I’m not all that convinced it safe for Yorkies. Studies show that athletic dogs react to cholesterol differently than couch potatoes, and raw usually is all meat and bones so it has lots of cholesterol. What does that do to the heart over time? I don’t think it’s all that natural either, wolves in the wild eat the stomach contents of the prey, and most prey are vegetarians so they wolf is getting some grain. Also, the strongest and most aggressive get the best and the smaller more docile get what’s left over and this makes evolutionary sense given what studies show about how athletic dogs use cholesterol differently.
My concern for Joey is not to find the best food, but a good healthy food that has been tested for safety. That’s really all I want for myself, I don’t need to eat the best food, I need to eat good healthy food. Also, I’m concerned about the meat they use in raw. Lots of meat has hormones added and even if the raw food company doesn’t use hormones and only uses organic meat, chances are they use a slaughtering company where both types of animals are slaughtered. One study I read, said that the organic meat had as many hormones as the non-organic meat because it was contaminated from the slaughter house. Cooking destroys hormones, but with raw there’s no cooking and I’m not sure what an overabundance of hormones can do long term, but it is thought to be dangerous, and there is evidence to suggest it can lead to disease.
I might give raw a chance if I had a large breed very active dog, and I think prey model would be something I might try. I don’t think prey model is safe for small dogs, too much of a choking hazard and intestinal blockage problem. Lots of people do it and are very happy with it. Another option, that some people like, is grinding you own food, and then you would at least have a choice to wash the meat off and make sure it had little surface bacteria and hormones. Even better is some people have access to hunters, and you could safely process the meat if you’re so inclined. I would never feel that safe with the store bought frozen patties; I guess I don’t have that much confidence in dog food companies. Ten years from now, we’ll know much more about the raw debate, but it does have some safety issue that concern me, I really want the safest food, not the best. |