# Need advice about raw diet



## amyktexas (May 7, 2018)

Hi, new member here. I have a question about feeding. 

My poodle Sweetie was a rescue and I think she was never fed properly. It took 8 weeks to get her to eat from a bowl and she loved table scraps because... well it was on the floor not a bowl. 
When fed kibble she would stare at me like, "What the crud is that"? She refused to eat it for days!

I started to feed her cooked chicken and rice because all the meds from her surgeries upset her stomach. She loved it. So I started my internet search and found raw diet. Been feeding it ever since because she eats it.

But now we have a new puppy, Rufus and he's on kibble. So I wanted to get her on to kibble. I have tried Purino, Nutro and Merrick. All have made her throw up or have diarrhea. Ahhh!!!!

So I'm considering putting Rufus on raw. But someone suggested Royal Canin. Is this good food? But the website dog food reviews gives it low stars. I'm confused.

I grew up with Purina so all the brands at Petsmart confuses me. Any help would be greatly appreciated!


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

When you say 'raw diet' do you mean a brand type raw, or really raw meat? I feed a half raw, half kibble diet.. ie; raw meat in the morning and measured amount of kibble to free feed on (she's a 'grazer') I personally don't like the ingredients in Royal Canin and put it in the YUK column along with Purina.............. If it were me, I'd transition Rufus slowly to raw rather than risking more problems with Sweetie's tummy! Puppy, being young and healthy will adjust better! Just do the change slower if Rufus starts having a problem with raw. ( most don't!)


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Good advice on raw diets, including for puppies, here: DogAware.com Articles: Homemade Raw Diets for Dogs


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## amyktexas (May 7, 2018)

Raw for Sweetie is a combo of raw ground beef, liver, kale, hard boiled eggs/shells and Solid Gold Sea Meal. Used to put rice in it. Make up ahead and form 1 cup pucks. Freeze then thaw each day and give half morning and night.

I tried giving her raw chicken wings and she ate the very thin parts. Her teeth are in horrible condition and wanted to clean them up with bones. The vet was not happy and tried to say even raw ones could splinter (fear tactic) and says to get her teeth cleaned in house but I didn't realize it meant putting her under anesthetics. Not comfortable with that at all.

Oh and my vet is against raw because of salim. and thinks feeding a high orotein diet causes problems with the liver. My husband laughed when I told him that. Oh and she puts her show dogs on Purina Pro Plan. That's the food she recommends. I think I'll stick with Merrick and try the half raw and half kibble route.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

_Salmonella_ is a concern when raw feeding poultry, not so much for the dogs but because it can potentially be transmitted to people. There is also the concern of _Campylobacter_ in dogs fed raw chicken necks causing a form of paralysis that is similar to Guillain-Barre syndrome. Here is a link on that. https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/raw-chicken-linked-to-paralysis-in-dogs

These concerns are a large part of why I don't feed raw. I feed a home cooked diet, well balanced, but all cooked meat.


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## amyktexas (May 7, 2018)

Yes exactly! I'm more concerned about my children than the dog getting salmonella. I've cinsidered cooking it. She'll eat either. 

Did gave some success today! Half a cup of rice with cooked chicken abd 1/2 tsp Merrick...no upset stomach!!! Maybe we are on the road to a happy balanced place.

Thanks for all the comments and advice. I really appreciate it.


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## Caraline (Apr 10, 2018)

For decades I'd fed my dogs raw and they all did so well on it and love it. In the past few years here in Australia there have been more & more warnings about raw meats from a human perspective, so I too have moved to cooked. I believe those warnings have been around in the USA for far longer than here.

I am a little sad for my dogs that I have lost confidence to feed them raw, but as I am Type 1 diabetic I really can't afford to get something nasty from the dogs, and as I do let them sleep on my bed and give me doggy kisses, I am erring on the safe side... for me, not for the dogs, as I do think it is great for them.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Caraline your situation is exactly why I think cooking is better than raw. Dogs are not wolves. They don't hunt. They coevolved to be with us as our helpers and companions during which time we learned to cook. I wouldn't feel badly about cooking their food at all. It is important that you are safe and they are eating very appropriately.


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## kontiki (Apr 6, 2013)

amyktexas said:


> So I wanted to get her on to kibble. I have tried Purino, Nutro and Merrick. All have made her throw up or have diarrhea. Ahhh!!!!


Yup, My spoo almost died on kibble. He is now the healthiest 9 year old I have ever seen, yet anytime he eats kibble (which he will eat if we go somewhere that just has kibble out and I don't see it and pick it up in time), it is the same story all over again. Vomit and D.. everywhere.

Since the time he almost died he has been on raw ever since, including fruits and veggies as well as meat. His cooked things are things like sweet potato, squash, etc. Cooking kills the enzymes in meats. His vet started out anti raw. After she saw his amazing recovery she has changed her mind 

He is trained to come to me to have his face washed after every meal He won't even go drink out of his water bowl until his face is washed. 

Look at all of the kibble recalls from salmonella, etc, which humans hold in their hands and don't wash up themselves or their dogs afterwards.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

kontiki said:


> Yup, My spoo almost died on kibble. He is now the healthiest 9 year old I have ever seen, yet anytime he eats kibble (which he will eat if we go somewhere that just has kibble out and I don't see it and pick it up in time), it is the same story all over again. Vomit and D.. everywhere.
> 
> Since the time he almost died he has been on raw ever since, including fruits and veggies as well as meat. His cooked things are things like sweet potato, squash, etc. *Cooking kills the enzymes in meats.* His vet started out anti raw. After she saw his amazing recovery she has changed her mind
> 
> ...



So I totally get it that there are devoted raw feeders here and it is not my intent to change your minds, but I do want everyone to understand what really happens to food and the actual digestive process. There are enzymes (which are proteins) and all sorts of other proteins in meats. This is why meats are nutritionally valuable. Cooking does denature proteins, but that denaturation makes the amino acids easier for the consumer's digestive system to access those nutrients. Digestion itself is all about denaturing and taking apart all of the macromolecules consumed in foods. No enzyme that was still "alive" (molecules aren't alive) when it was consumed does anything biologically active once consumed. For proteins the powerful acids and the enzyme produced in the stomach called pepsin take consumed proteins apart very quickly. 


Just because people don't wash their hands after handling kibble doesn't mean that is okay. Dogs are pretty immune to the effects of _Salmonella_, but people aren't. Hand washing is never a bad idea.


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## kontiki (Apr 6, 2013)

I guess what I am saying here is that salmonella can be gotten from kibble by people, and that there are more recalls of pet kibble than there are of human grade meat for that. Not sure if that came out right.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I think I knew that was what you meant. I was trying to say that because of that people should wash their hands after handling kibble, not just after handling raw chicken or other meats.


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