[Ellie May]

There are a couple of benefits to feeding raw like clean teeth but, in my opnion, with the information currently available, the risks far outweigh any benefit.

There is the bacterial concern. Usually the answer to this is, dogs don't react the same way as humans do and can process this. They are fine with things like salmonella. Well, that can be true but dogs DO get sick from certain things found in raw meat and I see no reason to take the risk. This is especially concerning if your dog has a compromised immune system and there is really no way to know if he/she does for sure. A lot of times food bourne illness is not checked for first in dogs because it isn't too common, etc. when really it is possible that a dog with gi upset on the raw diet has something like this going on.

There are reports of dogs needing enemas to pass painful bone fragments from the raw diet. Now maybe the wrong type of bones were given but to me, it isn't worth the risk.

There are not long-term studies done on raw fed dogs because a small study of any value would cost way too much money for anyone to shell out without a product to sell afterwards. Yes, it can be said that wolves live long lives in the wild so dogs should eat what they eat. However, not all wolves live that long and if we really want to replicate a wolf's diet, wouldn't we need to start feeding things like rodents, etc.?

If someone can prove to me that dogs can live much longer on a certain type of diet, sure I'll listen. I am not seeing it though. Are the majority of raw fed dogs living to be 25 or 30? Isn't that how long some wolves live?

At the same time, I really don't like kibble either though.
That's my two cents.