this may sound stupid
 

But, I've never heard anything much on this raw feeding, I did e-mail a vet out in California, to see what she thought of it..My question is why do you all do this raw feeding? I have been searching online, and myself, I don't think it looks all that great.., just from what I've read, and a lot of work..I had a golden retriever I had to have put to sleep back in 2002, she ate kibbles and chunks all her life, and of course, her little goodies too, now, when we had her put to sleep, she was 18 years old, and the only reason we had her put down was because she had cancer...but, for a big dog to have to be put down at 18, heck, I hardly ever even see tiny dogs live as long as that..so, what I'm really wanting to know, is why do you do this raw feeding?

It's what a dog was designed to eat. Dogs are carnivores and wouldnt eat grains in their natural environment. Dogs and wolves are genetically the same - in fact, they have been recently changed to one species instead of two. Wolves catch prey animals in the wild and eat the muscle meat, bones, and organs. They can also be scavengers and will eat food that humans may have left lying around. With dogs, humans would feed them leftover meat - sometimes cooked, sometimes uncooked. Kibble wasn't invented until around the 1940s because of World War 2. It was a cheap way to feed the dogs and a way to put all the products not fit for humans to use. Over the years pet food has become a major industry and better kibbles have been developed. But a raw diet has been around forever as it was what dogs originally were meant to eat. Kibble was a human invention. Dogs are much healthier on raw

Why do I raw feed?

1. My dogs do fantastically on it, unbelievably well.

They used to eat kibble and wet food, very high quality ones. I thought they were healthy, they seemed healthy, the vet said they were healthy. However Indy always had awful dry itchy skin, the vet said there was nothing she could do about it. Well she was wrong, within a couple of weeks of raw it was completely cured. The changes I observed when I switched my dogs were, whiter teeth, fresher breath, smaller harder poos, shinier coats, better skin, less tear staining, no more anal gland problems, more consistent energy levels and happier dogs who enjoy their food immensely. I took our 8 year old rescue collie cross, Jessie to the vets for her annual check up yesterday, the vet told me she didn't look a day over 2.

2. I believe in feeding dogs what they were designed to eat.

3. Because my dogs enjoy it, they eat every meal with a huge amount of enthusiasm, I wouldn't eat the same thing every day so why should I expect them to?

The point i'm trying to make is that, I never knew how well they would do on raw, until I tried it. Of course many dogs do well on kibble, and thats great. Some people live long and healthy lives on a junk food diet, doesn't mean I would recommend it........

But, what I'm getting at, is, if this food isn't healthy, why did I have to put my retriever down at the age of 18, and because of the cancer, up until she was 17, you wouldn't have known how old she was..she had all her teeth, still walked all over the place, was still very healthy, heck, even got run over by a pickup truck when son was leaving for school(she was deaf), and made it through that..So, what I'm getting at, is if this dog at 17, looked as though she was maybe 7 or 8, and was eating what I call crappy food, then why would you think this raw feeding is any better? How many dogs do you know that have made it up to 18? And, she never cost me a dime(other than the yearly rabi shot, and her food..)..

Maybe you missed her last sentence: "Of course many dogs do well on kibble, and thats great. Some people live long and healthy lives on a junk food diet, doesn't mean I would recommend it........"

Yes, some dogs live to be very old and are very healthy on kibble, but raw-fed dogs are healthier and live longer than dogs fed kibble on average. Wolves have been known to live up to 30 years of age.

At the end of the day all I can say is that I can see with my own eyes that my dogs are healthier on raw, thats all the motivation I need to keep feeding it to them :)

Well my baby has only been on it for a week so I can not attest to the health benefits this soon....BUT I can say, if for no other reason, that I am very pleased with raw as she now eats with so much gusto! I have gone from practically standing on my head to get her to eat to looking forward to feeding time as I enjoy seeing her enjoy her food.

I will be looking forward to see what the vet I wrote to says about the raw food diet..I would think there would be a lot of dogs with upset tummys..could see where maybe for a big dog, it would be okay, but, on a little dog, I just don't know

why is a little dog any different then a big dog? they are both dogs. Everything about them is the same except for size. There are over 10,000 members in another group that all feed there dogs raw. big dogs, little dogs, medium dogs, whatever. they are all thriving.

big dogs can handle certain foods easier than little dogs..some of the things I give my 2 big dogs, when I've tried giving to the little dogs, they've ended up having diarrhea and throwing up...I have to be careful with all 4 of the inside ones...Heck, my sons yorkie pup can't even eat treats without throwing up!

My 2 lb pup has not had diarrhea or vomited once since starting the raw....however she did have problems with the processed food on more than one occasion. Maybe if you fed your sons yorkie a piece of raw as a treat it would not throw up? :p

My sons puppy is 15 weeks old and a little over 2 lbs. if he eats his blackwood puppy food, he does fine, if he even gets 1/4 teaspoon of cottage cheese, he throws up and has diarrhea, think he will keep him on the puppy food..I just did a lot of reading on that raw diet, I think it has too much garlic, and garlic is not good for dogs...I think I'll just keep mine on the good quality food they're on..they are all healthy, what's good for some isn't good for others..I still feel people food isn't good for them..

Hummmm, I don't feed my baby garlic as part of her raw diet. But garlic has antioxidant properties and is small amounts is good for everyone. If you have found a food that works for you there is no need to change. I made the change cause the processed food was not working for my girl. Hopefully she will continue to do well on the raw.

I have only been feeding raw over a week also with 7 dogs. and I can tell a big difference in my smallest female who is the most pickiest thing.She likes to keep herself VERY thin.Well she has gained almost 7 ounces that is alot for her,SHe is waiting for her meals every morning now,before we would have to coax her to eat sometimes.I have another thin one right now and she feels heavier but I have not weighed her to tell how much.

hha,

The only difference between the dietary requirements of a big dog versus a small dog is that small dogs need less food. Small dogs do just as well on raw as little ones, in fact some would say they need it more as it is well known that toy breeds are more prone to bad dental health because of having so many teeth crammed together in one tiny mouth.

The reason some dogs throw up or get diarrea if they have any different foods is because we have debilitated their digestive systems by feeding them the same thing day in day out so that they forget how to cope with eating a variety of foods. If you ate nothing but one type of food for months and then tried something different, i'd be willing to bet you would have side effects at first.

Garlic is only bad for dogs in large quantities however I don't feed my dogs any garlic, so I don't know where your getting that from. There is no recipe for raw, I feed different things to them every day.

Since when did all food in its natural form become 'people food'??? So in your opinion food doesn't become suitable for dogs until it is way over processed to the point where they have to add a cocktail of supplements because they have killed all the nutrients with the processing? The natural food on planet earth is meant for all species, not just for us greedy humans. Thats what the food chain is about.