Dog owners: do any of you feed raw?

After a scary bout with liver failure, our dog was switched to an all-natural diet (not raw though) and is doing wonderfully. Our two cats currently get the best canned food we can find, plus one gets low protein food sold by vets due to past liver problems. Seeing the marvelous results in our dog though, I would like to switch the cats to a natural foods diet.

Questions: Those of you grinding your own food, do you include the skin and bones? Did you buy a standard meat grinder for the task? Do you include any veggies or starch (like cooked rice) or just the meat? What supplements do you give? With raw meat, are you concerned about salmonella, e-coli and othe nasty things?

yes, i include chicken skin and bones. The only supplement I add is salmon oil. oh, and egg yolks. one yolk for every pound or so of meat..
I bought a dandy little grinder that goes right through chicken bones.

http://www.irawoods.com/Maverick-MM-5501-Meat-Grinder

Thanks Mimi. You mentioned that you also give them some dry food mixed with water. Is the dry food addition out of concern that they might be missing some nutrients otherwise? Also, do you cook the yokes?

I am curious, though, what the arguments against a raw diet are. I like to hear both sides of the story.

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Originally Posted by Norsegoddess

Thanks Mimi. You mentioned that you also give them some dry food mixed with water. Is the dry food addition out of concern that they might be missing some nutrients otherwise? Also, do you cook the yokes?

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It's all raw. I do not cook the yolks. I give them dry food because my oldest cat (14 years old) won't eat the raw food, and dry food is like candy(we call it kitty crack) to all of them, so I can't give HER kibbles and not let the others have any. I think they each get an ounce or an ounce and a half of kibbles a day.

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Originally Posted by Andrea

I am curious, though, what the arguments against a raw diet are. I like to hear both sides of the story.

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against? It's gross.
Also, a lot of people are concerned about salmonella. Since i use human grade food and wash and handle everything just like i would for my own plate, I think I'm ok. Cats and dogs can tolerate salmonella when we can't. I'm not going to eat it off the floor, but the fact is, 30 minutes after I put it down, the cats have cleaned the bowls.

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Originally Posted by Andrea

I am curious, though, what the arguments against a raw diet are. I like to hear both sides of the story.

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It's gross.

It can take a lot of prep time.

It can be harder to board your dog or have someone watch it if it's on a complicated food schedule.

It can be harder to get a fully balanced, nutritionally complete diet.

It can be more expensive.

Some animals can't tolerate it.

If you want to look at some of the arguments, go to www.dogforums.com and browse the dog food forum. There are MANY threads dealing with the pros and cons and the how-tos of raw feeding. Some people are very passionate... in both directions.

If cats don't have a thirst reflex, why do they drink at all?

Seems illogical to me.

Karen, happy with her dry food fed cats and dogs with bright, shiny coats, beautiful musculature, and healthy fitness

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Originally Posted by Tuckervill

If cats don't have a thirst reflex, why do they drink at all?

Seems illogical to me.

Karen, happy with her dry food fed cats and dogs with bright, shiny coats, beautiful musculature, and healthy fitness

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they don't have a strong thirst reflex. They do have a thirst reflex.
Domestic cats have several problems that are caused/exacerbated by not drinking enough, including urinary disorders and kidney failure.

The question about the benefits of raw feeding does indeed spark heated debates. I have friend that feed their dogs the BARF diet and swear by it. I once fostered a dog that was on a raw diet.

Although dogs are not prone to some health issues eating raw, people are and even though I have fed them out in the backyard, in my opinion it sets up the potential for problems like E coli.

Personally, I have fed my dogs home cooked foods and saw similar benefits--reduction in skin problems, a shiny coat, less tartar, and increase of energy. I think the preservatives and less than quality ingredients in some dry kibble seems to increase some health problems. I also believe it's not a coincidence that cancer is increasing in dogs due to the fact that kibble contains byproducts of poultry and cattle which are fed questionable feed.

This is just my personal observation and every owner will have to consider the pros and cons of raw feeding.

Tulip

I just perused the thread very quickly so if your question was answered I missed it.

re poultry bones

I am by no means an expert and this may be folklore passed on generation to generation but I was always told not to give poultry bones to dogs because they splinter and can get caught too easily in their throat and digestive track.

BUT on the other hand when my dog is a bored, naughty, mad at us, for leaving her too long girl and gets into the trash - she has been known to eat poultry bones and has been no worse for wear because of it. I just don't intentionally give them to her. She is a large midsize dog

Someone mentioned earlier that they grind them - I would think that would take care of all the problems

Onto the other discussion Raw vs dry

IMHO I think raw would be more natural and better. I would think if they were started on that since being a puppy they wouldn't have trouble - I think switching them over would be more difficult

I on the other hand feed my dog very inexpensive dry (OK I am a bad mom :o )
She has eaten the same dog food since we got her in the middle of her puppy stage. She is now 12 going on 13. She had cancer when she was 7 but after having surgery she has been cancer free for over 5 years. She is just now starting to get cataracts. We thought she was going deaf but have since learned she has very selective hearing.

She is an "over the fence" breed

All our purebreds never lived past 11 - definately something to be said for mutts!

Having not tried raw yet, other than giving the cats an occasional few pieces of raw fish or chicken, I can't speak for it but I am curious. However, I have observed that our 8 year old dog has never looked better since switching her to a home-cooked diet. For treats, she gets raw carrots. To satisfy her urge to chew, she has big nylabone.

I had only heard a little about raw food diets for dogs before. This is very interesting! I just got my first dog 3 weeks ago, she's now 12 weeks old. We'd been feeding her Kirkland Signature food, because that's what the breeder reccommended and hey it's SO CHEAP!!!! But then she developed crystals in her urine because she's not metabalizing it well. She's currently on a special wet food, but I'm not sure what to put her on when we go back to regular food. We are crazy busy right now so I doubt we could fit grinding up chickens into the schedule, and funds are tight so I don't want to do anything crazy expensive. Any good not too pricey natural foods out there?

You're in western washington. Go to a good pet food store (not petsmart) and ask.

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Originally Posted by Kalidurga

Carol, your cats (in your avatar) are gorgeous. They remind me of my Ivan.

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Thank you. I think they are very handsome. Must be the raw diet.;)