raw food diet - Page 3

I agree, 4Pack. "Dog Food" was invented as a convenience, not because it was somehow better for the dog. That was a marketing ploy to sell more dog food. Canned dog food was first sold in the late 1800s with kibble not being mass produced until the late 1950s. I really don't think Mother Natures "evolution" works quite that fast! My husbands father was senior vice president of Carnation Company. Any "scientific studies" performed had more to do with how to convince humans their kibble was best, not how to make a nutritionally complete food. As for the food, all major players used rancid fat why? - because that made the food more palatable to the dog. The idea that our dogs will suffer because we are incapable of putting together a nutritious canine meal is another bill of goods sold to us by Hills and other manufacturers of dog food. Using that logic no mother should ever prepare fresh food for her child when Gerber's is available and for that matter all of us should just eat some sort of cereal product because Kellogg's will tell us it's nutritionally complete.

Pet Valu targeted in Ontario lawsuit Derek Abma , CanWest News Service Published: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 OTTAWA - Animal-goods store operator Pet Valu Inc. said Wednesday it is being targeted in a potential class-action lawsuit - along with other retailers - in Ontario court "concerning the manufacture and sale of pet food products alleged to contain tainted ingredients." Pet Valu said several other similar lawsuits are being filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, which it is not involved in, and the court is scheduled to review on Sept. 27 which lawsuits should proceed. "The outcome of that motion will determine if and how the Ontario action in which the Pet Valu companies are to be named as defendants will proceed," Pet Valu said in a statement. Email to a friendEmail to a friendPrinter friendlyPrinter friendly Font: * * * * * * * * AddThis Social Bookmark Button Markham, Ont.-based Pet Valu did not disclose what other retailers involved in the suit. Nor did it specify whether this is connected to a massive recall of Menu Foods items earlier this year, linked with several pet deaths across North America. When Pet Valu reported its second-quarter earnings last month, it said profits were up 128 per cent from a year earlier and its exposure to pet-food recalls was minimal. In recent months, Pet Valu has disclosed its involvement in other class-action lawsuits in Saskatchewan and British Columbia related to tainted pet food. When Pet Valu disclosed the B.C. action last last month, it said it would review whether it was "properly joined as defendants in the B.C. action," since it does not have stories in that province.

4pack, the dog skeleton I'm talking about belonged to an Eastern N. American tribe that were farmers and fishermen, as well as hunters. (Huron tribe, or a closely related tribe.) So, it would have gotten a fair percentage of corn, squash and beans in its diet as well as meat. Who knows, maybe the dog died of terminal flatulence?? I had to compare some dogs bones I found at the site I was responsible for analysing to both coyote and wolf to make sure they were indeed dog bones, so I can tell you they didn't resemble coyote bones, either. The jaws were much shorter, and the teeth smaller and not as sharp. The lower jaw of the coyote is long and thin. The jaws of the Indian dogs were shorter and thicker. I've looked at a number of Indian dog sites to see if I can find a dog that would possibly have a similar bone structure. The closest one I found is probably the Carolina dog. http://www.carolinadogs.org/photo5.html

Raw food results after 4 years, never a sick day, bountiful endless energy, happy and healthy, beautiful coat. Here's a link for those of you too lazy to inform yourselves and move off your butt to prepare your pet's meals. Good luck on finding a healthy and safe source of wheat gulten!
COMMERCIAL DOG "FOOD"?

I have been involved with PHDPRODUCTS for the last two yrs. It is a holistic dry food that you can supplement raw hamburger or chicken with. Give Scott a call (the owner) you will get quite an education. His web site is phdproducts.com. tele. 800-743-1502. It is a great product.

I can only speak for myself but I've been feeding raw for over 20 years now. I've never had one incident of pancreatitis or a perforated or obstructed bowel, e-coli, salmonella, etc. I also rarely have non-routine veterinary visits and of those none were diet related. Ears clean and odorless, eyes clear, beautiful and healthy skin and coats; solid, small stools without excess of "undigested" material; energy level, health have always far exceeded that which I see in kibble fed dogs. Little to no "doggy odor". I'm not sure that it's related to the raw diet but intestinal parasites were non-existent. The only disadvantage is that we had to clip nails a bit more frequently. Big deal. And although my last vet heartily "disapproved" (often referred to me as the woman who was trying to kill her dogs - we have a new vet after that crack) he could not argue with the results. His big bitch was that he wasn't making much money off of me or my healthy dogs - even in their later years - as vet visits were generally limited to annual baseline bloodwork. Incidents of pancreatitis are usually the result of an owner who is feeding too much fat - taking the "cheapest" way out and buying "trim" from the local butcher and the like or not taking the little bit of time to trim excess fat from bulk purchases that may not have been trimmed properly before packing. If it's just the bones that you're worried about you can always get a good electric grinder and grind them in with the rest of the diet. You'll know you're feeding too much bone if your dog's stool is white or almost white or "powedery" when he/she is passing it, or if the dog is constipated. Too much muscle meat or organ meat will result in the runs or a soft stool. The standard for mine is approximately 55% RMB, 40% MM and about 5% OM per meal, but each dog is different. Yours may vary a bit. A lot of people feed veggie mash. I don't. The dogs don't need it and unless it's pureed they don't digest it. The whole green bean or corn kernel will come out just as whole as it went in. IMO it's more the owner considering his/her own dietary needs than the dogs. Good luck with your research and diet choice. Hope that helps some.

I should have mentioned... When/if you do have incidents of constipation or diahrrea, canned pumpkin (100% pure canned pumpkin and NOT the pie filling) is phenomenal in correcting both issues.

Hi: I have been feeding raw for approx. 10 yrs. now. I have not fed my dogs whole bones but choose instead to use Urban Carnivore products. This is a whole carcass diet & meat, bones etc... are all ground up. This is a Canadian company. Go to www.urbancarnivore.com Another raw alternative is to feed the Volhard diet as outlined in Wendy Volhard's book Holistic Guide to a Healthy Dog. Clinical trials & analysis have been done on her diet. Here you use meat & bonemal powder. All my GSDs are doing well on raw.

No non-powdered poultry bones for my dogs thanks. I still have nightmares about having had midnight emergency surgery performed on Brix Laimbachtal (http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/pedigree/18227.html) right after I bought him to remove impacted bones threatening to perforate his lower intestine ...at age 9... and the poor pup from a breeding with Brix I rescued from a negligent owner's back yard a couple years later who had a raw chicken bone imbedded, stuck sideways in his upper jaw for who knows how long, from a raw chicken tossed out in the yard to him. Bone meal yes. Raw poultry bones... not around here! SS

I tried some raw beef live last night. Only 1 out of three would eat it.