Raw meat diet adds vitality to dog's life

[DoozyDog]

By STACY SMITH SEGOVIA
The Leaf-Chronicle


One health food option available for pets is raw meat. Visions of salmonella and E. coli poisoning swirl in people's heads at the thought, but with vigilance, a raw diet can be extremely healthy for pets.

The raw food trend for dogs began when people hit upon the idea of feeding their pets as their wolf ancestors ate thousands of years ago. Laura Blanz, owner of Total Canine Care in Clarksville, says that's a good idea, but throwing raw chicken wings to your pets is not the way to go.

"I don't do that, and I don't advocate it for my customers," she says. "Wolves ate the whole animal, including hair, which helped keep bones from tearing the digestive tract on the way down."

A raw chicken wing from the grocery store has no feathers on it to pad the bones' transit. Dogs tend not to chew food well, increasing the risk that bones will puncture the intestines.

"That's why I recommend using a premixed, balanced, species-specific raw food," Blanz says. "It's frozen so you don't have any bacteria."

Raw meats are more compatible with most dogs' digestion than cooked meats.

"Dogs don't handle cooked fat very well," Blanz says. "They handle raw fat much better."

Many people write online that their dogs became immediately more active and vibrant on raw food diets. They attribute lower vet bills and longer life spans to the change.

There are several ways to add raw foods to your pet's diet. Raw beef knuckles are sold as chew bones. Commercial raw foods contain combinations of meats, vegetables and grains. Raw meats sold for human consumption also can be fed to pets, if people follow safe handling practices and debone most meats.

No matter your approach, Blanz says care must be taken when feeding raw meats to pets.

"People should always use a stainless steel bowl and wash it after every feeding," she says.

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[c0_re]

Yup I feed kibble in the morning and raw at night, he does seem to have more energy and I have to make him pause while he's eating because he tries to wolf it all down in one bite(He doens't get people food) so so far it's a win win situation for us!

Oh and a 7-9$ bag of RAW medalions(Lamb) last us 2 weeks of dinners so it's not like I'm rich or anything justwilling to spend a few more $$$ for his health and enjoyment.

[jcsperson]

Greyhound trainers and breeders have known this for decades.

Purina tried to create a high-performance kibble product for Greyhound racing in the 1970s and it was an abyssmal failure. Their control group of dogs fed the standard racing diet performed better than any formula they could devise and the project was eventually abandoned.