Dogs - Raw Diet Update

[Kaneman]

Originally Posted by azoomm

I'm moving Sadie to a raw diet this week. I've been reading up on it, here and elsewhere. It all seems just fantastic. She's getting up there in years - and we're starting to see some health issues. So, I'll feed her by hand for a while to make sure she can do the carcass chewing - it looks like that is the primary concern with older dogs.

But, my butcher is almost excited about it. They custom make quite a few dinner options and have a lot of scrap. Not all of it is *worthless*, it might just not all fit into the portions they are selling. The butcher section manager told me this is well handled and FREE. This includes the fish that doesn't make their date cutoffs - again, it doesn't mean that it's spoiled... just the date for purchase has passed.

I figure Sadie is spoiled in all other areas in life and she's truly a member of the family. I might as well feed her like one. And, that doesn't mean breaking the bank... just taking care of her health.

Thank you for this thread - it brought my attention to it!

Moira that is so cool! I'm excited to hear about that...and I wish I could find a butcher giving away free scraps too. You're the fourth person I've "converted" to raw so far...I'm startin the dog food revolution baby! Pretty soon men in black suits and sunglasses from Purina and Pedigree are going to be paying me a visit.


GasMan, you *could* feed raw chicken as treats but you won't see the types of improvements described in the thread without a consistent diet. Not to say that the dogs wouldn't enjoy the chicken though. Be weary of alternating raw meals with kibble meals. The kibble slows down the dogs digestive system which keeps the raw meat in their intestines longer than it should be. This can allow e-coli or salmonella bacteria to grow and possibly make the dog sick. However on a raw only diet the food passes as it should without any issues. If you feed raw chicken make that your only meal of the day.

Orrrrrrr....just switch them to raw everyday!