Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:
yupididit said:
Anyone ever do a raw diet for their dog?
BAD IDEA!
I've seen some really sick dogs from eating raw diets.
There's a lot of food fads when it comes to feeding dogs. I've honestly been hesitant to post about any of them, since the reaction is often the same as asking someone who they're going to vote for or where they go to church.
This one will put the dog and the family at risk for salmonella, listeriosis, or other serious food poisoning. There are warnings about this from the FDA and the American Veterinary Medical Association.
I'd link them, but I found out last night that if I open another window on my phone, it clears out my post in the current thread.
Another food fad that is especially serious is grain free dog food. There's no nutritional benefit to avoiding grains in dogs, and grain allergies are not at all significant in food allergic dogs. The only benefit to the widespread marketing of grain-free foods is to the dog food manufacturers.
There are cases of heart failure related to grain-free foods. I've seen young healthy dogs come in to the office gasping for breath and with whopping murmurs after only a few weeks of eating one of the boutique brands.
Other dogs can eat these foods and be fine, or may not progress into full blown heart failure, but will develop less serious heart damage.
The cardiology specialists that are working on the issue are currently giving the following advice: avoid what they call BEG foods. Boutique brand, Exotic ingredient, Grain free.
Exotic ingredient doesn't mean ostrich meat, it means sweet potatoes, potatoes, peas, lentils or other legumes.
I've seen dogs that were being fed foods that should not have caused a problem, and developed murmurs after the owner started feeding them sweet potatoes and peas to supplement their dog food.
The current recommendations are to feed food made by three different manufacturers. I've seen these same recommendations when reading the proceedings from two different lectures from last fall.
They both recommended feeding foods made by Mars (disclosure: the company I work for is owned by Mars), Hill's, or Purina. What sets these companies apart is that they do food trials. The food trials are done just like a drug trial.
I respectfully disagree. While I agree that domestic dogs aren't wolves or hyenas, their digestive system is one thing that hasn't changed much from wild dogs through all the breeding. I fed 9 dogs raw for 15 years. All of them lived well past their expected lifespans. Several of them are still alive including a 14 year old Pit that acts like she's 3 and an 18 year old chihuahua who (aside from macular degeneration) is still going strong. I recently lost a French Bulldog.... at 15 years old.
A well-rounded and safe raw diet poses no harm to most dogs. No more than you eating a rare steak or some good sushi.
The AMVA has no choice but to condemn raw diets. First and foremost, they are covering their butts. They have to say no just like every screwdriver you buy has 3 pages in the owner's manual that say you need gloves, eye protection, and a radiation suit before you even open the toolbox. Secondly, the AMVA is heavily influenced by the commercial dog food industry. Pet food companies put significant R&D into making their pet foods profitable and not poisonous, and significant money into advertising, lobbying, and endorsing their products to AMVA, just like McDonalds does to you. Since raw diets don't have commercial interests, they have no AMVA endorsement. Just like no one from the Broccoli Association is advertising that you cook broccoli at home as an alternative to going to McDonalds. Not to mention, do a simple google search for "pet food recall" and look at how many animals died from commercial pet food over the last 10 years.
Cheap dog food is the equivalent of fast food for you. Good commercial dog food is like eating Panera every day; a little better, but still processed junk, It is either full of useless, cheap, profitable filler that doesn't rot, filled with preservatives, or cooked to death in extremely hot ovens until it is one step away from charcoal so it doesn't rot.
Having said that, I currently feed Moxie Buffalo Blue because furloughs don't pay very well and the days of 99-cent per pound briskets and $1.29 chickens are long gone. She has gained weight, poops way more, has much more gas, and her energy is way down on commercial dog food. Her vet doesn't like her bloodwork either. Still fine, but a definitely noticeable change.
I'm not advocating that everyone should feed raw any more than I would advocate how to raise your child, but raw feeders have been branded into the same group as tinfoil hats and anti-vaxxers and it's incredibly unfair, not to mention biased by things like the AMVA, but if you do the research there is little evidence to back up the claims. Anyone who criticizes raw diets to me is no different than the screwdriver owner's manual criticizing me for not wearing steel-toed shoes when I put a screw in the wall to hang a picture. I won't die using a screwdriver with Crocs on my feet.
Feel free to criticize the Crocs, though.
I refuse to believe that anything has any dietary needs specifically- when it can and will eat its own turds.
