Raw food diets

boxerlover955 · 03-01-2009, 08:22 PM

We've been thinking about switching to raw food diet. Does anyone else have experience with it? I would have a supplier for the meat. What are the pros and cons of this type of diet? We aren't going to switch completely though.

KeeperBoy · 03-01-2009, 08:27 PM

Keepers used to eat a prepared raw. No matter what we did he won't take bones. The prepared raw (nature's variety) got too expensive so we switched back to kibble. When his colitis flares up we go raw for a while. Raw has helped his IBD/colitis more than anything else. It also minimizes his shedding.

If you do decide to go raw make sure you don't mix the raw and kibble, more than about 20% kibble to 80% raw will cause major digestive upset. Raw has tons of benefits but does obviously take more effort than kibble. I don't think it is something to jump into without a lot of thought and research.

boxerlover955 · 03-01-2009, 08:32 PM

would Venison be a good source of meat?

KeeperBoy · 03-02-2009, 07:39 AM

We used chicken, turkey, beef, lamb and venison. The only one Keepers didn't like was lamb, go figure. I think when doing any home prepared diet, raw or cooked, rotation and balance is key. You can get chicken necks pretty cheap. Also, make sure you include the proper balance of organ meat, muscle meat and bone.

We made a conference call with our vet out to an animal nutritionist in WI. She said that even on a "balanced" raw diet most dogs benefit from some additional supplementation. We added brewers yeast (and calcium because too much yeast messes up the CA balance in the food), letitchin, kelp, alfalfa, cod liver oil, vitamin E and vitamin C.

bruinsBoxers · 03-02-2009, 09:03 AM

If you are going to feed raw I would suggeast that you read alot of books on the subject . There are many different variations on how to feed raw . Some feed fruit vedgies some do not .

The one big thing is that you need to feed a balanced diet over a few weeks ( i do a month) time . Every meal does not need to be totally balenced .

You need to feed a variety of protein sources . It is best to rotate through different meats to balance them over a month .

Just make sure that you do not feed and raw bones with kibble that could cause problems . Bones & raw take about 5-6 hours to digest . kibble takes about 11-12 hours to digest . By feeding bones with a kibble meal the bones will stay in the stomach longer than they should be and they can make the dog sick .

I know of people who feed kibble for 1 meal and then raw for the other .

I have been feeding just raw for about 4 years now .

whitedaisy · 05-06-2009, 09:14 PM

Venision is great! But you still need variety over time, offal, and bone. If you leave any of those out you are not feeding a balance and that isn't good.
My two favorite books are Work Wonders by Tom Lonsdale and Raw Dog Food by Carina MacDonald.
I don't supplement very much. I believe that if you are feeding a "whole prey" model diet there really isn't any need to as they are getting everything from the food source. I tend to think supplementation is needed more in kibble fed dogs.