Raw Dog Food: Dietary Concerns, Benefits and Risks - Page 3

First you have to introduce  raw meat , to any pup or dog ,slowly,    , if they have already been on kibble..It is a process , that takes about 2 weeks..You just don;t give them raw meat and think it won't cause a mess..Ususally softer stool at first

But  you have to start with small amounts and you have to introduce a probiotic with it...The kibble is not the same as raw and the intestional fortitude has to adapt to the raw.

Any time you change a diet you do it one step at a time and you also kennel the dogs until the soft stool stage is past...No way would I let any dog starting a new diet run free in my home or even in the kennel.....I have done it many times....shut down kennel and not in the house....I usually put them in outdoor grassy pens  for the first days of change...much easier...

YR

I had  Eosinophilic Myositis- Acute, once ,

when I was young my hubby brought home some   Nigger Toes, and I didn't know how to crack them... I tried to use my  mouth , and was in pain for about 3  weeks....couldn't eat the Cashews, or the Peanuts, or the pecans...I was young and didn't know much about NUTS>>.

YR

We switched our dogs to RAW prey model feeding after losing a boy to a "bad batch" of "premium" dog food (yes, this was confirmed by the manufacturer, not just our opinion).

The switch was cold-turkey.  One morning we handed them a whole fresh fish instead of a bowl of kibble.  Since then we have learned so much about what to feed, how to prevent the squirts experienced by SitasMom, and how to keep them in optimal health.  We feed our dogs food that is fit for human consumption, bought from places that sell human food.  Why should my dogs not eat it if it was intended for ME to eat?

Just a comment on the E.Coli and Salmonella - when we lost our pup at 5 months, the food he was eating was analysed by the manufacturer, as well as a government facility, and found to contain traces of BOTH E.Coli and Salmonella.  This is apparently "normal" kibble, and "acceptable" in small quantities.  The "bad" part of the food was mould, most likely an Aflatoxin or something similar.

Salmonella and E.Coli will NOT kill your dog under normal circumstances, but one shipment of grain with mycotoxins that go into a batch of kibble might.

As YR said above - the switch is a process, but with proper knowledge of the various "components" of a RAW diet (meat, bone and organs) you can switch with little to no squirting!

- Eleni

I have been feeding raw for over 10 years.. and alll my puppies are raised on a raw diet.   I usually start by tossing in wings and necks when they are 3 1/2 to 4 weeks old..   they play with them and gnaw on them and mom comes in and cleans up later..  my puppies never see kibble or baby food or anything like that..  I try to find people who will feed raw to purchase the pups..  that doesn't always happen.. 

jody

I have been feeding raw for over 5 years.. moms eat raw, babies raised on raw.. have a litter of 3 week olds who are close to getting their first chicken wings.......
I do feed ground bones to babies until they are big enough to figure out how to chew bones to prevent any accidents..... 

Dogs are overall much healthier,on raw,  way less GI upset than when on kibble.. imagine that?? HMMMMM

I didn't read the link but if it promoted feeding kibble over raw, then I say pfui!!! It was probably written by Purina or Science Death and/or one of their benefactors

Dogs are omnivores and scavengers by nature .. their gut is different than ours, designed to process less than primo foodstuffs which of course none of us feed!!

I am a distributor for a couple of companies that produce raw diets and raw products.. that's how happy i am with it!

 

"Dogs are overall much healthier,on raw, way less GI upset than when on kibble.. imagine that?? HMMMMM"

I keep hearing this and it occurs to me that maybe the problem isn't always with the kibble, but with the DOGS.  I've had well-bred dogs of different breeds for 40 years, and simply have never dealt with the constant  "GI upset" that so many GSD people talk about all the time. I have 3 GSD, one of whom is on a raw diet - I'm trying it.  Yes, he's doing great on it, but the kibble-fed dogs are doing just as well.

So you have to consider that all these GSD with terrible GI issues who can't digest dog kibble - well, maybe the problem isn't with Purina.

* "I try to find people who will feed raw to purchase the pups.. that doesn't always happen." *

-- funny you say this. That's why I like waiting lists for a pup. You know the date the litter will be concieved and the breeder always updates on health, diet etc through-out carry, deliver and weaning. With me, I'm a serious RAW/BARF owner. I made that known many times in correspondence.

A good breeder to me, will use this info and wean accordingly. With my Malinois, the whole litter was weaned on RAW/BARF which in turn gave me a steady start. I never picked my Malinois puppy, I left the breeder do it for me. I'm 100% gratified. Thanks again !!

TessJ10........??????? why would Gi upset with kibble be something wrong with the dogs?? sorry, don't get it....

The protein in a bag of kibble hardly even remotely resembles the protein they get from eating the source of that protein in its raw form..
Not to mention the preservatives and filler and all the other crap that's put into a bag of kibble.. not to mention bacteria and oh, here's some aflatoxin just in case.......

The food tests these people do are a joke also..

I never did introduce raw slowly. I just started handing 4 week old puppies some chicken wings. The wings vanished. Those nasty sharp puppy teeth aren't for NOTHING, you know. 

I don't want to get into the argument of what is better, kibble or raw, but have fed HUNDREDs of dogs in my lifetime and no, I too did not see the evidence that so many who feed raw would like to claim. I have nothing against feeding whatever works.

As for claims that dog food has contaminants in it, yes, you are correct. What you may not realize is that the food regulations allow certain amounts of contaminants in ALL FOODS, INCLUDING HUMAN FOOD. Here again is a lack of understanding about the regulations, about food production and about risk vs benefit. IF one wanted to package or produce a food without contaminants, I suppose it would be possible from the science standpoint. But like everything else, at WHAT COST? The same is true of your drinking water and everything else. Can we eliminate pollution from cars? Yes, we can, but at an astronomical cost. I am not going to say we should or should not do any of this, but it does help to have a realistic understanding of the world. 

Secondly, if you think the food grown in your garden, however "organic" you think you practice gardening, is without contaminants, you are off base as well. Foods easily take up all kinds of contaminants in soils. It is just such contaminants as soil types, minerals present etc., and other things present (sometimes for years and years) that may even add or detract to the flavor.

Just like humans, and all species, some do well on certain foods, and may not do well on something else. This is part and parcel of living in learning what works and what does not for any given organism.