# Thinking of going Raw



## AnikasMom (Jun 19, 2012)

Hi,

I have 2 German Shepherds, Tank and Anika, they are 2 1/2 yrs old. When they were around a year old my Anika, was diagnosed with food allergies, she had broken out so bad she ended up with a nasty bacterial infection all over her skin. The vet had us switch to a limited ingredient venison diet (they were on Lamb and Rice when she broke out). Now my Tank has a very sensitive tummy and the slightest thing can trigger him to have what is best described as ponds of poo. With what we spend on dry food I am thinking I can get them on a good raw diet, with out all the preservatives and additives; but I am also afraid to mess with his tender tummy or have her break out again. 

Has anyone dealt with anything like this or can anyone offer any type advice? Does anyone have any recipes they care to share for transitioning them over? How do I transition them? Or can anyone recommend any decent literature to read up on?

Thank you SO much for any help


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## NWHeather (Oct 29, 2010)

I'd love to see if there's any balanced recipes that are cost effective. I tried raw, but was afraid of not being balanced, so I fed my dogs Darwin's raw food, it was delivered to my house once a month.
My dogs did SO good on that food, but it was expensive, & I ended up going back to kibble & feed Orijen. I'd much rather feed raw, it is SO much better for them!


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## Bear L (Feb 9, 2012)

My store bought pekingese mutt (I call it mutt but store says purebred) was on kibbles the first year of his life. He had lots of issues, one of which is food allergies and constant scratching and paw licking, eye infections, skin issues. I tried various premium foods and spent so much time trying out different vets to fix it. All they suggested was doing shots. When I found out that one shot didn't really fix it, only alleviated the symptoms about 50% for a few days, and vet told me I need to do periodic shots I got alarmed. I googled the shot's ingredients and found it can do permanent damage to the animals' internal organs, further weakening what's already a weakened immune system in the long run, that's when I started to do some intensive self research on what I can do. Long story short, after 1 year of stopping all chemical injections, getting away from chemical stuff as much as possible in his surrounding, looking for only natural (and they were CHEAP compared to vet bills) sources to treat the symptoms, persisting thru the detox phase without succumbing to more chemical treatments, and feeding him only organic home cooked and raw meat, he got his puppy energy back and is now healthy! Not one lick or scratch anymore, except for the very occasional scratch that is normal for any healthy dogs. For that 1 year, I tried so many natural cures and the raw feeding was a learn-as-I-go process. I didn't follow some raw feeder's "formula" in terms of XX% of this and that. I just did what I felt comfortable and know, and improve the feeding as I learn it. 

From the many articles and observations I made since then, this is the conclusion I came to - you don't have to feed a perfect raw diet EVERY day or even ever. Just do the best you can and likely it'll still be better than kibbles. I'm not endorsing feeding chicken necks only for the next 10 yrs. I'm just saying that raw is a lot less complicated than most think and common sense can go a long way. Raw is fresh and unprocessed. Kibbles have long shelf life and is processed. Raw you control what goes in and where the source will come from. You take charge and direct responsibility of your dog's food. 

There are dogs that can be fed junk all their lives and be fine. But since seeing personally how my sick dog recovered so well on raw and home cooked meals, I now know it can be even better. 

With raw, there's no transition from one meat source to another that's necessary like kibbles, proof to me that dog's body is meant to eat fresh food so can easily accommodate all the variety. As for transition from kibbles to raw... I think that depends on how your dog can adjust to the change. My dogs, I switch them cold turkey, no issue. They love their raw meat. The GS puppy I got I think was on dog food, I just start feeding raw day 1. 

To me, raw is a money and time saver. I don't have to visit the vets anymore and vets in CA where I live are expensive. I invest in quality meat in return for my dogs' health.


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## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

If your dog has a sensitive stomach and you've got him stable right now, I wouldn't rock the boat. There is nothing miraculous about a raw diet other than you can control the ingredients in it. If your dog is sensitive on kibble, he will still be sensitive on raw. 

The biggest problem with home prepared diets is that most of them aren't complete or balanced to various degrees promoting long term malnutrition. You can crunch the numbers to make sure it's balanced, but it's a lot of work, or you can pay someone to do it for you.


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## AnikasMom (Jun 19, 2012)

Not sure why this whole diet thing has me thrown for a loop so bad but it does.

So I really am leaning this way but honestly am rather clueless in all of it. I get that you give them meat but are all meat types safe, example can they eat pork, chicken, beef and turkey? Can these meats be mixed together? 

With the bone is all the above mentioned bone types safe uncooked? (I will say this part really scares me I had a cat get a bone logged in its throat years ago)

Same goes with organs, I do not think they will be eating eye balls since I can not stomach the thought of it but is beef, chicken, pork livers, kidneys and hearts all acceptable and safe?

When you all say chicken necks you are referring the type when you buy a whole chicken and you remove the guts and stuff before cooking it type neck or do I need to find a butcher for something special?

Is there say a starting point based on the size of my dogs? Tank is 110 lbs and Anika is 76 lbs.

Sorry for what I think are silly questions but I really want to do this right, for if I screw it up it is my dogs that will pay for it.


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## Bear L (Feb 9, 2012)

Elaine said:


> If your dog has a sensitive stomach and you've got him stable right now, I wouldn't rock the boat. There is nothing miraculous about a raw diet other than you can control the ingredients in it. If your dog is sensitive on kibble, he will still be sensitive on raw.
> 
> The biggest problem with home prepared diets is that most of them aren't complete or balanced to various degrees promoting long term malnutrition. You can crunch the numbers to make sure it's balanced, but it's a lot of work, or you can pay someone to do it for you.


My dog had sensitive stomach and watching the transformation of my own dog and others, the proof is in the pudding for me. 

Eating dead processed food with long shelf life is not exactly complete or balance in my mind. 

This is a highly sensitive topics for some. For the OP - I'd suggest you do your own research. If you'd like, feel free to ping me and we can chat more there.


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## AnikasMom (Jun 19, 2012)

Bear L, sorry to ask this but ping? How do I do that and where is that option? I am 100% sure I will take you up on the offer to chat more about it but I am new to this forum and am still finding out where things are.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

AnikasMom said:


> Not sure why this whole diet thing has me thrown for a loop so bad but it does.
> 
> So I really am leaning this way but honestly am rather clueless in all of it. I get that you give them meat but are all meat types safe, example can they eat pork, chicken, beef and turkey? Can these meats be mixed together?
> *Yes they can but make sure you introduce one protein at a time and look for any sensitivity to it.*
> ...


I would look at Welcome to the Raw Dog Ranch and A Place for Paws - Columbiana, Ohio - Home for more information.
One other thing I feed almost daily is raw green tripe. It is a great supplement and contains natural digestive enzymes. 
I get that from My Pet Carnivore | Raw dog, cat, and pet food including: tripe, beef, bones, chicken, duck, rabbit, turkey who does routine deliveries in the midwest. They carry a large inventory, but it is expensive compared to a local processor or butcher. 
Also fish is important in the diet....if your dogs will eat it!


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## Bear L (Feb 9, 2012)

AnikasMom said:


> Bear L, sorry to ask this but ping? How do I do that and where is that option? I am 100% sure I will take you up on the offer to chat more about it but I am new to this forum and am still finding out where things are.


I just sent you a private message. A window should pop up to alert you. 

If it didn't pop up, here's how you send private messages. Click on a person's name, select "send a private...".


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## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

Bear L said:


> My dog had sensitive stomach and watching the transformation of my own dog and others, the proof is in the pudding for me.
> 
> Eating dead processed food with long shelf life is not exactly complete or balance in my mind.
> 
> This is a highly sensitive topics for some. For the OP - I'd suggest you do your own research. If you'd like, feel free to ping me and we can chat more there.


The problem is that the dogs that don't do well are quickly taken off raw and you never hear from them again. You are only listening to the people the kneel at the altar of raw feeding and they only hear what they want to hear and not the facts. It's only sensitive to the people that want to feed it and don't care anything about actual nutrition. I mean really, would you feed a dog food that claimed to have no preservatives, great ingredients, but no idea if it's a complete or balanced diet? There's no difference between not wanting to buy an unbalanced diet and making one yourself.

Kibble is a balanced and complete diet and they can show you the numbers. The problem is that you have no control over what's really in it and it has preservatives.

If you want to learn about how to feed raw and pay attention to nutrition, go to K9Kitchen : dog diets raw cooked allergies disease. This is where all the people with dogs with medical problems and food problems end up.


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## mfj (May 14, 2011)

Elaine said:


> The problem is that the dogs that don't do well are quickly taken off raw and you never hear from them again. You are only listening to the people the kneel at the altar of raw feeding and they only hear what they want to hear and not the facts. It's only sensitive to the people that want to feed it and don't care anything about actual nutrition. I mean really, would you feed a dog food that claimed to have no preservatives, great ingredients, but no idea if it's a complete or balanced diet? There's no difference between not wanting to buy an unbalanced diet and making one yourself.
> 
> Kibble is a balanced and complete diet and they can show you the numbers. The problem is that you have no control over what's really in it and it has preservatives.
> 
> If you want to learn about how to feed raw and pay attention to nutrition, go to K9Kitchen : dog diets raw cooked allergies disease. This is where all the people with dogs with medical problems and food problems end up.



So much ignorance in this post. Try giving this a watch:


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