bradpattison.com

lol Dukesdad!

After doing lots of research... my personal choice. My dog is doing very well on this diet! After hearing all the recalls and stuff found in them... I won't do commercial foods anymore. Regardless of the kind.
There are lots of people on this forum who feed the whole prey model diet and are very happy with it.
I got lots of great advice, and great info from all my resources. They are very knowledgeable, bring up great points.
The bones are very important for teeth. It cleans them at the same time.
My opininon.

Thanks everyone for your input. It has certainly answered a lot of my questions. I have done quite a bit of reading and researching the last few days and feel better and better about starting my dog on a RAW diet. I was really confused about the whole carb thing as very few RAW sites mentioned much about what kind of carbs to give your dog, yet they touted the merits of a RAW diet. I was really questioning why you would need to feed your dog carbs (basically filler) when the whole point of a RAW diet is to get back to what a dog should be eating. It's very contradictory. I went to the MDF website and it has some very useful info to read, but I don't really understand the place of the grains and berries, etc that are mixed into the meat. A wolf would never eat grain in the wild, and I would imagine their diets consist of very few things other than meat. I can see insects, eggs and such being a part of their wild diet, but these are mostly protein as well. Any grass, bark, leaves, etc that my dog eats now come out the other end looking pretty much how they went in. So my dog is obviously not digesting these items and is therefore not gaining any nutritional benefit from them. So you have to ask why a dog food manufactuere (RAW or otherwise) would feel the need to add fillers in the form of grains, vegetables, etc. I would imagine mostly to cut their costs. As well, one of the reasons I am seriously looking at a RAW diet is that I can do it relatively cheaply and easily. I'm counting on it being a cheaper and better alternative than a "good quality" kibble food. The cost to buy MDF's food is quite high...far more than what it would cost me to source meat locally and make my own dog meals. My doggie daycare sells MDF's food and they recently raised their prices significantly. I guess it's a personal choice in the end, but I see very little use for carbs from what research I've done so far. My vet doesn't totally agree with a RAW diet, but I wouldn't expect her to as she probably knows little about it herself, and she won't be making money off of selling me "vet brand" dog food any more!

If you've done lots of reading you'll notice the advocates of the raw diet have nothing to gain by helping you learn.

their ways. Manufacturers however will tout their ways for a reason. $

Welcome to the club.

Good stuff Prairiedoug!
We're here if you have more questions.
You'll see the benefits soon enough!

I think it comes down to wether or not you see your dog as an omnivore or carnivore. I feel that their digestive track couldn't have changed that significantly over the years...

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/5755/wolf.html
Michelle
This will show how far dogs have actually strayed from wolves.

Well, decided to just go for it and bought a big pack of chicken quarters on the way home from work today. They were pretty cheap...worked out to about $1 each. Hubby (that would be the "Doug" in Prairiedoug) is very leery about the whole RAW thing, but I think it's starting to sink in a bit. He sees the reasoning, just can't figure out how we're going to feed her RAW at dog daycare or if we go out for the day, etc. So we had BBQ in the backyard and I brought out a chicken quarter for our pup to eat while we ate. She picked it up right away like she's been eating it all along and loved it! Stood up the entire time and didn't use her feet, but had a good time chewing on the skin and munching the bones. She ate some pretty big chunks, but it went down fine and she was licking the grass like crazy trying to get every last bit of juice! Took her about 10-15 minutes to finish it. So I've read some different thoughts on how much to feed. Our dog is just over 4 months right now and is about 26 pounds. She will eventually top out at a max of 45 lbs. So everyone says puppies will eat more than an adult. Is 2 good size chicken quarters enough per day for now? I don't want to underfeed her, although I know she won't starve. But she could just eat and eat and eat right now. She's really got an appetite! Is feeding her once in the morning and once in the evening enough? She's at dog daycare for about 9 hours a day so that's a long stint without food.

Congrats on going Raw !
My hubby was little unsure at the start too, but he came around, seeing all the benefits helps!

Just this weekend a lady who stopped by to have our dog meet hers said "what beautifull gums and white teeth!"
I ALMOST started with the Raw Talk, but didn't feel it was the right time, being our first meeting and all. Oh - it WILL come up !
Just call me "Preacher's Child"

Just like in our human diet, carbs are a source of energy and so is fat. I hate "diets" and have always believed in eating peoperly having been a personal trainer before, but - you CAN replace a low carb intake with a higher fat intake.
In relation to feeding Raw to our dogs: there is a lot of fat on the type of food we Raw feeders feed.
I would never eat all the skin on a chicken quarter (especially without triming a LOT of it off) BUT I have no problem with my dog eating it. Fat = a source of energy
1 gram of carbs = 4 calories
1 gram of fat = 4 calories

AND Keymo as well, eats enough grass and bark chips, etc.
BUT they pass right through - nothing digested, nothing taken as a source of energy, therefore - no need for them - so that stuff just goes through the system.

Don't put it in if you don't want to pick it up later !

Good for you! That\'s how I started too. I think 2 quarters is a good amount. That\'s how I started my Shepherd and I think she weighed more at 6mths of age. She\'s about 70lbs (small girl) now and I feed her 3 chicken quarters in one meal. Alot of us feed our dog only once a day. But, a puppy that young...don\'t know. I hope someone else helps with this part of the question !

Keymofrisby, Preacher\'s Child!
Thanks for the info on Carb, Fat!

Dukesdad! Congrats on becoming Fido! Pattymac\'s not alone!

Yeah she seems to really love the chicken. Can't wait to see what else she'll love! So I'll do the chicken for a week or so and then move her over to a new meat. Is there anything you all would recommend that's also easily digested? We went for our after dinner walk last night and she had a poop (was still kibble poop though). This morning she got half of another chicken quarter and she did her usual after-breakfast poop...was also still pretty much kibble. Hubby said it was a little lighter in colour, but it was solid and appeared to still look much like a kibble poo. So yeah, that junk stays in their system a long time. Her last kibble meal was yesterday at lunch so we're going on 15 or 16 hours with that still in her digestive system. No runs or barfs though, so that was a relief. She'll get the second half of the morning chicken quarter for lunch at daycare, and then we'll give her a second quarter for dinner again. At what point would I start adding organ meat to her diet? And do you just work that in gradually in little bits to begin with? Obviously there will be an adjustment period with her digestive system, but I'd be happy if I could avoid an unpleasant reaction. I'm pretty happy with her reaction to the change though, and the staff at her daycare look after a number of dogs already on RAW, so they're open minded about feeding her RAW. And time-wise, it really isn't much prep work so it's convenient and cheap to boot. I mean, how long does it take for you to grab a chicken leg out of the package and drop it on the floor? LOL So tonight I'm going meat shopping so I can make up portions and freeze some for future meals. Whoopee! Thanks everyone for your advice!

prairiedoug wrote:

QUOTE:
At what point would I start adding organ meat to her diet? And do you just work that in gradually in little bits to begin with? Obviously there will be an adjustment period with her digestive system, but I'd be happy if I could avoid an unpleasant reaction. I'm pretty happy with her reaction to the change though, and the staff at her daycare look after a number of dogs already on RAW, so they're open minded about feeding her RAW. And time-wise, it really isn't much prep work so it's convenient and cheap to boot. I mean, how long does it take for you to grab a chicken leg out of the package and drop it on the floor? LOL So tonight I'm going meat shopping so I can make up portions and freeze some for future meals. Whoopee! Thanks everyone for your advice! :banana

I personally would go with beef next week. Give your dogs system some time to adjust and if you don't encounter diarrhea... Pork and organs may make things a little runny. I would wait another week or two to try organ (give a little!)
I'm glad my dog doesn't react to anything.

Nice to hear the daycare accepts RAW!