raw diets for dogs....

Sounds like you need to talk to Redyre Rotties!  Or check out her website, as she is a proponent of the raw diet and experienced in feeding it.

HTH


Rusty

I have a friend that feeds 1 raw rabbit a day to each of her dogs.  They are very healthy and parasite free.  She buys her rabbits by the case from a supplier and thaws out one per day per dog.  They eat meat, bones, fur..everything.  Apparently the cost for her is about the same as a medium priced commercial dog food.

Pitcarn's Natural Health for Dogs and Cats. Saved my lab's life. He was allergic to everything I tried to feed him. The vet suggested putting him down so I figured I had nothing to lose. After a few weeks the vet could not believe it was the same dog.
sharon

I talked to my vet about a raw diet just yesterday. He's a very hip vet, used to be the main vet at the state aquarium.

His response was "Can you say Salmonella?"

... can you say bull?  Only way salmonella enters the equation is if you don't clean up after prepping - might be bad for you and your kitchen.  Dogs don't get it.

Vet's love the salmonella argument. it's crap. It's no more likely than if you don't prepare your own food properly. We fed four dogs from age 4 months to 13 years a raw diet all last year. WE only stopped because I lost my job and it got too expensive to feed a 150 lb mastiff raw diet enough to meet his needs.

We fed strictly chicken, eggs and organs. It took a week or so for everyone's stomachs to adjust but then it was super easy. My fridge was not big enough to keep as much chicken though!!! Once I get back on my feet financially, we will go back to raw diet.

As I told a vet years ago, "Are you serious?"

this is an animal who licks its butt daily and eats feces when it gets the chance, and I am supposed to worry about some fresh raw meat?

Nah.

I would recommend as a first step you do some internet research and join one of the lists at Yahoo Groups about how to learn how to raw feed your dog.

How many dogs have you seen eat road kill? Lots and they survive it. They can easily eat foods that are beyond the point of human consumption. The natural diet that Pitcarn promotes uses balanced nutrition and raw fresh foods. Comercially processed dog food became popular after WWII. Now, table scraps aren't the healthiest food for animals and quite frankly the way people eat processed foods today they aren't very healthy for the humans either!
sharon

On average I feed 2 frozen chicken quarters in the morning, a 2 inch piece of organ meats in the afternoon and an orange foodball of kibble at supper time. All meat is given frozen to allow for more chewing time. I keep her system open to kibble in case I can't feed raw anymore for whatever reason. I add various other meats when I can, such as beef, pork hocks and anything else that I can find. She's in fine shape with gorgeous teeth . Teeth is an obsession with me..I hate to see tarter and yellow teeth on an animal...just isn't right. No dog that I've ever had on kibble had good teeth after a few years and I've tried top brands with the same yucky results.  Yes I know, some people wll swear that their dogs teeth are fine with kibble and I say that their dog must have Superdog genetics.

Hope that helps!