Another dogs dinner

[RATTER15]

We only feed our dogs raw meat, fish, and bones, whole or part chicken carcases, no process food at all.

Our dogs have never looked better, their poo's are half the size due to the fact that they can actually process the food we give them instead of all the cereal passing straight through them, they never or very rarely get wind.

They get excited about meal times now, before we started feeding RAW they would often turn their noses up at processed food but eventually eat it or starve, not really what I wanted for my dogs.

It has been proven that the domestic dog of today has the identical digestive system of a Wolf, its just the size and shape of the dog that has changed.

It has been said that a RAW fed dog will live for an average of 3 years longer than a kibble fed dog (I personally don't agree with this) but its worth looking into.

Do any of you feed your pets RAW?

What are your views?

[RATTER15]

BARF = Bones And Raw Food

[anneasquith]

BARF ...................vomit .

[jules77]

I would never ever feed any dog whole or part chicken carcasses or bones that could splinter ie: anything other than a knuckle bone, I know of too many people who's dogs have ended up at the vets with bones stuck in either their stomach or throat. This dog has since died.

http://www.dogbreeder.../DOGS%20&%20BONES.htm

Domesticated is the key word for me, my dogs are not wolves, the latter have teeth much larger in size in comparison to the size of the skull.and stronger jaw muscles of dogs the same size.

I feed a good quality complete diet along with home cooked vegetables, chicken and fruit, and my lot also get very excited at meal times. I did try some raw mince once, but they took one sniff and walked off.

[jules77]

In addition did you know that in a study on raw dog food, 50% of the samples contained E. coli and over 5% of the samples contained Salmonella. E.coli and Salmonella are both bacteria which can be responsible for severe intestinal diseases in dogs and people. This same study detected that 99% of the raw meat diets, almost all of them, had some type of contamination. The study concluded that "owners feeding their pets these diets should be concerned about their pet's health as well as their own health."

[anneasquith]

jules, i agree, and your coments are very similar to my vets advice.

[welaker]

Our dogs get the occasional raw meat but tend to gain weight quickly. Raw foods such as salmon can be toxic so we stray away from certain things.

[carmalee]

the whole debate about raw food/processed food is difficult - in 'developed societies' even if you feed raw meat this has been subjected to all sorts of additives and concentrated grazing - therefore not natural - the only natural diet you can give a dog is to shoot a bush reared animal and allow your dog to take its' pick of the pre-digested intestines. that way it will ingest natural meat and a portion of semi digested grazing fodder. Over a pets normal life span this will be fine .I accept the average dog owner doesn't have this choice.

[wildwood]

You've hit the nail right on the head for me Carmalee. In the wild, carnivores first go for the intestines and other nutritious 'offal'. Small mammal prey is swallowed whole.

I believe canines are not strictly carnivorous anyway.

[RATTER15]

Jules, only cooked bones splinter, not raw bones! the food we feed our dogs is all safe for human consumption, yes there could well be bacteria in the meat, a dog will safely (given the chance) bury meat and bones for a few days and eat it with no ill affect, their digestive system is different to ours and can deal with this.
There is no benefit to feeding factory processed kibble over a raw meat diet unless you listen to a vet that is trying to sell his own products and usually has absolutely no idea of the benefits of feeding a far more natural diet.

The food we get also contains offal and intestines, I'm not saying it is a totally natural diet but it is far more natural diet compared to the rubbish they put in canned and kibbled foods.

I know we will never feed our dogs on that stuff again, we have seen so many positive changes in our dogs.

There is so much really good research gone into raw feeding by some top scientists over the past decade, research the subject, its all positive.

So many people are now changing to this style of feeding and the pet food companies have already started panicking, especially in the USA.

[jules77]

I dont agree Ratter, some raw bones will splinter ie: Lamb. But splinter or not, a dog can have a bone stuck, like the link I put on in an earlier post.

[woofgang]

Raw chicken and turkey bones also splinter and raw fish bones are sharp. I think the key word here is "quality" The dry food I feed my dogs has the actual ingredients listed on the bag including the cereal content, it gets wolfed (lol) down and the "end" result is small and well formed. By nature dogs are formed to be meat prevalent omnivores, they will also eat fruit, nuts seeds etcet. One of mine used to love the tender shoots off gorse bushes and one of my current boys enjoys acorns.
The US manufacturers aren't panicking, they are producing their own versions of the RAW diet :-)

[RATTER15]

Well thank you all for your opinions, I'm sure we we all do what we feel is best for my dogs. We have researched the raw feeding and the result is we will always feed our dogs what we feel is the best food and the more natural food, the food they will eat happily rather than look at a bowl of kibble and would rather go hungry.

All the research done points at RAW being the best for dogs and cats, and yes I'm sure some dogs have died as a result, however far more dogs have died and suffered (as did ours) from illnesses resulting from inappropriate feeding and choking on and inhaling kibble.

At the end of the day, The Wolf has survived for quite a few years on eating raw animal flesh, I cant help thinking they would not last as long on kibble.

Dogs and wolves have been noted many times for eating berries and vegetation, this has also been proven to be recreational and not part of their staple diet.

The research is out there if you want to find it.

Again I thank you for you opinions :-)

[woofgang]

you are right Ratter, we will always take thought and do what we believe is best for our beloved companions and if mine wouldn't eat what i offered them then I would be looking around for an alternative.

[lankeela]

Although I feed mainly dry compete, over the years I have added small amounts of either cooked meat or raw (usually tripe). Currently I am adding a couple of raw chicken wings to my GSD pup's diet as a change at lunchtime, which he crunches with great gusto, and the Heelers get one occasionally as a treat. I am completely happy with my dry food (no pun intended!) but give the occasional raw addition or treat. My Heeler family consists of three who are now 13, 14 and 15 (she is still being shown) and have been fed on complete since weaning, plus two seven year olds who are full of beans. I would not wish to persuade anyone to feed their dogs on a certain regime, its up to the individuals and what suits their dogs. What I often find with raw feeding officionadoes is that they try to insist that their way is the only way and anything else is either cruel or wrong.

[LoftyLottie]

As others have said, a true raw diet would mean having a whole carcass and eating as dogs do in the wild. This would then include an amount of vegetable matter to aid digestion. We can't replicate this for our domestic dogs unless we let them fend for themselves or are prepared to go out and kill a mixture of prey for them.

By dog has discovered a great love of blackberries this season!!

[LoftyLottie]

All my dogs have lived to a good old age and none of them have other suffered from obesity. I feed a good quality dried food, with the addition of veg and smallish portions of good quality tinned wet food (basically because she enjoys it!). Tonight I am cooking her fish rice and veg!!

[slinkycat]

Hi Ratter, thats really interesting, I've read bit I've read a bit about raw feeding, it makes sense (especially after watching the Martin Clunes programme which said that every domesticated dog shares at least 99% of its DNA with wolves)
But do you find it practical? The little I've read recommends mainly meaty bones which I assume you would have to get from the butchers, unless you are going to buy beef on the bone, whole chickens etc from the supermarket and bone it yourself?
Read that about the poo as well, that would be a bonus!

[tamborine]

my chew-wa-wa has eaten my ciggies, shall I get him a patch.

[RATTER15]

slinkycat, I suppose it depends on what you mean by practical, if you can buy larger amounts of meat it can work out marginally cheaper and you can now buy this from wholesalers across the country. It does require a little more effort to prepare their food and you need to be very thorough with cleaning everything after.

Please do not bone the chicken, raw chicken bones will do no damage at all, read all the BARF sites, all the RAW feeding sites and these people have been feeding raw chicken bones for decades without a problem. We have been feed ours a few chicken joints everyday for 18 months with total confidence and not one single problem, the only bones you may need to avoid is leg bones, they can be a little hard on the teeth and on occasions dogs have broken their teeth but you can feed any other bones.

Remember you will also need to feed offal and fish, some also feed veg, we have started feeding a little rice with their food which they enjoy as well, if we cant get hold of sprats we add some omega oil.

Look up some raw feeding guides, you really wont go wrong, our dogs have had such positive changes, they have never looked so good and healthy.

[woofgang]

sorry Ratter but when you break a raw chicken bone, you can see it goes to sharp splinters........