# Raw Feeders, why are you feeding your dogs like cats?



## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

I thought this was a very interesting and enlightening article. Excellent!

Raw Feeders: Why Are You Feeding Your Dogs Like Cats? - Dogs Naturally Magazine


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## JudyD (Feb 3, 2013)

Very interesting! Thanks for the link.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Judy, You're welcome. I thought it had quite a bit of info I could use. I'm starting to feel more confident about what I'm feeding. Everyone helped me a lot with my questions and worries and when I come across something I think might be of interest, I love posting it just in case. So, I'm happy you enjoyed the article. I am quite interested in nutrition for humans too and am constantly reading something about various foods, what they have for nutritional benefits and I just seem to thirst for info. I fear I've turned into a "foodie." LOL. 

I just bought some chia seeds and put them into my raw egg/pulverized shell mixture. They make a sort of gel and I put a few table spoons on top of their muscle meat and veggie mixture the last few meals. I had some chia seeds a long time ago and then ran out, never got more and sort of forgot about them. But they're really a super food. Anyhow, this raw feeding business is interesting and hopefully my babies aren't deficient in anything like some of these articles warn. It is a tad unnerving sometimes.


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## JudyD (Feb 3, 2013)

PBG, I've enjoyed your journey so much that I'm almost ready to go back to raw feeding myself. The dogs loved it, and they clearly thrived on it. 

Off on a tangent here, I've been mulling over comments from vets about the dangers of raw feeding. It reminded me of a conversation I had with an OB-GYN, when I was working as an OB nurse. I had taught natural childbirth classes, my third child was a natural delivery (remember, I'm a child of the sixties--Lamaze, La Leche League, and all that), and I was distressed at the amount of intervention used in hospital deliveries. I said I though Mother Nature designed the perfect system for childbirth and that we altered that system at our peril. The doc was a good man, not argumentative at all, but he said something that I've never forgotten. He said nature isn't concerned with individuals. [Edit here: I think the way he phrased it was, "Nature is wasteful," which is rather chilling.] Nature is concerned only with survival of the species, so the loss of some individuals doesn't matter in the larger picture. His point was, of course, that obstetrical intervention can be lifesaving for those women for whom nature's design doesn't work. My point was that compromising every delivery to avoid problems for a few might not be the best way to go. 

Some women and infants are compromised by a natural delivery, certainly others are compromised by obstetrical intervention. I suppose the same argument could be made for and against raw feeding. Some few dogs will be harmed. Most will thrive. Pay your money and take your chances. I'm on the side of the angels myself, just too lazy right now to put belief into action. :biggrin1:


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Awesome post Judy!!! Yes, that is so true about how evolution works. There's a method that works to a greater or lesser degree in how animals thrive, how they get food, how they give birth (to take your example) or how they protect themselves from predators. The method is there for the taking. Some won't cut the mustard but most will or the species will go extinct. The fittest survive and go on to pass on their genes.

When I read about what's in commercial food or most commercial food, the recalls, the poisonings, the lying on their labels, it was enough to propel me to search for another way. I don't believe it's just a bunch of scare tactics because dogs died...a lot of dogs died as a result of certain things in their food. 

It can be said as well...that dogs may become deficient in some nutrient when _home made_ food is done wrong or a dog can have his intestine perforated, or be made sick from some pathogen. (that hardly ever happens) Anyhow, it's something I wanted to do. I like feeding them fresh meat and bones and he other stuff where I see what it is that is going into them. They love it and I think so far, they're doing well. 

I fed kibble for years and not even premium and some of my dogs lived to be very old. I wonder though, and I've heard it said that commercial food use to be better. I really have no idea. But I guess it's all the things you hear on the news and allergies, problems with health that may well be a result of the food they eat that helped prompt me to feed a fresh food diet.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

I don't have time now...gotta take dogs for their walkies. But later I'll post something else because that article has some flaws in it that I didn't notice at first so I'm not so sure about some of the info. Maybe I'll start yet_ another _thread about food.


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## kellystar (Feb 27, 2016)

Poodlebeguiled said:


> I thought this was a very interesting and enlightening article. Excellent!
> 
> Raw Feeders: Why Are You Feeding Your Dogs Like Cats? - Dogs Naturally Magazine


Very interesting read. I personally follow a diet which contains about 20% fruits and veggies including supplements to make up for the fact that we can't feed our dogs all parts of an animal. I think a lot of raw feeders are making a mistake ignoring this aspect and just feeding meat & organs without proper supplementation and/or veggies/fruits.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Well, this is a big controversy. There are many opinions out there and I'm a tad on the fence still, but continue to research this matter. There are reasons why some people don't feed vegetation. I kind of wonder though, like you said, when our dogs aren't eating hair and feathers, maybe some roughage from vegetables would do them good. As far as utilizing nutrients, I don't think they can...not much. They don't need carbohydrates...as far as I'm leaning now goes. Well, there's a discussion in my other thread about whether dogs need vegetables or not...some links. I do appreciate your post and continue to look at both possibilities until I'm satisfied completely.


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