photo: OnyxDog86
Don’t miss this week’s posts:
Monday | The Raw Food Diet for Dogs & The Honest Kitchen
Tuesday | Dr. Alinovi Shares the 5 Models of the Raw Food Diet for Dogs
Wednesday | The Yin and Yang of Dog Food
So, the raw food diet for dog week continues as I reach out to dog owners to ask about their experience. If you’ve done any research on dog nutrition, then you probably know that the raw food diet for dogs is all the rage. The stories about how well dogs are thriving in the diet make it very tempting. I recently read two articles about raw food: How Much Does a Raw Food Diet for Dogs Cost? and Going Raw in Baby Steps.
Mystery rashes. Allergies. Obesity. Dog Poop. Clean Teeth.
These are the common things that I hear when people are celebrating their switch to a raw food diet.
- Dogs who had rashes now have gorgeous skin and coats
- Dogs are now allergy free
- Dogs lost those extra pounds
- Dogs hardly poop and the poop isn’t very smelly
- Dogs have gorgeous, strong, clean teeth
I connected with a guy, Tom Antion, who feeds his dog, Rubix (a German Shepherd), 1 whole raw chicken daily that he gets fresh from the butcher (no skin) along with steamed vegetables daily.
Sheri Smith of Hawaii (so lucky) shared a ton of information about how she feeds her dog, Ray (a German Shepherd), because there has to be more involved in a raw food diet for dogs than tossing them a raw chicken a couple times a day, right?
- A canine is supposed to get 3% of their body weight, Sheri’s dog, Ray, is 85-88 so she feeds him anywhere from two pounds to three pounds a day, once a day.
- Ray has a specific plan that Sheri follows from Dr. Coghlan’s recommendations for his physical issues. i.e. Ray must get a decent amount of organs (heart, liver, kidney, lung, esophagus and pancreas.) He also gets ¼- ½ cup of processed frozen cooked veggies, a dollop of yogurt, and supplements (Iomega’s, glucosamine, chondroitin & MSM).
- Ray’s raw diet consists of pretty much everything, including fish (low mercury) and pig, beef, etc. And the fish is all of it (head, scales and bones). Sometimes Ray gets canned sardines (for variety).
- Cooked bones are dangerous for dogs; they can splinter and rupture a dog’s intestines. However, raw chicken bones or RMB (raw meaty bones) are excellent for dogs.
Sheri turned me on to a dog and cat nutrition book written by her veterinarian called Paleo Pets. Here are more resources she shared…
- http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/RawChat
- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RawPup
- http://www.bluegrace.com/books.html
- http://www.rawlearning.com/RawFeedingFAQ.pdf
March 7, 2013 at 7:03 am
Something that needs to be considered as well is that when feeding vegetables, certain kinds need to be processed before giving them to the dog for optimal digestion. Either by breaking them down in a mash or in some cases heat processing is necessary because dogs do not posses all the necessary digestive enzymes to get what they need out of raw vegetables.
This is why wild carnivores cherish the stomach contents and lining of herbivores. They get the vitamins from the vegetative materials because the prey has already started the digestive process for them. Green tripe is perfect for this, as I have mentioned in previous comments.
I used to follow the guideline – meat = raw, vegetable = slightly cooked
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KD Mathews recently published..I finally found a dog who Lies!!!!!
Twitter: KDMATHEWS1
March 7, 2013 at 7:35 am
Such a great point. We give our dogs carrots to eat as a treat, but if we include it into their diet, we have to puree them first; the carrots go straight through otherwise and they’re not gaining any of the nutrients.
Twitter: thefurmom
March 7, 2013 at 7:54 am
Hi Kimberley,
Another book you should look at is “See Spot Live Longer”. It is one that I look at often.
Keep up the good work. There are many benefits to feeding a raw diet.
https://www.thedogmaonline.com/Raw_Dog_Food_Nutrition.html
Twitter: thedogmaonline
March 7, 2013 at 12:58 pm
Thanks for the book recommendation; I’ll check it out.
Twitter: thefurmom
March 7, 2013 at 9:40 am
I’ve heard about giving raw food to cats, but never for dogs, so this is new to me. I’m curious about serving a dog steamed vegetables every day; would they really eat it without thinking twice? It’s probably because some of the dogs and cats I have are picky eaters, but yeah, I’m not so sure my dogs would eat some vegetables if I presented some to them.
March 7, 2013 at 12:56 pm
Our dogs would eat veggies mixed with meat, but I don’t know if they would just eat them alone. They do like raw veggies and we give them carrots, pumpkin, and sweat potatoes for snacks. They love them.
Twitter: thefurmom
March 7, 2013 at 10:41 am
When we picked up our first dog Buck from the breeder (yes breeder – that was before we knew of rescue dogs) she told us she was feeding her puppies a raw diet. She had done the research and felt a raw diet was the best diet for her dogs. She also said our new pup could get sick if we suddenly switched his food. We placed an order with a local distributor before leaving and picked it up on the way home. It was a combination of meats including liver and was more expensive than some of the meats we purchased for ourselves. To save money we placed a large order and also walked out with a bag of foliage that cost $7. Buck was happy on his diet and all was good ‘til we took him to our vet. The vet was strongly opposed to the raw diet saying it could cause botulism in humans especially if we had young children. He even went on to write an article opposing raw diets that appeared in our local paper. So now what? We had half a freezer filled with these meat patties. He suggested we cook them which we did. Of course the liver stunk up the whole house, so we ended up just giving him the cooked meat on the weekends. I was still finding those meat packets in our freezer a year later. As to the foliage (which was a bunch of weeds and sticks) it was looking a little moldy so we threw it out.
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We’ve never gone back to a raw diet and currently feed our dogs a high-end dog food – I think it is Wellness Core. We’ve switched dog foods numerous times – Buck is plagued with allergies and nothing makes a difference. We were just talking the other night – perhaps our breeder was onto something with her raw diet.
Savvy Working Gal recently published..How to Play Professional Matchmaker on Social Media
March 7, 2013 at 12:54 pm
That’s a interesting story. Our dogs don’t seem to have too many allergies, but this time of year is hard for them (hayfever) and it’s making me wonder if a change in diet is required. The Honest Kitchen has been a great change for them. It’s expensive, but so are a lot of the premium diets. Kibble alone just doesn’t do it for them.
Twitter: thefurmom
March 7, 2013 at 1:57 pm
Correction – The vet was concerned about contacting Salmonella not botulism. This is a good example of why I work in accounting and not health care.
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Savvy Working Gal recently published..How to Play Professional Matchmaker on Social Media
March 8, 2013 at 7:17 am
LOL – I’m a corporate accountant too. All these big words annoy me unless they come with numbers too, then it’s FUN!
Twitter: thefurmom
March 7, 2013 at 5:52 pm
In reference to vets, most vets are against a raw diet, however most vets push Science Diet, which is crap food. As an exmaple, I have a friend who was talking with someone in Petco the other day and the lady told her the their vet highly reccommended Beneful. If you don’t know why Beneful is bad then you know nothing about dogs. Vet’s aren’t nutritionists, I would do my own research before feeding anything my vet said to.
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amanda recently published..Financial Assistance with Vet Bills
March 8, 2013 at 7:20 am
I’ve actually had this conversations with strangers too. Beneful is such crap and whenever I see the commercials I get so annoyed. Great ads; why not put that money towards creating a better food that really reflects those ads?
Twitter: thefurmom
March 7, 2013 at 12:18 pm
I’ve read a lot about raw diets and have many good friends who feed this way. All the research I’ve done makes it seem ideal but I don’t know that it’s practical for my current lifestyle or budget. We don’t have a freezer so we wouldn’t have a place to store all the meat we would require. I do think it is something I might attempt in the future but for now my dog’s current diet is just fine and she seems to be thriving. Why change what works?
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March 7, 2013 at 12:47 pm
That’s another problem we have – storage. I checked our freezer and it’s jambed pack with people food; no room for meat for three dogs.
Twitter: thefurmom
March 7, 2013 at 12:46 pm
Thanks for that tip – we give Slimdoggy carrots all the time as a treat and I can attest to the fact they go right through him and out the other end! I didn’t realize to get the nutrients they need to be broken down.
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March 7, 2013 at 5:48 pm
I have been feeding raw for a little over a year now. Here are the benefits I see:
1 – I know EXACTLY what is going into my dogs
2 – Boone’s allergies (skin and yeasty ears) have cleared up 1005
3 – both my dogs had chin acne (drooly breed) – 99% cleared up (we switched Boone back to kibble for 10 days while my mom was dog sitting and that’s all it took for the acne to start coming back)
4 – It’s so much cheaper than a commercial diet
5 – my dogs drink much less water, so I worry less about guzzling it, leading to bloat
6 – my dogs LOVE it
7 – when I feed raw meaty bones it gives them something to do for a while
8 – I have been able to take some extra weight off my cat that I’ve been fighting for years
I’m sure there’s more, but this is all I can think of now
The con’s
1 – I did buy a seperate 7 cu ft freezer… I don’t use it now because some guy off craigslist sold me a 28 cu ft one for $25.
2 – we are always thawing out meat in the freezer
3 – you almost have to switch back to kibble to board them anywhere, it’s not feesible to send 20lbs of raw meat to the boarding kennel with them
Altogether I would never go back unless I had no other choice. I’m a raw feeder for life now.
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amanda recently published..Financial Assistance with Vet Bills
March 7, 2013 at 5:49 pm
wow, typos!
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1005 = 100%
we are always thawing meat out in the sink, not the freezer, duh!
amanda recently published..Financial Assistance with Vet Bills
March 8, 2013 at 7:19 am
I love love love having you as a resource. Do you warm up any of the meat for your dogs or do they just get it raw? Are you feeding them multiple proteins or just one? We’re going to give the dogs elk tonight. After Blue’s tummy issues with the beef, I’m interested to see how he’ll do with the elk – the beef came from the grocery store. The elk is from a hunter and has been in our freezer.
Twitter: thefurmom
March 8, 2013 at 7:37 am
I feed at refridgerator (or sometimes partially frozen if I get behind on my thawing schedule) temperature. My dogs do fine with this. If you dogs have sensative stomachs I would let it get to room temperature. When you start cooking anything that’s when your nutrients, amino acids and proteins start breaking down. Maybe searing both sides to make it more enticing to eat, but I wouldn’t reccommend cooking it through.
I feed many proteins, venison (alot because hunters give it away for free!), beef, chicken, pork, fish are all regulars, I have also fed, wild boar, elk, antelope, wild duck, wild turkey. I also add 2 raw eggs to 2 or 3 meals per week, shell and all.
Other things I add off and on are pureed pumpkin, plain yogurt, chicken feet (when I can get them).
Supplement wise (because I have giant breeds prone to joint issues) I add glucosamine/chondroitin, vitamin C, Coconut Oil and sometimes Fish Oil on a daily basis.
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amanda recently published..Financial Assistance with Vet Bills
March 8, 2013 at 4:57 am
I am a big fan of Honest Kitchen. I did not want to do raw but did not want to feed my Scottie dry kibble. He doesn’t like to drink water so I also give him the Honest Kitchen Ice Pups every day. He was on a variety of high end kibbles and nothing made him look as great as he does now on HK. I would also recommend extra virgin coconut oil. Check out the videos of Dr. Karen Becker on this subject. I did not want to feed raw but wanted to get as close as I could. Honest Kitchen fits that bill for me and Brodie loves it.
March 8, 2013 at 7:20 am
Thanks, Vickie
This is so helpful! I appreciate it. I would love to talk to you more about The Honest Kitchen if you have the time. I’ll email you.
Kimberly
Twitter: thefurmom
March 16, 2013 at 11:29 am
I feed my dogs a vegetarian based, omnivore diet of fresh local fruits, vegetables, fish and meats. They haven’t needed a vet in years. Joint problems and other aging issues diminished or completely disappeared.
March 16, 2013 at 5:36 pm
What types of fish and meats do you feed them, Debra?
Twitter: thefurmom
March 16, 2013 at 11:04 pm
They get whatever I’m eating that day in small amounts. Their base food is packed with lentils and rice to make sure they get protein. We put the base food on the flattop grill with coconut oil and maybe add some chicken, soup,ham hock, half a organic burger or a sprinkle of bacon crumbles. Salmon, fresh home layed eggs, tuna or maybe some organic cottage cheese or peanut butter. If I wouldn’t eat it, they don’t get it either.
March 17, 2013 at 12:33 pm
Thanks for sharing!
Twitter: thefurmom
March 20, 2013 at 8:44 pm
My Dog is 4TH generation “Raw” We raise our and her meat organically.
What Miss Sheri did not mention was “green Tripe” a once or twice a week must-have which can be purchased usually from a local slaughter house (cheap) or on line( expensive, “Greentripe.com”) We also know that to be truly raw, the entire animal is fed to the dog if the meal is small, such as rabbit, young duck, young chicken, or whatever you are raising organic to feed your dog. My dog eats ALL the animal, including the fur or feathers. Also make sure the meat you feed your dog has not been raised on GMO corn or grains. With the greentripe you may add the supplements, yeast,kelp,alafalfa powder, flax meal, omega fish or krill oil (oil or capsules),and the supplements Miss Sheri mentions. My dog glows in the dark on this diet and her puppies will be raised raw as well. I am that certain of the raw diet that should I consider selling any of her pups, they will go to “Raw Homes”only. Feeding “Species Appropiate Diet for dogs means Raw Meat….not commercial of ANY KIND! This, too me, is just “Common Sense”
March 21, 2013 at 6:46 am
Hi Linda – thank you so much for responding. This is such great information; especially about giving your dogs the whole animal. We don’t have a butcher in our town – I was surprised when I realized it and wonder if this is something that’s just not popular in my town. There is a city 20 minutes north that has a butcher and we’re going to talk to them about getting food.
Thanks again.
Twitter: thefurmom