Raw Diet for dogs?

[Tinijocaro]

Anyone use a raw diet for their dog? Our dogs are having skin issues and this has been recommended to us. It's pricey. Has anyone noticed health improvements with a raw diet?

 

[Hercules10]

I use it but more as an added treat.

You can also try one of the meat based dry such as EVO and that might help their condition.

What food do you have them on now?

 

[Tinijocaro]

What food do you have them on now?

Iams. I know, it's supposed to be not good. I'm learning. How pricey is the food you mentioned?

 

[Hercules10]

EVO is pricey but it is a good brand.

http://www.evopet.com/

I also supplement their food with ground turkey, Bio-C and fish oil.

(yeah...my daggum dogs eat healthier then I do.)

 

[doxdogy]

I have never tried the raw diet. I do have one with skin issues, so we switched them all over to Wellness. I have noticed a marked improvement. We also use the Wellness canned food and my mutts love it.

 

[sunnyday123]

Our breeder feeds her dogs a raw diet. Me, too much of an ickyness factor. Our puppy eats Eagle Pack puppy ( giant breed) but I've head really good things about Orijen-it's pricey but apparently makes their skin/coats wonderful. It would be a little cheaper than raw which will probably run you about $250-$350 a month.

Try a food with any type of meal not listed in the 1st 6 ingredients, or at all. Avoid Iams and Science Diet they have a ton of filler.

 

[Sleepy]

I have found many of the skin problems in dogs to be corn related. Newman's Own is a good brand for both my dog and another dog I watched for 2 months that had similar skin problems. They both are cured. I also can use Prescription Diet salmon and potato on my dog with no breakouts.

 

[hucifer]

Anyone use a raw diet for their dog? Our dogs are having skin issues and this has been recommended to us. It's pricey. Has anyone noticed health improvements with a raw diet?

OP, I don't have a dog (so I can't add real-world experience to this thread), but I have recently read several articles about this very thing. From what I've read so far, it is the best diet for dogs and cats since it is the diet they are intended to have. Kibbles are about the worst. The articles showcased owners who, after switching their pets' diets to raw, discovered that their dogs and cats were much healthier.

 

[KristineN]

I have been using a raw diet on my dogs for 6 years...I love it and would never go back to a commercial diet again.

I have been a dog owner for my whole life...and these 2 dogs have been the healthiest I have had.

The coat, skin & teeth on these dogs is terrific...the other thing is that the poop produced by these dogs is much smaller, compact and doesn't smell.

There is a whole community of people who will help people learn about it....many forums are listed under the "barf diet" BONES AND RAW FOOD

 

[luvwinnie]

We did try it. Our bulldog, who is a rescue, has severe allergies. The raw diet did not agree with him. Our holistic vet even said it's not for every dog. He became completely lethargic. When we started feeding him home cooked food and high quality commerical food (Go Natural and Ziwi Peak) it was like someone emerging from a coma! Amazing. Definitely get off the Iams...other posters mentioned good foods such as Wellness and Natural Balance.

Has he been allergy tested?

 

[Tinijocaro]

No allergy testing, but I'm hopeful that a better food will help him. I don't think I can keep up with the cost of a raw diet for two dogs, even though they are small dogs (Bichons). It's so mushy-don't they need to chew harder things?

 

[jrmasm]

A lot of dogs react to corn. Is that in their food?

There are plenty of commercial foods that are much better quality than Iams without the hassle of BARF.


This is a good place to start:
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/

 

[MyDizneyBoyz]

A raw diet is not necessarily the best for every dog and if you're making all his food yourself, you can actually cause more harm than good if you don't get all the ratios and supplements correct. You can't just feed your dog a couple of raw chicken wings and presume that it's a balanced diet. If done properly and with a good deal of research, a raw diet can indeed be extremely healthy. However, it does take a bit of effort and research and time to get just right. It's a radical change and one a lot of people try and get fed up with.

So, with that being said, you might be better off swtiching to a much higher quality commercial food first. There has been a dramatic increase in premium quality foods in the past few years and I, for one, am thrilled that more companies are stepping up to the plate and realizing that as consumers we don't want to feed our dogs the equivalent of fast food crap every day.

You don't need a degree in nutrition to find a better food for your dog if you follow some basic guidelines.

- Read the ingredient label. (You do it for your food, why not your dog's?)
- Avoid any food with corn, wheat or soy or any form of those ingredients (corn syrup, wheat flour, etc.) as they are by far the most problematic when it comes to allergies.
- Avoid any food that lists the word "by-product" in the ingredient list in any shape or form.
- Avoid any food that lists generic "meat" or "poultry".

Look for these specific things:
- A named protein source (chicken, beef, turkey, etc.)
- One or two protein sources as the first and second ingredients

Those basic guidelines alone will narrow down your choices considerably. From what's left, pick one that's within your budget and give it a try. Switch gradually over the course of a few days to avoid stomach upset. You need to give a new food a few weeks to see how your dog ultimately tolerates it and to see if there are any allergy issues.

Some dog foods can be too rich for some dogs - my one Boxer can't have a turkey based food as it gives him the runs (too rich for him) and he's allergic to beef (go figure... give him some hamburger and 20 minutes later his elbows, toes and chest are turning pink and the scratching begins). It may take time and a few different varieties to find the food that works best for your particular dog.

Here are some ingredient lists from manufacturer's websites - it doesn't take much to see how one would be healthier for a dog than another.

The worst - Purina Beneful (personally, I think it should be classified as breakfast cereal and not as dog food - seriously, what was Purina thinking? ):
Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), rice flour, beef, soy flour, sugar, sorbitol, tricalcium phosphate, water, salt, phosphoric acid, animal digest...

Iams adult lamb and rice:
Lamb Meal, Brewer's Rice, Corn Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Corn Grits, Chicken By-Product Meal, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Ground Whole Grain Barley, Dried Beet Pulp, Fish Meal, Chicken Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Potassium Chloride, Brewer's Dried Yeast, Salt, Sodium Hexametaphosphate...

Blue Buffalo Chicken and Brown Rice (like a breath of fresh air in the dog food market!):
Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Whole Ground Brown Rice, Whole Ground Barley, Oatmeal, Rye, Whole Potatoes, Tomato Pomace (natural source of Lycopene), Chicken Fat (preserved with Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Natural Chicken Flavor, Whole Carrots, Whole Sweet Potatoes, Blueberries, Cranberries, Flaxseed, Barley Grass, Dried Parsley, Alfalfa Meal, Kelp Meal, Taurine, L-Carnitine, L-Lysine, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Yucca Shidigera Extract, Green Tea Extract, Turmeric...

You will always find people who will tell you that their dog lived a good long, healthy life on a crappy food. But if you've got a dog who is having problems, you want to give him a food on which he'll THRIVE, not just survive. We could survive on McDonald's food every day but we sure wouldn't be as healthy as we could be.

Good luck!!

 

[DVC_Princess]

We fed our chocolate lab the raw diet for about the first 4 yrs of his life. He's always been in good physical condition and has a beautiful coat. However, he started getting picky about not wanting to eat the food and we started to get nervous about leaving the raw meat out too long (especially in the summer).

We then switched to Nutro Ultra. We haven't seen any drop in his health or skin condition, but it is much easier than using the raw meat patties (we bought the freeze dried ones). The Nutro Ultra ingredients are very nutritious and basically gluten free (which is important for me because I am intolerant and work hard to keep gluten out of the house; however, it does contain oats). Between the food and daily brushings, his coat and skin are as shiny as ever.

FYI, here are the Nutro Ultra Adult Food Indgredients:
Chicken Meal, Whole Brown Rice, Ground Rice, Rice Bran, Chicken, Lamb Meal, Salmon Meal, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Natural Flavors, Flaxseed, Oatmeal, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Dried Plain Beet Pulp, Soybean Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Fish Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Potassium Chloride, Egg Product, Tomato Pomace, Dried Pomegranate, Dried Blueberry, Dried Avocado, Dried Cranberry, Dried Pumpkin, Dried Spinach, Dried Carrot, Salt, Choline Chloride, Taurine, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, L-Carnitine, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), Biotin, Copper Proteinate, Niacin Supplement, Potassium Iodide, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Sodium Selenite, Beta Carotene, Manganese Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[goofy4tink]

I have found many of the skin problems in dogs to be corn related. Newman's Own is a good brand for both my dog and another dog I watched for 2 months that had similar skin problems. They both are cured. I also can use Prescription Diet salmon and potato on my dog with no breakouts.

Very true!! My golden gets nothing with corn it, not even treats. He hasn't had a hot spot or itchies since going corn free. I don't even give him chicken. Mostly lamb and rice..he's never been healthier. My issue with feeding foods that give small poops is that the anal glands tend to suffer a bit. If the food produces larger waste, then the anal glands are expressed naturally and you don't need to get it done manually (not such a nice thing!!).

I've used Back to Basics, Solid Gold, Calif Natural, Wellness, and Inova. We presently use Calif Natural since it's the only one that is doing lamb and rice. But they are all good foods.
Raw is a great thing to augment with. My dog gets a burger when we eat..but his is raw. Same thing with the occasional piece of raw steak. And he loves veggies....even lettuce!! He will do just about anything for apples.