Dangers of Raw Diet?

[MakiRoll]

Hello!

Maki is 8 months old and is currently eating Flint River Puppy Dry Food, highly recommended from a friend who owns an extremely healthy Champion English Bulldog named Mongo :) Maki doesn't devour the food and at times needs to be coaxed into finishing his meal. I contemplated changing his diet to a forzen prepped Raw Diet recommended by a local pet store. I did some research online and found that there could be some serious issues with feeding raw diet to puppies. I have also read wonderful experiences with Raw Diet. Torn.

What are everyones thoughts?

Thanks again!!!

[EmD, MD]

Lots of members here feed raw so I'm sure you'll have lots of opinions. My dog is 6 months old and she eats raw. We've never had a problem. Kibble is manufactured food, full of grain and filler and the meat that is leftover after animals are processed for human food. The prepackaged raw diets are meat, bone and vegetables ground up together. It is as if your dog is eating a whole animal, as he would in the wild (the vegetables would be in the digestive tract of herbivore prey.) It is usually human-grade meat. Dogs were never meant to eat as much grain as is in most kibble. They don't have molars for grinding; they have canine teeth for tearing meat.
I'm not sure what the so-called "dangers" are that you've read about. Safe food handling is a must with the raw diet. Dogs can get food poisoning just like we can, so it's important to clean the bowl with soap as soon as he's finished eating, never leave the raw food out of the refrigerator for more than an hour or so and if you know you're not going to use the food in the next day or so it should be kept frozen.
Also for your own health make sure you wash your hands with soap after you handle the raw food.

I have read far more stories on this message board and elsewhere about people trying four or five different kinds of kibble because of food allergies, mushy bm's, reflux, picky eating, excess weight, etc. I never went through that because I put mine on raw from day one.

I'm sure you'll hear from the others.

[sakirby]

so, it is safe to have puppies on a raw diet? oscar is on innova right now, but i think it is too rich for him. he is 12 weeks old and i want to switch him to raw. thanks!

[franp]

Sharon,

I have had Dari on raw for about a year now; she started as an adult.But I have MANY breeder friends who are weaning thier pups on raw with NO problem.

Now, and this is graphic, Mother dogs regurgitate food for thier pups in the natural state and some in the breeders home as well. This is meat !The pups eat this with no problem. As a matter of fact, I have just learned that puppies do not even have to be tranistioned to raw. They can just switch. If I am not mistaken Emily put Penny on raw cold turkey.

If you use common sense, then you and your dog will be safe and healthy.

[MakiRoll]

Thanks for your advice and i am still doing research on raw diet but here are just a few links that i found on google on the dangers of raw diet.

http://secondchanceranch.org/rawmeat.html

http://home.att.net/~wdcusick/raw.html

As with all of the members in this forum, we only want whats best for our beloved. There are pros and cons to everything.

Anyone cook food for their frenchies??

Thanks again!!

[franp]

Please google Dr Jean Dodds and read her articles. Dr Dodds is probably the foremost Vet in America today.She almost single handedly is responsible for changing the vaccine protocols in the Vet schools across the country.She advocates a raw diet first; then home cooking ; then high quality dog food.

Remember too, commercial kibble is only around, what 50 years?

Yes, I agree we all want ONLY what is best for our dogs.And ONLY by research ,learning and sharing can we do this.

[sakirby]

franp....

raw diet sounds great. i am in favor of dogs eating the things that we eat rather than kibble. i mean, i don't want to eat processed foods all the time :) one more question...is there any difference between a raw diet and just cooking the meat? i mean, couldn't i just cook chicken, or beef, or any meat and serve it with raw veggies? i am just starting my research so, i am not sure. i kind of feel like, i wouldn't eat raw meat, so i don't know if i want to feed it to ocscar either. is there any downfall to just cooking the meat and serving the rest raw, that you know of? thanks so much!!!!! :)

[MakiRoll]

Thanks Franp. I googled Dr. Dodds and the site was very informative.

[EmD, MD]

Sorry, I don't know anything about cooking meat for them. I don't even cook for myself, so...!

I do know that the bone meal in the prepared raw diets is an important component, and cooked bone can be dangerous for them because they can choke unless the pieces are really ground tiny which would be hard to do at home. There are some good books out there about eating raw; I can't remember them but someone here can suggest one perhaps?

I didn't start her cold turkey, though; I transitioned her over about 2 weeks.

[gmacleod]

There are a host of good books out there on raw feeding :)

Some that come to mind at Dr Ian Billinghurst's "Give Your Dog a Bone" and "Grow Your Pup With Bones" and Dr Tom Lonsdale's "Raw Meaty Bones Promote Health".