Raw feeding for dogs - the what/why/where!

I am considering feeding Rocky raw as he's been diagnosed with cancer and I've always been aware of the link of grains/cancer (in humans anyway). The only thing that put me off feeding raw up to now, was because of the way animals are farmed these days (pumped full of antibiotics/growth hormones/steroids etc) hence it was a matter of the lessor of two evils - though I'm now thinking perhaps going Raw would have been better.

Anyway I know this isn't a section for debate and that's not what I'm after - I was looking through this section and surprised to find there is no sticky thread containing tips, or links, to useful threads/info that has been posted here. Why not guys - I am sure lots of people are interested and I know many of you know your stuff

Maybe you could add your tips for newcomers in this thread? (Your own tips - not links to other pages containing tips - so the thread acts like a very quick reference.)

Covering things like:

• why feed raw
• what to buy
• where to buy from
• how much to feed and how often
• how to introduce your dog to raw
• what age to start feeding raw (if puppy)
• etc

And perhaps one of you who's active in this section could volunteer to look after it - and organise a thread with links to useful threads/info that have been posted here, along with doing general house keeping of it.

What do you think? If the thread sprawls perhaps we can copy the tips into a new thread - so feel free to post two posts - one containing your tips and one to comment on anything I've said.

I think it is a great idea Here is my attempt to answer the questions, though i am sure others will have much better information. I have been feeding Jake raw for about 9 months now... I will probably think of things to add later anyways...

Why feed Raw? – I feed raw coz my dog is allergic to the wheat/grain in normal dog foods. In a way, I am glad of this coz otherwise I would maybe have never come across raw feeding! I will never feed another way again (unless for whatever reason any future dogs cant eat raw). Feeding raw is a much more natural way for dogs to eat, given the choice most dogs would choose to eat meat than kibble. Dogs arent meant to eat things like grains, and it is one of the most common allergies for dogs to have. Raw also digest a lot quicker than kibble does! You just need to look at a dogs mouth, jaw and teeth to see what they are meant to eat!

There are many benefits to feeding raw, such as less doggy odour, it is great for keeping teeth in tip top condition, the poops become smaller (and less smelly!), less eye goop and more energy (but not hyperness!), you know every thing that is going in your dogs mouth… there are loads of benefits to feeding raw, one of my personal favourites is seeing just how excited my dog gets at dinner time!

What to buy? – Dogs can eat just about any meat! Chicken, beef, lamb, pork, rabbit, fish, deer etc. They shouldn’t get weight-bearing bones though, coz they can break teeth.

I feed Jake prey model raw (the best way in my opinion ) as opposed to BARF. The percentages for PMR is 80% meat, 10% bone, 10% offal (5% of which should be liver). The percentages are just rough guides though, and shouldn’t be obsessed over (which I used to do ). Jake probably gets slightly more than 10% bone, but as long as everything is ok coming out the other end then it is all good

Where to buy from? – I get most of Jakes food from the butchers, but will get it from the supermarket reduced section if I can. I am not a fan of the frozen minces in pet shops, coz you don’t know exactly what is in them (with regards to bone, offal percentages) and knowing exactly what Jake is getting is what I love I do get the green tripe though, coz I don’t know where else to get it. I want to get Jakes from a distributor but need to wait until I have more freezer space so I can buy in bulk!

How much to feed and how often? – I personally think it is best to feed 2% of a dog ideal body weight (for adult dogs), and then just adjust if the dog starts to lose weight… maybe up it to 3% and see how that goes.

I feed Jake twice a dog, one a ‘main’ meal and one a wee ‘extra’ meal. I think it is best to feed twice a day, just so they don’t get too hungry and also coz raw digests quicker than kibble so they will feel hungry quicker than what they would on kibble.

How to introduce your dog to raw – IMO it is best to just start cold turkey (excuse the pun ). I would always advise people to start by feeding chicken wings, but making sure to hold one end to make sure the dogs will crunch up the bone and not just try to swallow it! Once they are ok at crunching the bones, I would introduce other parts of the chicken, such as the backs. Its best to start a wee bit slow, and introduce each meat a week or two at a time. After chicken, maybe move on to beef… then to lamb etc. Some dogs dont make the transition fast, and dont really know how to chew their food properly, in time though they should start working those muscles and will get better. Some also arent interested in trying something new (raw must look quite daunting to dogs who have had kibble for years!) so it is usually advised to leave the food down for 20 minutes, then take it up and put down the exact same thing at the next feeding time. I have heard of dogs going for 5 or 6 days before eating, but its always said that a healthy dog wont starve itself!

Also, some dogs don’t seem to like the texture of liver (no wonder! Although I haven’t had this problem with Jake ), but giving it a quick fry can persuade them to eat it… then gradually fry it less and less until it is raw (or as raw as possible).

What age to start feeding a puppy – I have never fed a pup raw, but I have read many times of people who wean puppies straight onto raw

I hope thats the kind of thing you were looking for Azz

The only thing that put me off feeding raw up to now, was because of the way animals are farmed these days (pumped full of antibiotics/growth hormones/steroids etc) hence it was a matter of the lessor of two evils - though I'm now thinking perhaps going Raw would have been better.


Hmm, so if you feed a commercial food, does it not contain meat? And if it does, does this meat somehow escape being "pumped full of antibiotics and hormones" that other meat has and if so how?

Are you aware that there are FAR more risks from aflatoxins in commercial food than raw?

There are a lot of old (and new) wives tales about raw feeding and I believe that no one should consider that feeding commercial food is somehow "less than ideal".

HAving said that why feed raw?

Well, first of all it was the diet that God designed for dogs. They are not born with scissors, tin openers or ovens

Feeding a species appropriate diet reduces unforseen consequences (eg feeding cows dead poultry and sheep is not species appropriate and had dire side effects).

Because the food is "live" so to speak (yes I know it is dead) it contains enzymes removed from commercial food which helps not only with digestion but prevents the organs involved in metabolising food from working OVERTIME to process processed food.


what to buy

Any fresh raw sources of food, eg any meat, any poultry, oily fish, eggs, any vegetables (bar onions) and any fruit (bar grapes).

No dairy bar live yoghurt.

Herbs, Garlic etc.

where to buy from


Direct from producer, wholesalers, pet food manufacturers, supermarkets, abbattoir.

how much to feed and how often

A good guide is 2 - 3% of an adult's body weight, but his varies depending on sex, age, temperament, work etc.

You should feed adult dogs twice a day, in order to maintain stable blood sugar levels, to break up the day, to minimise the risk of bloat/GDV in susceptible breeds.
how to introduce your dog to raw

what age to start feeding raw (if puppy)
etc

You can start before they are weaned.

This is super, but it would be very pricey to feed a dog of Rocky's size I think. I still do the chicken wing thing, but I feed this to mine as a regular diet now.

http://www.naturalinstinct.com

I feed my dogs Prize Choice mince / chunks plus the Value range chicken portions and wings from Tesco. Price works out the same as quality kibble, but I don`t have to add a load of stuff to make them eat it. Before, I was cooking mince and liver just to get them to eat it.
One thing I`ve noticed on Raw is that their weights have stabilised. Daisy isn`t so skinny, and Shamus isn`t so fat, and Raz is looking wonderful.
This morning they had hearts. This evening they`ll get lamb mince. Raz also gets chicken wings before bed because he likes that.
I get mine delivered (no delivery charge) by the local pet shop weekly and the dogs have their own little freezer.

Thanks for the info guys - some great tips already

My vet thinks it's a good idea to go RAW btw, so I will almost certainly be going for it.

My concerns were feeding such meat raw - as opposed to cooked - as I always thought the cooking process mitigated a lot of those negatives (+that uncooked meat was 'more' prone to ecoli/disease because those animals were less healthy to begin with - because of how they're farmed). However, you have to bare in mind the level of acid is higher in a dog's stomach so should be better equipped for such nasties. Not sure why I didn't know or think of that back then! :/

Yes I would confer that a raw food diet is what nature intended for dogs.

Why feed raw?

I'd been interested in feeding raw since hearing about it - my small furries all had (and thrived on) diets to mimic their wild ancestor's diets, e.g. homemade grain diets for my rats and mice, high hay-content, minimal processed food diet for my rabbits, etc. so it made sense to go more "natural" for my dogs. The final push was the amount of wind my two were suffering on kibble, and Kiki's inability to maintain a steady weight (she was always very ribby) on kibble.

What to buy?
I read up and decided I liked the sound of the prey model diet more than BARF, it just made more sense to me in terms of basing it on a wild animal's natural diet. The 80:10:10 ratio of meat, bone and offal lead me to go more towards an "unprocessed raw", i.e. actual meat, bones, etc. rather than pre-packed blocks or nuggets.

Where to buy from?
My above decision meant I needed to source raw food outside of petshops. I initially started off with supermarket meat to see how my two got on with raw, but this worked out quite expensive. I started to look around for slightly cheaper alternatives and that's when I stumbled upon suppliers like DAF, Landywoods, The Dogfood Company, etc. - and found out that the latter would deliver to me as he had a few Surrey customers already. I scoured Ebay, snagged myself a bargain £30 large chest freezer and I was ready for my first order! I've since continued buying from The Dogfood Company and rate it highly, though I do buy bits and bobs from the supermarket too so that my two aren't just getting mince-type stuff all the time.

How much to feed and how often?
I've always fed twice a day, due to bloat risk in my breeds. This works fine for raw feeding too, the only main exception is very large meaty bones, or whole rabbit, where they may just have one meal as such then a few treats or a very small second meal (e.g. an egg and some of our dinner scraps). I feed 2-3% of their ideal body weight as per prey model diet guidelines, this works well for mine.

How to introduce your dog to raw?
I switched cold turkey (excuse the pun!) with no issues.

What age to start feeding raw (if puppy)?
I personally don't have a pup but my mum's puppy was introduced to raw food at around 12-14 weeks with no issues, she probably would've been fine sooner but due to tummy issues and catching lungworm, they let her settle in first!

Just a note, there is not a PREY v BARF diet as such! It is a myth that is promulgated by many. There are many designs of raw diet, Prey mode and BARF are not mutually exclusive!

In addition ALL meat is processed to a degree ie it ALL is raised in the same way (unless organic v non) and it is ALL killed in the same place!

ALL pet food that is sold in "blocks" is fit for human consumption if the seller belongs to the PFMA.

there is no difference to buying mince in a freezer from Tesco than buying mince ina freezer in PAH. Apart from the fact that the latter will contain some bone.

cooking does not mysteriously remove antibiotics and hormones from the meat.

why feed raw

My dogs prefer it.
Cheaper
Species appropriate

what to buy

avoid the "unsafe" items. Then just buy whatever is easiest to come by

where to buy from

Pet shop, butchers, online, roadside!

how much to feed and how often

Hand and Eye!

I feed 2-3 times per day

how to introduce your dog to raw

I went cold turkey

what age to start feeding raw (if puppy)

From weaning!
etc

Everyone I've met who feed BARF feed a lot more bone and veg than me so I do think there is a difference. I do agree that there are many diets inbetween, I don't strictly follow prey model, but I don't include fruit and veg regularly or feed such high abouts of bone so I wouldn't class it as BARF.
By processed, I meant that I wanted to feed chunks of meat, whole carcasses/animals like chicken and rabbit, RMBs etc. rather than buy pre-minced, pre-balanced blocks or nuggets so that each aspect of the diet was flexible, I could feed more bone or offal to suit, exclude certain kinds of meat, etc (as I soon found my two don't do well on high amounts of lamb, for example).