[nagdu] My experiences with feeding raw

[Tai Blas]

What are your preferred premium dog food brands?

Tai Tomasi
J.D. Candidate, class of 2014
Email: tai.tomasi8 at gmail.com
Sent from my iPhone. Please excuse my brevity and any grammatical errors.

> On Mar 20, 2014, at 7:50 PM, Marj Schneider <marjschneider at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hello All,
> 
> I had been considering feeding raw since the late 1990s after my second Seeing Eye shepherd, Lana, stopped having ear infections when I took her off feed with corn. Since then I've fed none of my dogs any food with corn or soy. I'm convinced both of those grains are bad for dogs, if for no other reason than virtually all corn and soy grown in this country is genetically modified. I didn't try a raw diet with Lana, but wish I had.
> 
> My first attempt with trying to feed raw was with an elderly cat about eight years ago who had become diabetic. The research says you feed cats what they would get if they were killing and eating mice for themselves, so that's what I tried to simulate in the chicken-based raw meals my husband and I concocted for him. It was a lot of work because bones and all have to be chopped small for cats, before freezing it in quantity.
> 
> Unfortunately, he didn't take to it, which is not unusual in cats. He was just too addicted after a life of dry kibble, so much so that he would hardly even eat canned food. Luckily, we found Wellness Core, which is a grain free dry food but very high protein. It was a godsend. His skin and coat improved dramatically and he stopped being diabetic. He lived years longer than I thought he would, but as hopeful as I was he just wouldn't eat raw.
> 
> Fast-forward three years and after doing further reading I decided to switch my third Seeing Eye shepherd, Manda, to eating raw. It wasn't that she had significant health problems then, but I had also heard a talk from a veterinary homeopath and knew how poor the quality was of even the premium dry dog foods when compared to a varied raw diet.
> 
> I put together two weeks of meals to start with, ground meat, meat with bones and organ meats in proportions and quantities good for her weight at 50 pounds. I added cooked carrot, hoping to introduce her to just a bit of vegetable in her diet as well.
> 
> First she rejected the carrot, leaving it all in the bowl. That didn't bother me much, but after 10 days she refused to eat any of the food at all. She was hungry, but would go to the bowl, mess around with the food, but not eat any of it. Needless to say, I was shocked, never having heard of a dog rejecting a raw diet. She had always been an enthusiastic eater, so this didn't make sense. I had the cook the remaining meals and returned to feeding dry kibble, except for adding a small amount of organ meat once a day. Things like liver and kidney are nutrient dense, Manda would eat them, and it was the one aspect of the raw diet I retained. I've never had the opportunity to ask an "expert" why Manda might have rejected eating raw.
> 
> Now with my fourth Seeing Eye shepherd, Fennel, I haven't given thought to trying her with a raw diet. Initially, I also fed her organ meat with her evening meal but over time let that slide. Other than low-level intermittent scratching, Fennel is in perfect health at age four. I do switch her among premium dry foods, not returning to any she doesn't do well on, as evidenced by the quality of her stool.
> 
> 
> I know this is an extremely poor compromise, compared to feeding raw, but I haven't worked up to trying that again. I did enjoy shopping and preparing those meals for Manda, but I would have to again make the decision to spend the time and money. I know that there are an increasing number of raw prepared foods available now that I should investigate. I also know that just adding small amounts of whole foods, such as eggs and organ meats or cooked greens would add to the quality of Fennel's diet. Doing something is better than just measuring out that dry food at every meal without thinking, and going about the rest of my life. I know Fennel deserves better care than that, and the messages I've read on this topic have got me inspired and thinking again of possibly trying raw once more, or at least considering more of the compromise options.
> 
> Thanks to all of you who've written on this subject.
> 
> Marj Schneider
> 
> 
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