Kudos to you for feeding raw! Unfortunately, most people don't realize that k*bble or home cooked is not a natural way of eating for our dogs until health problems appear! I was no exception! So you started on pre made raw; are you feeding prey model now? And how long have your dogs been eating raw?

My chihuahuas fur has completely changed texture now that they switched to raw!! They are much softer and silkier!! I haven't noticed that much of a change for the Yorkies. Why would their coats change?

I use the pre-made and add in raw parts and organs throughout the week, so they can get their chomp on! I am a little unsure on how to proceed to moving all the way to prey model, though I want to. Its so much less expensive and even healthier then pre-made. I do use Primal Brand for pre-made as they are organic, antibiotic and hormone free.

I have been reading the Billinghurst book, Give Your Dog a Bone.

I believe that raw is the natural, healthy way to feed dogs. As small as a Yorkie is, his digestive system is identical to that of a wolf!

My Cavalier has been eating raw since September '07 (He was born April '07) and my Yorkie mix has been eating raw since I got her in February when she was between 3-4 months. Raw feeding opened me up to a whole new lifestyle, for both me and my dogs. I stopped using pesticides on them (flea/tick preventative) and have no flea problems, even though I live in South Florida.

I am only doing ltd.vaccines, I almost never use antibiotics (after my Ella Bean's spay, I gave her some oil of oregano, a natural antibiotic instead). I found a moderate vet who promotes raw feeding and uses holistic principles.

I use Soil Based Organism probiotics for my Cavalier's yeasty ears, calendula on any cuts, etc. I have learned by watching my husband and my childhood dogs die unpleasant, painful deaths that altering a carnivores natural state too much results in shorter lifespan, inflammation and suppressed immune system.

Through watching my dog's vitality blossom, I was inspired to apply similar principles to my own life, ie. eating whole foods and using supplements under the direction of an herbalist.

It is the truth, we are what we eat. Our pets are exposed to as many horrible toxins as we are and for both human and canine, the only way to undo this toxic state & avoid disease is through diet.

Could you tell me what kind of probiotic you use, because one of my Yorkies has yeasty ears and I tried a probiotic but the one I used didn't work!! Thanks!

Sure! Its called PetFlora and its available here:
Pet Health Care - Natural Remedies For Your Cats & Dogs
And here is an article I wrote about it:
PetFlora, Holistic Digestion Aid | CupOFdog | Dog Site for Dog People

Pet Flora is much stronger in dogs then a traditional probiotic as it utilizes soil based organisms, much like our dogs would get were they to be happily feasting on a fresh kill off the ground. These organisms are therefore more easily utilized by our doggie's digestive systems. I have had exceptional luck using Pet Flora and I know plenty of other dog owners who have had great results.

If your dog is really yeasty, you may want to consider giving some Zymox rinses in order to attack the current situation...

Thanks so much for the probiotic info, I'm going to order some!!
Mindy just has yeast in her ears and they are chronic so it is harder to treat, she has Cushing's disease so it is one of the side effects! Thanks again!
By the way, switching to raw has helped one of her ears get better but her other ear is still bad so hopefully this probiotic will clear it all up!!

I am so sorry to hear Mindy has Cushing's - but glad that the raw is helping! This probiotic has been invaluable to me. Besides my Yorkie mix, I have a Cavalier with floppy ears. I call his ears "the yeast factory." He also has chronic yeasty ear infections, b/c of humidity getting trapped in there.

Another thing that really helped him was the homeopathic remedy Thuja, but I would consult with a veterinary homeopath before administering any remedies, especially since Mindy has Cushing's. If you are interested, my homeopath does do phone and email consults (check out www.naturalholistic.com). He is a genius. He was the president of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association for many years, studied with Dr. Pitcarin and is just an all around wonderful man.

I can not tell you what a difference PetFlora has made for Louis! Let me know how it works for Mindy!

Because their hair follicles are actually being nourished, now. Notice they smell better, too, and when you pet them, they don't feel as dirty? All benefits of a species-appropriate diet. Watch for a pleasant change in the yorkies, too :)

I think my dogs became friendlier and easier to train as well! Its amazing what a nourished brain can do!:p

I'm interested in adding fish to my babies raw diet. Has anyone done this? If so, what type of fish? Obviously, I'd have to check for and remove any bones prior to feeding them.

I was thinking of trying salmon first to see if they like it. What other fish can I try?

Prey Model Fish
 

Fish? Absolutely! This cuts down on fish oil capsule supplements! Here's a link to the Environmental Defense Fund's website where you can check out which fish has high/low mercury levels and there's also a list of best and complete fish oil capsule brands;
Find a Fish - Seafood Selector - Environmental Defense Fund

As with all prey model foods, the raw, WHOLE form is best to feed, no need to debone/gut the fish! I feed fish all the time (about once a week) as my hubby and son go fishing every Sunday. I take the whole fish, the way it was caught and toss it to my pack of 3 so they can go to town on it as a team! If you want to feed salmon, I would stick with wild Alaskan salmon, but make sure to freeze it for a week or so first! Tilapia is available to me cheap, so I feed that often! Farmed Trout is a good choice as well. Atlantic Herring and often on sale; shrimp! But before you go out and stock up on seafood sales; some dogs take a while to like fish and might straight out refuse it for the fist couple of times! You can try and get your dogs used to the smell/flavor by buying some freeze dried salmon treats. I like this brand:
http://olivegreendog.com/wild-salmon...-pr-16497.html

Here's another link to questions regarding fish feeding:
Feeding fish to your dogs and cats

The fish idea is interesting and maybe it's because I am frequently up at the lake. Does it depend on the kind of fish? My kids are always catching small sunfish and perch. Would they be all right to feed my dogs are would you only feed something you would eat yourself. I mean, the sunfish are not typically too large and by the time you cleaned them, there would not be a whole lot of meat left and I'm also not sure how good sunnies are.

On a different note.... I've been feeding the girls chicken and pork so far. I'm looking for some lamb but haven't been able to find it reasonable priced. Anyways, my collies teeth are looking a lot better already but I'm just wondering what would be the absolute best thing to feed her to help with her teeth or am I doing ok with what I feed? My goal is for the vet to tell me her teeth look good as last year, they said that they wanted me to start thinking about having her put under for a teeth cleaning.

Finally, I know some people have talked about tripe, not sure if that's good for the teeth or not. And if you buy tripe at the grocery store, is that ok or are there different kinds of tripe?

Thanks! I love this thread!

Have you caught the post about fish above yours? In general, any kind of fish is ok to feed but it's best to avoid heavy mercury laden fish!

Yes, lamb is expensive and even on sale it's still around 4 dollars per pound so I only feed that sometimes. What you're doing is exactly right for scrubbing those teeth. A more dense bone will not help the process along but could actually chip a tooth! *Horribly diseased* teeth and gums will take about 3-6 months of prey model feeding to look good so give your dog some time!
Fresh tripe looks like a furry, green/brown blanket and does nothing for teeth cleaning but is indeed very good to feed to our dogs! Green, unbleached tripe is the only kind that has nutritional value and it's against the law to sell it this way for human consumption. So what you're seeing at your grocery store is bleached, cleaned and processed tripe. Unless you have access to a slaughterhouse or local farmer, you will have to order green tripe online. My local raw food coop sells this and while I don't purchase anything else from them, tripe is what I do buy and one of the only things that I will feed ground. I found out about my coop by joining the raw feeders supplier's list on yahoo groups. Here are some online places you can order from:
GreenTripe.Com Main Index

Hare Today, Gone Tommorow

Prey 4 Pets Product List

Skinny Minis Eating Raw
 

As a raw feeder, I wanted to mention how wonderful it is to have such lean, healthy, little beasts, as my babies are.

The lean body type that a raw diet provides seems to be shocking to certain non-raw feeders. I can not tell you how often I am stopped by someone while walking my dogs and they tell me my Cavalier King Charles is too skinny. (My Yorkie Mix has a nice cobby little body, so its not as exaggerated on her.)

I have actually been told my Louis looks anorexic. :eek: How rude!!!! I would like to tell them that this is actually what a healthy dog looks like, nice and lean. Not like your overweight pooch whom you are killing with too much food! Of course I would never say that.:mad:

He is about 9 1/2 pounds and eats 4 nuggets of Primal a day. I also add in canned tripe. He is happy as a clam and healthy as can be! My fellow raw feeders and I know that obesity is so, so, so unhealthy for our pets and the cause of too many early deaths.

Here are some photos of my lil' man in action at the park, so you can see how handsome and NOT anorexic he is (and one of him snuggling with Ella Bean, of course)

Raw feeding creates a wonderful, lean, muscular body with thick shiny coats. I wish more people knew what a healthy dog is supposed to look like!

OMG, yes!

If they were malnourished they would not have the energy they do----- all those pudge-a-fied pooches can't keep up with ours.

It is also amazing to not have fat cats-----sleek felines like those in the wild is what I have now.