Switching Keeshond to raw food

Switching an adult dog from a cooked home diet to commercial raw is actually a really sensible move — but the transition does need a bit of care, especially since your dog's digestive system has been used to cooked protein for years. The gut bacteria are in a different place than they would be in a dog who's always eaten raw, so going too fast tends to cause loose stools and put people off the whole thing unnecessarily. Tell me a bit more: how long has your Keeshond been on the cooked diet, roughly what proteins have you been cooking, and how sensitive is their stomach generally — any history of upset tummies or loose stools?

That's a genuinely good position to be switching from — a single-protein cooked history with a robust stomach means she's unlikely to react badly. The main thing to get right is the transition speed and starting with proteins she already recognises. Because she knows chicken and turkey, you want a commercial raw that leads with one of those rather than throwing in beef or lamb from day one, which her gut bacteria haven't encountered much. For the first two weeks, I'd replace about a quarter of her usual cooked meal with raw, then half and half in week three, then fully raw by week four. It sounds slow but it's worth it — it means you're almost certain to avoid the loose stool cycle that makes people abandon the switch. One more thing worth knowing: Keeshonds can carry a bit of weight without you noticing under all that coat, so it's worth weighing her portion carefully rather than eyeballing it. What's your preference on format — do you want frozen complete meals, or are you happy to handle mince that you portion yourself?

Perfect — in that case the product I'd point you to is Natures Menu Country Hunter 100% Natural Raw Frozen Nuggets in Chicken. They're complete and balanced, come in small frozen nuggets that are easy to portion precisely for a 14kg dog, and chicken as the lead protein means you're starting with something her system already knows. They're available in 1kg bags on Amazon UK, which also makes it easy to try before committing to a bulk order. For a 14kg Keeshond at maintenance, you're looking at roughly 280g per day — about 2% of body weight — split across two meals if she's used to that. The nugget format is genuinely useful during the transition because you can mix them straight into her cooked food without it being messy. Once she's fully transitioned and you're confident in the format, you can explore other proteins like turkey or fish to add variety, but chicken is the right starting point for her.

A reputable complete commercial raw like Natures Menu Country Hunter is formulated to meet FEDIAF nutritional guidelines, so it should cover what she needs without you adding anything. That said, it's worth knowing that 'complete' labelling in raw food is less regulated than in dry kibble, so the brand matters. Natures Menu has been around a long time and their complete ranges are genuinely balanced — I wouldn't feel the need to supplement on top of it. One thing I would do is book a standard vet weight check about six weeks after the full switch, not because anything is likely to be wrong, but because transitioning adults sometimes shift weight slightly and it's good to confirm her condition score is where you want it. Other than that, you're not going to be nutritionally worse off than the home-cooked diet — in fact the raw format often suits dogs well long-term. You're going in with a sensible plan.

You're in a good spot — healthy dog, straightforward protein history, and you've got a clear transition plan. Go slowly for those first four weeks, weigh her portions, and you'll almost certainly have a smooth switch. Natures Menu Country Hunter Chicken Nuggets is a solid place to start, and once she's settled on raw you'll find the whole feeding routine much simpler than cooking. Good luck to both of you.