Raw Diet

[kcj]

Hi
I am thinking of trying the raw diet for my dogs and was wondering if anyone has had any experience with this, is it better for your dog and what benefits should i see?
Should I gradually change or just move them straight onto it.
K

[bluegirl]

I use a raw diet and have done for just over 9 yrs now. I changed because I had dogs that became ill as they got older with chronic conditions that may be connected with traditional diets. After a lot of reading and soul searching I decided that my new pup would be brought up on a raw diet. I changed over immediately, just brought her home one evening at 8 wks old and the next day started raw. She was fine.
As for being healthier, yes personally I believe I am doing the best for my dogs. The aim of the diet is to get dogs to old age without the usual illnesses and if that occurs then I guess I can somehow prove it worked for me and it was a positive move. I cannot however prove anything at the moment as my eldest is only 9 yrs old. She is fit and well with no ailments but that is not enough to tell you it is better, it may just be down to genetics as there are plenty of stories out there that suggest no matter what the diet longevity and good health is not just for those dogs raw fed.

All I would say is I could only change when I truly believed it would make a difference and once that happened I knew for sure I will never go back to conventional diets as for me I am doing the best I can for my dogs health and wellbeing but I am no preacher and know its not for everyone as some of it is a leap of faith no matter how natural you believe raw is for a dog.

[Joules]

If you do a search on here for raw feeding or BARF, there are loads of threads about it 

[Monstersspaniel]

The silkiest coat you have ever felt in your life

Pearly white teeth

Less foul breath

Less toiletting

More energy

Cheaper

Ive been feeding Millie raw since she was five months and she loves it

[Karma]

As Joules says, there are many threads on here about how to go about feeding a raw diet.  Definately do your research, as there are several different models out there... (depending on whether you want to feed veg, and if so, how much)

The Britbarf yahoo group is a great resource, as there are members on there who feed a variety of different raw diets.

Personally I feed Honey the Whole Prey Model diet - I don't feed any fruit/veg and no supplements.  I started out feeding a small amount of veg, but there was no change to her wellbeing when I stopped... 
With the whole prey model you look to feed meat, bones and glandular offal in an 80/10/10 ratio - for us this works out as a meaty bone or tinned fish for one meal, and a muscle meat or liver or tinned fish for the other. 
Variety over the course of time is what you are looking for, so it doesn't matter if you don't get the 80/10/10 in one day, as long as this is what is acheived over time.  I wouldn't recommend feeding 2 boney meals in a day, though, as the bone can firm them up a lot and you don't want to end up with a constipated dog.
It is generally advised to introduce each new meat source gradually - we started with chicken, then tripe, then pork, then lamb (we introduced this too quickly in hindsight, as she got a really upset tum and was sensitive to lamb for months afterwards... she's fine now, though) - about one a week.  Only when a good variety of meat is being given would I start with offal (liver or kidney) - and introduce this very gradually, as it can loosen a dog up a LOT!!! About half of the offal content should be liver, as this is full of important B vitamins - we only feed liver as the offal as Honey is a fussy little dog who won't touch any kidneys!!!

To give you an idea, we feed Chicken Wings, Pork Ribs, Lamb Ribs (and other bones) and occasional Beef Ribs/Ox-tail or the odd bit of rabbit when we can get it for bone meals, and minced tripe, lamb heart, beef heart or any beef mince we have leftover for muscle meat. 

As for amounts, you should aim to feed 2-3% of your dogs adult weight (ideal weight if they are overweight) over the 2 meals... 

[Karma]

Just to add that occassionally when a dog first changes to raw, they can lose condition - this is temporary and not a sign that something is wrong with their diet - some people report a couple of weeks of smelly dogs with dull fur, but then their dogs bloom! 

[mlynnf50]

Selby is thriving on raw meat, he just would not eat his kibble, I feed only meat, bones fish and eggs, I do t know if I am doing it right but I feed the muscle offal, liver heart, kidney in one meal every day, and chicken wings, ribs, spine, trotters also perhaps every other day for brekkies.

Good luck

[Daxigirl]

It's been very interesting reading all the threads on a raw diet as I am seriously considering moving Cooper onto raw and also putting Chloe on it when she comes home to me, I'm only now starting my research as I know there are many different models that can be done but will let you know what I choose to go with.

Nic x

[seaangler]

Hear is a usefull link to feed your dog on raw food.... http://www.skansen.com/nutrition/diet.htm

[ollie nathan's mum]

Ollie has been raw fed for most of his life, I would feed anything else (even if he would eat it which he won't) When I first started I worried to much and weighed food out and kept notes on what he had had to eat that week Once I settled into it things became easy. I buy most of his food online from landywoods.   

[Daxigirl]

Hear is a usefull link to feed your dog on raw food.... http://www.skansen.com/nutrition/diet.htm

Thank you 

[Toni-UK]

Does anyone do half and half

maybe kibble in the morning,barf in the evening ?

I am aware you never feed them together.

[Joules]

Does anyone do half and half

maybe kibble in the morning,barf in the evening ?

I am aware you never feed them together.

I did that to start with - Naturediet and kibble for one meal and BARF for the other.  I think that you need 8 hours before raw and cooked meal as they digest at different rates.  It worked fine and Coco never had a problem   

[Shelley]

I raw feed, and, having seen the change in a couple of my dogs, I would NEVER use any commercial foods again. I suppose I do things the Raw Meaty Bone way, my dogs get a body part of an animal still on the bone (most days anyway!). So if they were having chicken, I would get one chicken, cut it into quarters and then feed a quarter to each dog.

When my dogs were on a supposedly good brand of dry so called dog food, I had one who was always scratching, one who was somewhat grumpy and food possessive, and the worst of all, one who could barely walk. I can say within all honesty, that I saw changes in the dogs with in a few weeks. Scratchy stopped scratching, grumpy was much more laid back, and the one who could barely walk started to trot down the garden after a ball. By the time they had been on a raw meat and bone diet for 6 months Mr Can't walk was running, Mrs Grumpy was no longer grumpy and wasn't food possessive, and Miss Scratchy had long since stopped scratching!!! I have been feeding this way for over 3 years now and there is nothing in the world that would make me put anything other than meat, bones, organs, fish and eggs into my dogs... All commercial dog treats and food are banned from my house as I have seen what these cereal based things do to a dogs health now.... After all a dog is a carnivore.

My dogs have fantastic glossy coats, clean white teeth (even the old ones), no bad breath, and they don't smell doggy..... And the one who used to always be at the vets with his joints hasn't been since we changed his diet... So we haven't had any vets bills.... Result!!

My advice to anyone wanting to go down the raw route is to reed Works Wonders by Tom Lonsdale.... Once you have read that you can read hisRaw Meaty Bones book.

[supergirl]

Does anyone do half and half

maybe kibble in the morning,barf in the evening ?

I am aware you never feed them together.

Mine are fed half & half - they have kibble for breakfast and raw meat and bones in the evening, which seems to work well for us.