I've been considering moving my dog onto a different food recently and whilst searching have come across the idea of a Raw food diet a few times, so many websites seem to say it will lengthen her life and improve her health but what I want to know is what does it really entail, What sort of things do I give her and how much of it would she need? Is it really cheaper and a better option for her? Is it safe? Where do I get it from? The butchers or ... If anybody has had/currently has their dog on this diet, could you please tell me what you think of it. Is it something I should seriously consider doing?
Nameless2012-01-07T19:28:52Z
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First of all here are some common myths http://rawfed.com/myths/
You would need to give her bone in meals, boneless meals, liver and at least one other secreting organ. A guideline is 80% muscle meat, 10% bone, 5% liver and 5% other excreting organs. You would either need to feed fresh fish/grass fed meats or supplement with fish oil.
Cost really varies. It depends on where you live, if you know how to shop for meats, if you can get free meats etc. I spend less on raw than I would on kibble. It cost around $5-$10 a month to feed my 15 pound dog raw.
You can get meats from a butcher, the grocery store etc. If you know any hunters see if they can give you some meat. If you know any trappers see if you can get anything. You can post on craigslist and kijiji for free meats. Many people get lots of free meats that way. Some people even pick up fresh road kill (during the winter. Make sure its legal before you do anything). If you get any wild animals (especially whole ones) you need to freeze it for a month to kill any parasites.
It is much better option than kibble. Raw/fresh foods are always better. Dogs are designed to eat raw meats. Since switching my dog to raw he smells less, has sparkly white teeth, small poops, less smelly poops, softer fur, shinier fur, more energy etc. My vet estimated his age at 5-6 years. Hes 11 years old.
It's the closest thing to a natural diet there is. Try and get organic meats as much as possible. I recommend you read the book from the website http://healthydogforlife.com/ . It's a downloadable e book called Real Food For Dogs . It really isn't hard at all once you get the hang if it. It's NOT tike consuming. I spend maybe 1/2 hour a week or an hour every two weeks, portioning out meats.
We swutched to a raw diet almost 2 years ago, and we will never go back to processed dog food. My dogs are much healthier now than 2 years ago.
They're as healthy as healthy can be. Both are over 10 years old and are still jumping around like 2 year olds. I spend about $300 a month on the dog and $100 a month on the cat for food.
It is cheaper. You can buy raw food (grocery store) with food stamps, actually.
Now, you don't know whether your 'bagged' dog food had ingredients that came from China, India, Pakistan, etc.
With raw food, you can be sure that the source is local.
Your dog cannot properly digest corn, wheat, soy, etc. fillers. Whatever isn't digested is expelled from your dogs body and comes out as poop.
These fillers also have little to no nutritional value. There must be a boatload of extra nutrients added in to barely meet nutritional standards (which are very low, I might add).
Plus, these fillers add extra carbs, increase the rish of bladdar stones, increase the risk of food allergies...
Since dogs are wolves domesticated over years, you'd understand why a grain based diet wouldn't sit well with them.