Raw diet -dogs

[shirley]

Looking for dibbers experience of raw food? We collect our new wee sheltie in 10 days time. Our last sheltie was feed on Royal Canine, but so many friends now do the raw food with their various breeds, shar pei, English bull dog.

[Princess Ariel]

We feed willow nutriment raw. She loves it and because it’s all pre prepared it’s really easy. We just need to remember to get a pack out of the freezer to defrost in time before the previous pack runs out.
When we went on holiday we put her food in a cool box which kept it frozen until we got to our cottage so had no problems there either.
I don’t think I’d consider feeding anything else to her now to be honest!

[Bellasmummy]

We use Bella & Duke and get on really well with it. Tink was a very fussy eater before and we kept changing foods and trying to get her to eat. She loves this food though and has been on for over six months. Other foods she would eat a few times and then refuse.

[sully301]

We fed our boxer it for a few years but we have had to take him off of it as I think it was too fatty for him. One thing to be cautious of - my friend has recently had a campylobacter infection and was really poorly - the GP thinks she got it from the raw food. When it worked for our dog it was really good. Excuse the TMI but they're poos are a lot better!

[Tinkertangled]

Our dogs have ate raw since weaning. Able and Nutriment are our favourites as they are slightly more pleasant to look at but Betsy’s and Paleo Ridge are brilliant if you don’t mind the road kill appearance.
As long as you follow standard hygiene - hand washing and washing bowls/utensils properly then you won’t get ill. I see it as no more risky than preparing dinner with raw meat.
Once defrosted most brands last 2-3 days in the fridge. We keep ours in a container on the bottom shelf, we use the same container and same spoon which is different to all other spoons and containers in the house.
Much better for their coat and teeth and also they tend to poop less and it’s less smelly, also seems to prevent wind and smelly breath.

[shirley]

All sounds very positive, will seriously look at giving this a try, as less problems = less visits to vets

Thanks for the suggestionsxxx

[Bootrip2]

A friend of ours raw fed their dog and it ended up with e-coli infection and died. Very sad as the dog wasnt very old, and they were very careful. We give our dog freshly cooked chicken, beef etc with veg. Although its a very popular way of feeding raw, but not worth the risk to me. DD is always with our dog and i would also worry about cross contamination.

[marypoppins38]

I know many people advocate it but my DD (student vet) has said an absolute no to feeding our dogs on raw. Too many potential problems and dangers.

[mitch84]

I don’t feed raw, but I do something a little different.

My husband runs a little sandwich shop so we have leftover cooked chicken and beef. There are also leftover eggs both raw and boiled.
When I cook our veg I make extra and cook all the stalks etc, he loves broccoli and cauliflower stalks especially.
He gets any leftover veg and pasta/rice etc, fish skins, meat off cuts from our cooking.
I then buy Harrington’s dry food to mix through with it all as it’s good for his teeth and he only gets leftovers I don’t cook him special meals etc. So some days he might just have a bowl of Harrington’s (but rarely)
This makes both the shop and our house incredibly low waste, which is important to me, but also the dog gets a really good balanced diet, but without breaking our bank.
His coat gleams, people always comment on it and his poo is never smelly etc
He has never had wet dog food. Works for us but know our situation is a bit different

[Mexy02]

We feed raw , we get it from the pet shop not the internet though and it’s a fraction of the cost . They weigh the dog and give the correct blend . He’s happy and healthy and eats the lot, kibble he would take it or leave it.