My only advice is DON’T

I think it’s great to go home made, real human grade food-Awesome. But I did a lot of research and the only people who think raw is safe, is raw people/people who make raw food. You can feed that diet, but cook it; Even just singe the outside a little-to kill the bacteria. Dogs aren’t immune to salmonella or any other lethal bacteria that is in raw meat. Also, wolves die of malnutrition all the time and most specimens in the wild are nutritionally suffering in some ways so it’s not a diet to follow…I’d say do some research that is not in the ‘raw proponent’ camp to get a better picture of the diet and how healthy/unhealthy it is. I’m totally for a home made natural diet, just totally think you should cook it, even just a bit.

I’m going to try to look up the article I found; it’s the only meta study that looked at home versus commercial versus raw etc that was published in peer reviewed vet journal -at the time, about two years ago. They found that raw was severely lacking in nutrients, dogs were lacking things and all had salmonella in their feces. If your interested, just pm me and I’ll have a look for it.

Please don’t take this as an attack at all!! Feed your dog whatever you decide, it’s up to you; Just canine nutrition is something I’m really really passionate about and I wanted to weigh in since you asked. But you know, you don’t have to take my word for it!

I, for one, would like all of the info either of you care to share! I’m planning to get a dog within the next couple of months and I’ve really been thinking about diet. For the moment I’ve settled on Orijen I guess because kibble is the easiest thing to get, but I’m absolutely open to other ideas and it’s something I need to do more research on. It’s tough though, as I’m finding that everybody just recommends their diet and I don’t see a whole lot of data to back anything up, so any good links you can share would be great!

My oldest dog has been on a prey model diet since she was a puppy. She is now on a pre-packaged Nature’s Variety version since the butcher in my area left. I do see people’s concerns with the bacteria in raw foods though.

I have to say she has been one of the healthiest dogs I have had. My other dogs are on a high quality kibble and while they do fantastic on it they still have bouts of dry skin. weight fluctuation or upset stomachs if the ingredients change even a tiny bit.

I would have them all on some form of a raw diet if it didn’t cost me an arm and a leg.

see if costco sells febreeze by the case…

I’m definitely considering feeding raw bones occasionally – I’ve read that they’re fantastic for teeth and general health even if it’s not the dog’s primary diet. I’d probably stick to doing that outside though, haha. Lots of mess!

Interesting! Does that include giving bones as treats? So you shouldn’t give a bone around the time you feed kibble? I’ve never heard this rule before, so I’m wondering why it could possibly be bad to feed both at the same time.

I am not sure if raw bones fit into the no raw+kibble category or not.

I know you aren’t supposed to feed raw and kibble together because of the way dogs process their food. They process raw foods much faster than kibble and can cause serious upset tummies.

My dog Haven got into my dog Cocoa’s raw food when I wasn’t watching when he was a puppy right after he ate his kibble. I had a HUGE mess to clean up about an hour later.

I do know you are not supposed to feed cooked bones every. Cooking bones make them brittle and splinter easily when they chew on them.

Just wanted to chime… I have two German Shepherds and they have been on raw diets since they were born. One is almost 10 years old, the other is 4. One has an iron stomach, the other does not. There is a TON of information out there about RAW vs. BARF vs. premade, etc. I love feeding raw, kibble just can’t compare. I spray and wipe down my floors after the dogs eat, handle all meat with surgical gloves, etc. If you are cautious and super hygenic, you won’t have any issues. My dogs are garbage disposals and eat everything under the sun, although their diet mainly consists of chicken leg quarters and ground beef. They also eat any kind of leftovers, baby food, green beans, pasta, beef liver, carrots, literally anything.

Orijen is a great kibble but is very “rich” and may cause loose stools. You may want to check out Acana, it is very similar to Orijen but I know several people who switched and their dogs did better on Acana. I feed Orijen occasionally when I travel. The reason you NEVER want to mix kibble with raw (in the same meal) is because the food digests completely differently. It will cause absolutely explosive diarrhea!! You won’t make the same mistake twice haha. Feed kibble and raw 8 hours apart and you will be fine.

When my dogs were puppies they ate twice a day but once they got to be approx 1 yr. old I went to feeding them once a day. I get my chicken at either the grocery store when they have sales (59c/lb for ckn qtrs) or Restaurant Depot. I have an entire storage freezer in my basement devoted to the dogs.

Raw beef marrow bones, for example, are OK to feed any time during the day, even right after kibble, but make sure to throw them out after a few days. Once the bone dries out, it becomes very hard and WILL crack and break teeth. Ask me how I know… (my female is missing a few molars!)

There are some good raw food groups online, I’m not sure if we’re allowed to link or not. If anybody is interested PM me and I will give you some starter info. If you want to feed raw but aren’t sure if you want to completely make the switch, then just feed a chicken drumstick or leg quarter a few days a week.

Remember to not ever feed cooked bones of ANY kind. Hope this helps!

Chicken bones are bad for pets, so I would take all the meat off the bone in that case

MB, only cooked chicken bones are bad for dogs – not raw.

Raw chicken bones (or any raw bones) are fantastic for your dogs teeth plus are a great source of magnesium, calcium and phosphorus.

I would stay away from bones PERIOD, we get at least one case a week, at the clinic, of dogs swallowing the bones. They can easily punture the esophagus, stomach, intestines, you name it all the way down. And chewing bones all the time causes micro-fractures in their teeth making them weaker and more prone to breaking. The best thing you can do for your dogs teeth is brush them.

I won’t get into the whole raw diet debate, but I just have to say that in the states, vets are having to start legally advising clients against feeding raw diets and if clients are going to continue to feed it they have to sign a waiver stating that they were told all the risks. There has been so many health related issues to pets & people because of these diets, that owners are now suing their veterinarians because they say they weren’t told the risks.

Malp, are those cooked bones or raw? I’m with K&K on the bacterial issue with raw diets, but I’ve only seen positive evidence for raw bones being ok and only cooked causing splintering and other issues.

I was told no chicken bones at all, because they are so small, and an over-excited pup could wolf them down and end up at the vet. So thats why I say no to chicken bones. That said, my moms dog gets elk bones to gnaw on, and adores them

ha yeah. Gus, my moms dog, would not do well with chicken bones, partly cuz he’s still a pup, but the larger elk bones keep him occupied for hours.

Your dog is so cute! Is she a Pomeranian?

Posted By KytKattin on 05/20/2012 05:50 PM

There is actually a similar human diet that helped me make sense of it. It all comes down to the digestive enzymes that are released. Some cancel each other out, so the body can’t properly digest everything, leading to that huge mess. Like for humans I know that fruit is supposed to be eaten completely alone. Meat and veggies digest well together, but adding carbs leads to problems.

I really don’t know anything about dogs (can’t help, sorry!), but this seemed kind of interesting…do you remember where you read this?