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?

[drshlomo]

Please excuse my ignorance but Ive only had one dog so am not an expert, will feeding the dog raw meat/blood not awaken it's dormant "wolf gene" leading it to be more aggressive?
Which is cheaper raw meat or dogfood? When we had a dog we used to give it leftover meat but this was cooked, wouldn't this be more suitable or is cooked tougher on their digestive systems?

[RATTER15]

No lol it certainly wont awaken any dormant aggressiveness, however because it is food worth keeping they are more likely to defend their food from other dogs.

We find feeding raw to be a little cheaper but a bit more messy.

No reason to cook their food, they prefer it raw and cooking kills a lot of the goodness in the meat.

[pastafreak]

I acquired my lurcher Sally 3 months ago,and subsequently joined a forum dedicated to this wonderful breed. I'd never heard of RAW until recently-and those forum members who've switched swear by it. Sally has already demonstrated the lurcher's tendency to a sensitive and reactive digestive system-so I am giving RAW some thought at the moment.

[ummmm]

I don't have a dog but the cat gets raw food.

Do your dogs eat veg? My dog use to love carrots.

[anneasquith]

when i got harvey, a friend who has had dogs fo 25 years advised me to only feed him raw food, it was a special diet, everything had to be raw, on advice my vet said it was unsuitable for domestic dogs and the amount of protein in the food was too high, and raw meat could easily have bacteria in it. he said the info re the diet making the dogs more aggressive (ie the friend ) was rubbish...........................ps one of his dogs was "put down" for attacking a dog and its owner.

[RATTER15]

Many people are now switching their cats to raw as well, I really cant think of anything negative to say about raw feeding, it is the way forward. Some people see it as a fad that will pass, I cant see raw feeding as a fad, it is as close as you can get to a natural diet realistically speaking. Some people do take it further and feed a whole prey diet, meaning they feed the whole animal but not always practical or obtainable to most of us.

Our dogs will eat veg and do get the odd bit of veg but not as part of their diet.

[ummmm]

If I throw Brian some cooked meat he's usually happy to eat it. If he I throw him raw meat he scoffs it. He broke into a pack of raw prawns and ate half of them...

But this cat eats chilli and has scoffed a few rennies in his short little life.

[RATTER15]

No raw feeding has ever caused a dog to become aggressive unless the dog was very much that way inclined.

No vet will ever recommend RAW feeding, they get a huge income from selling kibble also the vets rarely do the nutrition add on to their vets training courses and most of these courses are funded by the pet food industry.

The only truth you will find is from the owners of raw fed dogs and cats, never from a vet.

Dogs have never lost the instinct to eat raw meat.

[ChuckFickens]

LOL @ switching on the wolf gene....

I guess it might make a dog more aggressive if you tried feeding it live meat that it had to hunt, but a raw bit of beef in a bowl is hardly going to stir a dogs hunting instinct!

[ummmm]

My vet has never recommended anything to me. I asked her opinion on his diet of whiskers tins, dried food and fish...and she that was perfect.

[anneasquith]

did the cavemen eat raw meat ? should we ?

[ummmm]

Steak Tartare...

[ChuckFickens]

a lot of people do

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_foodism

[RATTER15]

I'm sure cavemen did eat raw meat and I'm sure raw meat would be more nutritious for us to eat, I'm not sure how or why we started cooking it in the first place but I'm doubt was a nutrition issue.

[daffy654]

http://www.dailymail....d-poisoning-dogs.html

[RATTER15]

Some interesting stuff here: http://www.rawfed.com/myths/

[RATTER15]

We have a 10 year old shih-tzu, since birth he was being tested and tested for skin/eczema problems and constant itching which continued all his life until we converted to RAW, guess what!! within about 2 weeks he stopped itching and hardly itched ever since!

[anneasquith]

it was the barf diet i was recomended . unlike ratter i found it more expensive than "dog food"

[RATTER15]

I hasten to add, all the food we feed is passed as suitable for human consumption, we wouldn't want to eat the stuff but is perfectly safe to do so.

[RATTER15]

The BARF diet is a great diet but usually includes raw veg as well, It can work out to be more expensive, you really need to shop around, we get a good discount for buying direct in larger quantities, we buy kennel packs.

The dogs have their own freezer.