How to Start

Kibble Toppers For Your Dog's Bowl

This content is owned by Feed Real Institute. Authored and/or contributed to by Kay S., Amber D..

For many dog parents, the beginning of the transition to a raw diet is using kibble toppers, raw foods that they add to the top of the dog's bowl of kibble. But for some, adding kibble toppers may seem enough, and they will not make a complete transition. In either case, adding fresh food to the ultra-processed dry kibble will improve many chronic conditions many kibble-fed dogs experience.

Improving Hydration

Proper hydration is critical to the health of our pets. Dogs should have continuous access to fresh water, especially if they are kibble-fed, because kibble contains less than 10% moisture. Ensuring that your dog gets ample water will ease the burden on the digestive tract.

The most common form of dehydration in dogs is not drinking enough water. Water is essential for life; it helps our dogs digest food and absorb nutrients. If left untreated, dehydration can lead to kidney disease.

Clinical signs of dehydration include lethargy (weakness), decreased appetite, vomiting, and increased heart and respiration rates.

You can provide other liquids to encourage your dog to stay hydrated. Bone broth is an excellent nutrient source and enticing for most dogs.

Signs Your Dog May Be Dehydrated

There are several ways to check for dehydration. Observing the mucous membranes of the mouth, the moisture in the eyes, and your dog's appetite can all provide clues to his hydration status.

Your dog's gums should be bright pink or cherry red. If they're pale or white, that's a sign of dehydration. You can also check for capillary refill time by pressing on the gums to blanch them. Watch as the color returns to the gums. This should only take 1-2 seconds. If the capillary refill time is extended past 3 seconds, dehydration could be the cause.

Your dog's eyes should appear moist. If they seem dry and sunken in—and especially if your dog seems lethargic—it's possible that he isn't getting enough water.

Poor appetite and frequent vomiting can also be clinical signs of dehydration.

A healthy dog's skin should be soft and pliable, with no visible sagging or flakiness. If your dog's skin feels firm and taut, like a drum, he may be dehydrated. Pinch the fur at the base of the neck and pull it up or tent it to test your dog's hydration level. When you let off, the skin should quickly return to normal. If your dog is dehydrated, its skin may not return to normal quickly and continue to be tented or return to normal at a slower rate.

Protein for Muscle and Healthier Skin and Coat

Protein comprises amino acids, the building blocks of cells, organs, muscles, and blood. Adding fresh sources of bioavailable protein to your dog's diet can help provide them with more nutrients to build muscle, body organs, and blood proteins and also help create healthier skin and coat.

Eggs

Add an egg to your dog's kibble bowl up to three times a week for small dogs, five times a week for medium dogs, or seven times a week for large dogs. Raw, scrambled, or hard-boiled eggs are all acceptable to use as kibble toppers.

If pasture-raised eggs are available, feed them instead of cage-reared eggs. Pasture-raised eggs contain double the Omega-3 fatty acids, three times more vitamin D, four times more vitamin E, and seven times more beta-carotene than cage-reared eggs.

Meat

Fill your dog's bowls with whatever protein you're cooking for yourself. If you're going to cook it, do it slowly and without adding any seasonings. Raw is recommended, but you can cook the meat outside under low heat if that makes you more comfortable.

Protein sources include duck, hog, cattle, bison, lamb, and turkey. Grass-fed or organic foods are recommended over grain-fed when possible.

Avoid the pitfall of not rotating your proteins. Some beginners may feed chicken because it is simple and inexpensive. We recommend alternating between four and five proteins every thirty days.

Asian markets often carry a selection of meat cuts that are not available in your local supermarket. Gizzards and tongues should be sought out at your local Asian market, as they may not be accessible elsewhere.

Fish to Reduce Inflammation and Aid in Healthy Skin & Coat

Omega-3 is an essential fatty acid that plays a vital role in canine health. It's part of the cell membrane and aids in supporting brain function and vision, and maintaining healthy skin and coat. Dogs can't produce Omega-3 on their own, so it must be supplied in their diet. Fresh oily fish is the best source of anti-inflammatory Omega-3.

You can top your dog's meal with anchovies, capelin, mackerel, rockfish, salmon, sardines, or smelt. If you choose to buy canned fish, make sure the label says it is stored in water rather than oil and that there aren't any spices added.

We recommend fresh fish over canned to obtain all the nutrients possible from the fish. If possible, wild fish are the best you could utilize as a kibble topper.

Oily fish can be fed 3-7 days per week. Due to rancidity, fish oil is not recommended over whole fish. Fish oils oxidize quickly and may have even oxidized before putting them on the shelf.

Seafood for Trace Minerals

Shellfish are excellent sources of glucosamine, zinc, and manganese. Green-lipped mussels can be added for glucosamine, blue-lipped mussels for manganese, and oysters for zinc.

Always cook shellfish to take care of the thiaminase issue. Thiaminase is an enzyme that breaks molecules of thiamine in half, rendering it useless and unable to perform the functions it requires in the body. Alternatively, you can add chia seeds or brewer's yeast when feeding fish high in thiaminase.

Seafood can be fed three to four times per week. One piece can be provided for every 10 pounds when feeding mussels. Dogs can have one piece for every 20 pounds when feeding oysters.

Organs for Multivitamins

Organs are your multivitamin superfood. You can use the organ treats from your box at Real Dog Box. The typical guideline for fresh feeders is 5% liver and 5% other secreting organs, like kidneys or spleen. This would be roughly the size of your dog's paw.

Given that kibble is fortified with a vitamin and mineral pack, you may add 2% or a piece half the size of your dog's paw to their daily intake as a topper in this situation.

If you're buying liver from your local supermarket, buy cow liver one month, chicken liver the next, and calf liver the following month. Variety is critical in filling gaps in your dog's nutrition.

On the other hand, the kidney and spleen are best purchased from Asian marketplaces.

Raw Meaty Bones for Clean Teeth and Healthy Bones

Your dogs can get magnesium, iron, manganese, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chloride, sulfur, and silica from raw meaty bones or air-dried chews from Real Dog Box.

Chewing provides much-needed activity for their jaws, while gnawing and ripping meat and bones cleans their teeth and offers an outlet for mental stimulation.

It's preferable if your dog consumes various bone types and sizes under direct supervision. Keep chewing sessions to a maximum of 10 to 15 minutes. Consider your dog's size and the size of the bone or chew. The general rule is that your dog shouldn't be able to swallow the bone in one gulp, so choose a bone that is the right size for them. Then, offer the raw meaty bone during mealtime or as a snack in the afternoon.

Never offer your dog cooked bones. Although splintering is a hazard for all bones, cooked bones do not have connective tissue and meat covering them, so the pieces are sharper and not easily digested if swallowed.

Vegetables for Fiber

Vegetables are not suitable for all dogs. Fur and feathers are another option for fiber instead of vegetables and are the favored approach for raw feeders. Rabbit ears, rabbit feet, and cow ears are good sources of fur, while quail or pheasant is a sources of feathers.

If your dog doesn't mind eating vegetables, you can undoubtedly get some nutritional benefits from them. They can be provided to help digestion and the microbiome by supplying fiber, dietary enzymes, and other vitamins and minerals. Anti-cancer properties are also found in some vegetables.

Recent studies show that 60% of dogs will eventually develop cancer. Adding leafy greens as a kibble topper just three times a week has been shown to reduce the risk of cancer by 90%! Fruits provide antioxidants severely lacking in kibble because of the extreme heat processes used for manufacturing.

Vegetables can be fed daily, but starchy vegetables should be kept to a minimum. There aren't many calories in vegetables, so you don't have to worry about overfeeding, but too much fiber can cause loose stool or impacted stool. They can make up 3 to 5% of your dog's food bowl. Keep an eye on their poop to ensure the additional vegetables are not causing diarrhea or softening the stools.

Fruit for Antioxidants

Fruits provide phytonutrients, antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins.

Berries are the best fruit to feed your dog. Although they can be offered daily, they should be provided in small amounts due to the amount of sugar.

Supplements

Walking down the supplement aisle can become overwhelming quickly. There are many to choose from; brands, types, and promises. With this said, it's important to know that most of the supplement world is highly unregulated. You must research to determine if a supplement is bioavailable or if it's just going to be something you're spending money on for no benefit.

On the other hand, supplements can work exceptionally well, but too much of a good thing isn't necessarily good. Excess amounts of supplementation can be equally or more dangerous than a deficiency.

Nature has taken care of this for our dogs (and humans). That's why we recommend feeding whole foods, even in most cases of deficiency. Your dog's body will absorb what is needed from whole foods to fill the nutritional gaps, mainly when fed various foods rather than eating the same food daily. This is particularly important for dogs who are kibble-fed. They consume the same kibble every day, but adding a different kibble topper can provide the variety necessary to ensure that nutrition gaps are handled.

Feed supplements when needed, but not unless necessary.

How Much Raw to Add

There are varying opinions on the amount of raw to add to the kibble-based diet. The one consistency is that the raw toppers must be accounted for in the total daily caloric intake of the dog. Providing 10-20% of the meals as whole-food kibble toppers will provide significant health advantages for the dog.

If the hybrid method is used for transitioning to a raw diet, the percentage of raw is increased over time. However, due to the differences in the stomach acid pH for a high carbohydrate diet and a fresh protein-based diet, once the percentage of whole food is 50% or more, it is best to split the meals. The kibble portion can be fed as the morning meal and the fresh food as the evening meal.

Meat, fish, and dairy products stimulate greater secretion of stomach acid than carbohydrates, lowering the gut pH. When entering the small intestine, the pH of the food bolus (chyme) triggers the release of bile and pancreatic digestive enzymes. A highly acidic chyme will trigger the release of enzymes required to digest protein and fats. In contrast, the lower acidic chyme will trigger a different cascade of pancreatic enzymes to digest the carbohydrates.

Takeaway Bites

If you choose to feed kibble, there are ways to make it more nutritious for your dog with kibble toppers.
When possible, fresh is preferred over canned foods.
Kibble-fed dogs require a higher water intake due to the lack of moisture in commercial kibble. Adding hydrating foods to their diet can help reduce the risk of dehydration.