Raw feeding a Bernese Mountain Dog puppy

A 7-month Bernese Mountain Dog at this stage is right in the thick of the most important window for skeletal and joint development — giant breeds grow slowly and need that process supported carefully, not rushed. Raw feeding done well can be excellent for this, but done badly it creates nutritional gaps — particularly around calcium-to-phosphorus ratio — that cause real harm to developing bones over time. The difference is balance and sourcing. To point you in the right direction: have you fed raw before, and are you looking for a complete ready-made raw option or planning to build the diet yourself?

Good call starting with a complete product — it takes the guesswork out of balancing and is genuinely the safer route with a giant breed puppy. At 28kg and still growing significantly, his calcium and phosphorus needs are precise and getting that wrong in either direction puts strain on joints. What matters most right now: is he showing any stiffness, or is this purely proactive on your part?

That's exactly the right mindset — Berners have a high inherited risk for conditions like OCD and hip dysplasia, and the research is clear that slow, controlled growth during puppyhood meaningfully reduces that risk. For a complete raw option I'd point you to Natures Menu Country Hunter 80/20 raw nuggets — they're a properly balanced complete raw food with 80% meat, organs and bone at the correct ratio, plus added vitamins and minerals. Crucially, they're portioned as frozen nuggets which makes it easy to feed accurately by weight, which matters a lot when you're trying to support controlled growth rather than fast growth. You'd be feeding roughly 2–2.5% of his target adult weight daily, split across two meals. It's available on Amazon UK in multi-protein packs so you can rotate proteins, which also supports gut diversity.

With a genuinely complete raw food like Country Hunter you don't need to supplement the basics — the mineral ratios are already set, and adding extra calcium or phosphorus on top of a complete raw diet is actually one of the ways people accidentally cause harm. Fish oil is the one addition that's broadly sensible and hard to overdo — cold-pressed salmon oil in particular gives you omega-3s that support joint membrane health and have good evidence behind them for breeds with joint predisposition. YuMOVE Puppy Joint Supplement is also worth knowing about once he hits 12 months, but at 7 months a quality complete raw plus salmon oil is genuinely sufficient. Keep his weight in the lean-to-ideal range — that single factor does more for his joints long-term than any supplement.

Transition over 7–10 days: start with 20% raw mixed into his current food and increase by roughly 20% every couple of days. With puppies on raw for the first time you sometimes get a day or two of loose stools as gut bacteria adjust — that's normal as long as it resolves within 48 hours. Feed it partially thawed, not fully frozen, and always from a clean bowl. Once he's fully transitioned, weigh his portions rather than eyeballing — it takes 30 seconds and makes a real difference to keeping growth steady. You're in good shape doing this proactively.