Raw diet advice

[Karen and Ruby]

Hi all

I want a little advice on feeding a raw diet to Charlie. At the momment he is having raw mackeral (filletted) or Chicken legs with brocolli and carrot with a small amount of burns (mini bites) kibble alongside as i want to ease him into it.
Once he goes completely raw what supplements does everyone recommend to keep him healthy- should he be getting some sort of Carbs (ie rice/potato) aswell??

Karen

[HollyDolly]

Hi

Have just received this book called Give Your Dog A Bone by Dr Ian Billinghurst. It makes for interesting reading and well worth the money if you are contemplating feeding a raw diet.

I have to say though that you could well be put off feeding any Dried or canned food after reading this book.

Nanette

[Karen and Ruby]

Oh dear- well my other dog ruby is on a dried diet and is the fittest she has ever been- apart from the SM that is which slows her down but she swims once a week and can go now for 20 mins with one break in between and her instructor cant beleive just how fit she is- never even out of breath!!
The only reason I wish to start Charlie is that he has been diagnosed with mitral valve displasia and ive heard that alot of commercial foods contain alot of sodium which isnt any good for him. that and the fact that he loves raw veggie and chicken and I think he will take to it like a duck to water.
Ruby on the other hand runs a mile on the site of a raw carrot!!! she thinks!!!


Will deffinatly give the book a read!!
Thanks
Karen

[Tania]

Hi Karen, Molly is on a Raw Food Diet under the supervision of a Holistic Vet Nick Thompson. The Vegetables hve to be ground as dogs cannot digest the cellulose in raw whole vegetable. He also recommended she took Ultimate Nutrition made by Higher Nature. I also read somewhere but cannot be sure Pets at Home do Nature Diet Optima Range which is supposed to be low in Sodium but when I looked around on the internet I couldn't find anything to confirm that. I have some books on Raw Feeding I am happy to lend you. I also found this website if you fancied trying your hand at some gourmet cooking for the young man !
How is he doing ?

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/dogfood...ritional_Needs

[Karen and Ruby]

Oh thanks Ill take a look.
He is ok - did the tunnel all by his self last night at agility!! Coming from the little man who was afraid of his own shadow when he came to us I think its quite an acheivement!!!

Karen

[Rae2]

Another book on raw feeding is 'Raw Meaty Bones' by Tom Lonsdale. He maintains the perfect diet is simply raw meaty bones plus (raw) table scraps, mainly for the many benefits bones can have for teeth cleaning etc.

Plus there is LOTS on the internet about raw feeding and it can become very confusing. HollyDolly is right: one thing all the reading does is make you very aware of what's in commercial food.

[waldor]

I feed our dog a prepared raw diet (ready-made, bought at store) and even those state they are not complete. I'm sure it's to cover any problems if owner does not include supplements like Omega 3 and calcium.

I have learned a great deal from the Yahoo Group. They discuss raw as well as kibble, and while raw seems to be the favored form of feeding there, many members do cooked diets as well as dry kibbles. http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/K9Nutrition/

There is another group, maintained by a Cavalier fancier, that covers similar feeding topics that you might enjoy reading. http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/K...guid=252675358

You'll have to join both groups in order to read the posts, I believe. I've had no problems with any Yahoo Groups to which I belong.