Dogsey

Not that old wives tale again!! I do wonder sometimes where some vets keep their brains ... raw bones are an excellent food for our dogs, which is why most dogs object if you try and remove a bone from them! Nature speaks for itself ... as an important food source, IMO bones are essential for all dogs - whether raw or kibble fed.

Its always handy to scaremonger though isn't it Nikki

For any one of us who switched their dog onto raw with amazing and incredible results, I guess we could be accused of being a bit condescending sometimes. For which I apologise My best ever conversion was a pub dog, a labrador bitch, who was virtually bald - her hair had fallen out over most of her body, particularly the abdomen. The owners were at their wits end, they had spent a fortune at the vets and nothing had worked, no special diets, no commercial foods, no drugs, nothing. Chatting to them in the bar, they commented on how splendid Hal looked and we told them he was BARF fed.

To cut a long story short, the dog was instantly put onto the BARF diet and made a complete recovery, hair grew back, no further problems. Several conversions were made on the basis of that one dog - if I had £10 for every owner I have successfully persuaded to convert to raw feeding, I would be a rich woman! And to my knowledge, not one has ever regretted it.

I like to look to nature - whether you be talking about feral dogs, or wolves, NONE of these open a tin of chappie, or a bag of kibble! For millions of years wolves have lived, thrived and evolved into the most successful species on this planet bar ourselves on a diet of raw meat, bones and offal. To me it is a no-brainer to feed a primarily carniverous animal on grain and other alien foods.

If every dog was put onto the BARF diet, vets would be out of business! Well, perhaps that's a bit excessive, but their incomes would take a drastic downturn that's for sure. Just us alone with Hal racked up around £1,000 worth of vets bills trying to get his diet sorted out. He ended up at 5 years old with a prolapsed anus and a heap of trouble. BARF diet sorted everything within days, and we never looked back.

I have kept dogs for 46 years and have never ever had a dog have any problems with bones, even cooked ones, although of course I would never advocate feeding cooked bones. It is all an absolute load of scaremongering by ignorant vets who have had a half day lecture on canine diet at university, but many hours of rubbish poured into their ears by dog food companies.

Every single one of my new puppy owners researched raw feeding and were amazed at what they found out.
They are all very enthusiastic about it, fascinated by the way their puppy attacks and manages a bone and demolishes a chicken wing, and are now in the process of converting others!!

Spot on! Especially the wolfie breeds cannot tolerate cereal-based food. Hal nearly died on our quest to get his diet straight. German Shepherds too frequently have similar problems, but IMO it isn't a breed thing, raw food is best for any dog.

They know no different June, thanx to your dedication and persistence. We had difficulty in converting Hal onto raw, he turned his nose up at it day after day, until eventually after about a week he gave in and ate his raw food and pureed veg, and never looked back. Understandably, dogs that have previously been fed on tastier, cooked food, tinned or even kibble will turn their noses up to start with. You have to persist, they won't starve, and you can always try and tempt them with a little cooked liver mixed in to add flavour, or some home made gravy. They will eventually give in, and then never look back.

I feed Rosie on Simpson premium and Natures harvest, after realising what was in pedigree food, ( or rather isn't) her coat is amazing, and she is very healthy. I too buy her natural treats such as pigs ears etc which she loves

I really do have to take issue with what you have said here. Are you a vet? If not, I wonder just what qualifies you to contemptuously and airily brush aside their opinions and experience, not to mention seven years of training.

We used to give our last dog bones, big chunky ones from the butcher...........and of course she adored them. However, we had to stop feeding them after a near fatal episode when she managed to swallow a large sharp piece. (This same dog also nearly died when eating a pigs ear by the way, and it may just be that some dogs are too lazy to chew for as long as they should).

Your statement that bones are essential for all dogs is a sweeping statement too far! Our present dog can have no animal protein whatsoever, and there are many others like him. He eats nothing but fish and vegetables........in kibble form.

I agree with you Bitkin. These statements made by Gnasher strike a chord with me, as well...

"raw food is best for any dog"

That is a blatantly false statement. Many dogs can't tolerate raw food and have persistent diarrhea while on it but do fine on kibble.

It's like me saying just because my dog lives a long time on garbage food, that I can go telling other people that higher quality food isn't ever needed. That's complete crap.

Feeding your dog raw food doesn't always lead to a healthier dog and there is scarcely a study that proves raw fed dogs always live longer.

"raw bones are an excellent food for our dogs, which is why most dogs object if you try and remove a bone from them!"

Not if dogs choke on them. Not if they puncture their mouths/intestines with sharp bones pieces. Not if the dog does fine without said bones. Not all dogs need raw bones, and raw bones given randomly can cause problems.

"Nature speaks for itself..."

Some dogs won't touch raw food. I have owned two and have heard of quite a few others. Hardly nature speaking if the dog won't even touch any raw food.

Also, dogs eat chocolate, grapes, and many other things that will kill them - I guess that is nature speaking, as well?

Also, resource guarding isn't nature speaking, its the owner failing to speak. Gnasher, surely your dog and the progress you've made with him causes you to realize this.

"Dogs cannot get salmonella poisoning from eating raw chicken meat, wings or whole carcase."

Another blatantly untrue statement. Salmonella poisoning HAS been seen in dogs although it is rare. The reported cases of salmonella have been mostly linked to the consumption of raw meat. Your dog is at higher risk if he is immuno-compromised.

In the end, you need to feed your dog what he does well on. Not all dogs do well on raw food, so not all dogs need to be fed raw food.

My puppy loved raw food but didn't chew well or something and his teeth were going sour with a quickness. He's on kibble now and his teeth are back in pristine condition.

A bit of opinion here for the finish...

I think the BARF diet is a good deal of garbage. I think raw food is really good for most dogs, and I highly recommend it even though I don't feed it... but NEVER would I recommend the BARF diet. I always tell people to shoot for the prey model diet if they are looking at raw feeding.

I have heard of dogs on vegan/vegetarian diets these days, as well. Dogs are carnivores, they are meant to eat meat. Dogs are not omnivores (one look at their teeth can confirm this, not a flat tooth in their mouths) and I'm not sure why people are trying to say that, they are simply not obligate carnivores like cats.

This simply means they CAN absorb vegetable protein, it doesn't mean that a diet loaded with veggies is good for them. If your dog does well on it - SURE but as a recommended diet? Absolutely not.