# How much protien in RAW diet?



## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

Anyone know how much (approx) protien is in a well balanced RAW diet?


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## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

One of my diets for my adult greyhound is 33% prot, 25% carbs, and 42% fat and these are actual calculated numbers. My dogs all get potato in their diets.


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## natalie559 (Feb 4, 2005)

Elaine, are the %s based on caloric contribution or other?


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## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

Thanks Elaine.

Anyone else??

The reason I asked is that someone yesterday on another board said that they thought RAW diets were only about 10 to 12% protien. That sounded WAY too low to me. Seems to me that any canine that was only getting 10 to 12% protien wouldn't be very healthy.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

I think it is higher, I did a search and there is no set protein levels that I could find, though I know raw is more water based, so as it is higher protein, it is not in the unsafe zone. And the proteins are utilized differently than a kibble type protein. This was all I could find and it says if in dry form it would be about 35%. At least that is what I am interpreting it to read:
http://www.barfworld.com/blog/?tag=protein
Though this was based on a prepared raw patty diet...


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

A while back I tried to research the same question to make sure I wasn't feeding too much protein since I was feeding raw. 

I googled a variety of commercially prepared, frozen raw diets, and their proteing analysis were all within the 12 to 16% range - seemed low to me since many kibbles have 30 to 45% protein as per the label. 

I brought it up with other raw feeders that I train with, and like Jane was saying, the difference is that the protein in a raw diet is more fully absorbed and utilized, since it is in its natural, unprocessed form - very different than the protein utilization in kibble.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

From the link I posted: 
_It all boils down to the amount of moisture in the diet. Most dry feed diets contain approximately 10% moisture whereas a natural raw meat diet contains approximately 70% moisture. In order to make an apples to apples comparison you must first reduce the diet to it’s dry matter basis. Once you have done this you realize that the protein level is in the 35% range based on a dry matter basis. This is the only way to make a fair comparison._


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## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

Elaine, are the %s based on caloric contribution or other?

Yes, my diet is based on % calories for each.

I don't see how any raw diet could even come close to a 10-12% protein. I know some diets have crazy high amounts of fat in them like 60-70%, but those are usually no-carb diets and they would still have 30-40% protein.


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## natalie559 (Feb 4, 2005)

> Originally Posted By: ElaineYes, my diet is based on % calories for each.


From my understanding it's 9 calories per gram of fat and 4 calories per gram of protein and carbs. With that info I get the following

Penny: 49% fat *44% protein* 8% carb

Sasha: 37% fat *46% protein* 17% carb

Both the diets include potato. If you were not feeding any veggies/carbs then the protein would be even higher.

There is no way to feed a raw diet at 10-12% protein unless it is heavily supplemented with veggies/carbs.

And yes as mentioned you must compare on a dry matter basis when comparing say kibble to commercial raw. You must subtract out the moisture then compare.


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## natalie559 (Feb 4, 2005)

As far as minimum and what would be considered unhealthy- the protein requirement for dogs is actually somewhat low. But the calories must come from somewhere, so unless there is a medical condition which called for limited protein, protein contributes calories/amino acids/vitamins/minerals nicely.

The NRC lists nutrient requirements per kilo to the power of .75. They list protein minimum at 2.62g and recommended allowance at 3.28g.

For Penny who weights 75# that translates to daily minimum of 36.7g protein with a recommendation of 46g daily. Penny actually receives an average of 140.5g protein per day so you can see if need be it could be greatly reduced yet still healthy.


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## AK GSD (Feb 27, 2008)

Scout is on a premade raw that has the analysis of:

11% - 16% Protein As Fed
36% - 42% Protein DM Basis (Dry Matter Basis)

http://www.commonsensedogfood.com/analisys.html

As Onyx Girl said...



> Quote: It all boils down to the amount of moisture in the diet. Most dry feed diets contain approximately 10% moisture whereas a natural raw meat diet contains approximately 70% moisture. In order to make an apples to apples comparison you must first reduce the diet to it’s dry matter basis. Once you have done this you realize that the protein level is in the 35% range based on a dry matter basis. This is the only way to make a fair comparison.


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

Further to what Jane said, next time you're in the pet food store (or surfing the internet) look at the various forms of dog food being sold. 

For example:

Nature's Variety Instinct (Chicken) * Canned *: 
Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein (min): 9.0%
Crude Fat (min): 7.0%
Crude Fiber (max): 3.0%
Moisture (max): 75.0%

Nature's Variety Instinct (Chicken) * Dry Kibble *:

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein (min): 42.0%
Crude Fat (min): 22.0%
Crude Fiber (max): 3.2%
Moisture (max): 10.0%


Nature's Variety * Raw * (Chicken) 
Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein (min): 13.0%
Crude Fat (min): 6.0%
Crude Fiber (max): 2.0%
Moisture (max): 68.0%


Nature's Variety *Freeze-Dried Raw * (Chicken)
Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein (min): 40.0%
Crude Fat (min): 25.0%
Crude Fiber (max): 8.0%
Moisture (max): 4.0%


All rather similar grain free (potato free) product -- all with different protein percentages, largely based upon the amount of moisture contained therein.


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

I never bothered to figure it out.

They say that too much protein makes a puppy grow too fast. Well, everything I've seen and everyone I've talked to over the years has shown me that raw fed pups grow SLOWER than their kibble fed counterparts.

Here is Mauser and his kibble fed brother Nike. I don't see much of ANY difference in them size-wise:










And as for it being unhealthy - I had a friend that has a 10+ year old Irish Wolfhound (anything over 7 yrs in an IW is amazing) that is still going strong as was raw weaned and raised!


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## MelissaHoyer (Sep 8, 2006)

I just looked at my prepared ground Chicken (including bone and offal). The guaranteed protein analysis is 10%. It's mostly moisture!


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## Tbarrios333 (May 31, 2009)

I see BIG differences between Mauser and his brother. 
Mauser's coat is way shinier than his brothers which looks a little rough. Mauser's head also looks more developed than his brothers. 

It's amazing.


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