I wish that more people would try feeding raw to their bullies

[Lulu belle]

Can't do it! Afraid of salmonella.

 

[PapaSmurf2]

We (when I say "we" I mean Gracie lol) decided to go with a mix of both. Living on a farm we have all the resources for a healthy, non additive, organic raw diet. Beef, chicken, pork, milk,eggs, and fruits and vegi's all come from our back yard. When we put the raw food down all the dogs ( Gracie and the two Yorkies) picked what they wanted and left the rest. So we made the homemade kibble we found on here and mix it with some raw. They all seem to like that. As far as being squeamish about touching meat...the only thing here that isn't butchered here are the cows...so everyone in the house is used to dealing with raw meat.

 

[anatess]

Can't do it! Afraid of salmonella.

For you or for your dog?

If for you, this is easily avoided just like you avoid getting salmonella poisoning from handling raw chicken for your human consumption... with good sanitization habits. I have 6 snakes - they are known to be excellent salmonella agents. The hand sanitizer lotion plus good hand washing habits is enough to prevent the humans from getting salmonella poisoning after handling the snakes.

If for your dog... don't worry. Dogs have an amazing anti-bacterial biological composition. If he is a healthy dog, he can fight off salmonella by just the enzymes in his saliva or the pH of his body fluids... salmonella would either die or get pooped out. This is why yeasty dogs on kibble a lot of times get "cured" when they go on raw diet. The raw diet is more biologically friendly to his dog-biology that it helps maintian the proper pH that fight bacterial infection.

 

[Lulu belle]

For my dog.

 

[anatess]

I am in awe of anyone who does complete raw! It really intrigues me, but I am so fearful of not doing it correctly, not enough nutrients, when to do organ meat, etc etc. It really seems very time consuming and confusing to me. I also am not a fan of handling raw meat- that in itself would cause me to have my own stomach issues. That said, is there anyone out there that uses Natures Instinct Frozen and kibble together? Would love to know how your pups do on that, how you feed it, and how young you started them. I know it is expensive, but I would be willing to give it a try if I thought it would be better. As evidenced by yet another bout of diarrhea with Bogey this morning, he has a very sensative stomach and I just wonder if the raw would be better.

Okay, straight from experience. I grew up in the Philippines. My mom is a rescuer. We've had a jillion dogs. Only "rich folks" feed kibble to their dogs there. Dogs there eat raw. It's really not complicated... what makes it complicated is the "human psyche". Let me just ask you... when you eat, do you worry about how much % meat you eat over how much % veggies over how much % bread? Or do you just eat what you feel like eating today as long as you keep your mind on the food pyramid that by the end of the month you've at least consumed stuff proportional to the food pyramid? Do you agonize over the Nutritional Facts in every package of food so that you can be sure you have x amount of vitamins and minerals? Not really, right?

This is the same with the dogs. My mother has a simple process with feeding her jillion dogs. She goes to the market and buys a slab of meat or pieces of fish for everybody, humans, dogs, and cats. So basically, the dogs eat the same meat stuff as the humans. When we're having beef that day, the dogs have beef too... when we're having fish, they get fish too. Meat in the regular Philppine wet market does not come packaged... the entire cow or pig or chicken is hanging off pegs in the market and you point to the part you want and the vendor slices it off and put it in butcher paper and that's your meat. The fish is the entire fish from head to tail - usually ungutted, they'll gut it for you if you ask them, but my mom never asks because the guts are pet food. You don't ever buy beheaded fish from the wet market - that's the best way to tell how fresh a fish is.

So anyway... she goes home, she carves out the meat for the humans, and chops up the rest for the dogs and cats. The dogs get first pick and the cats get the scraps and fish bones. Sometimes, we won't have much money, so we don't have much meat, just fish (interestingly, in the Philippines, fish is super cheap, chicken is not so cheap, pork is more expensive than chicken, and beef is very expensive) so the dogs would eat fish in a row. Sometimes, there's just not enough scraps for the dogs after the humans eat, so they get cooked rice with a smidgen of meat for smell. No supplements, no heartworm meds, nothing. They're completely chemical free besides the regular vaccinations and the topical flea/mosquito/insect repellants.

Do you know that most of our dogs rarely go to the vet, not even well-checks. Our dogs live to be 15+ including the big dogs... Well, except for those many, many rescues that are already health compromised that we're basically just a hospice to them. My mom is the well-check person.

There are stray dogs in the Philippines (no humane society there) that thrive on community food. They basically hang out at the church and people feed them whatever they have - usually stale bread - and they're super amazingly healthy dogs (I guess freedom is a health factor) that they are becoming a problem because they are usually not fixed. Rescues continually go on this neutering/spaying catch-and-release spree just to get the population controlled. Some of the super poor folks catch these healthy dogs and eat them... it's either that or die of starvation. That's Philippine animal control for you. Yeah, it sounds a bit barbaric...

P.S., In the interest of full disclosure, I feed my dogs Earthborn Holistic kibbles....

 

[anatess]

For my dog.

Then so much more not to worry... keep your dog healthy and he'll fight off salmonella on his own.

 

[ame16]

Then so much more not to worry... keep your dog healthy and he'll fight off salmonella on his own.

Not to mention that kibble has just as much if not more salmonella than raw meat. Consider, for instance, the amount of kibble recalls there have been over the past few years due to salmonella.

 

[Scueva]

Not to mention that kibble has just as much if not more salmonella than raw meat. Consider, for instance, the amount of kibble recalls there have been over the past few years due to salmonella.

So true! Many people don't realize this. They think oh it's in a pretty bag, it must be safe!

 

[hughesjo]

Have to say have enjoyed reading this thread on raw feeding, good job @RISI for starting it

 

[flkjr2]

I really considered raw for Z...even going as far as to almost ordering a big grinder off of Amazon. I think i just have cold feet. Plus being in the Army and leaving sometimes...i don't trust my girlfriend 100% to grind chicken parts and cut up organs.... I still might give it a try when he gets a few months older.

 

[Sherry]

I so would love to go raw as many of you here have heard me mention often, even purchased the freezer to keep the meat. My brakes are put on when it comes to the # of dogs I have (5) and the mess or fights I may have to deal with.

 

[ame16]

I really considered raw for Z...even going as far as to almost ordering a big grinder off of Amazon. I think i just have cold feet. Plus being in the Army and leaving sometimes...i don't trust my girlfriend 100% to grind chicken parts and cut up organs.... I still might give it a try when he gets a few months older.

Go PMR. No grinder necessary. :D

 

[ame16]

I so would love to go raw as many of you here have heard me mention often, even purchased the freezer to keep the meat. My brakes are put on when it comes to the # of dogs I have (5) and the mess or fights I may have to deal with.

While there is certainly a bit more involved in raw feeding with prep/cleanup/etc., it's probably not as bad as you imagine. A great way you can eliminate potential fights (and minimize cleanup) is to feed your dogs in their crates.

 

[Sherry]

While there is certainly a bit more involved in raw feeding with prep/cleanup/etc., it's probably not as bad as you imagine. A great way you can eliminate potential fights (and minimize cleanup) is to feed your dogs in their crates.

Well, my dogs are well behaved adults now and the crates have been taken down for a year now. I must tell you though, I will consider buying a grinder and making my own raw

 

[bulldogs4me]

I am in awe of anyone who does complete raw! It really intrigues me, but I am so fearful of not doing it correctly, not enough nutrients, when to do organ meat, etc etc. It really seems very time consuming and confusing to me. I also am not a fan of handling raw meat- that in itself would cause me to have my own stomach issues. That said, is there anyone out there that uses Natures Instinct Frozen and kibble together? Would love to know how your pups do on that, how you feed it, and how young you started them. I know it is expensive, but I would be willing to give it a try if I thought it would be better. As evidenced by yet another bout of diarrhea with Bogey this morning, he has a very sensative stomach and I just wonder if the raw would be better.

I use to feed the prepared Nature's Variety raw foods, the dogs loved it!! It was super easy, just give a raw patty in the morning and again in the evening I mixed in some veggies and it worked great ... at the time I only co-owned Molly and she was to be a show/breeding dog so when it was time to send her to her other owner for show training etc I had to switch her back to kibble then when she came home would switch her back it was a real PAIN then when she was bred I had to feed her kibble with cooked chicken so when she was spayed I said I would go back to feeding raw but haven't made the change back as of yet.

Reading this thread makes me realize I should switch back!! But even if I do I will still use the prepared raw patties mixed with The Honest Kitchen Dehydrated Raw ... just because I can't help but fear I would do things wrong