The Raw Diet. - Page 1

Hello everyone,

I am new on this site and can somebody tell me the benefits of feeding a raw diet? My vet tells me not to feed a raw diet because raw meat contains harmful bacteria. I will be giving my dog human grade meat. My friend who feeds raw told me to freeze the meat and defrost before giving it to my dog. If i freeze the meat will it get rid of the bateria? What are thge benefits of feeding a raw diet?

The majority of vets will frown on the raw diet.  Here is a great website for information:

http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm

I would feed it myself except for the time and money involved.

after reading about raw diets on this board, i slowly started introducing it to my 2 dogs. their general health and overall appearance is much better. my female was often a picky eater, but since i've switched almost entirely to raw, she is eager to eat. i use a complete raw diet that's already made up. i sometimes supplement with raw chicken and they get a raw egg (shell and all) once or twice a week. i use "nature's variety". there are a number of different meats - lamb, venison, rabbit, beef, chicken and organic chicken. you can look them up and see the ingredients for yourself. there have been a number of discussions about raw on this board - look them up and see what they all say. i really like it and my dogs seem better for it.

Vets are not nutritionists and they are not breeders of German bred shepherds...Listen to the peope on this thread...not your vet...

I had a vet tell me the blood eating of raw meat makes dogs go mad and hunt to kill.

Dogs have a different digestion system and yes you need to be very careful and do freeze and feed and throw away all dog doesnt eat..it is simple and your dogs get nutrition, not a bag of corn, wheat and fillers., and many chemicals we dont want..

You may choose a high grade of kibble to have on hand and incorporate in your feeding schedule , in case of emergency travel or run out of raw meats..or vacations where it is impossible to carry frozen food and fix it....

Read Dean Calderons site...he explains how it is done....www.schutzhundsportdogsinc.com

Simply put - Dogs thrive on a species-appropriate prey-model raw diet. Dogs are carnivores and are meant to eat meat. Some argue that they can/should eat vegetables, and other non-meat fillers, (BARF diets and prepackaged diets and kibble), but just because they can eat non-meat items, it doesn't mean they have to have them. I like ice cream. I can eat ice cream. I won't survive on ice cream.

The four dogs I have now eating a raw diet (two GSD's, Golden Retriever and a bull dog mix) all have clean teeth, have hit and maintain their ideal weight, have not had illnesses that require vet intervention, all have great coats, all have reduced waste (all food is digested, not simply passed through), all have ample energy and are not hyper from a carbohydrate high. I could list more, but hopefully the picture is seen.

My GSD (the other one is fostered) has also been treated by a homeopath. The frequent yeast infections are gone, the barbering of his sides are gone, his attitude is better, his constant itching is gone, his licking is gone, and so on. We were facing recurrent antibiotic and allergy shots for him, but with a combined species-appropriate diet and homeopathic care, he's much better. Since starting raw in November and starting with a homeopath in February, we've not been back to the vet for any of the above items.

Vets get VERY limited nutritional training. That training is typically sponsored by pet food companies. Vets typically sell pet food. Hmmmm - coincidence they like to tell patients they have to feed kibble??? With these facts known it's no wonder vets want dogs to eat kibble.

Many, many excuses exist to dissuade the raw diet. Bacteria happens to be one of these. Bacteria is everywhere and is dealt with by simple and standard food handling techniques. If you prepare meat in your house for your family and your family is not sick from that meat (barring any problematic meats packaged inappropriately) then you have all the knowledge needed to keep your pets and family safe. Again, it's just simple food-handling commonsense. Clean your hands, work area and utensils.

Here are some links that I hope will clear things up:

http://www.rawfed.com/myths/

http://www.skylarzack.com/rawfeeding.htm

http://www.rawmeatybones.com/articles/Nexus07_pub_articletext.pdf

Please feel free to contact me privately or via forum if you have more questions.

Yep there can be bacteria.Just as we eat..I have an elder friend with much accomplishment that simply feeds chicken.Her recipe is to  put the chicken in a crock pot until it is mush including the bones.

I would ask your vet how the dog can use the cooker!

In their natural environment dogs eat carcasses - they dont have nicely boned joints, cooked carefully etc, they catch bunnies or anything that they can get the jaws around and then the munch them down bones and all, this is what their digestive system is designed for and is equipped to kill most bacteria and its only bad husbandry that will result in food having too much bacteria beyond their capability.  Now mine will also happily eat carrots, potatoes or anything else left unattended in the bottom of the veg rack!

We also give them eggs, shell and all and whilst I do still use some kibble I have found a good low protein one which is actually very cheap but is very handy for trips away from home or just the odd change of diets.  I never wean my dog from one food to another and to honest they are better for doing this than following the advice from the big food manufacturers.

Today mine have a treat and we have some hearts for them, and I wont bother cutting them up into nicely sized portions, they will just be given them as they are.

I fed raw since the ealry 90's, untill I ended up with a dog that was allergic to most meat proteins so I have now had to swap back to a commercial food for this dog. He wasnt weaned onto raw as a pup as I didnt purchase him untill he was 10mth old (before that his breeder fed commercial food), he is the only dog I have had that has got problems with his immune system and overall health status, all those weaned at 8wks or earlier onto raw food have been healthy throughout their lifes.

Pam

Raw feeding is a choice and for most of us it is how we choose to feed our dogs. For some dogs raw feeding works very well and for others it doesn't work well at all. I have two examples that I like to share with people when they ask about feeding raw.

1)my SAR K9 was diagnosed at 10 months with CRF, I was told she would not live to see her second birthday. At the time I was already feeding a raw diet to dogs, and the vet I used tried to tell me it was killing this dog. She didn't want the dog raw fed, I needed a prescription diet prescribed by a vet. I said no, and went about investigating everything I could so that I could continue feeding a raw diet. The dog that was diagnosed on death's door, turned 7 in April, and other than increased urination, you would have no idea that she was "dying". She still works, still eats a raw diet, and still acts like she is a year old. The team of vets I use are amazed at how this dog is alive, and thriving.

2) my youngest was raised on raw. However, for him it didn't have the same affects as it does for all my other dogs. His coat was awful, thin, dry, and he lost hair on his ears. The rims were hairless, he scratched, chewed his legs, and 8 months of working on an elimination diet of raw didn't help me find the issue for him. After having thyroid tests done numerous times, all coming up that he didn't have a thyroid problem, I had a vet tell me he had sarcoptic mange. Of course he didn't, if he had, every dog in my house would have it. None of my dogs have fleas, ticks, or any skin issues. What was wrong with this dog? I investigated kibble, what else was I to do. His muscle tone was bad, he wasn't gaining weight, and the scratching was awful. I was afraid he would damage his ears even more. I opted a few months ago to switch him from raw to Taste of the Wild. Viola! within a week the scratching stopped, the fur begn growng back on his ears, his coat got thicker, and he developed better muscle tone. Yesterday, I gave him some raw burger, and guess what he did last night, scratched. He doesn't seem to scratch with small amounts of raw chicken, so he does get that on occasion. Lamb, fish, make him scratch.

With my other dogs, I don' t worry about bacteria. A dog's digestive tract is much shorter than a human's so the bacteria is not long in the system. People forget that vets are given two weeks of nutritional training in school, and it is provided by the prescription diet companies. Dogs haven't evolved as much as  vets seem to think they have. The dog still needs meat, bones, and all the good stuff in it.

I strongly suggest rawdogranch.com  to gather information in why and how to feed a raw diet.

One thing some people forget to share about raw is that if you have been feeding kibble, and depending on the quality and preservatives in that kibble, when you switch your dog(s) over to raw, your dog can experience a "detox" period. Some dogs do and some dogs do not. What happens is usually sloppy stool for a week to 10 days. Most owners decide after a couple of days to stop feeding raw because they can't handle the sloppy stool, or they think their vet was right.

If you're concerned about keeping nutrition balanced in feeding raw, or simply don't want to deal with having all kinds of meats around, you can feed commercial raw.  There are a lot of people in my Schutzhund club who feed K9craving and I have to admit, their dogs look fantastic: very fit, VERY shiny, beautiful coats.  They're the kind of dogs that when you see their coats shining in the sun you just want to ask, "What are you feeding them?"  (LOL)

There might be other brands of commercial raw; that's just the one I know about.  I've also heard about the detox period that DeesWolf mentioned.