Ingredients: Irish grass-fed, chemical-free beef liver, Atlantic sardine, beef heart, beef tripe, beef kidney, beef spleen, beef pancreas, fresh and lightly steamed local kale, broccoli, carrot,Irish seaweeds, pre-soaked organic flaxseed meal and organic Styrian pumpkin seeds, beef collagen, organic rosehips,dehydrated organic reishi mushrooms, dehydrated wild Scandinavian blueberries, dried beef blood, organic cleavers, cattle hair.
Most agree DIY raw dog food is best because, regardless of quality, it’s impossible to actually know what your complete raw is made with – finely ground chicken carcass looks like chicken mince. Did they really put lamb liver in this?! How much of the power additions did they add?!!
For this reason, I mostly DIY for Duds. Power Paste is my creation and it was born out of pure necessity because, as most of us will agree, finding the meat and bone bits is easy enough. At a minimum, you can find all the beef and chicken parts you need in any supermarket.
The problem is always the tail-end ingredients, the various organ meats (some of which are simply not available in butchers in anymore eg spleen, pancreas, blood, hair!), lightly steamed veg and then all those little “power” additions that power up the mix, including sardines (for omega 3 but also a rare source of brains eyes!), wild berries and medicinal mushrooms, a variety of organic herbs & seeds (pre-soaked, of course) and some tooth-cleaning seaweeds (that’s right, at a functional dose no need for my beloved Canident with this).
In short, all the good stuff. Or, another way of looking at it, all the harder to find and significantly more expensive stuff.
I found all these bits and stuck it in a tub to save me hassle. Now I have a product in the fridge that I can add to literally ANYTHING and make a perfect meal out of it for Duds, as we show you below.
But it’s not just raw feeders Power Paste caters to…
Power Paste is ESSENTIAL for kibble feeders…
The many uses of Power Paste…
1. DIY 3 ways…
There are a variety of ways to DIY. The first and probably easiest is picking up some meat-with-10%-bone mix from your favourite raw dog food supplier. Often sold in bigger blocks This stuff is always cheaper, often more than half the price of their completes, as it doesn’t contain the pricier organ meats and power additions (even veg per kilo is usually more expensive than most of the meat cuts, eg carcass, necks, wings, used in most such products) often sold in bigger blocks.
2. Great use of leftovers…
Now, while this may be too much of a deviation for some, it’s also going to help me make a VERY quick dinner for him when I’m caught short. Once most folk immerse themselves in the raw / DIY / canine nutrition world they quickly realise that the whole idea of “complete” is nonsense. It’s no more important a concept for them than it is for your kids…which is not at all. Some days, often when they smell weakness from me, my kids demand plain pasta. Maybe I’ll get some sauce (which I seem to be able to sneak less and less good stuff in) and animal protein in there (be it meat or cheese) but all in all, little better than a pizza. And they’re OK.
Power Paste makes a properly nutritious meal out of leftovers. What I’m doing here is I part defrost a tray or two of Power Paste in the fridge then stuff it into large ice cube trays, allowing for easier deployment when the opportunity arises.
Is this ideal every day?! If you’re still asking that at this point, I suggest maybe making your own food is a step too far for you right now. For now, stick to “complete” pre-made raws or lightly-cooked meals and, when you’re ready, check out my Raw Feeding Masterclass course which teaches you all you need to know.
3. Enhance dry food!
Regarding how much kibble to replace, it’s not quite as easy as swopping like for like, weight-wise. Remember, you’re taking out DRY food (meaning food without water) and replacing it with fresh food (that contains 70% water).
This makes the maths roughly 1 part dry food to 1.5 parts Power Paste.
So, if your dog gets 200g for his morning feed and you take out 20% you will be removing 40g of nuts from his bowl. We recommend you replace this with 60g of Power Paste. He’ll be delighted as he’ll think he’s getting more food! But it’s just water, so don’t worry.
Warning: as soon as you introduce Power Paste your dog is going to start doing the meat-boogie. Check out Jaspers’ reaction. Need we say more?!
4. How to make Power Cake (a.k.a. good dry food)
Dry food is 50% ultra-processed carb filler, most often wheat, corn, soy or now pea. The rest is a mix of poor quality plant ingredients and a George Jetson vit/min pack of poorly absorbed conical flask nutrients. I’m here to tell you, that stuff is VERY FAR from rocket science. In fact, high-carb kibble is a terrible diet for your dog, regardless of the wrapper or promises of your vet. As above, studies show these candy-company products are more most likely not providing the minimum nutrition to your pet and they are suffering because of it. You are wasting your money and their health.
If this is the starting point, believe me, you can make much better stuff at home yourself. Let’s say you thought 50% carbs was a good idea for a meat eater. OK, well, why not whip up a big pot of potatoes? Or pumpkin? As slower to digest carb sources, these are more suitable carb sources for your pet than wheat, corn or soy (which happen to be the cheapest) . Pop in some Power Paste in there as the other half, mix them up, bake under low heat until dry and boom, you have just made “Power Cake” (patent pending!). You now not only have a far superior meal for your dog but it’s half the price.
But would that be “complete” Conor?!
No (or, more accurately, maybe, depending how much you believe in the AAFCO minimum nutrient profile, which we do not, at all. It’s dry food nonsense). We do not advise 50/50 carbs and Power Paste long term in your dog or cat. If you read my book or blog or do my courses, you will realise such a high carb content is not advised for your dog and little will ameliorate the damage of it over time.
However, I would certainly feed that diet, free of chemical preservatives and now with a whole bevvy of easily absorbed nutrients and bioactive compounds, over chemically preserved, nutrient bereft dry food. I would use it if the person minding my dog for a week would not give raw food. I would use it if staying over in the vets and they were going to treat him differently because he’s fresh fed. I would use it when travelling. I would use it for treats.
Check out this video below where they use a mix of coconut flour, eggs and broth as a base for their treats. That is AWESOME food by anyones reckoning…
working dog food
