Raw feeding dog (Yes! No?)

[cherrynberry]

Does she ever constantly lick the bottoms of her paws?

Sometimes, but not excessively. She will lick it if she has a wound. Last time, she got a scrape on her paw pad after she slipped out of the house and chased her siblings (BC and Husky). When she came home, she kept licking her paws, but she has not licked them in quite a while.

 

[cherrynberry]

I feed my dogs raw and have for 13+ years. Two Mastiffs, Lab Pit mix, miniature dachshund. Then previous dogs, German Shepherd and Lab Shepherd mix. Will never feed them kibble again. Watched my old dog go through hell with skin issues, teeth issues, gut issues and lethargy. Once he was switched, everything stopped. Lesson learned.

Dogs are meant to digest one type of food and that’s raw meat. Yes they can live off of kibble, but is it what their body and organs are designed to eat, no. I’m just referring to the main source. They can benefit from vegetables and such.

A way to avoid having to figure out the correct ratio for proper nutrition is to purchase premade raw. Northwest Naturals is my go to for premade. I believe they are located in Oregon, but I can get a 25# box for $110. Your dog wouldn’t require anything like that, so the 5# bags would work.

There are vets out there that would be better to question about raw. Majority of your mainstream taught vets will tell you not to feed raw. They are taught in their educational years that kibble is right, raw is wrong and have no education on the benefits of raw.

If you are going to consider making your own, you do need to do some research into proper ratios. I did the homemade diet for two years and the dogs did fantastic. I would say better than the premade. Even less water intake and healthier coats. But it became overwhelming with the Mastiffs. Almost needed an extra freezer and another day in the week for prep. You can add raw meat into the premade that would benefit the dog as well.

Check out Pet Fooled.

You’ll figure out what’s best for your perp!

Any issues with them? Food poisoning, etc.?

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

Any issues with them? Food poisoning, etc.?

No issues. They don’t quite get food poisoning as humans do. They can handle a lot of bad “bugs” unlike us. Salmonella is one dogs aren’t even affected by. My dogs found a duck I had buried a month before. Heavy heavy rains washed it up from the soil. They ate it. Nothing happened. Bones and all.

If you make the food yourself, you’ll know the quality of every ingredient you’re putting in your dogs stomach. It’s wonderful piece of mind. You get to smell if it’s old, see if it’s rotten, etc etc. Even though they can stomach old/rotten meat, I’d rather not feed it to the fur childrens.

Now my Cane Corso has one weakness that gives him the poops… and BAD. Yellow plums and peaches. He’s figured out how to get them out of the trees. He stuffs himself with them, then gets the poops all night long. So be careful with fruit!

 

[cassie]

I personally would not consider feeding my dogs a raw food diet because of the risk of salmonella and other bacterial infections.

 

[cassie]

No issues. They don’t quite get food poisoning as humans do. They can handle a lot of bad “bugs” unlike us. Salmonella is one dogs aren’t even affected by. My dogs found a duck I had buried a month before. Heavy heavy rains washed it up from the soil. They ate it. Nothing happened. Bones and all.

If you make the food yourself, you’ll know the quality of every ingredient you’re putting in your dogs stomach. It’s wonderful piece of mind. You get to smell if it’s old, see if it’s rotten, etc etc. Even though they can stomach old/rotten meat, I’d rather not feed it to the fur childrens.

Now my Cane Corso has one weakness that gives him the poops… and BAD. Yellow plums and peaches. He’s figured out how to get them out of the trees. He stuffs himself with them, then gets the poops all night long. So be careful with fruit!

Dogs can and do suffer from food poisoning and sometimes it is fatal. They are less likely to get food poisoning than humans are but they can still suffer from it. Depends a lot on the dog.

 

[JaeG]

Freezing meat for 2 weeks before using it will kill any salmonella that might be present. You need meat, organs and meaty bones sourced from the human grade food chain. Raw meaty bones are what will keep your dogs teeth clean, not just minced meat/organs. Green tripe is an awesome food for dogs if you can get it, and you need to feed at least 3 different prey species per week, the more variety the better.

I'm in New Zealand and this site has excellent information under 'raw education' in the menu:
https://www.rawessentials.co.nz/

Raw Essentials was set up by a vet. We had to stop feeding our dog raw food when we lived in a caravan for 8 months (so no freezer to store raw food in) and she very quickly got that 'doggy smell' that just isn't there when they are on a good diet of raw food.

 

[WhiteTreeOfGondor]

I would definitely feed raw if I could afford it for my 100 lb. dog. He got a month of Tucker's raw recently because the pet store had a deal and did great on it. His coat was very soft and shiny, energy really good. He's not normally picky but did love the raw. Just my own opinion but I consider the dog food ingredients and nutrition levels more important than whether it's cooked (although I don't like the over-processing of kibble). And most premade raw I've seen has had great ingredients.

Kiki is a beautiful girl .

 

[SilkySilkie]

my grandparents fed their livestock dog raw she is still alive and living a great life but she was raised like that but since these dogs might not be able to handle it i would recommend consulting your vet before feeding her raw

 

[cherrynberry]

Freezing meat for 2 weeks before using it will kill any salmonella that might be present. You need meat, organs and meaty bones sourced from the human grade food chain. Raw meaty bones are what will keep your dogs teeth clean, not just minced meat/organs. Green tripe is an awesome food for dogs if you can get it, and you need to feed at least 3 different prey species per week, the more variety the better.

I'm in New Zealand and this site has excellent information under 'raw education' in the menu:
https://www.rawessentials.co.nz/

Raw Essentials was set up by a vet. We had to stop feeding our dog raw food when we lived in a caravan for 8 months (so no freezer to store raw food in) and she very quickly got that 'doggy smell' that just isn't there when they are on a good diet of raw food.

Thats a good idea. I was wondering if it a thing to just boil up the raw feed???

Crazy, I know, its just that it seems that raw feeding is a benefit because of the ingredients (organs, meat, etc.) I just do not know if organs can just be...boiled. There are pellet types and patty types or frozen raw at my Petsmart. I am thinking about going with the small kibble pieces.

 

[cherrynberry]

No issues. They don’t quite get food poisoning as humans do. They can handle a lot of bad “bugs” unlike us. Salmonella is one dogs aren’t even affected by. My dogs found a duck I had buried a month before. Heavy heavy rains washed it up from the soil. They ate it. Nothing happened. Bones and all.

If you make the food yourself, you’ll know the quality of every ingredient you’re putting in your dogs stomach. It’s wonderful piece of mind. You get to smell if it’s old, see if it’s rotten, etc etc. Even though they can stomach old/rotten meat, I’d rather not feed it to the fur childrens.

Now my Cane Corso has one weakness that gives him the poops… and BAD. Yellow plums and peaches. He’s figured out how to get them out of the trees. He stuffs himself with them, then gets the poops all night long. So be careful with fruit!

For pre-portioned food, what organs do you feed? I am new to raw feeding still and still need to study on the links and ask my vet.

I know that some people salmonella test their own chickens. So I was wondering if I could possible feed Kiki the "leftovers" of a butcher. I have never butchered ever, but my dad is thinking about it, we have quite a few extra cockerels, which I am sure a lot of people have. I do not think I will butcher for raw dog consumption any where near the future though, because I do not want to get her sick...