RAW diet for Dogs

Unfortunately, I am not as frequent on this blog as I had hoped, but with that said, I want the content to be helpful and encouraging to the various stages in life we go through.

Recently, Ross and I have been going to our local PETCO here in Pasadena for puppy play time. We are finally starting our Level 1 course on Sunday, which will hopefully teach us a thing, or two, about discipline. However, we have been engaging in other dog questions, like: what do you feed your dog (to the next owner) or, how much exercise do they need? We have these intentional conversations with the hands-on trainer right there and she always gives her feedback.

Well the last conversation we had was about food. This subject seems to create a lot of uproar in the blogging sphere, as well as the vet, along with local pet stores, like PETCO. We attended a teeth-cleaning seminar a while back where the local groomer gave his two-cents about food and healthy lifestyles of dogs. Throughout this seminar we each asked about our brand of food, and how that related to our individual breed. Come to find out, we thought our "organic" food was healthy for Riggs, but in all reality it only gave him half the nutrients he really needs. After the seminar we kept feeding him the rest of the bag of Canidae, but I didn't feel right about this.

Dog food is much like human food I am coming to underdstand. And for many pet owners out there they scoff at the use of RAW foods, which this groomer recommended for us. RAW meaning that the dog has real meat, real veggies, and real bones (not cooked) to eat. At first I thought RAW food was bad for dogs, but then our trainer challenged us to look into it and to read about it. So I did. And I found that RAW food is the best for all dogs based off of their evolution from the wild and wolves. It's actually a very interesting philosophy adapted by many dog owners who are wanting to give their dogs less gas, healthier energy, and less shedding.

I did not accept that the RAW food diet would also benefit us financially, so I asked some questions and came up with a cost-sheet from one website and blog. The meat and the veggies you purchase do not have to be for human use, so day-old veggies, or fatty meats, (cheap meats) can be acceptable because dogs don't process bacteria like we do. However, with the meat though, same rules apply about sanitary refrigeration etc.

Here are the websites and the pioneers of the RAW foods. Our vet didn't say much, as we find out that no matter the vet, most of them are paid to promote products and to say they are healthy like most drug companies, toward humans. I am also not saying to tune-out your vet, but to try this, and if it doesn't work, go back to what does. We haven't tried it yet, but are starting tomorrow. I will post updates as well.

http://www.barfworld.com/
http://voices.yahoo.com/how-feed-dog-raw-food-diet-budget-679495.html