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 #561236


Metz
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 Feeding raw

Just curious, how many of you feed your dogs a raw diet?
12/01/05  07:39pm

 #561465


Peaches5856
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   Message To: Metz   In reference to Message Id: 561236


 Feeding raw

I do, raw is fine if it is straight from the butcher. I personally only use meat from what I know are healthy steers. I also butcher my own venison and use that as well. I use some of the fat and bones (with some meat left on) and make my own gravy with it for the winter months to mix with her dry base, Royal Canin. I’ve been feeding my girl Tabitha fresh diet for 16 1/2 years, as long as I’ve had her, and she’ll be 21 April 16th. I’ve also fed it to every dog I’ve owned and rescued and I’ve never encountered any health issues with it and know of many breeders who use a strict fresh diet as well.
-Brandy
12/01/05  10:43pm

 #563615


KrazyKelli
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   Message To: Metz   In reference to Message Id: 561236


 Feeding raw

Nope =P Yukito is on perscribed diet dogfood right now. Back when he was getting ’people food’ from my idiotic parents, he gained way more weight than he should have and, well, I’ve not had the chance to try out raw junk. Sides that, it’s easier to buy a bag of dog food than run off to a butchers and prepare some for the animal.



12/04/05  12:05pm

 #563624


CelticTigeress
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   Message To: KrazyKelli   In reference to Message Id: 563615


 Feeding raw

Its all personal preference,

I dont get my stuff from the butchers Most of ours comes from the venison we gain from hunting... I myself have personal issues with storebought meat...but the fresh stuff from kills goes to our dogs.... I dont feed them cooked people food, aside from vegetables diced and added.... otherwise dog food
12/04/05  12:13pm

 #564013


Peaches5856
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   Message To: CelticTigeress   In reference to Message Id: 563624


 Feeding raw

As stated above I do the venison as well...yet another common ground Celtic and I have...lol. I go to the butcher in the "off" season. We go through a lot of venison in my home so between us and the dog, it GOES! I never do store bought. The onlything Tabitha gets that is store bought is mianly rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, cottage cheese, some of my bone or non meat leftovers depending on what they are, and her kibble. It’s a great diet, but only with the right dogs...some may not be able to stomach it, as much as they want to, it just may not sit well. My advise on new freash meat intro is give it a test, start in small amounts (once daily if your dog has more than one feeding a day) and graduate it. if your dogs system can’t take it, you’ll notice loose stool and in the worse case, vomiting. Although extremely natural, some dogs systems are not strong enough to take it.
-Brandy
12/04/05  07:12pm

 #564411


Metz
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   Message To: Peaches5856   In reference to Message Id: 564013


 Feeding raw

I agree, everyone has their own ways of doing it, however, I am going to disagree on the "not all dogs’ stomachs can handle it". The carnivore digestive system was designed for raw meat and bones. What it can not handle are grains and vegetation. When people give a "variety" of foods to their carnivores or give too many different meat speices too soon the likelyhood of stomach upset increases. I feed both my dog and cat totally raw, no vegetation (unless they want some as a treat), no commercial pet poison. They have done nothing but thrive and I tell ya, I’ll NEVER go back to that crap in a bag.



12/05/05  02:41am

 #564446


CelticTigeress
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   Message To: Metz   In reference to Message Id: 564411


 Feeding raw

Metz....

I have a friend whose pitbull cannot stomach the raw meat... a carnivores system yes but dogs have evolved over the years, and as Brandy stated some dogs cannot stomach and handle it, their system reacts badly.... it isnt made for "all dogs" this being said we dont have good butchers around here sooooooo since Im Native American there is no "Off season" for hunting, my happy dummy goes to the Reservation year round for venison *waggles brows*
12/05/05  06:38am

 #564514


KrazyKelli
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   Message To: CelticTigeress   In reference to Message Id: 564446


 Feeding raw

oO Wait a second. I thought only cats were carnivorous. Dogs are omnivorous. They’re supposed to have the added greens for the added good nutrition that comes with them (like why we eat them). So in a fact, a dog can be given a full vegitarian diet with limited meat and survive far better than a cat (where the cat would go blind over time from a lack of meaty goodness and get thin, a dog would not). Though I’m not telling you to try out that experiment any time soon. Dogs should still have their share of meat, wether it be in a hunk of deer, cow, or a package of dogfood. =] Just wanted to get that controversy out of the way.
12/05/05  09:52am

 #564539


Peaches5856
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   Message To: KrazyKelli   In reference to Message Id: 564514


 Feeding raw

You are too lucky Celtic! I wish I had no off season. My season starts in Sept. and ends in Feb. by May/June I have NO VENISON AT ALL! Evolution, breeding, etc...have DEFINATELY changed a dog completely. Their immune systems, digestive systems, nervous systems, you name it, it has been affected. That is why you have to be careful of what you feed your dogs anymore and "test" everything just in case.
-Brandy
12/05/05  10:43am

 #564584


CelticTigeress
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   Message To: Peaches5856   In reference to Message Id: 564539


 Feeding raw

heh yeah I know, but I dont often hunt in the spring and summer, I usually get stuck feeding orphan babies....

Dogs are omniverous to a point but still need the bone mass for calcium intake, breeding and evolution of the dog species has made them more tolerable to eating certain foods more so then felines but the felines have not been quite as downbred as the canine.However I have a cat that eats vegetables and her catfood, she does fine with a good portion, animals systems are funny that way, for example.... not all humans can go vegetarian, not all humans can go strictly carnivore... some can some cant in the long run animals arent that different from us.

Kelli and Brandy both have proven good points regardless of anothers comment on here that dogs are carnivores and HAVE to have meat.... not really it all varies on the dogs system besides... have you ever read the ingrediants on a bag of dog food? lets see...wheat whey corn flour, ground marrow meat ect ect ect...so technically dogs arent strictly carnivores
12/05/05  11:42am

 #564765


TurtleBites
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   Message To: CelticTigeress   In reference to Message Id: 564584


 Feeding raw

is it bad that i only feed my dogs dog food?they get some veggies also,my honey loves broccoli! but i feed them iams (for fat dogs shhh honey don’t know).iams is a good dog food isn’t it?

i have been also having issues with people feeding them people foods...we just moved in with someone that has a VERY fat annoying little ankle bitter mutt dog that barks constantly...this dog is going to die because of they way they feed her...but now that we live there they give my dogs people food and it pisses me off...so now I’m forced to lock them in the other room while we eat so they don’t beg (they never use to beg) and get peoples left overs...its very frustrating...i tell them the risks and they say they wont but yet they still dog...its a mess around here.


is it expensive to feed dogs on raw?like if your only way is to get it from a butcher?
12/05/05  03:18pm

 #564778


KrazyKelli
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   Message To: TurtleBites   In reference to Message Id: 564765


 Feeding raw

Nah, your dog will be fine on only dog foods. It is, as you said, better than only feeding your dog people food (And trust me, I know how you feel. I’m living with a feral little pain in the backside terrier that my sister dumped on the family. And it took a vet and two behaviorists before my mother finally realized that giving My corgi peoplefood was eventually going to kill him from weighing too much).

Haven’t heard any bad things about iams.

And giving your dog vegis is fine... So long as there isn’t any added ingredients on it (like pepper, salt, butter, etc). The more bare the vegi is, the better... Though washing it before giving it to your dog is still a good idea... I use to give Yuki small carrots. Now, if he’s hungry, I give him an icecube... Minutes of entertainment right there.
12/05/05  03:30pm

 #564865


TurtleBites
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   Message To: KrazyKelli   In reference to Message Id: 564778


 Feeding raw

oh man my honey LOVES carrots! i think Trial only eats them because he doesn’t want Honey to get his..lol.

and OH man does the little dog here annoy me! i have never in my live known a dog to be so annoying....if anyone is trying to talk to the owner of the dog she sit in front of them and barks constantly(and he does nothing!!!)...you just have to sit and have a conversation over the dog...and EVERY morning at like 7am the dog is up and barking at something...and shes mean...she even bites at the kids when they are loud...and i think that’s terrible..my dogs are so gentle with the kids...and god help us all if the door bell rings!...iv never hated an animal before in my life...till now...are most little dogs like that?iv never owned a small dog and really don’t like them much...some i do...like little weeny dogs..i love them...oops sorry to get off subject!

i should take a pic of her..the owner got her hair cut like a freakin lion..its ridiculous!
12/05/05  05:11pm

 #564867


TurtleBites
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   Message To: KrazyKelli   In reference to Message Id: 564778


 Feeding raw

oh man my honey LOVES carrots! i think Trial only eats them because he doesn’t want Honey to get his..lol.

and OH man does the little dog here annoy me! i have never in my live known a dog to be so annoying....if anyone is trying to talk to the owner of the dog she sit in front of them and barks constantly(and he does nothing!!!)...you just have to sit and have a conversation over the dog...and EVERY morning at like 7am the dog is up and barking at something...and shes mean...she even bites at the kids when they are loud...and i think that’s terrible..my dogs are so gentle with the kids...and god help us all if the door bell rings!...iv never hated an animal before in my life...till now...are most little dogs like that?iv never owned a small dog and really don’t like them much...some i do...like little weeny dogs..i love them...oops sorry to get off subject!

i should take a pic of her..the owner got her hair cut like a freakin lion..its ridiculous!
12/05/05  05:11pm

 #564971


Metz
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   Message To: TurtleBites   In reference to Message Id: 564867


 Feeding raw

Sorry guys but dogs are not omnivores, contrary to what the pet food industry and some BARF feeders would like us to believe. While they are not "obligate" carnivores like cats because, unlike cats, if a dog is starving they will eat vegetation and other types of non meat based *food*, their digestive systems, from the mouth to the anus, are NOT designed to process and digest vegetation. While feeding vegetation is not *bad* for them by any means and many, including my dog, do like vegetables and fruit, they can not break them down and digest them. That being said, a carnivore, be it a dog or cat, does not produce the enzymes either in their saliva, stomach, etc. to break down the complex carbohydrates that vegetation is made of. They can break down and thus absorb simple carbs, but not complex.
This is not anyone’s "theroy" or "belief" this is a fact. Unlike humans and herbavores, who have the wide, flat molars to grind and pulp vegetation, take a look inside your dogs’ mouths, they do not have them. Their teeth are that of a carnivore. Also, if you’re real bored, take a few slices of fruit or vegetables, get a good tablespoon of your dog’s saliva and add it to it. Then take some of your own and add it to another dish of veggies and let them sit for a few days and see what happens.
There’s some links to check out and see for yourself:
Carnovores/Omnivores
Digestive systems
Dogs’ Systems
Cats’ Systems

For those wondering about the health and *goodness" of commercial pet foods, here’s some links about that:
Consider Diet
Dog Food
Grains
Poisons in pet food
For those who say that "wolves eat the stomach contents of their herbavore prey, here’s a link on that from biologists who have lived with and studied wolves.....It’s near the end of the article but the whole thing is a neat read.
Hunting & Mealtime Here’s how the FDA its self "regulates" what’s put in commercial pet foods
FDAThis one talks about how commercial pet food is made from a vet who use to also be a veterinary meat inspector for the U.S. Department of Agriculture
How It’s Made
12/05/05  06:47pm

 #565156


Balfrog
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   Message To: Metz   In reference to Message Id: 564971


 Feeding raw

Quote:

Unlike humans and herbavores, who have the wide, flat molars to grind and pulp vegetation, take a look inside your dogs’ mouths, they do not have them. Their teeth are that of a carnivore.


Actually, dogs’ back teeth are flattened for the very purpose of grinding vegetation. Those teeth are very much like human molars. That is a fact.

I don’t know enough about dog food to join that debate. I just wanted to throw in my two cents’ worth on dog teeth.



12/05/05  09:07pm

 #565564


Peaches5856
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   Message To: Balfrog   In reference to Message Id: 565156


 Feeding raw

Here is a good link
Raw Fed

Dogs are in fact carnivores. They do not have grinding molars, all of their teeth are serrated/scissor for ripping meat. They can digest and enjoy vegetation though. My dogs have done it and loved it and Tabitha still does. She adores a treat of Broccoli and Carrot from time to time when I’m out feeding the rabbits. I also give her a wide variety of veggies frozen in summer months to give her something to do that will keep her occupied, but not overheat her like running jumping and playing and it helps to cool her down a bit...zuccini, cuccumber, yellow squash, eggplant, tomatoes, etc (i have a farm can you tell...lol). She loves them all. Really, it comes down to what the dog wants and doesn’t want to eat. I personally have never had problems giving any of my dogs or rescues veggies and having them digest them. So could they be omnivores? Sure, but for the most part they are carnies. Do I believe they are strict carnies, absolutely not, I’ve seen it, done it, and the dogs have eaten it...lol.
-Brandy
12/06/05  11:04am


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