Attn Raw Feeders: Pros/cons Of Feeding Raw?
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editor in
Question & Answer on
Nov 17th, 2009 |
8 responses
Serious question. I’m not a hater, I’m really interested in starting my husky pup on the raw diet. I just would love some more information on helping convince my parents to agree with me and see that it really is good!
So What are the pros and cons of feeding raw?
Does it make a dog turn mean? [I know it doesn't, but for the sake of my mum reading that it doesn't]
Is it a lot more expensive to feed raw versus high quality ie blue buffalo, eagle pack holistic etc.?
Any sites would be helpful too! I’m still researching but would love to have some feedback from yahoo!answerer’s as well.
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dogs need dog food. they have different needs. dogs have a different food groups
We feed some raw, some high quality dog food… To make sure we have all nutrients covered. I find that feeding the raw is cheaper if you buy chicken on sale, or go to a butcher… I also find that my dogs sustain themselves better on the raw (they eat less) and they are healthier.
Try http://www.rawfed.com and http://www.rawlearning.com . They have a lot of the myths and pros and cons about raw feeding. If you can find a local source for meat, i.e. a butcher, hunters, etc. then it’s actually cheaper.
**I asked a few Siberian Owners this question before and these are the answers I got:
if you do a search on “BARF diet”, you can get all the info.
I highly recommend his book. Yes, I have fed the raw diet, and am about to
switch back to it again. My dear dear friend lost a dog who ate their
chicken back too fast and had a bowel perf from a bone, so I am paranoid
about giving backs. I prefer necks, which I can buy from a local chicken
processor for about 40 cents a pound. You can also go to your produce shop
and ask if they give away “spent” produce. Dogs do best if the
fruits/vegees are a bit broken down (and then, as you will read, you must
put it through a blender or food processor before feeding) anyway, so
sometimes you can get that part for free. The cottage cheese can be
expensive, but you can do this very economically. It does take some time,
which is why I quit for a while… to give myself a break. I have two new
rescue pups (less than 1 year) and we are having runny poop issues (have
been thoroughly tested), so I’m thinking it’s time to switch back now for
their sakes. Let me know if you have any other questions… I’m happy to
help. I too saw this show, which is what inspired me to get back into it
again. I picked up my BARF book and read a bit yesterday am and got all
ready to do it again. In fact, I am planning on going to get some more
chicken necks soon. It’s a pain for me because I live on an island, so it’s
expensive to just run off for dog food (or chicken, etc), so I have to plan
ahead a lot. I do encourage you to look into the RAW diet…. my dogs and I
are big fans!
We swear by raw diet at our house. One of mine can’t eat chicken. We buy fresh
from a small manufacturer and it’s custom made for my dogs. It’s more than I’d
pay for chunks of chicken, but it works for us. I pay $2.50 per pound for
ground lean beef with turkey neck for bone. Turkey is $3.00 per pound for
free-range birds. She adds whatever veggies are season appropriate, based on
Traditional Chinese Medicine and herbology. I then add pumpkin and re-grind
in my food processor to make it the consistency of pate. They get raw meaty bones and big smoked knuckle bones and when I can get them,
turkey necks.
LOL, we are now producing “perfect poo.”
And they have really, really clean teeth
The pros are…
no doggy odour
naturally cleans teeth – no need for toothbrushes, de-scaling jobs, or gum disease
the time it takes for a dog to chew a raw meaty bones give their stomach adequate time to get the acids moving
much less stools produced – and they are firm, and turn chalky after a couple of days
decreased or non-existant vet bills (your dogs are healthier!)
less cost for dog food – commercial dog foods are ludicriously expensive
mirrors what a dog would be getting in the wild – and certainly even the modern day dog has a digestive tract exactly the same as a wolf
puppies develop at a more appropriate rate – and quick growth spurts are avoided. A GOOD breeder will want to stop fast growth in any pup.
the ripping and chewing involved in eating raw meaty bones develops the jaw, neck, and shoulder muscles of the dog. Commercial dog foods will never assist in this important muscle development. http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html
The cons are
possible problems, like bacteria, bone impaction, internal cut from bone shard.
possible cross contamination to humans
expense, if you search around a lot, you can make a raw diet very cheap, they are all usually cheaper than store bought kibble of very high quality
possible malnutrition. a lot of raw diets are not balanced if not carefully looked at, despite what some places may say they can be not balanced. A diet high in any one protein, may cause a deficiency.
And a big problem, is not to the dog but the owner, and that’s extreme love for raw feeding, resulting in some odd behaviours. I have been known to take pictures of my dogs when crunching through an entire chicken and show the pics to people.
These are some other sites that may help.http://www.rawfed.com/
This website is very helpful, especially the myths page.http://www.rawfeddogs.net/
This websites best feature is the recipes page, which gets redundant after a while, but they have great pictures, and it shows the slight craziness some owner’s get with raw feeding, lots of pictures of proud owners showing off their dogs eating a whole deer head.
And here are some suppliers of raw food for pets, some items are a bit pricey and I don’t usually buy from some of these places, but they can be helpful.http://www.prey4pets.com/servlet/StoreFr…http://www.hare-today.com/http://www.snrabbits.com/
That last link supplies only rabbits, and mostly only whole, fur on carcasses, which I like a lot. They are easy to feed and they dog’s love ‘em, that website is the cheapest website I have found for whole rabbit carcasses.
One last link, I like this one very much.http://www.westonaprice.org/healthissues…
I’m a huge Weston A. Price believer for human diets, and this is a very informative page about pet health benefits of raw diets.
This one is great for dispeling myths of raw feeding, even the ‘It’ll make them mean’ one. http://www.rawfed.com
Expense varies. It depends on prices of food where you live, how well you can seek out deals, and if you can find freebies. I try to stick to an average of $1 a pound. It works out equal to or less than buying a premium food. Of course that’s just factoring in the cost of food, not the hour drive I have to make to get premium commercial foods.
Other benefits:
Less shedding
Healthy teeth
More even energy
Shinier coats
Less poo
Less dog poo odor
Less doggie odor in general
You’ll save on vet visits and dental cleanings since the dog will be healthier, and its teeth will be cleaned naturally by its food
My SO really likes the less odor benefit. Last summer we had a kibble fed dog stay with us for awhile and even with picking up the yard daily it reaked. He says the yard smells much better now, and I don’t pick up as often as I did last year. Don’t really need to, the dogs poo turns white in a day or two and crumbles. I either just crumble it with my shoe or the mower gets it. And wow is the lawn loving it too.
Cons: raw meat (this was extremely hard for me to deal with), dogs digestive tract couldn’t handle it (even with a digestive enzyme)
Pros: skin and coat were so much better than they are now on the high quality kibble.
The majority of my friends are feeding raw, complete diets from various sources. Their dogs are very healthy. One has had a reduction in her allergies, another has ‘perked up’ (for lack of a better phrase) and he looks about 4 years younger than he is. Unfortunately, when we got our last female, she is a mess and can’t tolerate it. It’s easier to just have the two on high quality kibble (EVO). Their coats don’t look as good and their allergies are back with a vengeance. My bestfriend feeds Honest Kitchen, which is rehydrated and like raw. If your mom is wigged out by the raw meat, you could suggest that. They have several great options and can be found here:
http://www.thehonestkitchen.com
all I know is raw meat can have tape worms.