Is commercial dog food safe?

Wow! Thanks for the wealth of information. I will e-mail this question to you, but I am also posting it here so everyone else can learn from you.

Can I do half raw and half dog food? Or do I need to do all raw?

thanks again!

That’s again something that you can choose to do. I do know people who do that but if you decide that’s a route you want to take, there are foods specifically designed to be mixed with raw meat if so desired such as the Timberwolf brand: http://timberwolforganics.com/

I do know people who split the raw and kibble but I personally do not do it because dogs digest raw diets and commercial dog foods and different rates. They can digest raw diets in 4 hours and commercial dog foods up to 16 hours (depending on the quality… poor quality taking longer). So, mixing the two can cause digestive upsets.

I also like feeding just raw because I know what my dogs are eating and it is actually cheaper (unless you go with premade raw). For instance, I just picked up 80lbs of Chicken backs today for $34. ;o) They eat A LOT less raw than they do kibble and they also consume less water (they get moisture through the food instead) and less poop!! I think my mom’s pugs which eat Science Diet poop more than my boxers combined do!

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So, here’s my situation. I have a large female dog. We just had her spayed. She is 1 yr. Where do I begin? Can I feed her apples? What about tortillas? a steak? I just don’t know what to do. Where do I buy her food? Do I need to worry about mad cow disease or avian flu? Do I boil the food first? Do I steam the vegetables or just feed them raw? Is it more difficult to raw feed? Expensive? How do I know if it’s right for us? Does it really make your dogs healthier? I just want to know as much as possible before investing money. You help has been wonderful!

LOL, i remember how scared I was when i was first going to switch over to raw. It tooks months of research, I knew I wanted to do it, and I still put it off because I was nervous. Well, once I started I realized how easy it was. And it is cheaper to feed too depending on the price you pay for your meats. And what type of raw diet you choose to do (for example, the Volhard diet, is more expensive to do and more time consuming: http://www.amazon.com/Holistic-Guide-Healthy-Howell-Reference/dp/1582451532/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206765754&sr=8-1)
The Holistic Guide for a Healthy dog is an excellent resource to have in your library whether or not you decide to follow her diet plan.

I personally feel that my dogs are way healthier than they ever were on raw. For instance, my female, Lily, has always had digestive issues. We literally spent $1000’s of dollars at the vet and not one person could come up with a solution why she was always sick. So after exhausting every premium kibble out there, I finally grew the guts to try her on raw (started with chicken wings). My dogs always gets compliments from vets how soft and shiny their coats are and can’t believe how white their teeth are (raw diet along with raw green tripe naturally whitens their teeth).

Anyways, first if I were you, I would go to this yahoo group: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/CarnivoreFeed-Supplier/
and they will tell you locations were you can get raw meat for cheap or a group that can help you out. For instance, the yahoo group I’m a member of has a account set up for wholesale meat at a company called Harvest Meats and we can also get wholesale fruits and veggies from Federal Foods.

The only foods you cannot feed your dogs are of course chocolate, as well as grapes and onions. Mine LOVE apples, especially Fiji apples. You can feed vegetables raw but it is easier on their digestive systems to break down if you steam them and/or blend them into a pulp. Whatever you do, do not cook, boil, microwave, etc any meats that have bone in them. It is fine to give them bones raw but not cooked, even for a few minutes because it can splinter and hurt their stomachs. You don’t need to worry at all about mad cow, avian flu, or salmonella. Yes, dogs can get salmonella but studies show they are more likely to get it from kibble than raw meat because their digestive systems are set up to break down raw meat. I suggest reading the Tail Waggin Bakery’s Newsletter achieves. It has excellent articles (I like the articles on salmonella, new vaccination protocols, apple cider vinager, coconut oil, etc.. ok, they’re all good)
http://tailwagginsbakery.com/newsletter.htm

If you email me, I can send you a basic excel file that you enter your dogs weight and if calculates how much meat and vegetables to feed your dog based on age, weight, and energy level

I forgot to add, if you want to start right away, before finding a meat wholesaler, look for sales on meats at the grocery store or you can buy a 10lb bag of chicken leg quarters at Walmart (those are just a pain to deskin, and chop up and the bones are bigger because they are weight bearing bones). Perhaps you can first try giving some ground turkey or chicken wings to see how your dog reacts. They might be scared at first and lick the meat to death, lol ;o) I love feeding mine chicken backs personally

Okay. I did some research last night. I learned a couple things I found very interesting. I have a question about chicken wings… Do you feed them with the skin on and bone in them? I’m also interested in knowing if there is a way to combine raw with kibble. I feed my dog Kirkland brand lamb and rice formula. She seems to be thriving fine and is finally gaining weight. We used to use the really expensive kibble that’s supposed to be all natural. She got sick and had stomach upset for over a month. We finally switched her to Kirkland and she seems much happier. What I would really like is to have the option of feeding raw sometimes and kibble other times and then to be able to mix them. I found a site that gave some basic information on doing this. I realize it’s not as good as just feeding raw, but I need to have some options. Between three kids, a husband, and a house to care for. After doing laundry, cleaning, getting kids to school, and cooking meals, I just don’t know how much time I want to spend preparing food for my dog. Does that make sense? What do you think? Is it very time consuming feeding your dogs raw? Thanks again for all your help.

Sorry for the late response. When I fed Chicken Wings, I tried to take off as much skin as possible and but it is hard, if not impossible to take all the skin off. You don’t want to feed your dog too much skin because it can cause issues. I’m not as familiar with the laws of feeding raw and kibble but you could possibly feed your dog kibble in the morning and raw at night when you’d have more time to prepare it. Kirkland is a good food because it contains chelted minerals and does not contain corn. Once you get started trying raw, you’ll find that it really doesn’t take that much longer to prepare. I know some people will prepare a few days to a weeks worth of food in advance and put it containers so that all they have to do in the morning is drop it in their dogs bowls. So that’s another option for you. If you feed chicken necks, you don’t have to worry about deskinning them or cutting them up so that meat source takes a lot less time to feed than say chicken leg quarters. I should also add that chicken wings are really expensive so you might consider that. But it is easy and convenient to give your dog to try out raw. For example, chicken wings can cost on average $1.50 lb in the store were I can buy chicken necks from a wholesaler for $.42 lb or I just found somewhere yesterday to buy chicken backs from for $.18 lb

I have started feeding part kibble part raw. I found a couple websites that offer advice on doing this. Since kibble has a lot of starch and grains, it’s recommended that you only add proteins. I have been adding raw eggs, some apple slices (for a treat), and omega 3 fish oils. She seems to be doing well. It turns out she has an infection, so she is also on antibiotics now. We are going to add apple cider vinegar after she is done with her medicine. That will help to reactivate the good bacteria in her intestines.

I haven’t been on here in awhile but I was wondering how you’re girl is doing on raw?

It’s going well. Our dog doesn’t like the raw eggs very much, but when I lightly scramble them, she loves them. We are working on fruit and softened vegetables. She seems to enjoy it, and I like knowing I am doing something good for my dog. Thanks for all your help and advice. I hope other people are able to learn from your knowledge.