Who else feeds raw to their dog?

Often, experts’ opinions are influenced by the amount of money they get for recommending something in particular.

As much as you don’t understand why everyone wouldn’t just blindly defer to the experts, I don’t understand why I would solely consider someone’s opinion who stands to profit from some recommendations more than others.

 

For any of you where your dog doesn't want to eat, is it the only dog you have?

I noticed with mine he would do that from time to time when he was the only dog. When we had a friends dog stay here he seemed to get competitive about eating. Now that we have a second dog he's ultra competitive. His logic now is "if you gave us both food, and I finished mine, I eat her food too"

 

Yeah we even separate ours, but one still inhales it, the puppy. Sometimes the smaller one wont eat her raw egg, so he gets pumped when that’s left over

 

Lol. That sounds about right.

I have 2. Both females. One is an eater, one is a cat. The eater will slam anything you give her. Only a handful of times has she sniffed then walked away. The cat-dog is just picky I guess. ?? She was driving me nuts until I found this stuff I've been feeding her. I used to even try waiting her out. "Fine, don't eat." She'd go days w/o eating. lol stubborn. She's a real sweet girl though.

 

Mine's on that Gravy Train diet.



Just kidding. I buy a premium brand of dry dog food, and she seems to handle it well and is in good health. After several trials with other brands, the one she eats now is the best. This has all been a good read, though, because I've always been curious about whether I'm snuffing out thousands of years of ancestral carnivorous instinct by putting a scoop of dry kibble in a bowl. I just want her to be happy and healthy, and so far the processed lamb and rice is doing the trick, but I'm considering trying a new approach.

 

Make sure you treat raw dog food like raw chicken. Easy to cross contaminate and get sick. Frozen is better

 

I'm not a big fan of raw diets in most situations, BUT if it's working, keep using it. Just make sure to ask your vet if the diet is balanced.
The issue with raw diets is that they can lack essential vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc. They are often used because people read about them on the internet and decide to switch based on false information without consulting their vet. These diets are not controlled or overseen by anyone, so somebody can just come along and start selling raw diets that have not been tested or studied. But, I'm not here to debate diets with anyone. People will feed what they want, and that's fine. Just be cautious.

 

That's just flat out wrong. Salmonellosis, E. Coli, and pancreatitis are a very real thing in dogs, and feeding raw meat is NEVER a good idea, no matter what your friends or the internet says. I can't stop members from talking about raw diets, but it's crazy to me how much people believe in them without knowing anything about the pathophysiology of dogs. Always ask your vet. We are here to help keep your pets healthy, and we've spent years and a TON of money learning about it so we can do what's right to keep your pets healthy.

 

You are right I will listen to my vet that went to the best Vet school in the country and graduated top of his class and spent TONS of money to make sure my pets are healthy. For 12 years I have been complimented on how healthy and strong my dogs are.

My vet actually left his family own practice because his father couldn’t come to grips with changes in what he was taught. One of the biggest disagreements they had was around raw feeding and shot schedules.

Do you think the standard American diet is the correct diet for humans? It has been standard for decades and now everyone in the medical profession agrees it’s bullshit.

Raw feeding done wrong can be fatal. Feeding tractor supply cardboard dog food is also fatal. I choose to feed a true appropriate diet.

 

I don’t think he was disagreeing with you on the raw diet part. More so just throwing any raw meat to them cause “Their stomach acid kills everything.”

I don’t know either way.

 

I could have read that wrong and if so I will apologize. @Kerch71 if I read your point incorrectly I apologize. Just let me know

 

That's cool. I get it. Glad you're dogs are healthy. Not trying to argue. Just educate pet owners. That's what this thread is for. Purina, Royal Canin, Eukanuba, Iams are the best commercial dog foods and we owe alot to these companies for their extensive research and contributions to advancing our understanding of canine diets. Store brand dog foods are terrible and should always be avoided.

By the way, Cornell is not the best vet school in the country. They just like to think they are.
UF is. Go Gators!

 

Yes there is extremely high quality kibble and for the record I buy a commercial raw diet Answers Plus. I tried making my own for a year and a half and the science and math behind it suck’s.

Also I knew we were never meant to get along FSU baby! Go Noles

 

I give my GWP upper leg bones from deer when I butcher them. That is the only raw meat she gets.

 

Most kibble is just overpriced corn and chicken feathers. I'd say purina, royal canin and hills are some of the worst. There are getting to be more and more boutique brands now that sell much much better quality kibble. Unfortunately none of these would work for my pup that's why she is now on a commercial raw diet. Should have done this years ago with my other dogs.

 

You root for FSU? I'm SO sorry. That really sucks.

Seriously though....you like FSU?!?

 

It’s painful now, but wasn’t in the 90s until the early 2000s. Now I’m happy if we score a TD. It’s pathetic

 

Here's the truth with raw diets. Most vets don't approve of them because they exploded onto the scene and everyone jumped on the bandwagon without any research on long term effects. The same thing happened with the grain-free revolution, and now research has shown a definitive link between grain free diets and heart disease. Our profession is very distrustful of fad diets in dogs and cats because they haven't stood the test of time. And we are not going to promote diets without peer reviewed research that shows they are healthy and safe. Period.
I'm sure there are merits to properly prepared raw diets. But dogs are omivores, they are not true carnivores. So the diets need to be balanced.

Bottom line - BE CAREFUL with trusting these diets. We don't want to turn around in 5 years and say "Wow, those raw diets were a really bad idea. Look at all the long term health problems they created."

Nuff said. Time to watch the NFL Playoffs!

 

Yeah, the Gators ain't much better. Pretty painful as well.

 

My dog is solo. He is a weird food and water hoarder. If we go out for the day and he has full bowls, he won't touch them until we get back. Then he inhales everything and asks for more...

 

My GWP is a killer but does not necessarily eat what catches. Definitely does not eat skunks. Just kills them but she does like crawdad tails. She retrieves squirrels that I shoot.

 

I had a Great Dane/Black and Tan Coonhound cross (yes, you read that right) who was always much more interested in guarding his food from my Lab and Beagle than eating it. Stubborn as a damn mule. There was nothing wrong with his appetite or GI, he just had this weird social thing wth my other dogs. I started feeding him separately at one point, but it didn't make any difference. He would spend all his time watching the doors and listening for my other dogs. I finally started sternly saying "Copper! Eat your damn food!" Then he would. So, from then on, that's what I would say when I fed him, and he would immediately eat. If only they could talk to us and explain things....

 

I think what also gets overlooked and to @Kerch71 point is the science that goes into raw feeding. When I made it myself I had to have an excel spreadsheet to do the calculations.

Calculations worked out bone content, organ meat %s and muscle meats. And I needed a 5%-10% buffer to add in veggies and other items because dogs aren’t carnivores. Added on top of that you have to figure out how much to feed them. 2%-5% of target weight and that could change daily, weekly or monthly depending on a variety of factors. I did that for 1.5yrs and got all my meat locally from a farmer. Saved me probably $1000 in food. But the time and the precision it took wasn’t worth it to me. So now I buy Answers Plus commercial diet.

Some of the biggest issues with homemade raw diets is the lack of calcium. And too much calcium can lead to severe disease. There are ratios required that if not done correctly are fatal.

Also chicken is a not a good source of meat and nutrients for dogs. The 2nd best Vet school next to UF did a study on feeding chicken to dogs and found that it lacks a lot of nutrients that beef and other animal meats have. Rabbits is another one that doesn’t have sufficient fat to sustain dogs health.

Just something to watch out for. There is a lot that goes into and done correctly it has anecdotally shown great results. But any mess up is potentially fatal. Make sure you are up for the commitment or buy a raw diet from a reputable brand. A lot of big name dog food companies are getting into the raw food game.

Lastly, Aaron Rodgers sucks and I lost a lot of money because he can’t show up when he needs too.

 

I wouldn't dare make my own raw food. The work and time involved plus like you say to have the correct ratios would be too much for me.
I've read it's best to rotate a few different meats, beef, fish and chicken/ turkey or some other combo.
There is a kibble made in Canada called Carni4 (no synthetic nutrients added) that is supposedly excellent but it's pretty much up there with raw as far as cost. It's only baked at a low temp for 4 hrs then air dried so as not to deplete all the nutrients like normal kibble that is cooked at a high temp. I'm likely going to try some out for when we go camping or other times when raw isn't convenient.

 

2nd best to UF.....I like that. Very well stated explanation on raw diets.

 

Dogs absolutely are carnivores and have absolutely ZERO need for vegetables, fruit, or any other plant material. This idea that dogs are some kind of omnivore needs to die. It is not true. Which is why so many dogs are dying due to the pea protein found in so many commercial dog foods.

Want evidence? Go look at what sled dogs are fed in Alaska and northern Canada. Fatty red meat. No veggies at all. And they maintain exceptionally high levels of athletic performance and health.

Dogs are just domesticated wolves. They are still able to reproduce with wolves. They have not changed so much from wild wolves that they have become omnivorous.

On a side note, humans are also carnivores. As we were domesticating wolves into dogs, we were feeding them left-over meat and bones from our kills of large fatty animals. And dogs have only been domesticated for at most, 30k years or so. Which is nowhere near enough time to fundamentally change their diet from carnivorous to omnivorous. Changes like that take hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years. Just like the 2-3 million years it took for humans to become carnivorous.

 

Been feeding raw to my dogs for the last 15 years. All home grown concoctions - it really isn't rocket science. I was turned on to it by my the breeder of my last pup. In the end, it can be done cheaper than some quality store bought kibble but it does require time and helps to get to know your local butchers and game processors (to help offset the cost of buying human grade meats). My vet is on-board with my dogs diet and has never once had anything negative to say about the health of my dogs. I generally don't include grains, but definitely will feed them on the off occasion that the pup has gotten into something (cat poop or some other random item while out and about) and might have an upset GI tract - rice, chicken and pumpkin are great for those situations when a mild/bland diet is in order. I am no doubt sure that my dogs eat better than I do at times.