Dog owners - raw food - thoughts, experiences, facts?

[Horse]

As per the title. I'd not heard about it until a couple of hours ago.

From a bit of reading around, it seems short on science and brings risks (eg cross-contamination).

Thoughts, experiences, facts?

[ZRX61]

I could hold a biscuit in my mouth & both of my wolves would carefully nibble it flush with my lips... or flush with my fingers if it was in my hand. I had some raw meat in my hand one day & if I hadn't thrown it at the last second there was a chance I might I lost a arm...

[Felix]

Smelly farts. Old hippy neighbour swore by raw for the retired greyhounds but complained about the farts. We always give out mutts now hypoallergenic Skinners dry food what they seem to thrive on. Clean teeth, healthy coats, semi solid shits and hardly ever at the vets.

Old hippy neighbours retired Greyhounds were also healthy looking dogs.

[Pirahna]

My dad will get a bag of scraps from the butcher if he can, the dog eats it raw. This is an occasional treat, maybe once a month, the rest of the time it's normal dog food. The hound is 14 years old so it hasn't done her any harm.

[MingtheMerciless]

All 4 of our Staff”s are raw fed. We started after our first was diagnosed with food storage mite allergy (amongst other things). Before we went raw he struggled to put weight on, had frequent bouts of explosive runny poos and a poor quality coat.

Going raw he put weight on, coat improved and poo quality was much better.

The vet recommended it to see if it would sort out his issues and it really helped.

The middle two went raw as soon as we got them and always get compliments on their coat quality and the last one when he arrived had been under fed and also on Bakers which is pretty rubbish quality according to Mrs M.

He put weight on rapidly and again his coat has really improved.

Cross contamination is a risk but we have a dedicated kitchen surface for preparing it and also scrupulously clean everything after they’ve eaten. Flies in simmer can be a problem but we cover everything with those mesh pyramid net things whilst it’s defrosting.

We use Prodog, stuff the local butchers makes and chicken wings from the local pet shop. Chicken bones are fine so long as they are raw and not cooked. Bones are important to keep teeth clean. Watching out female Staff demolish a stripped chicken carcass in one sitting was a sight to behold, she loved it.

We also make sure they have vegetables in the mix as well.

[MingtheMerciless]

We also have a mate with a chocolate lab whose poo’s were huge and smelly on kibble, Mrs M got her to trial “raw” and his poo’s were smaller, better formed and not as smelly, also coat quality improved (still a gannet but that’s Labs for you).

He stayed on raw.

[Taff]

Our 5 have been on raw for many years, three of them compete at ability so they’re all fit and healthy and they keep a healthy weight.
Some foods cause skin irritation in 2 of them so we avoid those. Their shit is smaller and does that old skool thing of drying out turning white, and breaking down into dust.

It takes a lot more planning than feeding kibble because it’s all frozen, so you’ve always got a box of defrosting meat somewhere. We got bigger and bigger freezers until we landed up with a 4ft chest freezer so that we could buy it In bulk, 80-100kg at a time.
They have between 250 and 400g twice a day depending on the dog (collies and GSD)

There’s loads of groups on faceache

[Horse]

Thanks, all.

[Trinity765]

No science but I have a friend who feeds his pets (cat and dog) raw meat. His reasoning was that he'd looked at the meat content of pet food and it was cheaper. He also gave them raw chicken bones, which I was told never to do, and said that bones are only dangerous to animals once they've been cooked and were softer. Wild carnivores don't avoid eating whole chickens and they survive. The only downside was the convenience as he minced it by hand for the cat.

His pets look healthy and well.

[Taipan]

We have a French Bulldog which are a notorious breed of fartboxes. Also known for skin problems and other ailments. I was advised to feed her raw food, so we did. She basically doesn't, or very rarely farts and she poops shredded wheats. Also no skin problems so far. We do give her a mix of 50/50 raw food and grain free biscuits.

[cheb]

Is there any sense in buying or breeding small animals, rabbits come to mind, and giving the dog a whole dead one, guts and all? AFAIK most carnivores eat the entrails first, the organs having using vitamins.

[Treadeager]

What Taff said , five posts back . I was a committe member of a dog club for over twenty years when the " barf " diet ( bones and raw food ) was just becoming popular in the UK . Many owners who use this diet also reckon their dogs have less anal gland trouble as these are exercised by semi-digested bones passing through the animals back passage .

[Taff]

Something else I forgot,

their teeth are really really clean in comparison to when we used to feed kibble. And you need to keep an eye on the bone ratio that they eat, to much and their shit turns yellow and is really really dry and difficult for them to pass.

[Bike Breaker]

Eeh bah gum, I can remember when I were a lad, dogs were fed on raw meat, offal and bones plus leftovers from the dinner table. An uncle of my dad used to give his sheepdogs porridge, too.

[ZRX61]

Is there any sense in buying or breeding small animals, rabbits come to mind, and giving the dog a whole dead one, guts and all? AFAIK most carnivores eat the entrails first, the organs having using vitamins.

My wolves ate a neighbors goat, didn't do than any harm. Then I got new neighbors who promptly lost their rabbit too. Just left a red stain on the dirt.

[ZRX61]

Smelly farts. Old hippy neighbour swore by raw for the retired greyhounds but complained about the farts. We always give out mutts now hypoallergenic Skinners dry food what they seem to thrive on. Clean teeth, healthy coats, semi solid shits and hardly ever at the vets.

Old hippy neighbours retired Greyhounds were also healthy looking dogs.

Some of the other Skinners stuff is absolute junk,the Rough & Ready is full of sugar.

[Taipan]

The Aussie TV vet said to never give dogs any bones. He said even the tougher bones can splinter bits and get stuck in the dogs intestines.

[Mr Moofo]

Is there any sense in buying or breeding small animals, rabbits come to mind, and giving the dog a whole dead one, guts and all? AFAIK most carnivores eat the entrails first, the organs having using vitamins.

My wolves ate a neighbors goat, didn't do than any harm. Then I got new neighbors who promptly lost their rabbit too. Just left a red stain on the dirt.

We need pictures of the wolves ...
Or it never happened

[ZRX61]

We need pictures of the wolves ...
Or it never happened

[Taipan]

Holy Fuck, he actually has Wolves!