Brooke,
Why do you feel that home cooking is the best for you?
Have you done research into the matter yet? Are you worried that your sick baby can't tolerate raw?
I have a dog with an immune disease called Systemic Yeast Infection. It goes beyond just the skin problems. This ailment has crept into his entire body, his organs, his digestive system even his eyes! I feel this was brought on by feeding him the wrong diet for 11 years and giving him annual shots, heart worm prevention, constant meds and flea/tick preventatives. Basically my dog was pumped full of poisons, toxins and pesticides because I listened to the people who should know better: VETS!
Dogs can't properly utilize cooked foods, veggies/fruit, grains. They thrive on proteins in the raw form as they are the same as gray wolves, speaking in terms of evolution. Dogs are carnivores NOT omnivores. Salmonella poisoning and parasite infestation are sentences used by scaremongers who either profit from selling kibble or who do not know anything about RAW because they're inept about RAW feeding or both. Most Vets will not advocate prey model feeding or pre-made even. But I really don't need the approval of somebody who had his nutrition class in college sponsored by Science Diet!
My (now) healthy dogs are living proof that eating the way I feed was how it was meant to be! Thousands of other people around the world are feeding this way and before kibble was invented by greedy people, raw was how dogs were fed! I'm a member of several raw and prey model support groups on yahoo and people on those lists report similar success stories with their dogs and raw. If and before you switch, I highly recommend joining these and doing tons of research. The best website is rawlearning dot com and rawfed dot com
Home cooking is something that I feel is pretty much the same as kibble except that it's now not mystery meat. Nutrients are cooked out. Unnatural supplements are put back in and the dog's digestive system is forced to deal with an onslaught of all the wrong ingredients on a daily basis. I fed grain free kibble and I home cooked. I started raw with the pre-made, ground versions aka NV, Primal etc. I've been feeding prey model for a year now and would never go back to pre-made, but I do think it's a great way to get started and to make the switch easier for baby and momma! Especially sick dogs will detox in the beginning but that's nothing to fear but something to embrace! It's proof that positive things are ahead for the dog!
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