I've heard ALOT of good things about raw feeding, infact i don't think i've really heard any bad stuff, but there must be some down points about it Apart from having to handle the meat etc are there any risks? and how can i avoid them? Obviously keeping the preparation area clean helps with germs etc
I want to know EVERYTHING there is good and bad about raw feeding before i start

I am no expert: however i change Ellie's diet over a year ago and havent really looked back:

Pro's

Piece of mind that ellie is eating as nature intended
No artificial additives etc in her diet
She is content and not hyper
poo's firm and less of them
teeth are pearlly white
coat is glossy
not medical problems at all
Generally a happy health dog

Cons

mess on kitchen floor as she does like to drag her food out of her food tray around the kitchen.

That sounds like a lot of pro's to me and nothing to worry about on the down side. This may sound naive, but I didn't realise feeding raw was good for them
Benji has bones, and the odd egg, but his main diet is wholegrain brown rice with fresh veggies & liver,chicken,heart or suchlike, but I blanche it first, and obviously the rice & veg is cooked.
Do you just feed raw meat? And how much of it?

I'd also like to know if it's true that freezing the meat kills off any bacteria etc that may cause problems, i've read it a few times and was wondering if it was true, thanks

Now I must admit I am NO expert on raw, I have only fed it to Sophie since June/July (we got her in May), however I have not seen a negative in raw.

She does get a little runny if she has too much offal, but we have recently put her on rabbit and she loves it!! No more runny poo's - just fluffy (sorry!!!!)

the only meat I do freeze is rabbit as I know it kills fleas etc, but if it is fit for human consumption I let her have it. Saying that, she has taken a trotter out into the garden and buried it for 3 days before she ate it.... no tummy troubles either!!







Not sure if this helps or not

I've never heard of fluffy poo before

Ellie is 17kg so i feed her approx 500 - 600g aday her diet is as follows:

1/3 a rabbit each meal with jacket on 4 days a week

The other 3 day is a mixture of:

chicken legs or thighs
lamb breast
pork belly
tinned sardines
raw egg
all offal
natural yoghurt now and then

i do freeze the rabbits when i get then to kill any fleas etc, but other meat is fine as it is.

as mentioned is ellie has to much offal her poo's are a little loose.

do not worry about bacteria from raw meat, it might be harmful to humans but dogs are fine, just look at what they pick up and eat if out walking.

Some of the pros of raw feeding have already been mentioned, although with homecooked rations you also have many of the advantages. I also think it's more natural in a way, although I know that nature doesn't have any intentions, and doesn't always do what is best for an individual - quite the contrary. But the benefit of fresh ingredients from local production is one I wouldn't want to miss. Within the limits of the "raw" restriction, you can also suit the diet to the dogs individual needs.

On the down side, you need large freezer space and the storage will cost you. Depending on where you live and your resources, raw feeding is also much more expensive. It is also more time consuming in most cases. And it is not so simple to bring your dog to a casual dog-sitter if he won't eat anything but his raw diet - the same applies for holidays with your dog. The problem of training a dog to eat without leaving a mess in a hotel room has been hinted at, I think. But a more important point in my opinion is that you need to know what you're doing. Ok, so if feeding kibble it is good to know about canine needs, too, but the cases of gross malnutrition have diminished since the advent of ready-made balanced diets. It is not enough to just feed a bowl of what your butcher has thrown out after slaughtering day after day. Dogs are very tolerant about a wide varieties of diets, but the more susceptible individuals will react to unbalanced feeding sooner. So, one should know how to get the necessary nutrients and vitamins into the dog.

There are also a lot of variable points. Raw diets can be very versatile, which I think is a big advantages in feeding your dog. But some are also very one-sided and restricted, which is fine as long the animal does ok with it, but might pose a problem in case of sickness or another need for a change of diet. I also don't understand the need for separation into strict raw feeding and feeding some things cooked. There are things that are harmful raw, but can be used without problems if cooked or suitably prepared in an other way. I frankly admit I have a problem with squandering our planet's resources by refusing to use them in a efficient way. But I realize that for some this might not be a consideration at all.

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What is harmful when fed raw?

Yeah tell me too please
By the looks and sounds of what's going on with many dogs today I would say that there are more dogs reacting to commercial food than there are dogs having problems eating a raw diet, hence why so many people are switching over to feeding raw, I rarely hear of anyone switching back again once their dogs eat raw.

As for being more expensive to feed than commercial food, well it might be where you live but in this country I don't think so. Time consuming Again I can't see how you make that out! What's so time consuming? The fact that your dog actually takes the time to eat it's food while it chews happily away instead of bolting down a load of dry stuff which then swells up in it's tummy and makes it thirsty? I find nothing time consuming about feeding a raw diet, even the fact that I chop up a meal once a week for 9 dogs, oh let's see that takes me about 20 minutes once a week, not too bad a sacrifice to me it isn't.
I can't believe you make sounding raw such a pain in the backside and trying to put across that it's a difficult and scientific thing to do, that's a load of codswallop, it's nothing of the sort
Name me one thing that you think should not be fed raw to a dog that should be fed cooked instead then and why, please

Potatoes, for example, or rice, and so on, because otherwise the dog can't digest it....... Also eel, I think (there's something poisonous in raw eel), and (on the continent) pork. Of course pork can be fed raw, if one is sure it's free from that virus, but for me the risk is too great here.

I did not say it gives too much to do, but just compared it to reaching into a bag of kibble. I cetrainly don't begrudge the time I need to drive around fetching the meat, portioning and freezing it and prepare the meals! I am also aware that for those who feed meat and bone only, it's quicker.

I did not say feeding needs do be a science, but I do think one should know what one is doing and not just throw anything handy into the food bowl! Especially if you're feeding a puppy - getting it wrong can seriously damage the bones.

I do not doubt that there are many dogs that thrive on the "just feed anything raw and don't worry" approach, but that's not the point. The manufacturers of Pedigree or similar stuff can cite many examples too of dogs living to a healthy old age, but still I would not recommend it. But there are dogs that have become ill from well intentioned raw feeding done without proper knowledge what to feed.

I do not know why some raw feeders become so missionary that they cannot tolerate the idea that for some people there might be some drawbacks to raw feeding. I think raw feeding is a good thing, but that doesn't mean I must become blind to possible drawbacks.

And yes, there are people who switch back from feeding raw. But that's not the question here.

Susanna

Gordon Bennett Susanna I know full well that potatoes shouldn't be fed raw to a dog, now if you had stated this in the first place then I wouldn't have asked you what you meant. If when replying to posts on raw feeding you could make this clear in the first place I'm sure you'll get your point across much easier without the likes of me jumping down your throat about it
Reaching into a bag of kibble is no more time consuming than reaching into the fridge for a piece of raw meat.
I have produced along with Selina a raw diet fact/info sheet which outlines a diet for the average Springer which when followed should give someone new to raw meat and bone feeding all the things they need to know and feed. If anyone would like a copy please email me and I'll happily send one out to you. I like to think with my knowledge of feeding a raw meat and bone diet to my dogs throughout many years that I am sufficiently capable of producing and supplying such info, done properly there should be no problems, I am aware that there are some dogs that cannot tolerate a raw meat and bone diet, aware yes but as to why they wouldn't be able to tolerate anything raw when it comes to meat and bone is beyond me. It can be a trial and error thing but the benefits I believe surely out way the negatives when what's being fed are free from the sort of things contained in commercial foodstuffs.
As for being missionary, presumably this is aimed at me else I don't know why you brought it up, well I'd like to make it perfectly clear that I wouldn't expect people to raw feed their dogs raw meat and bones if they were not happy to do so, so in that respect I do not see myself as such thank you very much.

Sandy

I've fed my dogs raw for over a year now, and I can't recommend it enough.

There are other factors that have made me very happy - their teeth, their poo's (sorry but firmer and there's a whole lot less of it too!), their coats, they have nothing at all medically wrong with them (touch wood), - but the very biggest one that would not get me to switch back to kibble is that my dogs are happy! You can see their excitement over their raw food, they munch and take time to enjoy, rather than inhale it, and they are just happy little souls! Happy not overly hyper!

I don't have one single drawback or negative thing to say about raw. At all.

Storage space - I bought an extra freezer just for the dogs.

Cost - found it be no different, if anything it's a little cheaper, depending on what meats I get them. My farm shop gives away a lot of bones and trotters etc for free, rabbit is expensive here and I so wish I lived more in the countryside where it appears to be cheaper, but not to worry it just means they have it once a week rather than everyday.

Time consuming - how?! If its frozen I take it out the freezer the night before ready for the next day. There's no weighing out of kibble portions, no tipping out a kibble bag into a water tight sealed container to stop it going soggy or mouldy... The most I have to do is chop something up or open a can of tuna!

Messy... Nope. The dogs eat in the kitchen or hall. The only time they get a bowl is when it's offal or with an egg... if it's something particularly messy I leave it not completely defrosted so that it's less of a mess, but y'know even if they make a bit of a mess with something it all cleans it's only like the mess a kid can make...

I love my dogs... I wish that I had known the benefits of raw years ago when I had my old dog Charlie, I truly believe he would have been so much better off with a natural diet... But at least I know now and I would never feed a dog anything but raw.. no more dog treats from supermarkets, no more tinned sloppy dog food, no more artificial junk...

Just my opinion...


ps am I being daft, but of course you wouldn't feed potatoes or rice raw or probably vegetables without cooking, but why would you feed a dog these in the first place?! My dogs don't get veggies or rice...?!

If I remember right, Ian Billinghurst mentions feeding potatoes raw in his book "Give your dog a bone".
I wouldn't feed potatoes raw, but she gets the odd left over spud from us occasionally...cooked of course.