WHY WE RAW FEED THE D'FOR DOGS

I finally had my gorgeous 8 week old puppy at home. Before her arrival I had gone to the pet store to buy everything she would need. We had the crate, a comfy bed, kongs, chew toys, food bowl and of course the same brand of expensive dry food that she had been raised on at the breeders house.

After the long journey home I offered her a small meal of her dry food. I put the bowl down in front of her and….nothing happened! She took one sniff and turned to look at me as if to say ‘Is that it?'  Well, after much persuasion we finally got her to eat it, biscuit by biscuit. But was this going to happen at every meal? I didn’t have time for that! We tried mixing the biscuits with cottage cheese (she licked the biscuits clean), we tried adding an egg (she gulped down the egg and left the soggy biscuits) and we tried moistening and warming the biscuits. Nothing seemed to work, she just didn’t enjoy eating these things!

Eventually it occurred to me to have a look at the ingredients. This is what I saw: Lamb Meal, Brewers Rice, Rice Flour, Corn Gluten Meal, Ground Whole Grain Wheat, Liver Flavour, Soy Protein Isolate, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum…..

Hang on, why was I feeding my carnivore a meal of mostly grains and rice?! Sure there was lamb meal but that was the only sign of meat in the whole long list of ingredients. And what was ‘liver flavour’? Why not just put real liver into the food? Something about this list of ingredients didn’t sit well with me but I put my doubts aside because this brand was recommended by vets, breeders and pet stores. Surely they knew more than me about dog nutrition…?

Months (and much cajoling the dog to eat her biscuits) later I stumbled across a website on Raw Feeding. As I read through the articles it started to make perfect sense. A diet of raw meaty bones was as close to the natural diet that feral dogs would have once eaten. As carnivores they have large canine teeth for ripping and tearing at flesh which in turn keeps their teeth nice and clean. Their stomachs are very acidic which means that raw bones are easily digested and bacteria have little chance to flourish. In comparison, a diet of grain based kibble will leave a layer of plaque on the dog’s teeth resulting in inflamed gums and circulating bacteria that affect the body’s internal organs. Additionally, a carnivore’s digestive system is not equipped to deal with large amounts of carbohydrates; they simply don’t have the right digestive enzymes to process them.

The statistics tell a scary truth - as many as one in three pets are over weight and around 80% of pets over the age of three have dental disorders requiring veterinary attention. Both of these disorders are diet related and it’s probably a safe assumption to say that most of these pets are fed a commercially prepared diet of kibble or canned food. Surely it’s time to look at the alternatives for feeding our pets?

For dogs, a raw diet ideally consists of whole prey items such as rabbits, chickens and fish – a diet most similar to that which they would eat in the wild. Not many people have access to this type of food, but luckily there are some great options available. Pet shops are starting to stock raw foods such as chicken necks and carcasses, pilchards, tripe, rabbit pieces and even possum! Your local supermarket and butcher could also be a great source of meat, organs and bones.

Feeding a raw diet is simple but you must first educate yourself on how to supply your pet with a safe and balanced diet. If you do decide to switch to raw feeding then find yourself a vet that supports the diet, get in contact with Lyn Thomson, raw feeding vet at Raw Essentials, or purchase a copy of Dr. Tom Lonsdale’s famous book, Work Wonders: Feed your dog raw meaty bones. Go on, your dog will love you for it!