Who Here Feeds Their Dog A Raw Diet?
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Jan 31st, 2010 |
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If you did, how did you get started with it? What resources did you use?
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We apparently have a new wave of newbies and vet assistant zombies who think dogs can get salmonella and e. coli. Dogs are designed to eat meat. Dogs can eat something that died in the fall, froze over in the winter, and thawed out the next spring and be fine. Dogs are hunter/scavangers and have stomach acid and enzymes geared towards eating any source of protein that’s available. That said, you’re going to be feeding fresh human quality meat, organ, and bone. There’s less bacterial contamination on human grade chicken than there is in packaged dog food! Anyway, I got started probably 13 or so years ago. I’ve always known that European breeders feed their hounds, German Shepherds, Rottweilers and other working dogs raw meat. I also knew the Inuit people fed their sled dogs raw meat, I also knew that Afghans feed their Afghan Hounds raw as well. What I wanted to know was: Was it safe, and was it beneficial, so I went to the source. I did a short unpublished study on Grey Wolves, I made note of everything they ate for 12 weeks. I also took trips to a few well known kennels in Germany and asked as many questions as I could about their raw diets, their dog’s health, and other issues (and also to see how they set up their kennels because at the time I was planning on building my kennel which in my not so humble opinion is the best designed GSD kennel in the country! Lol). The first thing that came up was fewer vet trips, no problems with the teeth, no more allergies and hot spots, smaller piles of poop that crumbled up and was absorbed into the soil instead of sitting there until picked up. They also went into eye sight, muscle tone, and fewer diseases and conditions associated with older dogs like arthritis, diabetes, and kidney problems. Armed with the information I had I brought home a few dogs (my first GSD’s ever, but I had many years experience with working dogs, Rottweilers namely), and started a raw diet program. I noticed with my studies of wolves that the dominant pair eat more offal (organ meat) than less dominant pack members so I assumed it to be a good thing, I noticed small game was eaten entirely, and smaller bones were ingested, I noticed that larger bones were sometimes split to get to the marrow inside so I added small edible bone to the menu…and of course, meat was already on the menu. This entire time I never saw the wolves eat enough plant matter to be noteworthy so I don’t feed veggies at all. I made a list of what I thought was appropriate, 70% muscle meat, 20% organ meat and 10% bone. I also learned from a few studies that farmed animals are low in Omegas 3 and 6 and that most people don’t get enough so I added salmon oil to the menu as a 3 times daily supplement. I also decided to give a high quality daily vitamin once a week instead of daily because I knew the diet was nutritionally sound but I wanted to make sure that nothing was missed (I still give them once a week to this day even though now I don’t believe they’re needed, BUT there aren’t any negatives to it so why not?). All of this happened in about a 2 year span, it took me that long to decide if I wanted to feed raw or not and I’m glad I decided to. That was pretty much how I came to feed raw, out of the 4 dogs I brought home only the male who was 3 at the time I purchased him is deceased, he died at the age of 14.
If you have any questions on feeding e-mail me, I’d be happy to help. I also could give you examples of a daily menu that I might feed my dogs here at my kennel.
I used http://www.pet-grub.com It makes everything very clear. I’ve read about raw feeding in many places on the internet and this site is the BEST!! As far as getting started, it’s a cold turkey type of thing. You don’t have to phase regular food out or anything, but be aware of the effect a raw diet will have on an animal that’s not used to it. It can be scary but if you understand what you’re seeing you won’t freak out. It’s much better for the animal in the end. Read the e-book above and it teaches you everything about it.
For the person saying your dog threw up and had loose stool, that happens to any dog going through what raw feeders know as detox.
I started feeding raw April 3, 2008. I remember because I posted about it on another forum.
Here are my resources:
http://www.bigdogsporch.com by far the best forum out there for dog owners interested in really helping their dogs. This is the forum I found out about raw feeding and within a little over a month, I had started raw.
Other helpful sites:
http://www.rawfed.com/myths
http://www.rawlearning.com
http://www.rawmeatybones.com
I feed a dydrated raw diet. It’s called Honest Kitchen and they sell dehydrated 100% natural raw diet for dogs. It’s like Oatmeal and you simply add hot water, you can add your own meat and vegetables if you want or just serve it as is. I also mix in some of the kibble that they are currently eating with it. the first day I fed it they ate it right up, it hasn’t given them any stomach issues or diarrhea so it’s been great. I happen to see it in a specialty pet store called Village Paws and Claws in NC, they only sell high end foods like Orijen and Ziwipak and thought I’d give it a try because my sisters lab, who has facial paralysis on both sides, has a little trouble eating her kibble, I thought this might be easier to eat since not much chewing would be required.
So far it’s working out well, it’s easy if you don’t like to cook for your dog but still need them to get all the proper nutrients and you want a 100% gluten, soy, wheat and corn free food that is 100% natural and made with only human grade foods, this food is not prepared in a dog food factory but a human food factory.
I started Nature’s Variety pre-made raw frozen diet and LOVE it. They sell it at my local pet food store (locally owned and operated).
I can’t believe how little my dog poops now. It’s unreal.
The biggest pain is when we travel, it doesn’t work well. I just ran out, so I’ll probably continue it mixed with a little dry food.
I read a lot of threads (discussions) in the RAW feeding forum on Boxer World, and then when I felt like I knew enough about it I bought some chicken and asked the board how to start — just to be sure. Here’s my getting started thread:http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/showthr…
And here’s that forum, if you’d like to browse:http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/forumdi…
Here is a GREAT FAQ on raw feeding:http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html
And another awesome site:http://www.rawfeddogs.net/
There is also a raw feeding group here on yahoo. I haven’t checked it out myself, but I’ve heard good things about it.
Add:
Dogs don’t get salmonella, E. Coli, or whatever else from eating raw meat. They are NOT just like us; they are carnivores, and their digestive systems are designed to quickly and efficiently digest raw meat and bone — even ROTTING meat — without being affected by such bacteria. I’ve given my dogs raw chicken that’s been sitting in the fridge for a little too long — it smelled GOD AWFUL, but they loved it, and didn’t have the slightest problem.
i buy NATURE’S ADVANTAGE frozen raw beef patties,,, they have all sorts of yummy things in them.
Don’t.
I tried it with my German Shepard and he got REALLY sick. He had diarrhea for a month, barfed, lost weight. Only recently i’ve been able to get it under control.
Its good to give the the proteins in meat, because most dried dog foods use corn as their main ingredient (And dogs cannot digest corn, anyways). It may be a good idea to lightly cook the meat to kill any bacteria, but i wouldn’t feet it raw or with any bones.
There is lots of information on the BARF diet on line. I don’t feed raw meat or bones for the reasons others have mentioned. Everything else is raw.
Don’t fall for the raw diet thing, dogs can get salmonella, and ecoli just like people can.
i wouldn’t feed my dog raw meat for the same reason we don”t eat it. It could become really sick and get food poisoning or salmonella