raw Dog Food as good as the raw meat I buy in the grocery store for my family?

In terms of healthy raw diets for dogs, RAW WILD Raw Dog Food is better than any grocery store meat due to the fact that it is absolutely the purest raw meat protein available. Because it is made from animals in the wild not ranched or farmed animals, you literally cannot buy as pure a meat in the supermarket for human consumption. No matter where you’re dining, with RAW WILD Raw Dog Food your dog is always eating better than you are! The purity of the RAW WILD Raw Dog Food ingredients supports your pup’s overall health. Just like with humans, dogs are what they eat.

When will my next box arrive?

You pick the frequency that RAW WILD Raw Dog Food ships when you place your order. You can always adjust the frequency yourself by logging into your account. You will receive email reminders of your upcoming recurring order 3-days prior to shipment. You will get a shipment confirmation email with your UPS tracking number when your order leaves our facility. Orders ship Mondays and Tuesdays only; we will adjust shipping dates slightly based on your chosen shipping method so that orders arrive on weekdays only. You can always refer to your account for more detailed information.

Should I cook RAW WILD Raw Dog Food?

RAW WILD Raw Dog Food is a raw meat diet designed to be eaten raw. The meals are delivered uncooked, and we do not recommend cooking them, but they may be heated up or cooked “rare” in special circumstances in order to minimize nutrient loss.

How much RAW WILD Raw Dog Food should I feed my dog per day?

An easy rule of thumb with this raw food diet for dogs in determining the correct amount to feed your adult dog is 2-3% of its body weight daily. Puppies and seniors may require different amounts. Nursing or pregnant dogs may require as much as 3 times more. Other factors like activity levels, breed, environment, and state of health may affect the appropriate feeding amounts. We always recommend that you discuss your dog’s specific situation with your veterinarian. We suggest you start with the 2% amount and adjust based on how your dog reacts to that amount of food. Feed your dog on its regular schedule. Consult your veterinarian, if necessary, for the best feeding schedule for your dog.

What’s the best way to open a RAW WILD Raw Dog Food package?

To serve, we suggest the easiest way to open a RAW WILD Raw Dog Food package is to place a thawed package label side down on a cutting board. Slice in halves or quarters with a sharp knife.

How should I transition my dog onto a RAW WILD Raw Dog Food diet?

There are a couple of ways to do it.
Just go “cold turkey” and switch. Most dogs dive right in and love Raw Wild.
If your pup is hesitant or not interested, try a couple of more things: (i) have your pup fast for a day, giving them lots of love and usual activity and feed them the Raw Wild at their normal feeding time: (ii)make sure it is at room temperature or higher. You can just toss the whole unopened package in a bowl with hot water and let it sit for 10-15 minutes to warm up (some of our customers actually heat it up in a frying pan); and (iii) you can pour a little olive oil or other vegetable oil or bone broth over the dog food.
You can gradually transition between the old food and Raw Wild by introducing a little Raw Wild into your pup’s bowl and gradually increasing the ratio of Raw Wild to old food over several days. It helps to make sure the Raw Wild Dog Food is warm in this situation also and you can pour a little olive oil on as well.

What is RAW WILD Raw Dog Food’s texture? Is it a fine grind, or a large grind?

RAW WILD Raw Dog Food is certainly not as fine as the others we have looked at. Because our product is made in a facility that prepares game meat for human consumption, our pet food is prepared in the same machines that make burger, and has the same consistency and texture as burger.

Are the nutritional supplements added to the elk and deer meat made in USA? Are they natural or synthetic?

When it comes to the natural and synthetic premix of nutritional supplements added to RAW WILD’s wild elk and deer meat, we were adamant that they all be made in the USA and Switzerland. RAW WILD is Made in USA using American-made ingredients, except for these three vitamins from Switzerland which account for 0.013% of total volume.

Why is it important to have the AAFCO approved statement? Is this a requirement for retail products?

We wanted to differentiate Raw Wild from the crowd and make certain that it would in fact be a complete diet and not a supplement like many of the others. AAFCO is the organization charged by law with the regulation of the manufacturing, sale and distribution of pet foods and is the only source of defining what is required for a complete and balanced diet. You will note that many others go on and on about the “wholesome ingredients” etc., but never come right out and say it is a complete and balanced diet. Our packaging experts have indicated that is necessary to refer to the AAFCO standards if we are going to assert that it is a complete and balanced diet for all ages.

Why does RAW WILD Raw Dog Food cost more than some other raw dog foods?

We at RAW WILD are passionate about highest quality and freshness, and every package of RAW WILD Raw Dog Food is hand-packed and hand-inspected. We offer a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee*, so that if any buyer is not completely satisfied with RAW WILD Raw Dog Food and they let us know within 7 days of receipt, we will refund or replace it with no questions asked.
But the real key to RAW WILD is that it is a precious commodity in very limited supply. Raw Wild doesn’t come from domestically raised elk and deer, which bring up all the same issues as other domestically raised animals, like antibiotics, hormones, pesticides from the food they are fed, overcrowding like in feedlots and being killed and processed in a commercial slaughterhouse with all the slaughterhouse diseases like E. coli, salmonella, and listeria. The animals that Raw Wild comes from are absolutely wild animals, that eat a completely natural diet and are harvested by hunters in the wild.
We have also spent considerable time and resources developing, formulating and testing the proprietary blend of supplements in in Raw Wild, working with a 30-year, PhD educated industry veteran to ensure that the final product meets or exceeds all set governmental standards, and also the entire manufacturing process which allows us to offer this product to consumers.
Our blend of supplements is more expensive than many, however, because ours does not come from outside the USA or in bulk. It is custom blended and the ingredients are all AMERICAN in origin, with the exception of three ingredients (Vitamins A, D and E) that we source from Switzerland.

My puppy is 8 weeks old. When is a good time to start him on a raw diet and how much should I feed him?

Eight weeks is a good age to begin raw feeding. We suggest going “Cold Turkey” with RAW WILD Raw Dog Food only, and feeding the puppy 3-4 times a day until it is around 6 months, and then drop to 2 times a day. We suggest feeding a puppy 2-3% of what the dog’s full-grown weight will be. Of course, you should monitor the weight/fatness and adjust accordingly.

How much does RAW WILD Raw Dog Food cost?

RAW WILD Raw Dog Food is priced according to the amount ordered and can be ordered for shipment in three sizes:
“Wild 12” is 12 individual 1-pound packages for $14.03 per pound;
“Wild 24” is 24 individual 1-pound packages for $12.83 per pound;
“Wild 48” is 48 individual 1-pound packages for $11.63 per pound.
Shipping to certain east coast states has an additional charge.
Sales tax is added for all orders shipping to the State of Utah.
Do I need to add vitamin or mineral supplements to RAW WILD Raw Dog Food?
No, RAW WILD Raw Dog Food is a complete and balanced diet for all life stages, per AAFCO standards. Added vitamin and mineral supplements are not required unless specifically recommended by your veterinarian.

If a raw protein diet is so good for dogs, why have we traditionally fed them kibble and dog biscuits?

It all started in a very unlikely way. Sea biscuits, or hard tack, were the basic food stuffs of sailors for centuries. Made of a simple mixture of flour, water, and salt, baked, and then left to dry-out and harden, these sea biscuits were easily stored and had an extremely long shelf life.
In the 1850s, an electrician named James Spratt left Cincinnati and sailed to London to sell lightning rods. Upon docking in London, the crew threw the leftover sea biscuits overboard onto the dock, where the local dogs waited to devour them. Seeing this, Spratt thought, “Why not make cheap, easy-to-store, easy-to-serve biscuits to sell to city dwellers with dogs?’” In 1860, Spratt’s “Patent Meal Fibrine Dog Cakes” came on the market and the pet food industry was born. More than 150 years later, cereal is the basic dog diet. It’s easy for the dog owner, but very hard on a dog’s digestive system.

Does RAW WILD thaw during shipping?

No, it shouldn’t thaw in the normal shipping process. We ship RAW WILD thoroughly frozen to -20F, packed in a cardboard box, which is then put into another insulated cooler which goes into another cardboard box. We email tracking information to all customers so they can track each shipment and make certain there is someone available at the shipping address to receive the shipment and promptly place it in the freezer.

What should I do if the RAW WILD food has thawed during shipping?

If the food has thawed slightly because it wasn’t promptly taken from the boxes and put into a freezer, you can simply refreeze it and use as directed. If the entire package has completely thawed because it has not been refrigerated for many hours or days after delivery, it should be disposed of. It is the buyer’s responsibility to receive the package and promptly transfer RAW WILD to a freezer.

Are there any “wild diseases” that I need to worry about?

The short answer is ‘no’.

Where can I buy RAW WILD?

You can only buy it on this website. It is too rare, and we are too concerned about maintaining quality to allow anyone else to sell it.

Do you include organ meat in RAW WILD raw dog food?

We do not put organ meat in Raw Wild because the organs from our wild elk and deer are either taken by the hunter or left in the field when the animals are field dressed in preparation for transportation to be processed. We looked at using organs from commercially raised and slaughtered animals but decided not to because we felt it would compromise the purity and quality of Raw Wild Dog Food in that it would introduce exposure to GMOs, hormones, antibiotics, pesticide, herbicides and slaughterhouse related diseases like E.coli, salmonella and listeria. We have an 85/15% wild elk and deer meat to ground bone mixture, using the big elk leg bones to get the most marrow. We sent that mixture to a pet nutrition lab for an exhaustive nutritional analysis. We then sent those results to our consultant who has a PhD in pet nutrition and over 30 years’ experience. He formulated a premix of vitamins and minerals (all from either the USA or Switzerland) that we add to make Raw Wild Dog Food a complete and balanced food for all life stages. We add 1.2 pounds of the premix to every 200-pound batch of Raw Wild that we make. That means Raw Wild is 99.4% wild elk and deer meat and bone and .6% added vitamins and minerals. Many people choose to use the organ meat from commercially raised and slaughterhouse processed animals, but we and our customers choose not to. I guess we can all agree to disagree as long as we are doing what we believe is best for our pups.

Is RAW WILD human grade meat?

All of the wild elk and deer meat used in our RAW WILD Raw Dog Food comes from a game processing facility that processes wild elk and deer for human consumption. The same rigorous standards that are used to process and package elk and deer for human consumption are continued in the processing of RAW WILD Raw Dog Food. However, our manufacturing facility is not required to be USDA inspected and therefore, RAW WILD Raw Dog Food cannot be classified as being human grade, and is not intended for human consumption.

Where does RAW WILD come from?

RAW WILD is wild game elk and deer, living truly free-range in the Rocky Mountain region of the western United States, until taken by licensed bow and rifle hunters seeking meat for their own freezers. What could be healthier? RAW WILD is processed and packaged in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Is raw dog food recommended by veterinarians?

Yes, many veterinarians recommend raw dog foods because of the superior nutrition offered by a raw diet. Although dogs have eaten a raw diet in the wild for millennia, the availability of raw dog food is very new, and many veterinarians and dog owners are not very aware of it, and have little or no direct experience. In addition, many veterinarians are subsidized by the large pet food companies when they prescribe “special” diets for dogs. As raw dog foods become more widely available and recommended by current users, awareness is growing fast. Please be sure to discuss with your veterinarian proper and optimal dog nutrition and any changes to your dog’s diet. Also do your own research to learn about all the available options.

Why should I consider a grain-free diet for my dog?

Dogs and their close ancestors, wolves, evolved eating the flesh of prey animals, not grains, and as a result their digestive systems do not properly digest grains. Not only that but grains frequently contain toxins called mycotoxins that are produced by molds growing in stored grains. Exposure to even minute amounts of these mycotoxins from grain can accumulate in a dog’s liver where the poison can cause cancer. Grains may also contain pesticides. Grains, particularly corn, have been gene modified to grow more quickly and resist insects and diseases. While there is little objective research into the effect of these GMOs on dogs, why take a chance with your dog? There have been a few recent FDA studies that seem to indicate that a grain free diet causes cardiomyopathy in dogs. However, the most recent conclusions are that it is not the lack of grain that is causing the disease but rather the inclusion of pulse vegetables like peas, lentils and beans that are used to replace the grains.