K9 Natural is a revolutionary, New Zealand-made raw dog food which combines the natural goodness of fresh whole foods with an absolute commitment to the true nutritional needs of canines. The result is a dog food of exceptional quality and convenience.

100% natural and raw, K9 Natural contains only quality ingredients and absolutely no additives, artificial preservatives, wheat, wheat gluten, rice, rice gluten, cereal bulking agents or corn.

Based on the actual diet of the domestic dog’s closest relative, the Grey Wolf, K9 Natural is made with 85% real meat, bone and blood, plus 15% fresh fruit and vegetables, whole eggs, garlic and cod liver oil so you can be sure your dog is getting everything nature knows it needs. K9 Natural doesn't contain any artificial colourings, flavourings or preservatives. There are also absolutely no cooked ingredients because cooking significantly reduces the nutritional value of food.
 
Passionate dog owners worldwide, are convinced of the benefits of a raw food diet and are experiencing marked improvements in the health and well-being of their dogs. It is for this reason, that K9 Natural Food Limited was established - to develop a range of 100% natural, species appropriate, nutritional dog food that could be produced commercially to meet the growing demand from responsible pet owners nationwide and around the world.

Nutritional Information
To understand the nutritional needs of canines, it’s important to understand one fundamental aspect of their physiological make up: canines are carnivores. Wolves and other wild canines have survived and thrived on raw meat, meaty bones, organs and the pre-digested foods (such as grass, seeds, berries and leaf matter) of their prey for thousands of years.  High in protein, this diet is easily digested and provides optimum nutrition and energy.  A dog’s digestive system passes food much quicker than a human’s, indeed too quickly for bacteria to do any harm.  However, the speed of a dog's digestion means that its food needs to be packed full of quickly digestible nutrients.  A wolf’s natural diet is full of these nutrients and is easily digested – which is why K9 Natural mimics this diet so closely.

Ingredients
The ingredients discussed below are the only ingredients in K9 Natural, and they are all entirely raw to maintain their nutritional properties for the absolute benefit of your dog.
Meat, bone, blood and organs - 85% of the content of K9 Natural is raw meat (derived from animals deemed fit for human consumption), crushed bone, blood and a small amount of organ meats from grass-fed, free range, New Zealand livestock.  K9 never use meat from ‘fallen’, diseased or dying animals and we never use waste meats such as hooves, tails, noses or chicken feet etc.
When meat is processed for human consumption, the blood, organs and most bones are removed from the carcass.  As these things are a natural part of a dog’s diet and have been for thousands of years, we retain these ingredients and include them in K9 Natural in authentic quantities.
Blood ensures your dog gets sufficient Iron and other essential minerals.  Ground bone provides calcium, which needs to be the most abundant mineral in a dog’s body (a deficiency of calcium may lead to fragile, porous bones, retarded growth and tooth decay, amongst other things).  A sufficient amount of ground bone is included in K9 Natural to provide appropriate calcium, but we also recommend giving your dog a raw bone each day if you can, for healthy teeth, gums and breath, and as an enjoyable enrichment activity for your dog.  For advice on feeding bones, click here. Small amounts of organ meats, specifically heart, liver, kidney and green tripe are a natural part of a canine diet and provide some of the essential micro nutrients required by dogs.  Green tripe, for example, contains a probiotic (an organism which contributes to the health and balance of the intestinal tract) that is only found in fresh stomach lining.

Vegetables and Fruit - The modest quantities of fresh fruit and vegetables included in K9 Natural provide a range of vitamins required by your dog.  We use broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, silver beet, cabbage, pumpkin, apples and pears.  In summer we replace apples and pears with fruits such as berries, mimicking the overripe and fallen fruit that a wolf would find and eat in the wild in summer.

Garlic - Garlic is known as nature’s antibiotic and is a safe and natural remedy for many ailments.  It strengthens the immune system, is a powerful blood purifier and contains anti-fungal and anti-viral properties.  It also contains an important protector mineral – selenium. Garlic is also known to have a powerful anti-toxic blood purifying effect and assists in clearing the system of heavy metals (such as lead), drugs and poisons.  It also plays a major role in the rejection of cancer-causing toxins from normal cells. The amount of garlic included in K9 Natural is sufficient to provide the micro nutrients your dog requires and may assist in its natural defense mechanism against worms.

Eggs - Wolves are scavengers as well as hunters, and will keenly devour eggs when they find them.  Eggs are packed with protein, folic acid, iron, phosphorus, zinc and vitamins A, D, E and B. Norwegian Cod Liver Oil - Cod liver oil contains Omega-3 and is one of the most reliable and concentrated sources of four nutrients (DHA, EPA, vitamin A and vitamin D).

These nutrients are  needed for a healthy skin and coat, strong bones and teeth, healthy joints, a healthy cardiovascular system, a healthy lining of the digestive tract and a healthy nervous system.  Cod liver oil is also the world’s best natural preservative.  We use cold-pressed Norwegian cod liver oil - the finest in the world.  It is the only ingredient we source from outside of New Zealand.
 
Feeding K9 Natural is simple but there are a few important things to remember:
Store K9 Natural appropriately - K9 Natural is purposely free of artificial preservatives, which is why it’s only available in Frozen and Freeze Dried varieties. Frozen K9 Natural will last for a year prior to thawing, and for around three days after thawing - provided it’s refrigerated. Our Freeze Dried range has an almost indefinite shelf life until opened (making it great for an emergency kit). Once opened and reconstituted, treat the food as you would the frozen variety – refrigerate any left overs and feed or discard within three days.

K9 Natural is raw for a reason - don't cook it. K9 Natural has been created to provide a carefully balanced supply of appropriate nutrients for your dog, but it can only do this in its raw state. Cooking is unnecessary and undesirable because heat destroys and/or dramatically alters the nutrient levels in food. For the same reason, when reconstituting Freeze Dried K9 Natural, only warm water (no warmer than 37oC/98.6oF)  as hot water will cook it. The exception to this rule is if you’re feeding puppies. Their food should be served at room temperature, so if you take their food straight from the fridge, add a little lukewarm water before serving.

Handle with care - K9 Natural is made from inspected and passed meat, poultry and fish, however, any meat product can contain bacteria that could cause illness if mishandled. Please follow these instructions for your protection: For frozen K9 Natural, keep refrigerated or frozen; thaw in refrigerator; keep separate from other foods; wash surfaces, utensils and hands after touching raw meat, poultry or fish; refrigerate leftovers immediately; discard refrigerated leftovers once thawed if unused after three days.

Stop feeding other foods when you introduce your dog to K9 Natural. It is perfectly safe to stop feeding your dog’s food one day and introduce K9 Natural the next. A gradual introduction (i.e. feeding some of your dog’s previous food as well as some K9 Natural), is not recommended, especially if you've previously fed your dog a dry diet. A gradual introduction, while continuing to feed some of your dog's previous diet makes it difficult to gauge the correct amount of food that your dog should have and will cause stomach upsets. Wolves tend to eat at dawn and dusk, so we suggest feeding K9 Natural, plus bones, at these times (for example, you could feed your dog's recommended amount of K9 Natural in the morning and its bone late afternoon, or vice versa).

Avoid feeding more than the recommended amount. K9 Natural is packed full of goodness and energy, and doesn’t contain cheap fillers like rice and wheat to bulk it up. Therefore, your dog needs less K9 Natural than it would require from other foods. Use our feeding calculator, the guide below or the guide on the back of each pack to work out the recommended amount for your dog. If you notice undesirable weight gain or loss, then adjust accordingly.

Healthy-weight Adults   
Feed between 1% and 3% of body weight per day.
Overweight Adults Feed up to 1% of body weight per day until a healthy weight is reached.
Puppies Feed up to 9% of body weight per day in three meals until 12 weeks old, then gradually reduce until the amount fed is 3% at 12 months old, in one meal.
Seniors Feed up to 2% of body weight per day.

Cease feeding other foods when you start feeding K9 Natural
You can safely start feeding K9 Natural to your dog without any transition or ‘phasing in’ period involving your dog’s previous food. A gradual introduction is not recommended because it’s difficult to gauge the correct amount of food that your dog should have, which can then cause stomach upsets. The sooner your dog is on a healthy, species-appropriate diet, the better. Your dog won’t miss its old food and nor will the immediate change in diet have any detrimental effects – quite the opposite. Dispose of any old foods and commit to feeding only K9 Natural and, whenever you can, a raw bone a day.

Don’t remove the blood from K9 Natural, it's there for a reason
K9 Natural only contains meat that is certified fit for human consumption. This meat has been drained of blood as part of the normal method of preparation for human consumption. But because blood is such a desirable part of your dog’s diet (due to the beneficial vitamins and minerals it contains), we go to some considerable effort to collect and add back the blood from this meat. When thawing Frozen K9 Natural, aim to contain the blood as it thaws, so your dog can benefit from it.

Vary the flavours
K9 Natural frozen and freeze dried products are available in different flavour varieties and we recommend you alternate between flavours to provide your dog with the kind of variety it would experience in the wild.

Recommended Portion Guides
The recommended amount of K9 Natural may be less than you would feed your dog in biscuits, dog roll or canned food, but the key thing to remember is that quality is more important than quantity. The calories and nutritional value that your dog gets from an appropriate portion of K9 Natural mimics what nature provides them naturally. Avoid the temptation of feeding more, unless you notice undesirable weight loss.

Remember that these amounts are guides only - start with the recommended portion amount, and take into consideration your dog's activity level.  Also adjust the amount you feed if you notice weight gain or undesirable weight loss (fat loss, however, is desirable).

About Obesity
Society has become accustomed to overweight dogs yet, by nature, dogs are meant to be lean.  You're not doing your dog any favours by over-feeding it and you could risk killing it with what you might think is 'kindness'.  Overweight and obese dogs are at risk of a many serious health problems such as diabetes, heart disease and respiratory illnesses, and carrying all that extra weight puts enormous pressure on bones and joints.  Sadly, obese dogs live shorter lives than healthy, active dogs.

We encourage you to monitor your dog's weight regularly (both by sight and touch) and to aim to keep it within a healthy range.  Your vet can advise you on what that healthy range should be, based on its breed, age, activity level etc.  For your dog's sake, be vigilant and if you notice that it's gained or lost weight, adjust the amount you feed accordingly until it returns to a healthy weight.
Raw Feeding
If you’re new to the concept of raw feeding, you may be wondering what it’s all about and why you should consider it for your dog.

Raw feeding is a back-to-basics approach that takes its lead directly from nature.  It replicates the high protein, high energy diet that wild canines have thrived on for thousands of years, making it substantially different to the cooked, processed convenience dog foods that society has become accustomed to in recent decades. 

In its most natural form, as it is in K9 Natural, a raw food diet is high in protein, high in energy, low in carbohydrates and completely raw to get the optimum nutritional benefit from its ingredients.  Raw bones should also be part of a good raw food diet because they satisfy a dog’s instinctive urge to chew and have numerous health benefits.

Raw feeding is growing in popularity throughout the world as dog owners come to realise that modern 'convenience' dog foods - often made with foodstuffs rejected for  human consumption, or with an excess of species-inappropriate ingredients like grains – may not be in the best interests of their pets.  Many vets also share this view and are increasingly recommending a raw feeding approach because of the obvious benefits it has for dogs.

There are many benefits, including:
•Excellent muscle definition producing a fitter, leaner appearance
•Greater energy and alertness
•The reduction/elimination of symptoms of allergies
•The reduction of hyperactivity
•Easy and effective weight control
•Healthy skin and lustrous coats
•Enhanced oral health including clean teeth and fresh breath (especially if raw bones are a regular part of your dog's diet)
•Small, firm stools

In addition to these benefits, many owners who’ve switched their dogs from processed foods to a raw diet have reported significant, life-altering changes in their pets.  Reports from K9 Natural customers include the complete elimination of serious skin allergies (which had cost hundreds of dollars to treat without success), to amazing transformations in the energy levels of senior dogs previously thought to be ‘on their last legs’.  It’s possible to make raw food for your pet at home but it’s time consuming and hard to gauge if your home made blends are meeting your dog’s nutritional needs.  Commercial raw food products have been developed to make raw feeding simple and convenient.  We believe that K9 Natural is the finest on the market because it uses high quality ingredients and is nutritionally-complete without the need for any further supplementation.  It’s also affordable and exceptionally convenient. Given how natural a raw food diet is for canines, it’s hard to imagine a reason why you wouldn’t feed your dog a carefully prepared, nutritionally-balanced raw food.  With K9 Natural, you can feed a raw diet with confidence.  And we believe you’ll be thrilled with the positive effects it has on your dog.

500g makes 2kg of ready-to-serve raw food when reconstituted with warm water.