[PinkMartini]

Dozer's on a raw food diet and has been since he was 12 months old. Bailey will be switched over once he turns 6 months old. It has benefited Dozer tremendously. I've never fed him that pre-packaged stuff, I make all of his meals here at home. It's a lot of work & time, but it's well worth it

The basic idea behind the diet is that dogs are prey animals, and that they naturally eat raw food in the wild. When you make up a diet, you should try to keep in mind how much of a typical animal that a dog might eat is bone, muscle meat, organ meat, etc., and try to feed your dog in those percentages.

The concern a lot of people have is about bacteria in raw food; but the dog's digestive system is different then ours; food goes through it extremely fast, and they have a higher acid content in their stomach, so it does a better job of killing them anyway. If you have an immuno-compromised dog, it is something to consider, but anecdotally, I have friends who have dogs who are immuno-compromised, who actually started them on raw for that very reason! They swear that they have been healthier, not sicker, since the switch.

Also, if you do cook their food, you should never feed it to them with the bone. One of the requirements of this diet is that the dog eat raw bone. But some people use bone meal instead. In theory, bone meal isn't as nutrionally complete as raw bone, but it is good enough. Also, with raw bones, dogs get the benefits for their teeth.

To me, the most important thing is that you consider your pet's diet, and what *you* think would be best. If your answer isn't the same as my answer, that doesn't mean one of us is wrong or right. We are all just wanting healthy pets who live as long as possible!