Comments on: Raw Food, Natural Choice

By: lshiny

lshiny — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:19:28 +0000

Dogs are carnivores – not omnivores or herbivores. There is alot of misinformation out there on raw feeding dogs and proper nutrition for their digestive system. Even though dogs have evolved into pets, their digestive system has not evolved. You are correct, Michael – raw meat, period; not cooked meat (ever see a wolf on the Discovery Channel cooking their food over an open fire?), definitely no plant food (vegetables), and no grains.

For those of you genuinely interested in learning more about raw feeding your pet (dog or cat), start your research at http://www.rawfed.com. You will find a wealth of information addressing the myths and objections some people raise to raw feeding.

I’m sure Chandler is already a happier camper! Keep an eye on the rawfeeding site to find out how and when to transition him to other meats.

By: David

David — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:45:21 +0000

Raw meat gave our dog several days of explosive bloody diarrhoea even when she was younger; even big chunks of cooked meat do now (2-3 days with more blood than stool), but meat in kibble still seems OK. We even put her on 100% vegetarian dog food for a year, and her health was excellent all through that time, though she didn’t like the taste much, so we put her back on meat-based kibble (I would never put a cat on a vegetarian diet, but as I mentioned, dogs, like humans, can handle it fine).

I have no objection to feeding dogs meat — after all, they can (usually) digest it well, just like humans can — but I’m worried that insisting on an all-meat diet for dogs is based on a non-scientific, romanticised idea about how the dogs’ ancestor breeds once ate in the wild.

By: viennatech

viennatech — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:23:13 +0000

I agree with you David that dogs have evolved next to man for a very long time but I cannot ignore the ideas presented by the raw feeders. It is a topic of controversy but for me just getting away from the kibble and all of the allergies is worth taking a chance. I believe there is a need to feed the dog a consistent diet. I think a lot of people who have trouble feeding their dogs meat are doing it concurrently with kibble (which confuses the digestive tract) or are feeding cooked meat, which is not the same as raw meat. (you should never give a dog a cooked bone yet I understand that raw ones are fine!) I’ll be keeping a close eye on this and hope you enjoy the blog posts as they come up.

By: Chandler’s first RMB « Passion for Learning

Chandler’s first RMB « Passion for Learning — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:05:56 +0000

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By: David

David — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:29:46 +0000

As I understand, dogs are omnivores like humans, pigs, and bears, rather than carnivores like cats. A dog in the wild will dig up and eat roots, plants, etc. as well as eating meat (when it can catch it), and dogs (like humans, but unlike cats) can survive on a vegetarian diet when they have to.

In any case, modern domestic dog breeds have evolved beside humans for thousands of years, living off our table scraps and garbage, so they’re actually pretty good at surviving on a diet similar to ours (cats, on the other hand, have lived with us mainly to catch and eat mice and rats). My Border Collie, at 11, is actually having a lot of trouble digesting straight meat now, but she can still handle it in kibble, as long as it’s made with lots of non-meat products as well. She loves oats, mango pulp, and cheese as much as (or more than) meat. Go figure.