raw food or dry kibble - Page 6

sueincc wrote:

I leave you with this: Exactly how healthy would a human child be who was raised from day 1 through adult hood on cereal? Good nutrition and common sense dictates mammals require a balanced diet which includes whole, fresh food, even if it is only one part of the diet, but again, dogs can scavenge on trash and some will appear to thrive.

When I first started feeding raw (Spring of 1993) I remember someone coming up to me at a show and gushing over how great my male GSD looked....how his teeth were so white and eyes bright and his coat so thick and shiny.   She asked what I was feeding him, and at that time it was the Volhard diet out of their book.  Her expresion immediately changed and she said in a very accusatory tone: "WHAT?!  You're going to KILL him!"   She went on and on about how I couldn't possibly be feeding him a correctly balanced diet and that I needed to get him back on dog food asap.   I remember saying to her "Total Cereal has 100% of the RDA of lots of vitamins and minerals, but if you ate that every day and nothing else would you be healthy?"   I'm still feeding raw and she's not trialing dogs anymore because she got tired of dealing with health problems.  

Not sure how or what you want me to quantify, Keith. If you want to know where my information comes from, my  father in law was senior vice president of one of the largest international dog food manufacturer corporations  from the 60s until well into the 90s when he retired.  He also was in charge of Research and Development through that same period.  His brother held basically the same position for the same company, except his baby was the Canadian division.  Whether you want to believe it or not, those big manufacturers share this info, it's to their benefit in the long run, and that's all that matters as far as they are concerned.

My point is the big kibble manufactures did NOT have the dogs interest at heart either at the beginning or now, it is a consumer (human purchaser) driven market.  Everything has to be taken with a grain of salt.  

There are very some very good high quality kibbles being made.  Just understand, at this point, it is within the interest of the kibble companies that Joe Shmoe keep on believing canine nutrition is just too difficult for the average person to contemplate or possibly be able to get  right......uh huh. 

The statement above someone wrote about sushi for humans is cooked is incorrect. Sushi is raw and there are a variety of parasites and illnesses possible when such sushi is infected or improperly prepared.

Actually, I just wanted to point out that the salmon, and other potentially dangerous fish used in sushi are flash-frozen as soon as they are caught, in order to kill the parasite. I don't feed raw, but it's to my understanding that if frozen for long enough in a standard freezer, salmon should be safe to feed raw to your dog - please correct me if I am wrong on this.

Regarding freezing to kill parasites:

UC Davis article:
 http://seafood.ucdavis.edu/haccp/compendium/chapt16.htm

FDA guidelines for freezing fish to kill parasites:      http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/Seafood/FishandFisheriesProductsHazardsandControlsGuide/ucm091704.htmtp://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/Seafood/FishandFisheriesProductsHazardsandControlsGuide/ucm091704.htm

 Sorry for the confusion about Sushi folks;  of course Sushi is raw and what I meant to write is I think most other fish that we humans eat is usually cooked, poached, broiled BBQ'd.  Except sushi obviously is eaten raw.  OK.  Clear now. 

I don't know all the scientific details of everyone's diets that work or don't work:  all I know is I have seen first hand the benefits of  feeding raw, however, it does not work for every dog as dog food does not work for every dog (kibble). 

I just wish everyone good health and good longevity for their dogs and we have proven during the past decade that dog food companies have not been looking out for our dogs it is the ole'mighty dollar.

Very very unfortunate for our animals;  and until they get their ingredients squared away to where I feel safe feeding my dogs kibble again, I will keep feeding a variety of raw. 

Best of luck to all of you.  Nan

ACTUALLY the seafood or fish in  Sushi  can be cooked or raw, since Sushi only refers to the vinegared rice, and anyone who frequents Japanese restaurants and enjoys Sushi, as I do,  knows this.

Sashimi is always served raw.

Perhaps I am just splitting hairs?  If so, then please forgive this annoying  transgression. Normally I can't stand nitpickers either.  

Have a good night!

I have no qualms with feeding kibble, there are some very good ones available now. I have always fed kibble.

I recently got access to scraps from a butchers shop, frozen. Chicken, beef, lamb, pork- free. I have always wanted to feed raw but didn't think I could afford it, or have the time to run around and find cheap sources. It appears I was mistaken. Now all I need is an extra freezer...

We are on our second day of raw, under the guidance of my good friend who swears by raw and her dogs look amazing. Sitasmom, if your dogs had the runs, to my understanding, there was not a correct balance of bone, meat, and organ.

I will get back to you guys in a few weeks on how my dogs are doing on it.

Deanna, there were whole chicken heads in today's meal, you should have seen how thrilled my dogs were to crunch those up. With the resources around you, you should really give it a try! Prince would have loved those deer innards. ;)

 Kelly, where'd you pull that off? I might have to stop by there, and say I'm picking it up for you, LOL.

You'll be hooked pretty soon. ;-)

I have had dogs live very long and healthy lives (13-15 years) and fed nothing but kibble.

I do think raw is good, but some of you greatly underestimate the ability of the dog to thrive on what is available to him.

JMO,
Rik