Raw Food Diet Plan for Mastiffs
From Puppy to Adult

by Ken Alden

What is the best raw food diet plan for Mastiffs from puppy to adult? That's the question we'll be answering since raw diets can be of such a great health benefit and there's many things needing to be addressed to make sure your Mastiff takes advantage of them.

Raw Food Diet Plan For Mastiffs

Your mastiff’s raw food diet plan should consist of roughly 80% meat and organs, 10% bone, and 10% fruits and vegetables. The diet should be high in protein and have minimal carbs. There should be a moderate amount of fat as well. Aim to give them about 10% of their current weight in raw food per day.

Let’s take a closer look at the best raw food diet plan for mastiffs from puppy to adult.
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The Benefits and Risks Of Raw Diets

There are tons of benefits to giving your mastiff a raw food diet, but there are also some risks. This section is going to talk about some of those benefits and risks for your mastiff.

Benefits of Feeding Your Mastiff Raw Food

There are many who believe the benefits far outweigh the risks when it comes to a raw food diet for your dog. Below is a list of some of the benefits: 

• Shiney and healthy coats and skin - Not only will their coats and skin improve, but there will be less risk of ear infections or skin allergies.
• Physically fit with better energy levels - Their energy will improve, but they’ll also be calmer.
• Clean teeth and less odors - A raw diet will keep their teeth cleaner and remove foul-smelling breath. It will also improve other bodily odors in your dog.
• Smaller droppings - Dogs are better able to digest a raw diet. This makes for smaller and less frequent droppings.
• Simple weight control - Their bodies digest the food better, leading to better weight and healthier digestive systems.
• Improvement for joints - This is especially good for big dogs, who often have trouble with their joints and bones. 
• More muscle 
• Can help improve allergies - A raw diet plan boosts a dog's immune system, which leads to improved allergies. There are also important enzymes that help the good bacteria in your dog’s stomach. This also improves the immune system, leading to better tolerance of allergies.
• Less water intake - Drinking less water reduces your mastiff’s risk of bloat, which is a deadly condition where the stomach distends, and twists, cutting off blood supply. Bloat comes on suddenly and can be fatal.
  
  

Risks of Feeding Raw Food to Your Mastiff

For humans, it’s important that food is cooked thoroughly in order to ensure it’s safe to eat, so it’s natural to wonder if a raw food diet is safe for your pets. 

It’s important that you have all of the information you need before you start feeding raw food to your mastiff. While it would appear there are many benefits to a raw food diet, here are some of the risks involved:

• Bacteria - While humans and dogs react to bacterias differently, there’s a debate that the bad bacteria in raw meat can be harmful to dogs. In addition, it’s a potential risk to humans handling the food as well. Even if the dog isn’t infected, he could be a carrier and possibly transmit diseases like Salmonella and E. Coli to you or other dogs.
• Choking hazards - Whole bones can cause a choking hazard to dogs, as well as fractured or broken teeth and internal damage. You especially never want to feed cooked bones to your dog. The heat from being cooked can make them splinter into smaller, more dangerous pieces that could get stuck in your dog’s throat or puncture the stomach.
   

Mastiff Raw Feeding Amount & Scheduling for Puppies

In this section of our raw food diet plan for Mastiffs we delve into raw feeding puppies...

Mastiffs are known to grow rapidly in their first year of life. It’s important to keep this in mind when deciding how much and how frequently to feed your mastiff puppy.

It’s also important to know that their growth will vary depending on the dog, just like with humans. Below you’ll find a breakdown of roughly the growth patterns you’d see in mastiff dogs in their first year of life. You’ll also see a list of feeding amounts and schedules for puppies.

When it comes to the feeding amount for your mastiff puppy, you’ll want to gauge their weight and how quickly they’re growing. It’s best to try and feed your mastiff puppy about 10% of their current weight per day. However, if you’re noticing they’re having a hard time eating that much, you can easily adjust it to a smaller portion if needed. Or a larger portion if they aren’t gaining enough weight.

Feed your mastiff puppy three times a day using the guide below as a reference. When they reach the age of six to 12 months, you’ll want to monitor their weight to ensure they aren’t gaining too much. If they are, cut back to smaller portions two times a day.

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Important Milestones for Your Mastiff Puppy

Typically, in the first one to two months of life, a male mastiff puppy can be anywhere from 20 to 40lbs (9.1 to 18.1kg) by the age of two months. Female mastiff puppies can be 15 to 30lbs (6.8 to 13.6kg) by the age of two months. 

When preparing a raw food diet plan for Mastiffs for a one to two-month-old puppy, it’s important to remember that their teeth won’t be very strong. It’s best to grind the meat and bone together. This ensures they are able to chew it without risk of choking. 

It’s also best to give them only meat and bone at this early stage. You can introduce them to fruits, vegetables, and organs when they’re a little older. Following the 80/10/10 formula, you can give them 80% meat and 20% bone in this case.

You want to feed their meals in small amounts about three times a day to prevent upsetting their stomachs and causing diarrhea. You also don’t want them to over-eat. Grind the meat and bone together and serve it to them that way.

At age two to three months, you’ll want to feed them around 8 to 10% of their current body weight per day and feed them three times a day. At this age, you can start incorporating vegetables into their diet. You’ll still want to grind everything together to spare their teeth, but you’ll want to give them 80% meat, 10% bone, and 10% veggies. plan for Mastiffs

At the age of five to six months, it’s normal if your mastiff puppy doesn’t show interest in eating their midday meal. If they do skip a meal consecutively for a few days, switch their schedule. Divide the total amount of food by two instead of three and feed them twice a day.

At age nine to ten months, you can bring them down to about 3 to 4% of their current body weight and feed them twice a day.

Raw Feeding Amount and Scheduling for Adult Mastiffs

For adult mastiffs, it’s much simpler. By now, your mastiffs have stopped growing so drastically. You’ll want to give them about 2 to 3% of their current weight. It’s also still best to feed them twice a day. It keeps them from overeating and helps prevent bloat.

An adult male mastiff can range in weight from 150 to 220lbs (68 to 99.8kg). An adult female will range from 120 to 160lbs (54.4 to 72.6kg).

For example, if you have a 220lb (99.8kg) mastiff adult. If you’re going to feed them 3% of their current weight, you’ll want to feed them 6.6lbs (3kg) of raw food per day. Your percentages of meat, bone, and vegetables will look like this:

• 80% of meat = 5.28lbs (2.4kg)
• 10% of bone = 0.66lbs (0.30kg)
• 10% of fruits and/or veggies = .66lbs (0.30kg)
  
  

Raw Diet Recipes for Your Mastiff Adult or Puppy

When coming up with a raw food diet plan for Mastiffs all of this information can be overwhelming. Figuring out how to put it all together for your mastiff can be confusing. However, it doesn’t have to be. Below you’ll find easy to follow recipes for both puppies and adults.

Foods to Stick To...

Here is a shortlist of foods to add to your mastiff’s raw food diet:

• Meats with fat - Beef, chicken, pork, bison
• Organs - The liver is an easy organ to get a hold of but don’t feed too much of it. It is high in vitamin A, which could lead to diarrhea if you aren’t careful.
• Fruits and vegetables - blueberries, apples, romaine lettuce, celery, green beans, peas, zucchini, and broccoli
  
  

When Preparing Raw Food for Mastiff Puppies and Adults Keep In Mind...

Remember that when you are preparing your recipes for puppies, you’ll want to throw the ingredients into a food processor to make it easier for them to chew. Once the puppies’ teeth are stronger, you can stop grinding their food together. Also, remember that puppies less than 2 months old shouldn’t be getting vegetables yet.

Another thing to keep in mind is that certain organs are actually considered a “meat” instead of an organ when it comes to your percentages. Organs like the heart, tongue, and other organs that don’t secret something are considered meat. The liver, spleen, and kidneys are considered organs. Vegetables can be blended into a puree to aid in your dog’s digestion of them.

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Raw Food Recipes for Mastiff Puppies

Simple and Easy

This recipe is very basic and will last you a while for a puppy. If you plan on feeding this to a puppy that’s in that one to two-month age range, cut out the vegetables.

Ingredients:

• 22 lbs (10 kg) of meat and bone - minced
• 4.5 lbs (2 kg) of organs
• 4.5 lbs (2 kg) of vegetables
• 3 to 6 eggs - raw

Instructions:

1. Boil the vegetables until soft.
2. Let them cool, then mash them until they’ve become a fine pulp.
3. Mix together with the other ingredients.
4. When adding the egg, go ahead and mix in the shell as well.
   

This recipe is great for bulk mixing and will last you a while. Use what you need, freeze the rest and only thaw when you need to feed your puppy. You can also use this for an adult as well.

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Beef Balls

This is a great recipe for your puppy because it helps them gain weight. However, if they are already at their ideal weight, you may want to give these as a special treat only a few times a week.

Ingredients:

• 10 lbs (4.5 kg) of ground beef - lean 
• 12 cups of oats
• 10 eggs - raw 
• 1 ¼ cup of vegetable oil
• 1 ¼ cup unsulfured molasses
• 10 packages of gelatin - unflavored
  

Instructions: 

1. Mix all of the ingredients together and roll into balls.
2. Freeze them and feed as desired.

These can also work as treats for your adult mastiff.

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Best of Everything

This recipe has everything your puppy would need for nutrients and it’s easy on their teeth! The recipe makes about 22 lbs of food so you can store the rest in your freezer and use as needed.

Ingredients:

• 12 lbs (5.4 kg) of chicken on the bone - Or turkey if that’s available instead
• 1 lb (0.5 kg) of beef tripe - green
• 1 lb (0.5 kg) of sardines - These can be frozen and should be whole. You could also use canned ones as long as they’re not in any oil.
• 1 lb (0.5 kg) of beef heart
• 1 lb (0.5 kg) of liver
• 1 lb (0.5 kg) of kidney
• 10 oz (283.5 g) of broccoli
• 10 oz (283.5 g) of kale
• 7 oz (198.4 g) of carrot
• 7 oz (198.4 g) of blueberries - Or blackberries

Instructions:

1. Chop or blend the meat and organs into an easy to eat mince.
2. Finely chop the veggies or cook them to make them soft enough to mash.
3. Combine all ingredients and store.
4. Freeze what you don’t need for three days worth of meals.

Raw Food Recipes for Adult Mastiffs

All of the raw food diet plan for Mastiffs recipes listed above for puppies will also work for adults. However, here are some more recipes you can try with your adult mastiff.

Fish Delight

This is a great recipe that is packed with tons of nutrients your mastiff needs. It doesn’t make a lot up front, but you can always double or triple the recipe if you want to prepare it in bulk.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs (0.9 kg) of mackerel - Or any other whiting fish 
• 2 cans of Alaskan salmon
• 8 oz (226.8 g) of beef liver
• 1 to 3 eggs - raw
• 10 ½ oz (297.7 g) mixed veggies
• 2 tbsp of kelp powder
• 2 tbsp of honey

Instructions:

1. Cut the vegetables into small pieces before cooking them.
2. Cook until they’re soft, then allow them to cool down.
3. Once the veggies are completely cool, add them to the meat and organs and grind them together.
4. After that, combine with the kelp powder, honey and eggs.

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Homemade Chicken Dinner (Mom would be proud!)

Ingredients:

• 40 lbs (18.1 kg) of chicken necks
• 10 lbs (4.5 kg) of chicken hearts
• 5 lbs (141.7 kg) of chicken liver
• 2 cans of salmon
• 3 lbs (1.4 kg) of carrots
• ½ of a cabbage bunch
• 1 beet
• 2 apples - seedless
• ½ a spinach bunch - fresh

Instructions:

1. Chop and slightly cook the fruits and veggies.
2. Combine the meat, organs, fruits and veggies and mix together.
3. You can grind everything in a food processor or serve them whole.

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Munchie Medley

This recipe incorporates a variety of different kinds of goodies that your Mastiff is sure to love. It’s filled with great vitamins as well. This is another recipe that doesn’t call for a bulk mixture. However, you can always double or triple the recipe if needed.

Ingredients:

• 9 oz of (255.1 g) beef or lamb
• 5 oz (141.7 g) of carrots
• 5 oz (141.7 g) of apples
• 1 oz (28.3 g) of peas
• 8 oz (226.8 g) of pumpkin
• 3 oz (85 g) of brown rice
• 4 tsp of sunflower oil
• 4 g (0.1 oz) of fish oil

Instructions:

1. Cook the rice and pumpkin.
2. Cut the carrots and boil with the peas until they're soft.
3. Allow the rice, pumpkin, and veggies to cool.
4. Chop up the meat.
5. Once the cooked food has cooled, combine all ingredients and serve.

If made in bulk, freeze what you don’t need.

Foods to Avoid...

As you come up with the best plan for your mastiff, here is a small list of foods you’ll want to stay away from. These foods are difficult for dogs to digest and could cause stomach problems: plan for Mastiffs

• Tomatoes
• Raw potatoes
• Onions

Raw Food Diet Plan For Mastiffs...Final Thoughts

Whether you are making the switch to a raw food diet for your adult mastiff or looking to start a puppy on it, it’s always important to consult with a vet. They will be able to guide you on the best ways to transition your dog into this new lifestyle.

When it comes to your mastiff’s diet plan, it can seem pretty overwhelming. There are a lot of things to consider, but the benefits are numerous as well. Hopefully, this guide has helped you develop the best plan for your mastiff, from puppy to adult.

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I’m Ken Alden. This website
is a labor of love from years of research and personal experiences with Mastiffs.

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