First Experience With Raw

[Beth G]

So tonight, I split a raw chicken breast between Popcorn and Pepper and while Pepper scarfed down hers. Popcorn wasn't very sure what to do with his. That is until Pepper tried to get it.

 

At first, I had to keep telling him to "Eat his Num!" After about 20 mins he crunched it down and then he was looking around, wanted more...lol.

 

I'm thinking that we'll see how they do on chicken for awhile. What with Pepper's stomache problems.

 

I've been meaning to switch them over for awhile and finally tonight, my husband let me try them ouside on the raw chicken. We had froze it first the other night so it would be safe.

[smileyzookie]

Chicken is also what we started on. It took Riven nearly 2 days to finally taste it. That was only after Rohan tried to steal it and I praised him like crazy for trying to eat it LOL. Now she'll eat anything but fish lol. She will NOT touch fish.

 

I know it will be a good thing for you as well as the dogs. I feel SO much more secure and safe knowing that I dont have to worry about kibble

[Beth G]

Yeah this kibble thing is getting totally out of control! It's scary!

[WyoBC]

That's great! Maybe they'll get to liking it all of the time. Then you could avoid the whole kibble problem. I might try Black Jack on raw. I'll have to see.

[Geoffrey]

Hehe, my dogs grabbed their chicken before it even hit the ground when I first tried

 

Lucy caught it in mid-air, crunched twice, and swallowed. (She's got abnormally strong jaws)

 

Zeke chewed for about 5 seconds.

 

Reuben, the toothless wonder (bad teeth), took about 5min. But he knew what he was doing

[Dr.Greenthumb]

Feeding raw?

 

What are the benefits of this? Is it better than getting a high quality kibble?

[Beth G]

Oh yeah. In a kibble diet alot of the nutrients and vitamins are cooked out. In raw they aren't and raw is their natural diet.

 

Oh- And raw bones don't splinter either. The cooked ones do. That was my first fear.

 

And another thing- the more I look into it the healthier it is for the dog(cuts down on vet visit's especially for allergies).

 

Plus it is cheaper it is than kibble. And with kibble nowadays, who knows what risk's you are putting your dog at anymore. And that's scary!

[bexie]

Feeding raw?

 

What are the benefits of this? Is it better than getting a high quality kibble?

 

There are varying theories on this. You might want to search the boards for some of the other discussions.

[Dr.Greenthumb]

How should I go about switching to raw, if I intend to later do that? I mean if its' better for my dog, I have no reason not to.

 

Any online literature you have I could reference to?

 

Respect.

-Dr.Greenthumb

[Beth G]

For links on raw, see this current thread: http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/index.php?showtopic=10549

[Dr.Greenthumb]

Hehehe.

 

Ive been looking at that forum. I just want to get all the answers so I do this right. Like where do I feed him? I use stainless steel bowls, so would i just stick it in there? He would probably look at it look at me and go, "what am I supposed to do with this?"

 

Respect.

Dr.Greenthumb

[red dog fan]

if you can manage it i dont think you will regret it

my boys have been raw for a couple of months now

a separate freezer helped (thankyou craigslist)

 

benefits for me

no kibble fed doggy smell

tiny firm pops

soft shiny coats

 

and it costs about $1 a day per dog

[shelb'smum]

kinda silly question. do you de-frost before you give it to them?

I ask , because when I have been giving my dogs bones from the butcher, I ave been giving them frozen. and well, they don't care, they get a cold treat and by the time they are done.... no longer frozen

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

I don't thaw the bones - less mess for me and doesn't seem to make as much mess in the crates, either. The longer they take to chew, the healthier it is for them, too. It's really nice in the summer, too - especially for the dogs in the kennels.

[airbear]

Oh- And raw bones don't splinter either. The cooked ones do. That was my first fear.

They may not 'splinter' like a cooked bone, but they can cause other damage as they work their way down. I know of two dogs who had problems (and when I say "know", I mean I have talked to their owners in person, not heard about it on some internet board). One dog, Tilly, died. She has had her meal of chicken necks and bones, and then was goofing around in the yard and ran pretty hard up an a-frame. The vet thinks that the impact caused the bone fragments to perforate her GI tract, leading to her death.

 

My friend's dog, Nina, suffered a puncture of the esophagus, when some of her chicken neck went down wrong. She survived and shows no ill effects.

 

Now, I feed a partial raw diet, I've fed RMBs for 6 years now, and I have chosen to accept some of the risks in exchange for what I perceive as the benefits. I try not to exercise my dogs immediately before or after a meal, I try to ensure that they don't gulp their RMBs down, and all that stuff. But I think to say that raw bones don't splinter is a bit misleading. They do splinter, they can cause problems, there are ways to mitigate this risk, and people who are deciding to switch to raw need to do their homework beyond internet testimonials.

[Beth G]

My bad. I apologize. I should have reworded that to say something like:

 

Raw bones are safer than cooked for the dog though not 100%.

[borderlicious]

As for splintering, I think a lot depends on how the dog eats and what they eat. I have been uncomfortable with chicken leg quarters for ages becuase if you get a dog with powerful jaws that crunches the whole thing, the bones will split into shards. If the dog just swallows that whole (easy to do when the bones are covered in meat and the dog doesn't know what he's eating) it definitely can do some harm. I prefer to feed softer, non weight-bearing poultry bones for this reason (necks, backs). There's a risk with anything. It isn't accurate to say that a raw diet is totally safe, but kibble isn't either.

 

I don't thaw the bones either unless I buy something that's already thawed. It's hot here, they like the cool meal. Especially at night, it really settles them down.

[Dr.Greenthumb]

hmmm.

 

This is tough. I don't want to run the risk of my dude gettin bones lodged the wrong way, or not being able to digest them. However the e benefits that I have read are good enough to make me want to try. I guess back to the research.

 

This is gonna be a tough choice.

[sandra s.]

You can buy bone meal in the pet shop. Would it be possible to use that (in combination with boneless meat) instead of feeding raw bones, if someone really wants to try raw but is very worried about the bones?

 

I feed ours a lot of lamb ribs (we can get them on an internet raw food shop), and chicken/turkey, and we haven't had any problems yet (but there is always a risk, of course).