Raw Food Diet?
What do you all think of feeding a raw food diet? The good, the bad? Some of the sites I have googled seem to have mostly people who are for it, and tout all the good things about it: allergies, scratching, smaller and less poop. I don't want to start an argument I am just curious as to what people think and what their stories are with it. thanks! |
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| Great topic... I know some people love it some do not... I may be wrong but when I look at a bag of dog food and it says.... 25% protein I ofter have a picture of 1 cup of food and 3 cups of filler.... I feed a lot of meat....I do notice when I feed the meat my dogs do not eat as much, and they seem to be full for a long time. They stay very trim. The part I do not like about the meat, its not so clean. Lots of warm wet cloths after a meal. Its too bad our dogs can not post about this. I think they would say... Yea for the meat.... |
| I have several friends here in MN (non OES, we are the only ones around here), who feed raw. I know many are part of a raw feeding Yahoo group - might want to check that out. |
| I feed Raw .I used to feed kibble and i would never ever change back.I actually changed over because one of my dogs(Mitch) had lymphoma and carbs feed cancer cells so the kibble went out the door:) Marley ,eldest dog ,has food allergies plus he was having trouble digesting kibble.He went down to 24kg in weight .So when i saw how much Mitch was enjoying his new diet we changed Marley over to see how he coped.Within 14 days his constant ear/eye infections all cleared up.He is now 36kg and doing well  Kennley(youngest) was fed raw as soon as i got him home .Now he won't even touch kibble by choice |
| We have fed raw for about 2 years. Switched back to kibble couple of months ago, while I was in the hospital and while still regaining my energy etc. It does require, at least for us it did, a lot of extra effort as we have 5 dogs consuming about 60#s of meat, meat attached to bone and organ per week. It may have been coincidental, but withing 2ish weeks of switching back to kibble, all three of our hairy dogs started to blow their undercoat. Poops will get smaller on raw and tend to not smell and also break down withing 3-5 days--our cleanup was 1/2 the amount as when on kibble. And yes, dogs can actually eat chicken bones as long as they are not cooked. Definitly go to the Yahoo groups for information. If you PM me, I can give you the name of a dog forum that has many raw feeders on it. Just to add, that I am a firm believer in the benefits but also not totally against kibble as long as it has a high meat based protein level. We hope to return to raw feeding in the next few months. |
| I'm not a fan of raw... just my personal opinion. I've seen some dogs do great on it, and some not so great. I think finding the right balance of nutrients, vitamins etc can be next to impossible. Dogs are not purely carnivores, and a breed like oes, in my opinion, is even less suited to a raw diet than something like a husky or malamute etc. OES are a man made breed, and for so many generations have been fed either cooked scraps or prepared dog food. I believe over time even the genetics of the dogs have evolved to deal best with what they are used to. I also don't like the bacteria both the dogs and humans are exposed to when feeding raw, but that's just me. A friends dog recently incurred thousands in vet bills from being fed raw from a bone splinter being lodged in the intestines, perforating and being undiscoverable for a long time causing the dog to become almost septic with infection. If you do choose to feed raw please make sure you do so with the help and advice of several very experienced raw feeders. |
| my gran always said if you feed a dog raw meat they get a taste for blood and become maneaters, she was a vile woman and evidentaly a bit mental lol. my pom is very very picky and won't eat dog food, we feed her chicken, pork and steak mainly but we cook it first so i have to ask whats the difference between cooking the meat and feeding it raw? just recently she has started to eat some meaty balls we leave for the boxers to snaffle between meals when they're hungry (bless they're not greedy so it's fab). we also give her multi vitamins as if we so much as wave a veggie at her meat she won't eat it. |
| My two are both doing great on raw. I used to have to feed Maggie a ton of kibble to keep any weight on her (she's very active) and it went right through her digestive system, meaning big soft blecky output. Now, her stools are firm, her weight is perfect, her coat is beautiful. I love it. Henry was raised raw right from a puppy and he does great too. Once you get the hang of it, it is really not hard to balance the proportions of meat, bones, organs and extras. I tend to alternate between grocery store-bought meat and organs, green tripe, and commercial grinds. Helps to have a dedicated freezer so you can stock up on sale items. Mine still get treats/biscuits that are not raw. Mixing it up like that has not been a problem for me. |
| I was thinking about Henry ......one of the first pixs of him when Edy put down the chicken for her hungry little sharks. Glacier is having problems with UTIs, not eating, etc.....I may have to resort to raw for her. I've done it before and everyone just loved it.......of course. |
| I'm with Willowsprite on this one. Oscar has Immune Mediated Disease, manifesting in IBD, and frequent, chronic drug-resistant infections. Oscars sees our regular vet, a holistic vet, a chiro, and an internist (not to mention a dermatologist). Years back, when we were dealing with all kinds of digestive issues, we had a powwow amongst the vets about feeding raw. All agreed that it was not a good idea for Oscar, because of the additional bacteria load in raw meat. But it turns out that Oscar cannot digest raw veggies either. My vets explained that this is common, as veggies are broken down and digested in the small intestine, and a dog's tends to be smaller relative to the entire digestive tract than a human (omnivore). My vet said that dogs are better at digesting cooked veggies, as they are already somewhat broken down. (My friend, who also happens to be a vet, surmised that this may be because a wolf/undomesticated dog only consumed veggies that were partially digested in whatever animal they killed.) Also, our holistic vet cautioned that raw diets expose people to these bacteria as well, if your dog kisses you on your face, or sleeps in your bed. When people cook raw meat for themselves, they tend to be careful about cleaning/bleaching everything thoroughly that has come into contact with the meat, to kill the bacteria. However, your dog might be carrying that bacteria around in their mouth or on their beard, and therefore spreading it all around the house. Sorry if I've bummed anyone out....... Just my humble opinion... Laurie and Oscar, the kibble lover |
| Non digestion of veggies is common .If you feed veg you are supposed to put them through a liquidiser first.I feed prey model raw so we go the partially digested route. Marley has severe digestive issues and the only thing he can digest is 100% raw food.Kibble was literally coming out looking like it had never been through his system.Wet foods gave him severe colitis and he ended pooping out more blood than anything else.Then we had the endless infections followed by endless tablets he was on. As for the bacteria my friend always says " let's face it, your dog probably eats all sorts of stuff when you're out, and licks it's own genitals, as well as other dogs, so raw feeding should be the last of your worries " Seriously i have had no problems with bacteria .  |
| we tried cooking veggies with the meat so they'd absorb some flavour but nope, not having it, no veggies of any kind thank you. she wouldn't even eat steak that we'd cooked with veggies then seperated. so what is the difference between feeding cooked and raw i still don't get it. is it purely about digestion or does it change the nutritional value of the meat? if you over cook veggies the vitamin and mineral content can drop to zero is it the same for meat? i don't mean to seem dense it's just since visiting oes forums this has come up a lot so we're still not well enough informed to make any kind of decision. also i'm reading that it's not just the flesh (meat) it's bone and organs, which organs and why? this has been a really sad thread there are so many poorly dogs out there it's just really upsetting. at the same time it's great seeing how many people are prepared to go the extra mile to keep thier dogs healthy and happy  |
| Ema are you saying you are just feeding meat to your pom ? |
| wow, these responses really give me something to think about. One of the things I was thinking also was the mess, while they eat, do you just throw the stuff in their food bowl? I guess I could put Dexter in the basement on the tile and clean it up when he is done? I am not too worried about bacteria; I believe that dogs, including man made ones like OES, can digest and handle a lot more than we can when it comes to that. As far as it being on his face, I can make an extra effort to wipe it, but he also eats poop (when I am not looking, I turn around in the yard and catch him doing it) . I guess I would wonder also how to procure all the meat he needs since I imagine its not just about buying chickens at the grocery store. can someone tell me the yahoo board with the raw feeders on it? thanks! |
I serve them in their foodbowls but they like to take any meaty pieces out and eat them (sometimes in their dogbeds) so I mostly confine them in the mudroom to eat. It has a tile floor and is easy to clean. I'm kind of lax about it since the mudroom is really the dog-room and they mostly lick everything clean. I've never gotten sick. I'm pretty careful about washing my hands, sink, counters and bowls. I don't actually wash their faces.  Re Yahoo groups -- I learned a ton from these two: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfeeding/ http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/RawChat/ There's also this one that is sheepdog specific, but it is not very active: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalOES/ I've also got two Colorado specific raw feeding groups on Yahoo so it is worth checking to see if there's something in your area. People share info about sales, bulk orders, etc. I mostly get their meat/organs/bones from the grocery store but I also order greentripe in bulk because it is so good for them and not available in stores. (Note that the green tripe for dogs is completely different from the bleached out tripe you might find in your grocery store.) Mine don't like veggies so I don't add them. |
| hey Julianne, we give her cooked meat and multi vitamins and minerals to "bulk out" her diet, she is all kinds of fussy with food so she eats dried dog food but not as much as she needs really, she is getting better tho. she's quite taken with fish4dogs complete dog food at the moment. |
sixpence wrote: As for the bacteria my friend always says " let's face it, your dog probably eats all sorts of stuff when you're out, and licks it's own genitals, as well as other dogs, so raw feeding should be the last of your worries " I was thinking that as well And OES really are no more "man-made" than any other domesticated dog, certainly not more so than any given pure-bred, even if some of them were selected to look more like wolves  However, we do have more than our share of immune-mediated issues in our breed, and if your dog is one of those seriously immune compromised dogs I wouldn't be playing around with feeding raw either. Canids like that, if they occured, would have simply died off of opportunistic infections at a fairly young age in the wild I imagine. Otherwise, though I think it's very wise to consult with more experienced raw feeders I don't think feeding in a nutrionally balanced manner is any harder on a raw diet than kibble. To the contrary, I think those of us who feed kibble tend to get stuck on certain foods and even if they are "scientifically" balanced, I still think there is a distinct advantage to rotate even there just in case a certain food has more of "this", which a certain dog may benefit from, and so on. Plus, let's face it, it has to be a little boring to eat the same thing day in and day out. I know they say you shouldn't mix feeding raw and kibble, but I give my kibble fed dogs raw turkey necks and backs and other raw delicacies in addition to their kibble without issue, and they absolutely love it. I wish I had the time and discipline to feed raw. If my dogs had a vote I know what they would choose. Kristine |
Ema wrote: hey Julianne, we give her cooked meat and multi vitamins and minerals to "bulk out" her diet, she is all kinds of fussy with food so she eats dried dog food but not as much as she needs really, she is getting better tho. she's quite taken with fish4dogs complete dog food at the moment. That's ok Ema .Ya had me worried there Aslong as she is getting some kibble with that meat she should be getting a balanced diet.I was worried about the calcium intake or should i say lack of it  |
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