Anonymous wrote:I do for one dog. Her coat has never looked better and her poop is tiny and decomposes rapidly. Her teeth stay clean from gnawing on bones (a big deal with little dogs!)

My other can’t handle it gastrointestinally, so she gets kibble.

I buy from a bulk dog food producer who sells premade “chubs” with the right formulations. I’ve also fed premade raw patties from the holistic pet store when I run out.

GNawing on bones is a sure fire way to crack a tooth - they should chew on anything that would hurt if it whacked you in the knee.....

I do for one dog. Her coat has never looked better and her poop is tiny and decomposes rapidly. Her teeth stay clean from gnawing on bones (a big deal with little dogs!)

My other can’t handle it gastrointestinally, so she gets kibble.

I buy from a bulk dog food producer who sells premade “chubs” with the right formulations. I’ve also fed premade raw patties from the holistic pet store when I run out.

Our vet really recommended against this.

DONT DO IT!!! The AVMA has come out against raw diets....cleanliness issues among other things.....and freeze dried doesn't mean germ free.....

We did raw (BARF) style for years with our Dane. She lived to be almost 13, with no health problems. She was grain intolerant, and this was before a lot of the good kibbles were easily available.

Our breeder fed raw, so it was a natural transition for us, although she also fed a cereal (I think it was oat) component.

We used to drive about 40 min to a more agricultural area to get bulk chicken backs and remnants- they would even do a very coarse grind for us. Organ and supplementary meats we got from our local butcher, and from other sources like hunters we knew and game farms.

Like PP, I’d spend a whole day mixing and storing meals in the deep freeze.

I’m not sure what it’s like these days, but there were really great forums and groups related to raw feeding. The people were super helpful.

You can certainly do this. Honest Kitchen is a great brand.
That said, many dogs have lived to ripe old ages on a steady diet of Ol' Roy.

Anonymous wrote:Why do you want to?

I wrote a research paper on raw diets for pets in college. There's a lot of details, but the gist was that they don't provide superior nutrition or better health, and come with serious risks. It's basically all marketing and just a waste of money, when commercial diets are often nutritionally superior and cheaper.

This is interesting- protein content of kibble is more than double of regular meat. Kidney failure is a huge problem in dogs after years of grinding that ug, stuff
Skin conditions, glaucoma, cancer
You must supplement with bone and organ meat it’s true. 80% muscle meat, 10% organ, 10% bone. A variety of different meats is best - venison, pork, beef, chicken. Pour boiling water over the bowl of meat to sterilize if you are paranoid (DH is) but dogs eat old garbage, etc “opportunistic feeders” and the only vegetable matter a dog would ever eat EVEr would be stomach contents of prey (and then it would likely be fermented)

My young Golden was being super picky about food and going on long food strikes with kibble, so I started making some of her food, not to eat exclusively but to use as a topper (she will eat the kibble mixed in, usually but not always). I looked into the pre-packaged companies and they were pretty pricey, but I did find this stuff one company makes that you sprinkle in with food (they provide recipes) and made a half batch. My dog did love it, but I have limited freezer space and really don't want her to be so high maintenance she only eats fresh food forever, but if I were going down that route, I think I would stick to making it myself and using this.

https://www.justfoodfordogs.com/diy/

Why do you want to?

I wrote a research paper on raw diets for pets in college. There's a lot of details, but the gist was that they don't provide superior nutrition or better health, and come with serious risks. It's basically all marketing and just a waste of money, when commercial diets are often nutritionally superior and cheaper.

It's not that hard to feed a raw diet if you use commercial raw food, although it is definitely more expensive than Purina Dog Chow.

My favorite is Bones & Co, but I can't get it at The Big Bad Woof anymore, unfortunately. I'm currently using Steve's Prey Diet patties. Best value for the quality and money from my research (and for my budget) for my biggish dog.

I have an 80-pound Lab and she is fed twice a day. She gets one defrosted patty plus additional food -- a combination of one or more of raw kefir, raw or cooked eggs, canned pumpkin, or defrosted frozen mixed veggies (carrots, cauliflower, broccoli) or similar.

We will defrost 3-4 patties at a time in a storage container while keeping the rest frozen. It does take up freezer space for sure. We have a downstairs fridge/freezer in our laundry room (which we had pre-dog as we have three kids and used to have au pairs), but if there's only one freezer and you're feeding a big dog it's definitely a commitment of freezer space.

Stella and Chewy’s Freeze dried patties. It’s raw but freeze dried so very easy to re-hydrate and serve. Quite expensive, so perhaps better for smaller dogs.

I did it on my own for 3 years and didn't mind it. I had a deep freezer and bought in bulk. 1 saturday every 6 weeks or so I would devote a few hours to breaking down meals into little carry out trays so I could just thaw one and give it to him each day. I did it in the bathtub for easy bleaching and cleanup.

that was pre-kids. no way could I handle all of that on my own now. we switched to a dehydrated food brand (honest kitchen) but my sister feeds her dogs prepackaged raw and says its a bit mroe expensive than doing it on your own but just as good quality-wise

You can get prepackaged meals. I think doing it on your own is too tedious, as you have to add trace minerals, vitamins, etc, etc

How would you do raw meat?

Does anyone follow this and what brand of food have you had luck with? What kind of dog?