Any Pet Owners Use a RAW Diet?

[MISSINDI]

The trainer we use for our dogs uses it for hers, and they sell some of Oma's Pride stuff there, as well as their own blend. After talking with our neighbors yesterday, who recently switched their pets to a raw diet, I'm tempted. Anyone have any experience with this? What do you use/do? How can the raw food not upset the animals' stomach? I'm all for switching over, just feel I need more of the "back story," you know? I'm going to go down and talk to our trainer this week, too.

[charliecat]

I also researched the raw diet, heard nothing but good about it, and switched our dogs over to it. I was told it was a coincidence, by the store I bought it from...but our female got a horrible bladder infection soon after we changed food. (Never before had a bladder infection) You also have to keep it frozen and have to remember to thaw everyday. The dogs didn't like it at first, I don't think they ever got crazy about it, but they ended up eating it. But, our dogs are very picky eaters. The positive is that our female, who is over weight, lost weight on the raw food, which was the only thing that we found that worked for her.

Because our female did a lot of urine spots in the house (very surprised when I turned on the black light to see just HOW many!! OH MY! No wonder why I couldn't find why the house stunk so bad!) I never put her back on the food, and she's never had a problem since.

Not a real positive experience for me, but I know people who swear by it. It just wasn't for my dogs.

[mcgeiger]

Please don't switch to raw food. The nutritionist who taught our vet class, reported on a study that showed not one single raw/BARF diet was nutritionally complete (including the national ones). Quite a few carried Salmonella, E. coli , and other bacteria. Although your dog may not show signs, they can become carriers of the bacteria, and spread this to other pets/you/your children.
I know of one breeder of Abbys that uses a raw diet (due to IB and food allergies) and her cats appear to be doing well, but she spends a lot of time preparing the food, and does regular blood work ups and such...Otherwise, IMHO the pets I have seen on raw diets do not appear as healthy as their counterparts. I know that some people have success with raw diets, but I think it is a big risk. If you want MHO on food, there has been a thread recently on food (for cats) that holds true for dogs too...
http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?t=77393

[MISSINDI]

Thanks for your opinions, I really appreciate it. When talking with people who have their pets on raw diets, you, of course, never hear the other side of the coin ... people who either don't advocate it, or people who have had bad experiences with it.

McGeiger, you're a vet student, right? I definitely appreciate your insight. Right now, they're getting holistic dog food, and their coats are amazing because of it. I would never buy just regular grocery-store brand dog food, given everything I've heard and read, so the holistic stuff, although a little pricier, was the way to go for us. Not having any problems with them on it at all, but wanted to make sure I wasn't missing out on something even better for them, you know?

Charliecat -- is your female still on it, or no? Our neighbors mentioned one of their cats lost the extra weight she'd been carrying for years, after they made the switch to raw diet.

Our female dog has a UTI now, and persists in going in the house. She's been on meds for a week now, with, so far, no sign of improvement... ugh.

[beckms]

I've gone back and forth about this, because there is SUCH a strong faction in favor of raw diets, and I've come to the conclusion that my dogs (and millions of other dogs) are perfectly healthy on a good quality commercial diet that has been field tested and nutritionally balanced, that I don't want to risk encountering any of the potential problems associated with raw diets. Maybe I would consider it for a cat, but even then I would need to do much more research.

About a year ago I got really into homemade dog food (not raw), and my dogs loved it, of course...ground turkey, oatmeal, carrots...what's not to love? But it was incredibly time-consuming and expensive, so I gave up. Then I had trouble getting them to eat dry food again, because they liked the homemade better. :rolleyes:

A good resource is Dr. Pitcairn's Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0875962432/qid=1123513796/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_sbs_1/002-4603015-9862438?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) . He has lots of info and recipes.

I know there are several people on this board who feed raw food, and are very pleased with it. I am very pleased with Science Diet Oral Care dry kibble.

You'll find proponents of both, and vets who will be wildly in favor or against either one. I think it's something that should be examined on a case-by-case basis, and perhaps there's no way for you to figure out the right solution until you've tried it. But at the end of the day, my opinion is, why fix what ain't broke? If your dogs are healthy and happy on commercial food, why risk switching? Good luck, and Report back on your resrach and decision!

[charliecat]

No, we took both dogs off of it. Even though she lost the weight, I was convinced the bladder infection was due to the food. I also had this nagging feeling that it just wasnt' good for them. So, I took them off... My cat and dogs are now on the "Wellness" brand for their food. My animals love it!!

[RunnerKim]

I feed both my golden retriever and my two cats a raw diet. I've done it for years (over 7). They are very healthy. I don't buy any commerical product - we pick up 20lbs of chicken backs (frozen) from a meat supply company. That's the main stay of their diet. It takes a few minutes to repackage the meaty bones in ziploc bags and each day it doesn't take any longer to feed them than it would scooping out kibble. I'll give them some additional things to balanace it out but I keep it pretty simple (and I keep the small prey animal in mind). I know they're eating e. coli and salmonella. *shrug* Their digestive systems are designed to handle it and handle it they do. If they become sick (seriously ill, perhaps on chemo) then I'd likely lightly cook their food/grind the bones. They have clean teeth, no bad breath, small hard poops (I can clean up after my 60lb. dog with a sandwich baggy). Feeding a raw/BARF diet is not for everyone one by any means. It works for my family.

Becky - I think the people that are strong advocates for Raw/BARF would argue that kibble is "broken and needs fixing" - that dogs being considered "senior" at the age of 6 or even 8 is way too young. So many dogs have food allergies. The ingredients in most kibble (highly grain based and preservatives) and annual vaccinations are two of the things that are pointed to as possibly contributing to the earlier decline in dogs' health overall. (I'm not trying to be... argumentative.. but wanted to point out that many people feed more natural diets looking at longer term health issues that perhaps aren't apparent in a dog/cat's younger years).

Kim

[beckms]

Becky - I think the people that are strong advocates for Raw/BARF would argue that kibble is "broken and needs fixing" - that dogs being considered "senior" at the age of 6 or even 8 is way too young. So many dogs have food allergies. The ingredients in most kibble (highly grain based and preservatives) and annual vaccinations are two of the things that are pointed to as possibly contributing to the earlier decline in dogs' health overall. (I'm not trying to be... argumentative.. but wanted to point out that many people feed more natural diets looking at longer term health issues that perhaps aren't apparent in a dog/cat's younger years).

Kim

Kim--I understand what you're saying completely, which is why I think every diet needs to be evaluated for the individual animal (and owner!). My dogs would probably really like a raw diet, but I don't have the time right now that I'd like to commit to doing research on it. In fact, I think a while back I had asked about homemade diets, and you posted about your dogs, and your experience was one of the reasons I considered switching. If I had dogs with allergies (I have seen SO MANY with mysterous food allergies) then I would serisously look into a raw diet. Fortunately mine are very healthy.