From Rmb/barf Back To Dry Food

[SkyesongTollrz]

I've been feeding my dogs raw for seven years now, and before that a cat on raw food for her whole life (she died a couple of years ago at nineteen years of age). I would never consider going back to dry food again.

[Mokey]

I recently switched my dogs to a raw food diet. They love it, absolutely adore it. My female never was very excited about dry kibble and she was always a little underweight. Now she dives into her meal with enthusiasm.

I get a couple of kilos of ground chicken carcasses and mix it with equal parts of lots of veggies that I whiz up in my food processor (no juicer yet!) Then I add a tin of sardines, 1 egg and wheat germ oil. Then I weigh out the appropriate portion sizes and ziploc baggy them up.

They get this for breakfast and then a different type of raw bone (chicken necks, lamb flaps, etc) for afternoon tea. I'm trying to convince a friend who fishes to bring me anything he doesn't want!

Anyway, other than their delight in the food, the immediate difference is in poo quality. Before my male dog was prone to diarrhea and wet 'patty-like' poos. Now they do lovely little small logs!

I've also noticed a change in behavior, but this is a more difficult area to quantify. My female used to be hyper-active, like a kid on junk food. Now she is much calmer and focused. I'm sure that some of it is due to ongoing training, but part of it may be diet as well. Who knows for sure? I just know my dogs are happy and healthy.

- Mokey

[Flaves]

I feed the furkids a premium dry food with raw meat as well.

They are about to start with some yoghurt, eggs and sardines too later this week.

Read as much as possible and do what works for your pup. If it is a mix then great, if not great.

...

Hi Kristie,

The problem is, the more I read, the more I realise how much I don't know. That's why I started this thread to see the long term condition of dogs on RMB/BARF.

I can't just accept the argument that nature is best, so what a wolf eats is the best for my boy. There isn't a single peer reviewed study showing that RMB is better than kibble.

On the flip side, IMO it is a load of BS that any dry food is a balance diet for your dog. Nutrient requirment varies for each dog because of their living environment, daily activity, genetic disposition and etc. One size really can't fit all no matter how "PREMIUM" it is. What is perfect for Barker may not be the best for Mitchi.

regards,

ben

Hi Ben,

I have them on the same brand of dry, Nutro, but he is on large breed and she is on small breed. Both have improved in condition since i introduced raw foods to their diet but i don't believe that they should be on a purely raw food diet. That is just me.

They have left overs as have all my dogs, but i must say they are in better condition coat wise than my other dogs were.

I mix and match. I give Mitchi more raw meat then Barker becasue it works for us. If the day comes that they start to lose condition then i will reevaluate their diets but at the moment a mix is working for us.