Raw Feeding

[Steph]

Just wondered how many out there feed raw to their dogs. I have my 6 dogs on the raw diet for almost 2 years now and it's great! Their coats are so nice and shiny, they are healthy and not overweight at all. I also bake their treats rather than buying the junk in the stores. There is so much garbage in dog food and treats these days and when that food recall happened, I was never so happy to have my dogs on raw.

[Pam Lee]

Hi Jorge. Here's something worth knowing about bacteria and the raw food diet.

A dog's immune system is designed to handle bacteria such as Salmonella,
E.Coli and Campylobacter jejuni. It is much more adept at this than the
human body. If dogs are fed nothing but heat sterilized food, you are
depriving them of the opportunity to develop an immune response to these
and many other organisms. Handling raw foods for your dog requires the
same care as your 'human' food does. Raw food will spoil if left
unrefrigerated for an extended period of time. Excess food not eaten,
should be refrigerated for the next feeding or discarded. Keep raw meat
separate from other foods; wash working surfaces, utensils and hands
with hot soapy water after each feeding. Simple!

How to make the switch?

Some owners just go 'cold turkey' and never look back. Some dog's may
have a looser stool for a day or so...some just blend into the change
like they have always eaten this way... others are so excited about
eating now they will follow you around begging for more. Depending on
the history of your dog, you may have to make a more gradual change or
simply make the switch and go with what ever comes from it -literally!

When you are ready to begin take it slowly. Try to keep the diet simple
at first. This is particularly important for older/middle aged dogs
that have been eating a cooked diet for most of their life. Start with
chicken or turkey necks or backs only for the first couple of days and
remove any excess fat. The only other thing you might add at this point
would be some yogurt or a probiotic supplement. Keep meals small to
begin with and don't overfeed. Once the dog is digesting the raw meaty
bones, add some veggies with a bit of lean ground meat.

After a week or two, you can start adding the other foods like eggs and
offal (leaving a little bit more fat on the chicken if necessary) and
then start adding supplements if you want to. Don't do it all at once.
I would also suggest that with dogs new to the BARF diet that you stay
away from the harder or fattier bones for awhile. Give them time to
re-develop their digestive system first.

......this information from Natural Berners website

[Brigitte]

HI,
I'd like to add that if you're going to switch the dog cold-turkey to fast for 24 hours. This helps push out the old junk food before the new comes in, because the raw should travel through the tract much faster than kibble, and if there's half-digested kibble left, it could all ferment.

As for bacteria etc. What you buy in the grocery store is not necessarily fresh (carcasses are aged for several days before being cut up and shipped out); bacteria enter from 1) contamination during butchering, esp. fecal contamination; 2) contamination during processing. Initially, the muscle meat is sterile on the inside. bacteria gather on the surface; as the meat is cut up or ground, bacteria gain access to all surfaces; the more surface area (hamburg) the higher the chance of contamination. By the time you bring it home, who knows what's in it, which is why we have to have safe handling instructions and warnings. The dog's intestinal tract is made to eat meat and carrion, so you know they can handle all sorts of nasties ;-) However, a kibble-fed dog has lost a lot of the muscle tone and "good" bacteria, which is why we take it slow when introducing raw and hold off on the bones for a while. For these older dogs, probiotics and enzyme supplementation is highly recommended!
Brigitte

[Samantha Daley]

Rugby has been eating raw for about 8 months now. He loves it! I buy his food from www.hare-today.com and mix and match myself. Some of his favorites are the chick necks, rabbit chunks, turkey necks (but I have to cut those up so...I avoid them lol). He also loves the ground tripe and the ground stuff I get for him have the bone, organs and tripe in them. He also loves eating the pinkie rabbits, the smaller ones are just as a treat but there are bigger ones that are perfect meal size. If you are squeemish though, that probably isn't a good choice because those little baby rabbits are kinda cute with their whiskers, etc and Rugby always eats the head first! LOL

He also loves their dehydrated treats - they can be substituted for meals for a couple days too if you are going on vacation or traveling. Now the only thing missing from his diet is fish...I had bought him white fish and he haaaated it, but he likes salmon so I have to get him some of that.
I don't feed him any veggies, just because there is some controversy on whether it is even necessary and I think the tripe sufficiently satisfies that need.

If you are going to go with a pre-made mix, then I would say go right ahead and switch cold turkey and you don't have to worry about anything. The only thing to remember if you are switching and doing your own stuff is you don't want to add too much diversity too quickly, so that if your dog doesn't 'agree' with something you are feeding you can pin-point it and eliminate it (like for the first week just feed chicken, ground chick and chicken piece and see how they do...then add different kinds of meats).

A couple of books I read that I recommend reading are:
Raw Dog Food by Carina Beth MacDonald and
Work Wonders: Feed your Dog Raw Meaty Bones by Tom Lonsdale
They are both short, sweet and helpful!

I think the biggest thing I got from the books is that just like kids, the trick is balance over time. They aren't going to geth a completely blanced diet with each meal. (And they don't have to)

[Hedgewitch]

We feed our girls Raw as well.
I am glad to see there are others on this site that do and I am not alone here. I started them out on both when they were pups and slowly weaned them off of kibble.

I do prey only except for pumpkin and Vitamins.

[Caryn Wilson]

I have had my dogs on raw food. I also bake my own treats for them when I find the time. However, I can't say that it added any years Tillie's life as I had a Cocker Spaniel that had the cheapest dog food (this is when I didn't know much about dogs) and then my little Shih Tzu Tillie who had the best of best raw food and she died at the same age as the Cocker which was 12 years old. I still have two on the raw diet so will see how long they live... a 13 year old and a 7 year old Shih Tzu. I do feel they are doing well on it. However the one has boughts of diahrrea occassionally.