Always make sure the mince has been previously frozen

A very interesting read, thanks! Not much I didn't know already. I recently watched a Scarey bugs programme on Reality Tv and it showed how parasites had got into the brain of a human through eating undercooked meat, so it's very probable what they state about it happening in dogs eating a raw diet. It's a risk you take I suppose.

For every bad story there is a good one as well. There will always be dogs that thrive on raw feeding and dogs that thrive on kibble etc and conversely there will be dogs that have problems with a raw diet and dogs that have problems with commercial dog food.

Like anything else research before you switch to a raw diet is essential in order to get the correct balance of nutrition for your dog.

I feed raw myself, did lots of research before making the switch and personally feel it is the best way to feed my dog. What suits one dog will not necessarily suit another - borne out by the vast range of processed dog food that is on the market.

I hope your dog is soon on the mend.

I have seen this article before and there is already a link to it on Dogsey.

I have always had reservations about feeding raw partly because of pieces of bone tearing the dogs gut and causing peritonitis and partly because of dog to human cross contamination. I am around large numbers of children and bacteria from meat could easily reside in a dogs furnishings and infect any child touching the dogs then their own mouths. I am not so concerned about bacteria from meat infecting the dog , the strong acid content of a dogs stomach should deal with most bacteria but not parasites, although most animals entering the food chain these days will most probably have been wormed so parasitic contamination should not really occur.

Whatever feeding method you choose can be found to have some risk, a lot of mass produced food has too many additives and preservatives for my liking.

My ideal solution is freshly cooked food, Amy has just had a lunch of chicken leg cooked with rosemary, wholemeal pasta and spinach. Even with this people will say how do you know you are getting the balance right, I don't, but by feeding a variety of fresh foods we can't go far wrong.

So to me there are no certainties about the food we feed our dogs, we all do the best we can and hope to get it right.

It seems to me that feeding our dogs is a big headache. We all want to do our best for our dogs, so that they will grow fit and healthy. I am beginning to realise that Minihaha has the right idea in that a varied natural diet is the best thing. It would probably also work out cheaper.

The supplier I get Ollies food from says they have to go through strict guidelines before even being able to sell it for dog consumption so if you buy from a reliable source you shoud be safe feeding it to your dog.
But there is a risk to everything.

I am lucky in as much as I can give the rotts anything and they are never up or down with it, the main part of there diet is kibble, but they have something added to it daily, be it cooked chicken, I dont feed raw, they dont really like it, liver, mince, tinned dog food, table scraps and left overs, nothing goes in the bin in this house, it all goes in the dog, I like this method as they get good quality meats, I know they have all they need from the kibble.
just out of curitosity, do people think it is best to buy chicken from tesco or a dog food supplier??

I have fed both commercial dog food and raw to the same dogs and the illest either has been was when Keena got very sick for two weeks and I thought close to death at times

At this time she had only ever been fed on commercial dry dog food. I did not put the illness down to the type of food she was getting and it didn't initiate my change over to raw but the re-occurant bouts of loose stools throughout their puppyhood and young lives did.

This is a picture of what Keena was producing from both ends for several days -this was before it got even worse.



...She got so sick and her inerds so irritated that she was brining up the lining of her stomach for days on end. She didn't touch food, didn't hardly stand up...The vets supplied us with all sorts of hydration powders to mix with water but she didn't want to drink so we hydrated her round the clock via a syringe. The vets were there for us on call when ever we needed, Keena really needed to be in on a drip before this stage but her separation anxiety at that stage was really bad and our joint decision with the vets was that we thought it best if she could be at home with constant care to hydrate her and look after her so I slept on the kitchen floor everynight next to her and gave her hydration every 15 mins or so but the vets were there ready if she needed to get rushed in. Very luckily she started to make an improvement and once she did her health rapidly improved and she got completly better.

She wasn't poisoned, we had her xrayed for blockages so the only other possibility was that she had a bacterial infection! and she had never even been fed raw before. My point is that dogs can pick up all sorts of nasty bacteria even if you never willingly pass them a peice of raw meat ever.

Even kibble can contain salmonella amongst other bacteria.

Since feeding raw there have only ever been very minor bouts of any digestive upset.

There is danger in everything we do. A dog can choke and die from inhaling a peice of kibble the wrong way. I never pin pointed Keena's illness on her then diet because it could have been many possibilities. I also now wouldn't say without proper evidence that raw feeding is a danger to dogs. What I would point out is that people can get it wrong...the balance...the type of bone...amounts of bone (most people feed to much) etc and it can cause problems and or a dog simply might not do well on a particular food item and you have to use process of elimination to discover the problem.

I seriously am not concerned by the bacteria in the fresh meat I feed my dogs seeing that I have seen an infection of some sort nearly to kill one of my dogs, as I said, pre raw feeding. I freeze all meat that I get for them for ample time, which yes doesn't kill everything but enough to not be harmful to a dog who's systems are apt for far more bacteria than ours. I keep a food diary so that if anything happens I can immediatly pin point what they had. I source all meat fit for human consumption - there isn't anything they have other than tripe that couldn't be fit to be served on a human's plate. I do everything I can in my power to avoid many of the pit falls and other than that I really don't stress over it to much at all because for me the proof that it is better for my own dogs has been the complete retraction of all the digestive upsets they had pre raw feeding and the much better way in which I can tell they are digesting this food.

I'm not sure how the tests your vets have done would be able to tell you one way or another if it was their diet that caused this upset but even if it can be proved, sweeping statements concerning the diet can't be made due to their being so many people with their own individual ways of feeding a raw diet meaning that their are so differentials to be taken into concideration.

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that how you have fed the raw diet has caused your problems if even they are down to food...it could simply have been that a batch of food from one of your sources was contaminated - I don't know...But one thing is for sure and that is that it could be a wide range of possibilities even if raw food was the sole problem.

Lastly, I know I always go on about BritBarf - but there are some seriously knowledgable people on there who can answer all sorts of questions with back up of their answers, they also have a health forum for any health related questions. If people ever feel concerned by what they hear re raw feeding this is one good place. Also for anyone just starting out. Etc. (a quick search for 'yahoo britbarf' will provide links)

People must never rush into feeding a raw diet and only take one or two peoples recomendations on the subject but do plenty of their own research. But it isn't difficult once you know the correct guidelines. For as many bad stories there are, there are good but base your knowledge on a wide range of topics.

I think it is a shame the original poster feels completly put off but understand. Just don't want people to panic and worry

I can understand your concerns about raw feeding, in fact I read the link years ago when I first started researching raw feeding.
Before being raw fed my dog(s) were always in and out of the vets for one thing or another regarding sickness/dire rear. Two years ago my eldest was diagnosed EPI and intolerances to most of the stuff - wheat, grains, lamb, beef - that goes into kibble and other commercial food. She went straight onto chicken and boiled potatoes for the first two weeks until I got things sorted. I have never looked back with her, never. I also think the added natural enzymes she gets in the raw food helps to keep the powdered one to a minimum as when first diagnosed she was on 3 5ml spoons per meal, now its down to a quarter spoon per meal. She has a varied raw diet including veg though no 'whole bones' are given (too much fat for her to cope with) ground/minced bones only. I then put my other girl onto raw after she too had too many tummy upsets with kibble. Now the 6 month old also only gets raw fed. None have ever had pano, (as suggested in the link) in fact none of them since have ever needed a vet visit except for non diet related issues :smt002 Maddie (epi) only goes there now to be weighed Maybe I've been lucky, but I am so glad I changed.

Multiple even well respected brands of processed pet foods are killing cats and dogs in the U.S. right now, so illness and death can happen, no matter what you feed your pet.

Everyone just has to do the research and make the best decision to fit their dog and their dogs situation.