Calling All Dog Owners....

[scruffbag]

Is a raw meat diet better than a top quality dried food diet for giant breed dogs? I would value your opinion please.
Many thanks xx

[smurfchops]

It seems so. When my cat was ill I looked up all types of cat food, special food the vet recommended etc. apparently most of the ingredients in wet and dry processed pet foods - even top of the range can cause a lot of diseases in later life. I presume the same is true of dog food. If I had another cat I would feed mainly fresh meat. I have also discovered that fish is bad for cats. !!

[Ratty2E]

I expect Ratter will be along soon, I know he feeds his wolfhounds on a raw diet. My dogs are small but I have been feeding them on raw meat from my butcher for a few years now and they are very healthy.

[lankeela]

Raw is good if you give a variety and the right combination. Giant breeds needs a good supplement if fed raw but if you feed a good quality complete then it needs no supplementing. Watch the protein levels, not too high as it can make them grow too quickly rather than growing at a steady rate and don't want them tall and thin. What did the breeder advise? That's usually the best guide.

[Blackiequine]

Programme on Channel 5 just now "The truth about your dog's food". Will be on +1 if you've missed the start.

[ladybirder]

Watching it now. Very interesting.

[Peter Pedant]

Well if you are human - no

The Egyptian poet that has just died ridiculed his masters when a doctor went onto television and said how lucky the average egyptian was to eat meat once a month or thereabouts since the western diet of meat, all the time, was much more dangerous

Oh your dog - well for chrissakes dont go on Egyptian television and say a meat diet if much better if you are a dog....

[Peaspeculiars]

The guys who run the dog training classes we go to are avid raw meat diet fans for their large breed dogs and have done so for years with no bad effects. They showed how their hounds eat raw chicken wings (bones and all).
It even works out cheaper.
Although I think raw food would be great in an ideal world, I'm still not convinced that bone shards won't lead to vets bills, so feed a grain free, colourant free, high meat content dry mix for my dog.
(after a week away from all the colourants in Bakers, he was a different dog - much calmer)

[Psybbo]

Are you watching Channel 5 'The Truth about your Dog's Food'?

[Blackiequine]

What would you recommend, Pea?

[Psybbo]

Oops sorry Blackie, you're ahead of me

[Blackiequine]

Yeah, keep up Psycho - oops!

[woofgang]

i think it depends on the dog. i do agree though about carp like bakers. i wont buy food for my dogs if I cannot tell exactly whats in it.

[Peaspeculiars]

Hi Blackiequine, I use 'taste of the wild' - it's a bit pricey, but a little goes a long way and douggie is so much calmer on it/ no tummy trouble etc.
(I'd like to try raw food, but it's a bit messy and I'd worry about the dog licking things around the house after eating raw meat if you get my gist)

[Blackiequine]

Will have a look at that, thanks.

[ladybirder]

If you can afford it, Orijen is the best dog food on the market. Expensive but you don't have to feed so much. Gets 5* from so many sources.

[jules77]

I feed Acana/Orijen but I do add vegetables to give them some variation, I think more for my own benefit as they eat whatever I give them.

Have tried raw a couple of times, but I havnt had a dog that can stomach raw food, it always makes them ill.

Everyone has a different opinion and I think you should feed what suits your dog and your lifestyle/pocket.

[FredPuli43]

If it helps, the only raw meat my wolfhounds get is what they catch themselves; muntjac deer. But they are careful to eat the offal first, not the 'raw meat' which is muscle. That is because they instinctively know that the liver and lights have more benefit, in the form of various useful trace elements and other good things, than muscle alone. Even the stomach of a deer gives them some vitamin C, since the animal lives on plants. So that suggests that the ideal diet has other than the 'raw meat', though plainly bone marrow, which may go with it, helps.

[scruffbag]

Thank you to everyone. You have certainly given me something to think about. x