I wanna know YOUR observations/benefits of a raw diet!!
 

I just switched my dogs a month ago to the prey model raw diet. My husband, who at first loved to tease me for it, has noticed a difference in his hunting dog who has severe (we believe) wheat allergies. He said before his eyes were always red around the rim and now they are clear and bright. He also seems to be a bit 'meatier' and more 'with it.' Before he was kind of scatterbrained and flighty. He couldn't focus unless it was on a bug he was hunting. It almost was like he wouldn't mind no human interaction at all. Now if I go out on the deck he's excited to see me and barks for my attention. Hmmmmmm.....!!!!!

My Yorkie mix, Isla, would always have goopy eyes and that has seemed to almost become nonexistent. She's still a puppy so I'm sure there hasn't been much time to build up ugly side-effects of kibble.

I'm just curious if anyone else has neat stories or tale's from feeding their dogs a raw diet. I'd love to hear them for evidence, too, for my disbelieving mother! :)

Are you talking about that new food that they came out with in the pet stores which is in the fridge~? I tried that once, he gobbled it up but......his poo stunk so bad as well as the meat product, I took it back. Supposily "Feeder's Supply" sell a lot of it, they told me. Me being vegetarian, the smells bothered me since I haven't eaten meat in like 20+ years. Just my opinion.

I have been feeding raw for about 1.5 years, I think? I noticed cleaner teeth, less itching (in Wylie, who had itched before), lots of energy, teeeeensy poos that did not have the voluminous undigested food, non-smelly poos, great breath (their breath is delicious) and Wylie's coat completely changed. He used to be super cottony and would mat horribly in certain places no matter what I did - now he is shiny, soft, and doesn't mat. :)

i switched sammy from homecooked food to a raw diet and honest kitchen. i have noticed a big improvement with his energy level. he has much mopre energy and is awake and looking to play more. he loves the raw diet and he took to it right away. he actually cries and is crazy waiting for me to put it down for him.

Awwww, I love it when the babies are that excited about food. My boys go positively *bonkers* as I'm preparing their meals. It's obnoxious, really. :p

I've been feeding Lacy raw for 2 1/2 years, and Rylie has been eating it for about a year now. I also give them a fish oil/vit. E supplement. Both of them are MUCH more excited about eating their raw food than they ever were about eating kibble. It also helps to keep them in great body condition, although Rylie has always had a bit of a chunky problem regardless LOL. It is GREAT for their teeth...you don't get the plaque and tarter buildup like you would with carb-packed kibbles and canned foods (although I do brush their teeth and use petzlife gel too). It definitely improved their coat, and their hair started growing faster. Their eyes are bright and clear. They poop less, and it is smaller and not as smelly, and their poops just dry out and disintegrate after a couple days.

Several months ago, I began feeding the NV pre-made raw for breakfast and free feed NV Instinct (grain-free) the rest of the day. The change in my older guys has been amazing. Their teeth have become so much cleaner and whiter (without a professional cleaning yet) and their hair, OMG their hair is so beautiful. Zander, who is 13, was always getting tangles and mats but now his hair is soft and smooth. And, he has so much more energy than he did a year ago that it's unbelieveable! This is all thanks to the recommendations and advice we received here on YT. Thanks guys!

That is what I am trying to do. Did you just make the switch all at once to the raw/kibble rotation or do it gradually? Were there any adjustments or side effects? If so, how long did it take to get to 'normal'? Wookie had some issues that started after 3 weeks of being on it that concerned me. I have had some people tell me that it can take up to 5 weeks for their bodies to get used to the raw in the diet. Seems like a long time to me though..

I made the switch gradually, giving them raw only every 2 to 3 days at first. Only my biewer, Jordy, had any problem at all - smelly gas. But Jordy is a rescue from a puppy mill so I put this down to the sudden drastic change in his overall diet (I got Jordy just before Thanksgiving). This went away after six or seven weeks. None of mine had runny poo or upset tummies. And the poo doesn't smell nearly as bad as it did on other foods. To be honest, I was going to continue feeding raw only a few days a week and didn't plan to do a complete switch because of the price of the raw. But, then I began seeing such improvements and better eating habits so I felt the additional cost was more than worth it. Now, I would probably feed them NV Raw only but I like the thought of them having kibble available when I have to work late unexpectedly, etc.

Ok, that is good to know. That it is normal for it to take awhile. I went head first into to it too. For his body weight, activity level and percentage of daily food that I wanted to do raw, he was getting half a NV raw medallion and that is how much I gave him. I think when I re-introduce it I will do it gradually. Wookie never have runny poo either, but he did have a little MORE poo, which I thought was weird, but I guess that could be a side effect of him getting used to the raw also. Are you feeding the NV Instinct for your kibble? I am switching to that also from Innova EVO (I was just going to use that in the rotation diet with the NV raw because it is so similar to Instinct and he has already been on that for about 6 months) cause I am thinking the garlic in the Innova may also be giving him gas. I am going to do the kibble in the morning and whatever of it that he doesn't eat during the day will get mixed with the raw in the evening. He really loved those raw medallions, I think it was just a little more change than his system could take right away. He has never had digestive issues or trouble eating anything. Thanks for the info!

Yes, I feed the NV Instinct kibble and all four really seem to like it. We rotate proteins in the kibble & mine have liked all three proteins/flavors but Rabbit is their favorite. Based on my long e-mail conversation with NV, the meat in the rabbit raw comes from China so you may want to avoid that protein in raw. The rabbit meat in the canned and kibble does not come from China so I feel comfortable feeding those to my babies. However, the rabbit kibble is very dark which makes their poo darker than usual.