Quite a lot of people have written to me about feeding dogs raw food. Some for, and some against. I have put up an article here http://www.thegundogclub.co.uk/library/rawfood.php Please feel free to comment or add your own experiences. Pippa
Re: Feeding a raw diet Nice article! We feed raw, and I have to say that my dog smells so much nicer than most kibble fed dogs. Nicer breath and MUCH nicer poos! So much easier to clean up in the garden. That said, the food itself is much whiffier than kibble. (I tend to get round this by having my husband do the prep...) And the commitment to regular worming is a nuisance. The biggest selling point for us is that its cheap!! Sam.
Re: Feeding a raw diet i have give mcrae raw bones from the butchers but although he loved them they went straight thro him and give him the runs for a day or so....so i had to stop giving him them..maybe they were to rich on his stomach for him ????
Re: Feeding a raw diet Hi Simon Its not unusual for a change in diet to cause an upset stomach, and it is recommended, when changing to a raw diet, to introduce the raw meat a little at a time. some dogs have a gut that can take anything you throw at them, but many need a more subtle approach to new food. Probably not worth mixing raw food in with your dog's normal feed unless you plan to make a long term change. Its a shame because he probably really enjoyed them Pippa
Re: Feeding a raw diet hi pippa i only gave him a bone maybe once a week as something for him to chew on in the garden and to help keep his teeth clean but they just didnt agree poor thing he loved them as well :-[
Re: Feeding a raw diet Yes, very interesting thread. I have thought about this for a long time but have never taken the "Big Leap"!! I can see both pro`s and con`s to all sides, but at this moment I am sticking with manufactured food, purely as I dont have the right contacts to supply and my other half would definately not do any of the preparation, and she wont let me buy another seperate freezer!!!
Re: Feeding a raw diet I swapped to BARF a few years ago now - and have never looked back - if your not sure about starting off - there are a couple of very good companies that prep it for you and deliver to your door frozen - and it gets you on your way - am not sure if I can quote the company names - I use them when traveling with the dogs to dog training holidays and events and its brilliant. If the administrator of this site approves - I can email them the companies details of who they use and then maybe they can post the information on the website - they work out exactly what you need for your dog and its all fresh and well made. If you still cant do it and want to feed kibble there is another excellent company that also provide a barf based kibble too... Administrator let me know if you wish me to email you... otherwise search on the net ... My dogs are well, on weight, no problems and have fabulous teeth too
Re: Feeding a raw diet Hi Max, I think this has cropped up before. I don't think there are any issues with positive recommendations.
Re: Feeding a raw diet Really interesting article thanks for doing it. I feed kibble because we travel a lot and I can't imagine my non-doggy husband tolerating raw dog food in a hot car for a 2-day trip to our flat in France. I've fed both my four year-old Lagotto Romagnolo and his predecessor, a Golden Retriever who lived to 14 years, on it without any problems. Neither of them had (have) particularly smelly poos and both had (have) good teeth. My LR was at the vets last week for routine jabs and she was very impressed with the state of his teeth - wanted to know if I brushed them. No Chance! It's hard enough to get him to stand still to have his claws clipped. The Secret? Don't feed unsuitable human snacks, do feed bones - very large 'dino' bones from the pet food store - and recently, because we show the Lagotto, use Petzlife. Sorry if this falls foul of advertising standards, but it does work. We use the salmon oil flavour both the gel and the spray but we don't brush because he wriggles and some things aren't worth fighting over. The only snag is that you are supposed to restrict both feeding and drinking for half an hour before and after treatment. My solution is to time treatment until I'm ready to take him for a short on-lead walk. Living in the suburbs, it's easy just to walk him round a suitable block. He gets plenty of off-lead time, so to him this is a bonus walk. We've never taken a dog to the Vet to have his teeth cleaned! That said I enjoyed the article and found it very interesting. I might give raw food a try if we didn't spend four/five months of the year away from home.
Re: Feeding a raw diet I like the idea of the raw diet as this is really the most biologically appropriate for a carnivore like our dogs. However like a few of the people responding I have the usual practical issues that our modern lifestyle throws up including lack of access to appropriate raw food, lack of freezer space and a partner that would struggle with the "meaty bone" concept. Am much happier now that I have found a kibble food that has some of the raw food advantages as 80% fresh meat/fish/egg derived and the other 20% are botanicals/veg based. No grain,rice or corn. This combined with snacks that are also animal dervied ( dried sprats mainly, occ knotted hide bones, but they also love eggshells - very convenient for a recreational baker like me) seems to give a good balance between convenience and quality, although admittedly not that cheap. Both of our golden retrievers have glossy coats, clean teeth, loads of energy and similar to the raw feed diet they have small, firm, minimal smell motions which dry within less than an hour. It has particularly made a difference to our bitch who seems to have a sensitive gut and gets the runs with most other things. I don't want to advertise any specific brands but suggest anybody wanting to find kibble that's based on a carnivore's diet lok accross the big pond.
Re: Feeding a raw diet Hi all I think what's really clear here is that most dogs are pretty happy either way! Freezer space is a major RMB issue - we have a seperate second freezer in the garage, but this just isn't an option for many. (If you are contemplating this option, I recommend ebay/freecycle type sites for the garage freezer! Ours is rusty on the outside so worthless to most people - but just fine in the garage!) Feel free to recommend particular brands of dog food - it keeps the article helpful for everyone. The thing is to remember that the rule here is 'be nice' - so exercise caution when 'unrecommending' Sam.
Re: Feeding a raw diet Does anyone have any recommendations of dry food? Riley was on Purina when he came to us but the vet recommended Hills Science Diet so we changed him over. I've recently seen some poor reviews of this food quoting a high corn content and chicken by-products as two of the biggest concerns. I think we'll stick to dry food rather than raw because Riley often stays with family and transporting raw could be a pain. Thanks for all your help Barbara
Re: Feeding a raw diet Hi Barbara Before we switched to raw we tried a number of different makes including Eukanuba which though expensive worked out relatively less so becuase such small quantities were required, and James Wellbeloved, which a number of friends still use. I don't think there is all that much to chose between the brands though I do know people that are forever changing to try and avoid upset tummies etc. I'll put a 'what is your favourite brand of dog food and why? question on our facebook page , see if that gets you some responses too! Pippa
Re: Feeding a raw diet So Riley has had an upset stomach for a while and the vet is sending off a sample to see what it might be, if that doesn't turn up anything I think he'll suggest food is the issue. We'r currently on our 3rd brand of kibble and I'm wondering if this is going to be an ongoing issue with dry food and if we should switch to raw. Do people think raw is better for dogs with sensitive stomachs or is it a quest to find the right dry food......?
