There are a number of pros and cons to raw feeding for dogs. If you get it wrong there are risks to your dog’s health, and even your own family if your hygiene is poor. However, get it right and not only is it as safe as any complete commercial food, it can be even better for your dog’s body too. Raw feeding is not just a fad, it’s a genuinely viable alternative to intensively produced kibble or canned food.
Contents
- Methods of raw feeding
- The risks of raw meat and bones
- Potential health benefits
- Do dogs need carbohydrates?
How Dogs Eat Raw Meat
When we raw feed our dogs we don’t just give them meat as we’d have prepared on a plate. They eat almost the entire animal. So we give them bones and even some organs, as well as the flesh.
When your puppy eats a lump of flesh with a bone inside it, a chicken wing for example, or part of a rabbit, he first bites down on the bones using the big molars at the back of his jaw. This biting action crushes the bone within the meat to make the whole parcel of food more bendy and easier to swallow.
Even an eight week old puppy has a very powerful bite. My 8 week old Labrador and Spaniel puppies can crush the bone in a chicken wing, in a few seconds. These are bones as thick as your little finger.
Some owners choose to raw feed with just pre pared frozen packs of raw food, but most owners prepare it themselves from local butchers stores, farms or ranches.
The Risks Of Raw Feeding
Every time a puppy crunches up a bone this way, he is swallowing sharp fragments of broken bone. It is believed that raw bone fragments are softer and less dangerous than cooked bone fragments, but don’t kid yourself, there will be fragments, they will be sharp, and your puppy will swallow them.
No-one can tell you what the risks of swallowing these sharp bones might be. And fear of these risks puts many people off raw feeding.
It took me over a year of researching and asking questions before I took the plunge and started to raw feed my dogs, so great was my concern over this question. But now let’s put that risk into context.
I have been feeding my dogs on raw meaty bones now for around ten years. I usually have at least four dogs, and feed them once a day, more often when they are small. That means I have fed in the region of fourteen to twenty thousand ‘boney’ meals so far. With no adverse effects. Of course I could just be incredibly lucky.
Then I have friends who have far more dogs than I, and who have been feeding raw for far longer than me. Again, without incident, so we are talking about hundreds of thousands of raw meals with bones in here. Without adverse effects.
Again, it could be luck. But, whilst there is probably some risk involved in a puppy swallowing bones, it is looking increasingly likely to be quite a small one.
Impacted bone
When a dog gnaws away on a bone, especially a large bone, he swallows many small fragments of that bone. These fragments can collect in the intestine and cause a bit of a ‘traffic jam’ which prevents things moving along as they should.
At best this may cause your puppy to become constipated. At worst it could block the intestine completely, resulting in a medical emergency. Again, this has never happened to my own dogs, but some vets worry about dogs being fed raw for this reason.
Fractured teeth
Another problem with eating certain types of bone is fractured teeth. This may not seem like such a big deal to you. A broken tooth is not life threatening after all. But in dogs, dental treatment is not a simple matter. It requires a general anaesthetic which is not without risk, and putting the problem right will make a serious dent in your wallet.
The bones that break dogs’ teeth tend to be weight-bearing bones of larger mammals. These are much harder than rib bones for example, and more likely to cause tooth damage. So we need to make sure we don’t feed our puppies leg bones from large herbivores such as cattle, or sheep.
Feeding Bone Safely
Bearing in mind that raw fed dogs are not forming queues outside every local animal hospital, it is clear that there must be ways of raw feeding that avoid some or all of the risks. So let’s take a closer look
The first step in reducing the risk from bone is to feed bone and meat together. Ideally as nature intended with the bone on the inside and the muscle on the outside. This makes a ‘parcel’ of bone wrapped in meat and helps it all to slide down without injury to the dog.
Feeding bone and meat together (rather than recreational bones on their own) may also help to avoid the risk of impaction.
The risk of impaction can be also be reduced by making sure bone is an appropriate proportion of your dog’s diet. And by ensuring that your dog always has access to plenty of fresh drinking water. A dog that has just eaten a bony carcass needs to drink more than a dog that has just eaten some muscle meat.
The risk of infection
You may have seen pictures of tiny puppies munching on raw chicken wings and been horrified. Aren’t raw bones sharp and dangerous and crawling in germs? Especially chicken because we all know that dogs shouldn’t eat chicken bones, and chicken is widely known to be heaving in Salmonella, Campylobacter and other horrible pathogens.
Fortunately, these germs seem to have absolutely no effect whatsoever on the average dog.
Of course, there is bound to be an exception to this rule, so no-one can guarantee your dog will not get some horrible tummy bug from eating raw chicken. But again, thousands of dogs eat raw chicken, every day and come to no harm. Not to mention all the other foul substances that many dogs consume on a regular basis, including the faeces of other animals.
The fact is, dogs in general are able to cope with digesting pathogens which would make us very ill. There is however another risk from the pathogens in raw meat. And that risk is to the people that handle the dog.
The risk to your family
Obviously, you are sensible enough to take precautions when preparing raw meat. You don’t need me to tell you that you should store raw meat in a dedicated container in your fridge, and cut it up with tools and on a board, used only for this purpose. Washing your hands and all utensils thoroughly afterwards.
But remember that when a dog has eaten raw food, the fur around his mouth and on his front paws is likely to be heavily contaminated with any pathogens in his dinner. This can be a big problem if you have small children and they play with your dog.
Children are notoriously lax about hygiene. You will struggle to make sure they wash their hands effectively after any contact with a dog that has recently been exposed to raw meat. This is an important consideration.
You also need to consider that dogs are much more likely to be possessive over raw food than kibble. So you will need to make very sure that children do not disturb the dog when he is eating, or handle him for some time afterwards.
The challenges of training a raw fed puppy
Nowadays we train puppies with food. And small puppies have a lot to learn. This means using a lot of food in early training. As we don’t want our puppies to get fat, we use their daily food allowance for this purpose. This is extremely easy to do with kibble, and much harder to do with raw food. Especially raw meat on the bone, which is an essential part of a balanced raw diet.
All dogs need to be trained to some extent. And medium to large dogs need a lot of training to ensure that they are not a public nuisance. So training is not optional. Training is also a lot of fun if done properly, so you don’t want to miss out on this.
The benefits of raw feeding for dogs
You will hear all kinds of claims for health benefits in raw fed dogs. Here are a few of those ‘claims’
- Shinier coats
- Healthier teeth and gums
- Fewer allergies
- Better behavior
- Less obesity
- Reduced risk of bloat
- Healthy anal glands
- More energy
The problem is, there is little evidence for most of these claims. No formal studies have been carried out comparing the teeth, coats, skin and behavior for example of raw fed and kibble fed dogs. So how do we sort the facts from the myths?
No more smelly poop
The first and least disputable advantage of switching to raw food is not to your dog at all. It is to you. It’s about what comes out of your dog, not what goes in.
The poop produced by raw fed dogs is far less smelly and much smaller in quantity that the poop produced by kibble fed dogs. Which lets face it, smells appalling.
Raw fed dog poop is largely powdered bone, and smells of very little. This is of no interest to your dog, but a source of great pleasure to raw fed dog owners.
Reducing the risk of bloat
Bloat is a potentially fatal condition where the dog’s stomach becomes grossly distended. If the stomach rotates, the blood supply to it may be cut off and immediate veterinary treatment will be required to save the dog’s life.
One study, showed that dogs were more likely to suffer from bloat if they were fed on certain types of kibble. Another study (source) showed that dogs fed on dry food alone, were more likely to get bloat than dogs fed on wet food.
Fortunately most dogs are not particularly susceptible to bloat, but if you have a dog that is at risk such as a large, deep-chested dog, or a dog that has a close relative that suffered from bloat, then it might be worth taking this into consideration when choosing how to feed your dog.
Keeping anal glands healthy
This is a lovely topic – but maybe not one to read over the breakfast table! If you have ever seen a dog ‘scooting’ (dragging his bottom along the floor) you’ve probably seen a dog with anal gland issues.
Canine anal glands are located either side of the anus and are squeezed empty each time a dog empties his bowels. Or they should be.
If the dog’s bowel movements are frequently soft, these glands may not be emptied effectively and they can become inflamed or blocked and cause the dog irritation or discomfort. Scooting is one symptom of this
With a raw fed dog, this tends not to happen. There is a sound reason for this. His bowel movements are usually firm and the anal glands get emptied each time he empties them. This keeps them in good health, without the intervention of a human hand.
Of course, not all kibble fed dogs get anal gland problems, and somewhere there is probably a raw fed dog that does have them. But it is clear that claims for better anal gland health for raw fed dogs do seem to be well founded.
Feeding Raw Cleans Teeth
Perhaps the most frequently reported effect of raw feeding is improvements in dental health. My initial reasons for switching to raw included concerns about my dog’s teeth.
Even my younger dogs had teeth that were becoming heavily discolored on their kibble diets, and I had heard some great reports about the benefits of a raw diet on dogs’ dental health. Sure enough, within a few weeks on raw, my dogs were all flashing a great set of sparkling white teeth.
How bones clean teeth
Vets claim that a very high percentage of dogs nowadays suffer from dental problems and gum disease.
And of course scaled up teeth are not only a big deal to put right (under general anaesthetic), the treatment has to be repeated on a regular basis (at least once a year)
The reason that the raw diet keeps teeth and gums healthy, is two-fold, firstly the diet is free from carbohydrates and secondly the broken fragments of bone in the dog’s food have an abrasive action on the dog’s teeth, stripping off the gunk and leaving them nice and clean.
There is an alternative of course, you could teach your dog to let you clean his teeth morning and evening, just as you do your children.
The difference is that you’ll have to do it for him for the rest of his life, and if you have more than one dog, this could be quite time consuming. The fact is, most people just don’t bother.
Raw Feeding To Resolve Weight Issues
It is quite difficult to overfeed a dog on raw food. Dogs tend not to overeat on raw and without the sugars in their diet, seem less inclined to put on weight.
This is actually a bigger bonus than it might seem at first glance, because obesity is a huge problem for dogs at the current time, and because obesity is associated with a whole range of other health problems.
While it is true that your kibble fed dog need not be overweight, the sad fact is, many, if not most, are.
The joy of eating
There is no doubt at all that dogs adore raw meat and bones. A bowlful of kibble takes less than three minutes for the average dog to consume.
He then has until his next mealtime to dream about food.
A chunk of meaty ribcage, a rabbit, or a chicken back will last a dog up to ten times longer and provide huge amounts of blissful enjoyment.
This pleasure is difficult to measure or balance against other factors, but there is no doubt that it exists.
Allergies
The evidence for raw feeding as a solution for allergies is anecdotal. That is to say, no studies have been done that support the claims people make for changes in their dogs’ skin conditions as a result of switching to raw.
That being said, most kibbles contain grain of some kind, often in the form of wheat, corn or rice. They often also contain artificial flavourings or colorings. It is not impossible therefore that your dog could be allergic to one or more of the constituents of his dry food.
The great carbohydrate debate
We should probably mention carbohydrates again at this point because the key difference between dry food and raw (apart from the water content) is that kibble is carbohydrate based.
One of the reasons that I feel more comfortable feeding my dogs on a raw diet is that I am concerned about the long term effects of feeding large quantities of carbohydrates to an animal that is primarily constructed to process and digest carcasses.
Concerns about grain
It is true that modern dogs have evolved some ability to digest grain to some degree, as have we humans.
But we are only recently discovering the impact of massive grain consumption on the human population, and it isn’t looking good. I am not convinced it is good for dogs either.
Grain is a relatively recent introduction into the diets of both man and dogs. A change that has occurred only since the dawn of agriculture.
And we, and our dogs are still in possession of the digestive systems that stood us in good stead when we were social predators, eating meat, leaves, roots and berries.
Not everyone agrees of course, that carbohydrates in large quantities are bad. Either for dogs or humans. But science is certainly changing its opinion on the virtues of living on a starch based diet.
This is something I see as even less appropriate for dogs than it is for you and me.
The Pros and Cons of Raw Feeding for Dogs
The benefits of feeding raw are likely to include great dental health (and fresh breath) This may be more important than it at first seems. There is evidence that poor dental health impacts on our body’s immune system and general health, and there is no reason to suppose that this does not also apply to dogs. Some people report improvements in allergies (skin conditions and tummy troubles) in dogs after switching to raw, though this is not yet proven Cleaning up after your dog will be more pleasant when he is raw fed, and your dog will enjoy his mealtimes a whole lot more than he did before.
The disadvantages of raw feeding are that there may be some risks. The risk of internal injury or impaction from bone, and the risk of infection, both to your dog and your family. The risks may be smaller than once thought but we have no way of knowing for sure. This is an especially important consideration where children are involved.
Balanced against these risks are the risk of bloat, in kibble fed dogs (probably only relevant if you have a susceptible dog) and the, as yet unproven, concerns that I and others share about feeding a lot of carbohydrates to dogs.
jeremiah locklear says
hello
Mark Mason says
Loved your articles. The only debate I have would be the effect of large numbers of carbs. It’s bad for everyone. Being a recently diagnosed diabetic, I now know how bad carbs are for us and for other animals. This can lead to diabetes in your dog as well.
Luke Smith says
Thanks for mentioning that raw feeding for dogs can put them into a great risk due to the pathogens found in the food. My dog is fond of eating fresh bones, and I’m getting anxious now that I read your article because he might have digestive infestations. Later after work, I’ll make sure to check up my dog and buy him the suitable feeds that he should be eating.
Mariella Yu says
I think it’s safe to say that the benefits of feeding your dog the kind of food they’re actually meant to eat are going to strongly outweigh any of the negatives.
Patsy says
I have raw mince chicken beef lamb & salmon is it best fed raw or cookes with veggies paster n rice MY boy is American bull staffy X 47kgs 7 y/0
Piyush Sopory says
I have now a 12 week old gsd for a month. He was fed kibble and can wet food by the breeder. I have had him on raw from day 1. I have invested in a grinder that can grind chicken bones. I buy a $6 bag of 10 pound chicken quarters. Throw away maybe 50% of fat, Grind the chicken and bones. Add some gizzards and chicken or beef liver. The puppy loves it and clearly the poop is rock solid, no stink. But I have made mistakes and he had lose stools for a week that could be one of the reasons- I was clearly overfeeding and I mixed minced beef with the chicken. It could be one or the other making the mess. I cut his food intake in half and took the mixed beef out now- immediately problem solved and back to form small poops. And the coats are shiny, dogs doesn’t small at all like neighbors dogs.
Jeff says
The thing is when you make a mistake and your dog gets the “runs.” It’s easy to figure out what went wrong because you control all the ingredients. I was able to figure out what foods all of my dogs could and could not eat because I know exactly what goes in the bowl. It is easy to remedy problems that arise because we have that knowledge.
Jeannine Findley says
I have a 6mo. old rough coat Jack Russell, I started on kibble and switched to raw (answers, and Steves) pre-made. I did because she eats her poop and was licking her feet and mostly for her teeth, all my kibble fed dogs have had bad teeth and died of cancer. My puppies teeth are beautiful and white, she doesn’t lick her feet unless she is outside and they are wet. She still eats her poop ick. I hope I’m doing the best for her , training her with freeze dried , I hope its best because its a hassle and I worry about her nips and her beard with bad stuff!!!!
Baboi George says
We’ve a four month old Red Setter and normally fed on dry food, which she eats very reluctantly ! Since getting thinner we started her giving chicken with rice meal in addition, then she put on weight. Now she has shiny coat too ! How does the chicken bones constitute in stomach when compared to other bones as far as bloat is concerned in this breed, as is very prominent ??
SmitdaPit says
I fed my APBT a diet of puppy chow mixed with tuna in oil twice a day with a midday supplement of raw thawed chicked (thigh n leg) with no ill side effects. When i bred my female APBT with him I immediately started her on the same diet except an extra thigh n leg at night for the puppies. Her first litter produced 10 exceptional puppies with no runt. Also never experienced ill side effects.
Tami kartz says
You feed kibbles first then? This raw is very confusing to me. I would like to feed my new puppy kibble and raw. Any suggestions
Amalia says
Hi! We are fans of feeding raw. We had a German Shepard whose life was changed for the better with raw. In fact, all he could eat was chicken thighs and gizzards. We now have a 4 month old puppy, Catahoula/Husky mix. Is it advisable to feed larger pieces of meaty bones? Or should we try to buy just necks and backs until she’s a bit older? I prefer to give her thighs to cut cost while supplementing with the pricier stuff her stomach can handle it. Is this a good idea for a four month old puppy?
JoAnn Collacchi says
I am feeding chicken to my dog . She has not poop in a week. Took her to vet he was not concerned. Should I be ?
Sheila Snow says
My 12 year old cavalier has chronic heart problems. We feed him raw mince. Have done all his life as a treat maybe twice a week. Now we feed him all the time mixed with his biscuits. I think it’s what keeping him going
Learning Raw With Roxane says
Lorna, Hair contains nutrients and is perfectly healthy for dogs to eat. All raw herbivore game meats, and fish should be frozen 3 weeks at 5 degree Fahrenheit or -15C before being served. If your dog got sick on a deer leg it could have been from eating too much bone, and/or from eating parasites and worms if you didn’t freeze it first.
jeremiah locklear says
hi
Lisa Silcock says
Hi, we have a 4.5 month old border collie and I’m in the middle of switching her from kibble to home made raw food. I’m a caterer by profession and reckon I can deal with catering for my dog too but have been concerned by the conflicting and confusing information out there about the correct dietary balance for dogs and haven’t found a huge amount about the specific needs of puppies on BARF diets. I’ve also found quite a few raw dog food sites to be somewhat hysterical and evangelical in tone and ultimately unconvincing. This site, by contrast, is a breath of fresh air. Balanced, calm, scientific but simply and clearly written, and with plenty of informative detail. Well done and thank you – much more helpful than anything I’ve yet come across.
Pippa says
Thanks Lisa, so glad you found this helpful 🙂
zach says
i have been feeding my dog a raw diet for about a week now, i switched from acana and origin to primal pronto. it is a pre made raw diet in a bag that is frozen like meat pellets. i wanted to do a more natural diet but my fiance does not feel comfortable. she has told me that my dog seems “not all there” since i switched her food, which makes me concerned because i thought she would be more energetic. she thinks that origin and acana are close enough to a raw diet and thinks i should switch back. is there a period when switching the dog that they lose energy, or get sad, or confused? when there body detoxes mabey? is there any better food that is pre made that is closer to a real raw diet and not ground up? please give me some ideas
Learning Raw With Roxane says
Zach, Raw fed dogs are known to become calmer and less hyper. Kibble is full of carbs which can cause sugar spikes in the blood and obnoxious behavior.
Leigh says
I’ve only been feeding my 6 dogs raw for a few weeks but they are all thriving on it. I add vegetables to it. They are on a mince which I get from a local provider of raw and they have rabbit which has offal & ground bone in it. I also make treats in the dehydrator for them using beef and all types of liver. The reason for me changing them to raw is because my eldest male is 11 and has just been diagnosed with diabetes. They were all on kibble tailored made for each dogs needs but I’m convinced that this has made my boy develop the diabetes. As soon as we had the diagnosis we changed all of them onto raw and it was amazing because our lad shows no signs of his condition. Our vet is amazed. To prove the fact that raw is beneficial to their wellbeing, our lad got into the cupboard where I kept the biscuit and within 20 mins of him eating the biscuit he couldn’t stop himself from peeing and was back drinking loads of water. I’m totally sold on raw
Bob Filderman says
Hi Pippa,
I came across your site in my quest to further my education about raw diets. I’m writing a book about (Dog) Food For Thought. I wonder if I may share your article in my book about raw food. Let me know how you feel about that
Lucy says
Hi Bob, All content on this website is subject to copyright. I am afraid that you may not therefore share anything written on this website in your publication. I am however pleased that you have found it interesting, and wish you all the best with your book. Lucy
Val Burtenshaw says
I have fed my all my dogs raw ( I used to buy the tripe whole and cut it up and freeze) All my dogs were healthy and had all there teeth when they died. I have a 13 yr old J R and people are very surprised when I say he is 13. I am now getting a puppy just after Christmas a Boarder Collie and he too will be fed raw. I found your article very interesting as I did wounder about what age to give things like chicken and ducks wings. My JR has ducks necks which I chop into 3 bits so they is a bit smaller for him.
Brad says
Hi Pippa,
I read through your post and I have been feeding raw for over 3 years now. A few trial and error (from feeding only livers in one day instead of mixing them with other meat etc). The one thing I also have learnt that I find it works for me when I cut the meat into smaller pieces and debone the chicken with some meat still attached and feed them like that. and also I can get bone meals or MDM (the ones they use in making viennas) as it has broken down all the bones and meats and etc. and I also feed them about 5 to 10% of fruit and veg pulp (from the juicer) mixed into their food. You mentioned about sugar and carb… I would appreciate your opinion on that.
For large bones and pieces… I had a few scares… one of my jack russel decided to SWALLOW the chicken thigh and it got blocked in his mouth and I had to literally pulled it out to save his life (twice in fact). So I decided it was end of this exercise so I tend to feed them chunks of meat without solid bones first. At the same time, they way the meat cut by the commercial butcher also pose a lot of threats as from the chops to beef necks (chicken necks are fine) to certain leg cuts etc. These bones CANNOT be digested in my opinion (chicken and pigs are generally fine but not sheep and cows) and due to their sharpness and sizes… they can get blocked in their mouth and become life threatening. so in this case, I would rather feed them a LARGE bone uncut or cut in diagonal so it becomes two pieces where the bone marrows get exposed so they can eat that as well as chew on the bones. What is your opinion on that? Other than that, I think I am doing a pretty job and any advise and suggestions are welcome. And yes, the benefits of the dogs going on raw (which I agree with you ) are – less doggy smell, clean fur with no excessive grease (yellow furs), clean teeth, clean breathe, love their food time, less poop and smelly poop and easily disintegrate into the soil, more energetic, happy dogs, less allergy and infections and less fleas (funny enough). white teeth (depends on the dogs.. I have one with more yellow and rest of them are white) . I guess I shall end this here… Please do feel free to comment and give more advice and exchange of informations.
Lucy says
Hi Jo, Thanks for your comment! At the end of the article there is a link to our How To Feed Your Puppy On Natural Raw Food article. This talks in detail about the variety required – including offal 😉 Best wishes, Lucy
Kimberly Gauthier says
I’ve been feeding my four dogs a raw food diet for 3 years now and I the benefits have been astounding. One of my dogs had food and environmental allergies – now gone. All of our dogs are at a healthy weight, active, well behaved, have great teeth, small poop,and look gorgeous.
I was lucky enough to find a vet in my town who is a proponent of raw feeding and a wealth of knowledge.
I was nervous about feeding raw bones to my dogs, but what helped was to try the bones, watch the dogs, and figure out what bones worked for the dogs. I don’t feed rib bones, because they break off in long slivers that make me nervous. Our dogs get duck necks, lamb necks, beef knuckle bones, and beef kneecaps. We’ve never had an issue and I always supervise consumption.
If you have the time to learn about the diet, it’s well worth the change, in my opinion. Two of our dogs switched over at 3 years old. The other two switched over at 6 weeks old.
I’m wrapping up my Quick Start Guide to Raw Feeding for Dogs to help others with their decision about the diet.
Pippa says
It’s great to have a supportive vet – makes all the difference 🙂
Tammy curry says
Where do you find all these foods? Do grocery stores carry this?
Lois says
Hi you answered my question I have an old dogs with both allergies mentioned and I’m hoping it helps her. ThanksLois
Stressed puppy parent to be! says
Hi Pippa
Thank you for the unbiased article about the pros and cons of raw feeding. We are getting a golden retriever puppy soon and he has been fed on a BARF diet. After doing a lot of reading on the BARF diet, I am not a big fan as we don’t have the freezer space and don’t want to take the risk with 2 young grandchildren that will be around the new puppy. Also I just don’t feel confident that I will be doing things correctly and don’t want the stress.
How do we go about making a transition from Raw to Kibble? The breeder says they have occasionally had some Eden complete in addition to raw. I don’t want to ask the breeder, as they are so strongly in favour of a BARF diet. We would feed Eden, as it seems a good, grain free kibble.
I don’t want to do anything that will harm our new puppy and some people have said you shouldn’t mix raw with kibble, so its not like just changing from one brand of kibble to another.
Can you help as the whole thing is really stressing me out!
thank you
Pippa says
Hi there, I haven’t seen any evidence that mixing kibble and raw is dangerous – lots of opinions but no evidence. So I would simply add a little kibble to your dog’s meals each day, and reduce his raw food little by little, until the switch is complete. If he gets an upset tummy, go back to raw, and add the kibble more slowly, a tiny bit more each day.
2 on raw, two on kibble says
Love your balanced approach, Pippa. No, you can’t please everyone but you do a great job regardless. Keep up the good work!
Sue says
You have to remember pet shop/store dog food.
Is like take away fast food.
Full of grains,wheat,fillers,preservatives,corn and very little meat scrap. I see day in day out dogs with horrible skin,hot spots, itching,Flaky skin and more. . and I find they are feeding the worst of dog food , . yet indinile about it.
O well.
I’m not saying all dry food is bad but stay away from a lot of the cheaper ones and there is great benefits to raw on the side. Dogs are meat eaters not rice,corn eaters.
Pippa says
Sorry you didn’t like the article, though I understand I can’t always please everyone. 🙂
However, I am absolutely committed to giving people factual, objective, evidence based information. And I will always update information if new evidence comes to light. So, I’ll give you a few days to be specific about where you think the mistakes are in this article. Then I’ll remove this comment as it serves no purpose unless it identifies the issues concerned.
Mario says
Hi, we also feed successful raw from 10 weeks of age on to our now 14 month old Labrador. Also going for the pray model. There are ( in the UK) plenty of small company’s , offering well balanced raw complete food based on 80% meet, 10% bone, 5% liver and 5% other offal. We just had the pooch in to the Vet for the first annual check and he is super healthy all round, fur, teeth, gum, long, heart, everything. Regards to training treats, we use a dehydrator and use hearts, liver, lung and other meets , dehydrated as trainings treats , you also get lots of natural treats for training now in pet shops or online.
Isis says
Hi Pippa, I’m a vet, from Spain. My name is Isis and i live with six dogs , sled dogs (just for fun) I’m always talking about this … reading abut this … but I’ve never read such a great article. I love it, and i will recommend it 🙂
I feed muy dogs dry food, beause of my way of life and their way of life ( i have not enough time) but when we are training we give them an extra, with some whole fish. I agree with Cat, and I worry about unbalanced diets.
I worry about this kind of diet in kennels (more dogs, less time for lunch, less money) too.
I ‘ve been working at zoos, and I know the difficulties of a correctly diet.
Just congrats for your article, your work, i love it. I know you by your book (How dogs learn (Spanish translation)
i’ll be waiting for more 😀
Best wishes
Isis
Tam says
Hi Pippa,
We are considering getting our first puppy and it’s proving a hard decision to make! We were looking to rehome a dog but our kids are young, 10, 7 and 5, and the rescue centre won’t give us a mature dog. I do worry that a puppy will be more work than I’m ready for especially as I definitely want to feed raw. Our family live a paleo lifestyle (as it sounds like you do) so I see no good reason to feed any new addition to the family the equivalent of chicken nuggets and chips at every meal. I didn’t, however, consider the problem of a puppy covered in raw meat juices and the probability of contamination with the kids, which is the quite oversight on my behalf.
Would you say that a reasonable compromise would be to clean the pup’s face and paws with a wet cloth and maybe a bit of (homemade, natural) soap after meals? Or would this affect the pup’s skin? I do believe my kids’ guts are well enough equipped to handle some bugs as I give them water kefir nearly daily and put the grains into smoothies for them, but I’m not so hippy-dippy as to ignore the possibility of salmonella poisoning.
I’ve just bought your puppy rearing book as well as the one by Dr. Tom, and I’m guessing you may have a solution in there so I’ll get reading in the meantime, but if you have any advice to offer up I’d be very grateful. I do appreciate that you’re so unbiased and logical in your approach, it’s a rare quality in our Information Age. And perfect for people like me who are total tree-huggers at heart but want to make the best use of available technology!
Tam x
Tamara says
Tam did you ever get a response to your question and/or what did you decide? I am in exactly the same situation.
Cat says
Hi, this is a great article. I’ve personally been feeding exclusively RAW for a couple of years having tried a number of other approaches first. I’m also a mature student studying veterinary medicine. RAW feeding is still widely frowned upon in the veterinary world and many of their concerns are not without merit although the resistance to finding out more troubles me. With the increasing interest in RAW it just seems good practice to find out as much as you can to inform your clients to the best of your abilities. One particular concern that comes up time and again when I mention RAW to vets is “nutritional completeness”. Many owners who concoct diets at home are not properly equipped or informed to create a diet for their dogs that contains the correct vitamins, minerals etc in the correct proportions. Of course, this is easily overcome by using one of the high quality commercial diets available by post or in the freezer section of an increasing number of pet shops. I’m not saying it is impossible to make a healthy diet at home but it is far more complicated than most people realise and it seems to be one of the risks that is commonly skipped over when the pros and cons are discussed.
Pippa says
Hi Cat, and thanks for your comment. I think it is both complicated and simple. After all, we don’t feed out children on homogenised nuggets for fear of giving them an unbalanced diet. Though I would agree with those that claim many kids or not getting optimal nutrition either. 🙂
I use the whole prey model, which is easier in some ways than trying to get a balance with the Barf system. But we’ll be looking in more detail at the various options over the coming weeks, in order to provide and objective and balanced resource to every aspect of raw feeding. Including the practicalities – always happy to consider contributions from veterinary professionals too 🙂
Cat says
That would be great – I look forward to reading your upcoming articles. Perhaps some of the research published by UC Davies is of interest to you. http://news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=10666. Whilst it involved home made diets in general rather than RAW specifically it is rare solid evidence so is widely cited in discussions on the subject.
Pippa says
Thanks Cat, I’ll check it out 🙂
Rachel says
Further to whether meals are ‘balanced’ or ‘nutritionally complete’ it should be noted that there is no scientific definition for these terms. NRC guidelines are based on ‘pure’ individual nutrients such as those used during testing – not ‘whole’ foods – and as such does not take into account bioavailability of nutrients, either alone or in concert. The levels set by NRC can only be used to set ‘safe levels’ not optimum requirements – the massive differences between NRC and AAF supports this
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=6&fid=8404193&jid=BJN&volumeId=106&issueId=S1&aid=8404192&bodyId=&membershipNumber=&societyETOCSession=&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S000711451100184X