Ignoring the raw debate for just a second to answer your question: Get yourself a dehydrator, you'll save an absolute fortune in the long run. Cut up liver, heart etc and stick it on for 12 hours. You can do enough treats for a month for about £5. All totally raw friendly and will last indefinitely out of the fridge with no added preservatives etc. Job done.
Right! Apologies folks, this is going to be loooong.
I started raw feeding 2 years ago because my very sickly basset puppy wouldnt eat kibble. After blood tests etc, the vet found nothing wrong with him and at that point he hadn't eaten for 11 days straight. He was so thin his hip bones were sharp.
Anyway, as a last resort the vet suggested we tried raw feeding and at that point I'd have fed him exclusively on McDonalds if i thought it would save him. I did as I was told and my boy absolutely wolfed down his first raw meal and hasn't left a scrap of food in his bowl since. He's 2 now and completely thriving. He's now the healthiest, most active and fit basset you've ever bloody seen. His muscle tone is very defined, he's lean and shiny and his teeth are bright white still. He went from a dull coated, underweight and poorly hound to a sleek, soft coated power house in 3 weeks. It was insane.
I started researching.
Kibble was invented 80 years ago to service dogs who traveled by boat overseas. They created a food that wouldn't spoil, but was able to keep a dog sustained for long periods of time. It was almost entirely grain based.
It became properly popular in the 1970's when "complete" dog foods were invented. Much like today, the industry sort to produce low cost, highly palatable foods that were convenient for owners.
The problem with a complete diet like that though is that it's much like meal replacement shakes for humans: there is no way to make a diet of the same thing day in, day out truly nutritionally "complete". Without variety, any and all diets are none ideal.
That's where raw feeding comes into it's own. My dogs have a variety of about 8 different proteins every month, a mix of whole bones to clean teeth, bone-in minces and boneless minces to create the required 80/10/5/5 balance.
My vet saw our dog recently (in for nail clipping having not visited for nearly 2 years) and said something really interesting that I think rings true: As vets, they only ever see the consequences of raw feeding done badly, because a properly balanced raw fed dog very rarely visits a vet. That's why a lot of vets dont see raw feeding as a viable option. However, a properly researched, balanced and varied raw diet produces incredible results and can give a dog the best possible nutritional composition. My boy is a living example of that.
I often get asked by other basset owners how we got our dog in such awesome condition because they've never seen a healthy basset before, and when I talk to them about raw feeding I always caveat and explain the need for balance and variety and that doing your research first is vital.
Each to their own, if you prefer to feed your dog kibble then go for it, but don't rant and rave against raw feeders who are doing everything they can to give their dogs the best they can, just like you. Kibble may have been fed to dogs for years, but dogs have been eating raw for hundreds of thousands of years too 