# About a raw diet



## Luce (Mar 4, 2013)

Where do you feed your dogs raw? Are they confined to the kitchen so they don't take it to the rest of the house?? I work in the food industry and the thought of raw meat in the house is not something I would want.

That being said, and I don't mean to contradict myself, I do give Luce a raw frozen marrow bone once in a while (she LOVES them!!), only when I lock her in her playpen which has a shower curtain for a floor. When she has cleaned it off, I let her out with it and she continues gnawing on them. She has a bunch of them and she likes them all LOL She'll even switch from one bone to another to another in the same evening.


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## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

have you looked into using hydrogen peroxide or grapeseed extract to treat raw meat (not ground) and bones? i don't feed raw as a rule, but if i did, i think i might explore one of these options to address salmonella/bacteria concerns.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

If the raw can't be eaten out of a bowl, I have a washable throw which is spread on the floor. The dogs have been taught - with endless patient repetition, to "keep it on the blanket", and after a few uses the throw goes through the washing machine. But given that Tilly-cat regularly brings home rabbits, mice and voles to eat I am rather beyond worrying - no one in the household has a compromised immune system, and I myself don't usually eat my meals off the floor!


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## JudyD (Feb 3, 2013)

My dogs are good about keeping their raw food in the bowl. We take them outside for the bone-in food, even in the snow. It does require standing out there with them in the elements, but we always take them for a long walk just after they eat, so we'd be out in it sooner or later anyway. If the weather is really foul--pouring rain or sloppy snow on the ground--we just skip that part of the meal for the day and do a short walk down the street.


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## Grandma's Boys (Feb 28, 2014)

I also being a Nurse am afraid of raw. I would love to try the chicken necks, organic, and wash well and just dip in boiling water for a few seconds. As I know those organisms thrive on the exposed parts of meat. Would that be a good plan, so my girl could get the bennifit of raw as well as calcium from the bones, which would stay uncooked.


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## JudyD (Feb 3, 2013)

I'm a nurse, too, and I've found that handling meat for the dogs on a daily basis isn't really different from handling meat for your own use. I just clean the counter and sink as I would after fixing a meat meal for my family, change my dishcloth and dishtowel every day or two, wash my hands frequently and dry with paper towels, etc. 

Because my dogs are entirely raw-fed, we use about 75 pounds of meat a month. I'm more careful on the days I package meat and poultry in quantity. I wear gloves, use disposable zipper bags or reusable plastic storage containers that are used only for their meat, have a cutting board that's dedicated to prep for them. I wash up by hand, then run everything through the dishwasher on the sanitize cycle, and disinfect the counter and sink very carefully. (I wash their food bowls by hand--those never go into the dishwasher.) We've also got a small refrigerator and a chest freezer that are used primarily for dog food. I didn't like having partial containers of food stored right next to ours.


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

Swizzle just eats his raw food in his dish and his raw bone on a towel which I just throw in the wash. I handle raw meat all the time cooking, I just use common sense and keep things clean


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## Grandma's Boys (Feb 28, 2014)

I do use meat for myself using very sanitary methods. I always wash the meat well before cooking, because I have heard how unsanitary the meat handling practices are. But raw meat if the dog doesn't eat it right away or is like dogs I've had in the past who remove the food from the bowls and place on the floor somewhere. I'd be afraid of it.


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## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

with your grandchild in the house, yes, i too would be concerned. i do think if i were feeding raw i would use either the hydrogen peroxide or grape seed extract treatment first because, if nothing else, the dog's face and possibly paws would have been in contact with the raw meat whether or nor it was confined to a specific place for eating.


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## JudyD (Feb 3, 2013)

Grandma's Boys said:


> I do use meat for myself using very sanitary methods. I always wash the meat well before cooking, because I have heard how unsanitary the meat handling practices are. But raw meat if the dog doesn't eat it right away or is like dogs I've had in the past who remove the food from the bowls and place on the floor somewhere. I'd be afraid of it.


I don't have to worry about food being left in the bowl or dropped on the floor--never happens. :biggrin1:

I've read that washing chicken, at least, may actually be a bad idea, that you can spread bacteria from the splashing/running water. I don't wash our meat, so I don't wash the dogs' meat either. Most of my beef for the dogs comes from a couple of local slaughterhouses, but I've been doing this for almost a year and haven't had a single problem. 

We have grandchildren, too, the youngest 3 months old, the next youngest 7 years. I haven't worried about the 7 year old, but I do see that she washes her hands after she plays with the dogs, I wash my hands well before I hold the baby, and I don't allow the dogs to nose him or lick him. I think some exposure to bacteria is healthful, helps to stimulate the immune system. Besides, he's breastfed, so his mother will provide antibodies against whatever specific bacteria/viruses he's exposed to while they're here. 

The dogs are thriving, we'll all well, so whatever I'm doing seems to be adequate for all concerned.


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## Grandma's Boys (Feb 28, 2014)

Yes I totally agree, wouldn't want those babies to get sick. I might try that chicken neck dipped in boiled water for a few seconds and put her in my bathroom with it and then wash the floor well when she's through. Ill wait until shes a little older though. The babies don't go in my bathroom any way.


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## Grandma's Boys (Feb 28, 2014)

I'm not disputing the health bennifits of it. And the health of the dogs that eat that way. It's just not for me. I've learned at my age, no one way, is the only right way.


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## JudyD (Feb 3, 2013)

I just posted on another thread that the way I feed is time consuming and expensive. If I were still working, or if I weren't getting most of the meat free from the meat processing plants, I couldn't/wouldn't do it. As you say, there's no one right way, even for the same person at different times. You have to do what works for you.

We have a new puppy coming in a few weeks, and I have no intention of trying to feed him an adequate raw diet. I'll get a five-star puppy kibble and be happy to feed him a chicken thigh once in a while. When he's approaching a year old, I'll switch him to what the other dogs eat.


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## Grandma's Boys (Feb 28, 2014)

The time thing is also a big deal for me. Work 40 plus hours a week and baby sit for several hours twice a week. So every free second I spend playing with my new little pup. Fortunately I take her with when I babysit and the 2 year old just loves her, it's hard to keep him from kissing her and her kissing him.


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## JudyD (Feb 3, 2013)

We babysat our son's two older children (now 14 and 7) with some frequency and enjoyed every minute of it, so I expected to help with the new baby. His mama took a semester off, though, won't go back to work until August, so we've spent little time with him. Sad, in some ways, but we're older and less energetic than we were with his sisters, so maybe it's for the best.


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## Grandma's Boys (Feb 28, 2014)

When she goes back to work she'll be ready for you to watch him more. I became a Grandma so late in life, but I'm enjoying every minute of it. My Grandsons are only 19 months apart.


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## JudyD (Feb 3, 2013)

Perhaps so. Our son works just a few miles from us, so he could bring John Henry to us every day. 

Our first grandchildren were twin girls, who were 6+ weeks early, so the fact that I was an OB nurse/lactation consultant meant I got to spend lots and lots of time with them. It was really a treat for all of us. They're 16 now...I'm not sure how that happened.


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## Grandma's Boys (Feb 28, 2014)

They grow up to fast.


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## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

Grandma's Boys said:


> I'm not disputing the health bennifits of it. And the health of the dogs that eat that way. It's just not for me. I've learned at my age, no one way, is the only right way.


as has been pointed out elsewhere, salmonella has also been found in and transmitted through prepared kibble and treats, as well, so there is no guarantee. a lot depends on level of comfort.

i would add just one thing, as i know you take your baby to visit at a nursing home. there is an owner at pf who has a therapy dog and has pointed out that certified therapy dogs cannot be fed raw. i think it's part of the protocols that have evolved for visiting nursing/hospital care institutions. so it's just as well you are not bent on feeding raw. in the end, it all works out.


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## Grandma's Boys (Feb 28, 2014)

That's good to know, I had never heard that before. I think she will be a natural. With the elderly and small children she is so gentle. With me and my Son, she can get a little rowdy!


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