# How to heat the RAW Food



## Tranquilwhispers (Jan 11, 2012)

Hi everyone,

I've been stumped over how to warm the food for the dogs. Or shouldn't I warm it up. 
I live in the country and have a cistern, I ran out of water last week, and realized just how
much water I'm using to heat the food for the dogs. 
I put the food in a stainless steel bowl, fill the sink with hot water and stir the meat twice and add 
more water to the sink. 
I was told to heat the food because when the dogs catch food outside (eg: rabbit) it is warm after the capture, so 
this is why the food has to be heated. I can't reheat in the microwave because that would end up partially cooking it.

Does anyone have any help they can offer me in regards to this problem?

Thanks for any suggestions they would be greatly appreciated.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I don't warm the food for the dogs or do I feed it frozen like a lot of people here. I just defrost the meat overnite in the sink and then give it to the dogs, if there is more food than I need I refrigerate it and give it to them cold and they do not have a problem eating it.

Wolves also don't eat an entire meal at once so it can sit and be cold or frozen and they would eat it that way if it were a large animal or if they came upon a kill.


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## frogdog (Aug 10, 2011)

I, also, do not heat any of Yogi's meat. I take his meals out of the freezer daily and let them thaw out in the fridge overnight for the following day. If they happen to still be frozen somewhat the next morning then I just let the meat sit out on the counter until completely thawed. Easy.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

​I don't warm mine. When it thaws it may be room temperature when I feed it, but not warmed.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

I don't know that anyone on here has ever said they heat food - maybe some do, but it's not common.

You are fine without heating. That's alot of hot water. If you really wanted to, do you have a microwave or something a little less water intensive? But really, I wouldnt worry about it. I think heating food is overrated - most of my stuff goes straight from the fridge into the dog.


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## Tranquilwhispers (Jan 11, 2012)

Thank you so much everyone for the replies, I had a good feeling when I joined the forum this morning  I'm new to all of this and didn't feel completely comfortable with everything the guy in the store told me. Just one of those gnawing things in my stomach. I guess the warming of the food also is just a way of pampering the dogs from my history besides from what the guy had told me. I'm really excited with the raw food feeding, and the one thing I've noticed is my 12 yr old Rottie seems to have alot more energy and is more of the pack now. Where as before she used to be sort of lifeless and on would hang on the outside of the pack. It's awesome to have my old girl back to how she used to be  Thanks again soooo much. I feel alot more confident now with being able to ask people for their experienced input and different input. I'll be adding pics of my girls later today, can't wait to share them.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

I love to hear good stories about old dogs on raw. I know it's been pretty much a miracle for my 14 year old dachshund.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

​We are all glad to help!


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

Welcome, I have 7 pup and one of them is my almost 13 year old collie. He is like a new dog also. My pack is lucky to get thawed food, sometimes it is just thawed enough to seperate! lol. Only very young puppoes get evn slightly warmed food her and I mean 4 - 6 week olds. Everyone else eats cold and loves it. Can't wait to see some pictures.:smile:


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

i have also read what you've read and welcome....

but after thinking about it.....i realised that a wolf might kill a living animal and the animal will be warm, but for how long, depending on the weather?

so now i feed some things frozen and some things room temp and some things right out of the fridge.....


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## swolek (Mar 31, 2011)

Yeah, I don't see any point in heating it up. Wolves will actually store kills in the winter (in cold regions) and come back to eat it later, anyway.


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

Welcome! And that's good to hear about your old girl!

Sometimes my dogs get thawed, room temperature food but more often than not it is either straight out of the fridge, partially frozen or fully frozen. 

As far as wolves go, this is how I see it: When they make a fresh kill they are getting warm meat but what about when they lounge around for a while before eating off of a large kill again? Or if they come across on old kill from some other animal? In the winter those last two situations would result in a very cold or even frozen carcass.


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## SpicyBulldog (Jan 9, 2012)

Imo you don't have to heat it. 

I've fed thawed / room temp, straight from the fridge and other times if its part of a whole large animal carcass its very cold or practically frozen (animal carcass is outside winter time) and parts or cut off. In the event I've wanted to add a little warmth I've boiled broth and put it meat in a bowl and poured the broth over it. 

Here is also something I noticed my CO doing when fed outside. Saving food. Might eat everything one day but other days only half or part and bury the rest. This means when she digs it up its frozen.


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## HappyPuppy (Sep 26, 2011)

I used to nuke frozen packages but then realized that I might be hardening things like chicken bones and that concerned me. I now will occasionally feed a semi-frozen meal but usually I take pkgs out of the freezer for several days' meals. And WHEN I REMEMBER, I like to take them out of the refrigerator a half hour before the meal so it's not 'refrigerator cold'. I have never read any other discussions about warming food......


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

Rocky's favorite treat is ice cubes. So cold is not a problem with him. For his recreational bones he gets a frozen beef rib. I hand it to him straight out of the freezer and he's in heaven! Once he gets the meat off and it's warmed up, he walks away from it.

I actually think he prefers his food cold.


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## AveryandAudrey (Sep 20, 2010)

I dont heat anything, I just allow it to thaw out in the fridge and then feed.


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## ciaBrysh (Dec 16, 2011)

I feed my dogs food either fully frozen or partially. I couldn't imagine heating it up for them lol They probably wouldn't eat it! ha ha(plus they chew a lot more when its frozen)


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## Kat (Jul 12, 2011)

I serve the food cool to cold. I never microwave anything, not even my own food because it destroys a lot of nutrients


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

this may have nothing to do with anything, but i wonder if newly transitioned dogs can get the runs from frozen foods....


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## malluver1005 (Nov 15, 2009)

I would not microwave the food. The radiation worries me...


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## HappyPuppy (Sep 26, 2011)

DH was dictating - had to correct prev post....
^ That is not valid about radiation. Microwave ovens convert their energy to head and there is NO radiation leftover when the machine goes off or in the food. (Only nuclear type radiation can be stored in 'some ' substances.) Microwave energy is not stored and re radiated like nuclear radiation. The radiation is converted to head, which cooks the food.


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