4 replies to this topic

[Alessia]

DISCLAIMER: This post is not to put anyone who feeds their dog raw/grain free diets down, but to bring awareness to dog owners.

 

 

I have been seeing an ongoing trend with the grain free & Raw diet. It has also been recently brought to my attention to what these diets are doing to your dogs. Dogs like every animal need a proper nutritional   balance in order to be healthy and to prevent malnutrition, these diets simply just don’t offer that, these diets are lacking carbohydrates and other extremely important vitamins. 
 

 

Not to mention this is extremely expensive I have a friend who currently has their dog on the raw food diet and they pay about 40$ a week for their dogs food. Imagine how much that is a year, you can get a good quality kibble for the same price a month. 
 

 

There has also been a recent study which has shown many dogs having heart problems and diseases and when you look at the patterns in these heart problems they are all dogs that have been fed the grain free or raw diet long term. This is due to these diets lacking a certain vitamin that is beneficial for the heart. Feeding the raw diet specifically also comes with the risk of salmonella, E. Coli, listeria ect.

Edited by Alessia, 22 December 2021 - 04:15 AM.

[Kikya]

The only time I see deficiencies in a raw food diet are when they only feed them prepackaged raw food.

 

When you feed the animal a real raw food diet that include the bones, ligaments, organ meats, I haven't see any issues.

 

Wild dogs and wolves, eat the whole animal, not just the muscle meats, like what most of the prepackaged stuff is made up of.

 

Sadly, they commercialized a raw food diet and shockingly people are having problems. People are better off getting cheap cuts of meat from their local butcher and feeding their dogs that way.

Edited by Kikya, 22 December 2021 - 05:28 AM.

[Alessia]

The only time I see deficiencies in a raw food diet are when they only feed them prepackaged raw food.

 

When you feed the animal a real raw food diet that include the bones, ligaments, organ meats, I haven't see any issues.

 

Wild dogs and wolves, eat the whole animal, not just the muscle meats, like what most of the prepackaged stuff is made up of.

 

Sadly, they commercialized a raw food diet and shockingly people are having problems. People are better off getting cheap cuts of meat from their local butcher and feeding their dogs that way.

Yes, but the difference is in the wild these animals are not domesticated and they hunt for their own food like they always have even before they have been domesticated. Humans seem to be trying to mimic this in captivity but really it is just an unhealthy way for the animal to be living, in the wild their is no way of nutritional in-balance (with no ecological complications of course). The heart problems my local veterinarian had a conversation with me about are mostly grain free diets over raw food diets. It’s not healthy (especially the packaged meats) for your animal to be solemnly living off of let alone you to be touching your animal after they consume a raw meal. When my friends dog would eat (she’s on raw diet) you would have to wait 30 minutes before interacting with her (mostly close to her mouth) to lower the risk of salmonella, E. Coli ect. 
 

 

Personally my opinion about this subject will not change and it is completely okay to disagree, to be honest I only made this topic because of the heart issues that have been happening with this diet and I wanted to spread awareness. I know a lot of old dog care because that was what my father taught me with the German shepherds but I am continuing to teach him and myself about new care and some things are a little concerning.

Edited by Alessia, 22 December 2021 - 10:31 AM.

[Kikya]

My grandfather raised hunting dogs his whole life and they ate plenty of raw food, wild and domesticated. They were very healthy and had great litters of pups that grew into big healthy dogs. I personally can't think of commercial dog food I would give a dog of mine. The ingredients, similar to hamster food, are throwaways of human foods and then added artificial vitamins that their food lacks. The ingredient list is enough for me to say no thank you. I like to read the backs of animal foods when I go to store. Nothing on them inspires confidence. Not to mention dogs and cats have tons of health problems with the current food selection. Diabetes, cancer, kidney failure.

The Pottenger cat study shows that raw food is significantly better cooked food by a long shot for nutrition.

Are people lazy and get the convenient but poor quality raw food at the store, sure. That's more a reflection on the people, than the diet. That stuff's been sitting in a fridge for months before your pet ever sees it. If you care about where your pet's food comes from, your much more likely to be successful on a raw food diet.

Everyone can make their own choices, of course but if you do a raw food diet, be mindful of the source. Heck be even more mindful of the source if you use dry dog food.

[nebit]

DCM has not been linked to raw diets at all to my knowledge.

 

It has been possibly linked to grain free diets, but the cause and link, if any, are still extremely unclear. It's not a lack of vitamins, as many of the implicated foods had plenty of taurine. It's not a lack of carbohydrates- grain free diets are often full of carbs from other sources, like potatoes and legumes. Currently, experts are not even sure if there IS a link, or if there is, if that risk applies to all dogs.

 

Also, not ALL dogs with heart issues, or even with DCM are fed grain-free. Heart issues have many different causes, many of them hereditary.

 

Yes, there's some risk of salmonella or e coli contamination to the owner with raw diets, but those risks are also inherent in handling raw meat for human consumption.

 

As far as cost, grain free diets are actually often CHEAPER to feed than many grain-inclusive formulas, because their higher calories counts allow you to feed much less. And in any case, if someone has the budget to spend extra money for higher quality food, that's completely their choice. Cheaper isn't always necessarily equal quality or better.