Originally Posted by Vinniedoggy  Yes!! We have two on raw and it has worked wonders. I started Vinnie, my oldest yorkie, on raw about 6-7 years ago. I bought the Nature's Variety raw medallions for him. I was skeptical, because he was a really picky eater at the time and had had numerous tummy issues, but the diet change cleared everything up and he has been a healthy little boy ever since!
When I adopted Alex this past summer, we immediately started him on a raw, home-prepared diet to help address his severe environmental allergies (we didn't want to use the medallions because they have carrot in them, which I was told could exacerbate his yeast infection). We fed him raw meat (rotating between different kinds), organ meats (chicken livers, beef liver), raw egg, plain full-fat yogurt, pumpkin, and raw meaty bones. For supplements we added bonemeal, acidophillus, and a few other things provided by our vet. This diet, combined with allergy shots, allergy medication, and other "as needed" remedies REALLY helped Alex. He immediately gained weight (which he was in desperate need of) and gained obvious muscle mass. Now that his yeast has cleared up, we have added the raw medallions to his diet (mainly for our convenience) but we still prepare some additional meat on the side because he likes it so much.
I am a huge believer in raw. I have seen it really help both my dogs and all the research I've read has made me very anti-traditional dog food. Both my dogs had immediate, positive responses to the raw diet and I just sort of went with it!
If you do home prepared raw, make sure your dog is getting all the essential vitamins and minerals, something that can be addressed by ensuring you add bone meal and raw meaty bones to your dog's diet. Nature's Variety, Primal, and Stella & Chewy's all make excellent raw food. My dogs prefer Nature's Variety, but we've used other ones too on occassion.
If you travel or camp, all of the brands make freeze dried medallions (for when you don't have access to refrigeration). My guys LOVE Stella & Chewy's freeze dried patties, so we use them whenever we camp or travel. |