Raw Dog Food: Dietary Concerns, Benefits and Risks - Page 5

Hodie, you are correct about people starving and wasted food, but this is a dog forum and precisely what we should be discussing.There are other boards for discussing what is wrong in the world, although all the discussions in the world among common people will never change anything. I for one am glad to see a topic that is actually about dogs for a change.Maybe Sitasmom accomplished her goal [ getting things back on track.] and for that I am grateful. So a big thank you to Dr. Sitasmom [just kidding] about  the Dr. thing Sitasmom.                       Michael

"The only ones I've seen have related to dogs eating human table scraps vs kibble, not raw vs. kibble. Well, as more and more people work up the nerve to tell their vets what they are feeding, maybe some details will emerge."

Agreed.  And IME vets are much more receptive to raw nowadays.  I do buy green tripe and chicken and beef heart and feed that to my dogs as a change, but for feeding an exclusive raw diet I like K9Kraving.  I don't know how people who feed just the raw meats think that their dogs are getting a thoroughly nutritious diet...but that's me.  I know somebody at Penn Vet School - I should ask if they know of any longevity studies in progress...good idea.

My first dog was raised on kibble.  He had allergies and in the winter he got a rash on his tummy, and under his arms, between his toes and his lips were itchy.  I switched doctprs several times because I was getting nothing but steroids and antihistamines.

Finally, I got a doctor who took allergy tests.  He was allergic to molds, fungus, soy, flax, sunflower oil and lots of other things.  Soy made him fart hideously, and flax came out the other end like it was shot from a cannon.  Projectile diarrhia!!!  The mold and fungus on the oak leaves on my hillside gave him the agonizing rashes on his tender areas so that every December or January he got a shot of prednisone, followed up by pills and antihistamines until April.

It was really tough.  All the premium dog food had the oils he was allergic to except Anmar.  I kept him off the hillside and fed him Anmar and was able to cut down the medication a bit.

Suddenly, Anmar was off the market.  I went crazy looking for a good kibble.  I knew of some people who fed raw but I was afraid.

I was completely at a loss and I found the courage.  I brought home some chicken backs with the neck.  I put Shadow on one end of the deck and Phanny on the other and I said "EAT!" and they did, with gusto.

The next winter all I needed was a coupe of steroid pills and antihistamines as needed.  The next winter, just occasional antihistamines and never again after that.  Also, he could eat occasional dog cookies with soy in them and no reaction.  Phanny who had recurring chronic Giardia (unitl Panacur C) and damaged digestive system was transformed..  No more upset tummy and dragon breath.

My vet was in shock at the transformation.  She had been horrified by what I was doing.  She switched her own dogs to raw.

Shadow lived to 13.  The day before he died, he ate a big bowl of chicken parts.  Phanny died at 11 1/2 of bone cancer in her pelvis.  Pharaoh started on raw food.  Neither dog needed teeth cleaning.

  Shadow    Shadow and Phanny

That's why I do what I do.  We are all just trying to do the best we can for our dogs.

Michele

Thanks YR, we are staying warm in this freezing winter.  What the hell happened to Global Warming.

We are not supposed to have winter in the glorius SF Bay Area.  I am not bitching too much, it is worse every where else.  Last week there was snow on top of  Big Rock Ridge.  It stayed there for three days.  Yikes.  It gets snow every 5-10 years on Mt Tamalpais but that is 2500 feet Big Rock Ridge is only about 1000-1500 feet.

Pharaoh is thriving, he likes it cold.  He is still a punk.

Michele

Michael

I've given my dogs raw several times, the last was while camping for a whole week they, gave them chicken leg quarters, and large chunks of meat with bone, loved it! they also squirted shit everywhere the whole time. I ended up going back to kibble 2 days before heading back and they cleared up. Once I tried to do this at home and ended up pulling all the carpet from my floors.........All I can say is that some dogs seem to do better then others on raw.


Pharaoh is beautiful.

THis shows how little you know about feeding raw and how some people should not do raw if they too lazy to do their research I switched many dogs in my life to RAW never had an issue no squirted shit either. Actually if you kow how to do it your dog would not shit for the first 3-4 days as you would use higher bone content. So do your research, and don't talk about something that you have no idea and the only thing you go back is something that you read up on the internet.

Hodie. People in the world are starving not because lack of food in the world, but  by lack of ability to get it to them. War lords and corrupt government are confiscating USA and other donations and enriching them selves with it. Droughts are going on throughout geological time of the earth.  Again I have degree in Hydro-geology and I assure that the water is underground just about anywhere. The problem is to get it to the surface. And again I know that money on such projects are spend on BS for corrupt governments and so on. 

Yes the world is going to be different place and it always is. I just hope it is not going to be less free world. The future of this wonderful experiment called USA worries me.  When I have lived under leftist, statist, socialist, oppression, USA was the only hope we would all looked up to. If that beacon of freedom is  gone then  some people will be very happy, but I worry that these people are not good people. 

Prager Hans   

Hans,

I agree with you. Even the Sahara has a huge resource of water many feet underground. And yes, people who are greedy take from those less fortunate and in need all over the world. Some are corrupt governments, others individuals. None of this takes away from the tragedy of human suffering.

"My first dog was raised on kibble. He had allergies and in the winter he got a rash on his tummy, and under his arms, between his toes and his lips were itchy. I switched doctprs several times because I was getting nothing but steroids and antihistamines."

This is a perfect example.  This dog, on a diet that literally millions of dogs do well on, this dog has allergies, rashes, and itchy lips.  The owner blames the kibble.  Which in this case the dog can't surivive on the kibble, and does better on a raw diet.  But instead of blaming the kibble, which millions of dogs are eating every day WITHOUT getting allergies, rashes, and itchy lips - can't you see that it's the DOG'S system that is at fault here and not the kibble????  

I feed a totally raw diet to my dogs. I have a dog with allergies and she has also been diagnosed with Idiopathic epilepsy, although I am not convinced of it as she has only had one episode of cluster seizures. Anyway, when she was diagnosed with the idiopathic epilepsy my vet read me the riot act about the raw diet and told me I must cook my dog's food because according to the him, the fact that she has idiopathic epilepsy indicates she likely has a weakened immune system. I listened for a few months and cooked her food, but have now gone back to raw. My dog seems to do better on the raw than anything else. 
Char