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Location: Bulgaria
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 583
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Hi, yes to the egg shells.... not heard that about sardines, although it could well be the case.
For the egg shells, for calcium benefits they need to be ground to a very fine powder. The recommended amount is 1/2tsp of ground eggshell per one pound of food. This then provides some 900mg-1000mg of calcium.
Bones don't just provide calcium however, they provide lots of trace minerals and vitamins aswell. The analysis of the raw chicken above included the bone. I do understand your reservation about the bones..... try a bone-in chicken breast to start - it's just the ribs which are so soft you or I could eat them!
LOL on the protein ..... it's a common mistaken belief that it is a high protein diet and is one of the reasons people get hot under the collar about it and warn against it!
On raw fed dog studies, I've never seen one, and those I've spoken to about it say that no one seems keen to do one as it would mean having a control group of dogs on commercial and no raw feeder would be prepared to do that! LOL
The closest I've gotten is a small study done on home made diets versus commercial; not raw although I think the data could apply to raw diets .....
First is a summary of the study and then the full report:
http://www.ukrmb.co.uk/images/LippertSapySummary.pdf
http://www.ukrmb.co.uk/images/LippertSapyFullReport.pdf
Our study shows that for food, the animal fed with home made food (based on similar food as the family) reach an average age of 13.1 years, as the animals fed with canned industrial food, reach an average age of 10.4 years. The animals fed with mixed food (home made plus canned food) reach an average age of 11.4 years.
The difference between the two extremes amounts to more than 32 months, i.e. close to 3 years. This great difference shows that food is a major and determinant factor for the dogs' life expectancy. Giving it home made food is a guarantee for better protection, well being and longer life expectancy.
I liked all your points above - especially about how we manage to feed ourselves and our kids yet we are "apparently incapable" of doing the same for our dogs!! LOL
Originally Posted by
scarter
So if getting the balance right is really such a fine art, then how come there is so much variation between different brands of complete dog food?
Feeding a dog is no different to feeding yourself or your kids as you mentioned. Manufacturers and vets do put the myth about that it is "complicated" and an exact science and shouldn't be attempted as "they have done all the complicated research and analysis for you". It's pure poppycock IMO.... designed to baffle, bamboozle, scare and "guilt-trip" owners into feeding their produce. It's a massive billion pound business and these manufacturers will claim all sorts to stop the little person from even thinking about doing it themselves.
Take a look here for what an established and well-respected raw-feeder has to say about vets giving out nutritional advice:
http://rawfed.com/myths/vets.html
If you look at the statistics on the "world's oldest dogs" most of them are home-made food fed, one was even a vegetarian on a diet of lentils!
Regarding different foods for different dog lifestyles such as the greyhound - I really don't know the answer to that. As I think Ben mentioned, there is a yahoo rawfeeders group with around 11,000 members which you could join - someone on there would know the answer to that I'm sure!