What Is A Good Way To Start Feeding A Raw Diet?
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Oct 11th, 2009 |
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I would like not to have to spend hours a day preparing each meal . I have 4 big dogs. Any good sites to go to?
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The best way to start a raw diet is cold turkey. Start off with bland food, such as chicken necks, and then slowly add in offal once they are used to the bland food. I have a 160 St. Bernard that eats 4 pounds of food a day, it takes about an hour once a week to prepare meals (I seal each meal in a plastic baggie and either freeze or refrigerate the baggies), he gets chicken necks and backs, and ground neck and back that is mixed with a veggie mixture,and a treat of offal (livers, gizzards, hearts, green tripe) a few times a week. Raw bones are fine for dogs expecially chicken bones which are rubbery and easily digested, cooked bones splinter, and should never be fed. Almost all commercial foods contain ground dog and cat meat and bones (masked as meat and bone meal), and many contain corn which is undigestable by dogs. Another good reason to feed raw (especially to big dogs) is that the dogs eat much more slowly, greatly reducing the occurances of bloat. On a (cheap) commercial diet, it would cost over $5 a day to feed my dog, on the raw diet it costs less than $2 a day. My dog now even refuses to eat anything BUT raw.
Here are some of my favorite sites:http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.htmlhttp://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htmhttp://www.rawdogranch.com/rawdiet.htm
I have a 200 lb St. Bernard and English mastiff pups that eat a quality commercial dog food mixed with homemade wet food. I make it out of cooked turkey, chicken, or beef and vegetables. I make the food about twice a month and freeze it in food saver bags to be thawed out in the fridge the day before. It doesn’t take much time at all. I find that this diet is adequate for my giant breed dogs. They have no weight problems and have clear hips and elbows. But I am not opposed to the raw or barf diet. I know many other breeders that use raw diets. It is very time consuming and you should be supervised by a veterinarian to insure you are feeding the proper nutritional elements.
I have not read any good sites on raw diet (BARF – Bones And Raw Food).
Although wild dogs survive on raw meat, they also eat wild grains. With the way food is processed today, compared to many, many years ago, there are too many health hazards to feed his kind of diet. The meat you buy is not the same kind of meat it was all those years ago. The animals (cows, chicken, pigs, whatever) are fed differently with so many preservatives and additives given to them, you are passing that on to your dog.
Do your research very well, before starting this diet.
BARF diets can have a lot of problems; not being properly nutritionally balanced is one of the most common.
Other problems are the use of bones–don’t ever give bones to your dogs as they can easily splinter and perforate the GI tract. As for the raw part of it, raw meat often contains E. coli and Salmonella bacteria. E. coli is not killed by freezing and both can be fatal to your dogs. And can cause you serious health problems if you ingest any of them.
They also sometimes contain far too much calcium, which can cause problems including stones in the urinary tract.
I think you are much better off to feed a prepared diet–there are some good ones out there, like Innova, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Nutro, etc. They are nutritionally complete and balanced and will take a lot less of your time to prepare.
Get a couple of books on the subject. It really is not that difficult I have been feeding a mainly raw diet for 4 1/2 years but a took a little while before getting it right. I also use Solid Gold Holistic Blends because sometimes I just do not have time to give the right balance of food. Here are a couple of good books: Give your Dog a Bone, by Ian Billinghurst And B.A.R.F. by the same author
Raw Meaty Bones by Tom Lonsdale
her are a few sites:
http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/animals…
k9joy.com/RawFoodForDogs/
http://www.switchingtoraw.com
Oh yeah, get ready for all the insults and negative answers
Wow, I’m really suprised at the negative feedback you’ve gotten so far. If I had the energy, and wasn’t a vegetarian lol, I’d feed my dog a raw food diet. Everything I’ve read says, if you do your research properly, that it’s much better for dogs than commercial dog food. I feed mine Innova Evo, which tries to simulate a raw food diet, in kibble form, with no grains. It’s not the same but I feel better about it than feeding my dog crappy grocery store brands. I say kudos to you if you can do it properly!! Here’s a link you might find useful http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html Good luck!!
Over the yrs dogs have gotten weak no raw meat. I have a 137 lbs. rottweiler that eats
3cups cooked brown rice 2 chopped avacados 6 boiled eggs and1 baked chicken breast once a day. I cook it 1week ahead. So easy just heat and serve.
never feed dogs vitamin c they produce this naturally. And beef burns off to quickly its for low metabolism.
I’d just buy commercial dry food, personally. If you’ve been preparing food, prepare less, and mix in a little dry food. Increase dry food levels, decrease prepared, little by little, day by day, and soon they will only be eating dry food.
Here you go:http://www.rawmeatybones.com/http://www.eastbayexpress.com/Issues/200…http://rawfeddogs.net/http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfe…http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RawChat/http://rawlearning.com/http://rawfed.com/http://dogs.suite101.com/article.cfm/can…
http://www.therawdiet.com/evolve.htmlhttp://books.dreambook.com/dotters1/raw.…http://www.barfworld.com/html/barf_diet/…http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htmhttp://www.canismajor.com/dog/barf.htmlhttp://www.bestfrisbeedogs.com/diets.htm…http://www.geocities.com/~ebones/barf.ht…
these are some to get you started.
Just some info i have fed the raw diet for 10 years and my dogs are completely healthy and have lived to 20+ years the myth that it makes your dogs weak is just that a myth. Vets will tell you it is a bad diet, and they will tell you science diet is good but read the ingrediants in it it is full of fillers toxins and preservatives loaded with byproducts and fillers. NONE of this is good for your dog. The all natural approach is best, but if you decide not to go raw go with all natural dog food like innova
why a “raw diet”? and what is the advantage??? Dogs are indeed omnnivores, as are wolves when given a chance. If available, they will eat anything….. and thrive…
There is no reason to feed dogs bones, hair, hides, and raw meat, unless you like fads. Your dog won’t live any longer, won’t be any healthier, and won’t have better nutrition…. One would only feed such a diet if one liked fads… ask any vet. (cats, however are indeed straight carnivores….
another matter…)
Why don’t you use prepared dog foods, hon?
Surely you have other things you’drather be doing with your day than doing this stuff…I have three BIG dogs, and they are fed twice per day… for each dog: one third can dog food, one cup dry dog food, one cup cooked rice, with warm water…. big deal…. they have healthy shining coats, lots of energy and are not fat, are playful, and sleep in a warm room during the night……
They love the food, do not have the runs, no mucus in the stool, and have no chance of getting parasites common in raw diets…. What ARE you thinking????
I don’t do the raw or BARF diet, but here’s a link to information on the diet written by one of my favorite trainers.. http://www.leerburg.com/diet.htm
Good luck!
Don’t do it! Dry food is better. My vet recommends Purina One.
ms g ,your vet is wrong,and purina could be one of the worst foods out there.
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