I noticed, too. Raw food or high quality food makes difference, it is more expensive but worth it. The last time I went to the vet, I was told that raw food is bad, followed by a sales pitch and a "coincidental" promotion to buy their food.

I add every morning an egg to her food, turns out, Sky loves it.

 

Thanks for posting this. I recently switched to an entirely homemade diet (I started off trying to do kibble in the morning and cooking at night), our girl got more and more resistant to the kibble and I finally gave up. I am finding that I LOVE having her on a completely homemade diet, but have not tried raw yet. In order to feed her homemade, I have to buy the cheapest meats I can find, (like the pre-made burgers from walmart). I am worried that these are not good enough quality to feed raw. When you feed raw, do you have to be very careful of your source?

 

I feed my girl human-grade meat. I didn't know this before I starting researching food sources for Mia, but you can apparently buy meat that is not fit for human consumption, but that you can supposedly feed to the dog. I am not comfortable with that. I am a bit of a germophobe and I'd be more worried about contamination with those products. That may be totally irrational as I don't have any data to suggest it is riskier, but I feel more comfortable feeding human grade meat (with the exception of green tripe which isn't sold for humans at all - I haven't fed that yet but it's supposed to be great for them).

Otherwise I don't worry too much as I need to consider costs, as well. If I had unlimited funds, I'd feed her organic, pasture-raised meat, but I don't. So I feed her from the value grocery chains, for the most part. I can't find organ meats there reliably, so I go to a local butcher for that and he sometimes gives me all his turkey necks and organs for free. I figure she's better off with a raw diet that is economical for me, so I can continue to feed it exclusively.

 

Thanks for posting this. I recently switched to an entirely homemade diet (I started off trying to do kibble in the morning and cooking at night), our girl got more and more resistant to the kibble and I finally gave up. I am finding that I LOVE having her on a completely homemade diet, but have not tried raw yet. In order to feed her homemade, I have to buy the cheapest meats I can find, (like the pre-made burgers from walmart). I am worried that these are not good enough quality to feed raw. When you feed raw, do you have to be very careful of your source?

A raw diet is the most optimal one for dogs *if* they are fed in the proper ratios of meat, organs, and bone (80% meat and fat, 10% half of that being liver, and 10% bone) with a diversity of proteins. An imbalanced raw or homemade diet can be very deficient nutritionally.

Doing it correctly isn't that difficult, but it is essential to understand what one is doing to meet a dog's nutritional requirements.

Look for information on "prey model" raw feeding for more information, or ask here.

Bill

 

thanks for the replies. Bill, I agree the diets need to be nutritionally balanced and I spent a lot of time researching the homemade diet before I switched over to it. we give our dog a nutritional supplement every day, plus since she is not eating the same food day in and day out I am confident that if her meal is not balanced one night, it certainly is over the course of a week. thanks again for taking the time to answer my question - I spend a lot of time stalking other people's posts for information and I am always so happy with the wealth of information I get from this forum.

 

thanks for the replies. Bill, I agree the diets need to be nutritionally balanced and I spent a lot of time researching the homemade diet before I switched over to it. we give our dog a nutritional supplement every day, plus since she is not eating the same food day in and day out I am confident that if her meal is not balanced one night, it certainly is over the course of a week. thanks again for taking the time to answer my question - I spend a lot of time stalking other people's posts for information and I am always so happy with the wealth of information I get from this forum.

Balance over time is fine. Forgive me if my caution was misplaced, but many people do simply feed ground meat, and never serve organs or raw edible bone, and that is a prescription for nutritional disaster.

An advantage of raw is that the soft-edible bone in chicken is a readily available and inexpensive source of calcium. Bones and organs are superior to supplementation.

When possible, it is preferable to serve whole meat pieces, as dog get to tear and chew, but if the price is right there is nothing wrong with a portion of meals being ground meat. A human grade ground beef is fine. Cheaper grades are often preferable, as they tend to be fattier, and fat is the primary fuel canine should be burning for energy. So I would not fret if a portion of the diet was Walmart ground beef. You might also want to look to see if beef heart is available in your area at a good price. It is typically among the cheapest cuts of red meat, and is highly nutritious.

Bill

 

I've fed Mia raw since we brought her home at 7 weeks. She seems to love her food, but doesn't overeat.

Last Sunday, I left her at a friend's house while we went mountain bike riding. My friend has a golden doodle around her age and they love each other, so we thought they'd enjoy spending time together (and they did). My friend's daughter puppy-sat. When we got back, she told me Mia had stolen all of Bailey's food! She ate a HUGE bowl of kibble, which she'd never had before. Apparently, she liked it. And she didn't even have to work for it.

So here's where I really notice the benefits of raw. The poop! She went 5 times, that's right, 5, yesterday! And they were big and smelly and gross. I gave her a big turkey neck last night and now we're back to normal. Small, hard, not smelly poops. So, if you're thinking of raw, remember that the awful job of picking up poop is way easier with raw!

Yes, the difference in the waste production between kibble and raw is quite dramatic.

Bill