Do you feed raw to your pets?

[Therese]

I imagine there are quite a few people now who are considering moving from commercially prepared foods to feeding a raw diet. If you feed your pets raw, please speak up!

Do you prepare all of your pets food yourself or do you order mixes from companies such as Oma's, Bravo, Steves, etc.?

[Loren]

We feed raw to our dachshund.  I probably would do it myself if we lived in a house, but we live in an apartment and personally don't feel comfortable with my boy dragging a raw bone etc. in such small quarters.  We feed the premade varieties.  I had initially used Steve's Real food for dogs, then BRAVO and now for the most part we use Nature's Variety along with Aunt Jeni's and of course TRIPE is in the meal now as well!  Chief has done FABULOUSLY on raw and I would never consider changing.  He had issues on kibble and on raw...his issues have since gone!  With this awful recall ..it's one more reason for RAW! 

[catgirl]

Yes, I feed raw ONLY to both my beautiful Siamese cats. After 10 years of poisonous dry vet kibble, my beautiful female got FD. With the help of Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins -- www.yourdiabeticcat.com -- online forum, she is CURED now and RAW DIET played a big role in that.

www.catnutrition.org
www.catinfo.org
www.felinespride.com

You can make your own or order some from FP. It's the same recipe as www.catnutrition.org.

My kitties are doing FABULOUS on raw food. Bright eyes, playing, happy and healthy -- all lab values NORMAL and the FD kitty is now in REMISSION!!

Diet is the key to health and we as pet owners MUST take responsibility for educating ourselves on this. Raw diet is their natural diet -- don't let ANY vet tell you that it is bad for them!!

[Cindy Nevarez]

Hi catgirl.

I like the look of the FP food.

I have a question about it; what company is providing the chicken for it. As you know by now I'm sure, 3 million chickens were dumped into the human food supply. I need to know if FP's chicken could be one of the companies who got some of it.

Thanks

[Mary K]

I do hope there are some Rawfood Executives reading this thread!! There is now a HUGE demand for raw foods. Now is your time to show the consumers what you can do. If you have to  make your own fertilizer, grow your own grains, feed those to your own chickens and cows, freeze and package them in your own plant, all to assure a totally organic product, DO IT!! I promise you will have a huge following of buyers!!

[catgirl]

Hi catgirl.

I like the look of the FP food.

I have a question about it; what company is providing the chicken for it. As you know by now I'm sure, 3 million chickens were dumped into the human food supply. I need to know if FP's chicken could be one of the companies who got some of it.

Thanks

My understanding is that the answer to this is "NO".

[Cindy Nevarez]

Thanks for the reply.
May I ask how you came to this understanding?

[catgirl]

Thanks for the reply.
May I ask how you came to this understanding?
[/quote

by EMAILING them...which is what you can do too.]

[Cindy Nevarez]

I realize I can do that,and would do so in the event that I would purchase this product.

I am intrested in knowing what has been said to you regarding this matter, as we all here on this forum have learned much more by comparing what has been said to us all separately by the same companies.

[willyagogo]

Hello everyone!

I just love having all these posts to read about the raw foods! I was one of those "happy" consumers, feeding my dogs what I thought was good kibble....but stopped immediately at the start of the recalls!....Boy have I learned a lot since then!

Presently, I cook for them (with some guidance from my Vet)....and I wouldn't have considered Raw. But the more and more I read about it......the more appealing it truly becomes!

I would however like to still do this from my home....cause I am having a real hard time trusting ANY petfood company...

My question is this....does anybody make their own raw-food instead of buying pre-packaged patties and medallions? If so, how do they find it?

I thank you in advance!!...

[zanzie]

I'm feeding raw, and making it myself - as of about 2 weeks ago. We're still in transition, with one kitty needing a bit of people tuna to lure her to her dinner. She's also a little uncomfortable with meat chunks, but every day she does a little better. Her sister is all carnivore at this point, and even mooched some raw chow out of me this morning, when typically they only eat once a day.  I love seeing her contentedly chewing up hunks of raw meat like a little lioness.

Here's what I've been doing and learning:

1. I'm using the cat food recipes at catnutrition.org. Our vet has reviewed and approved the balance of ingredients as healthful and complete. The recipes include careful instructions on how to combine the ingredients, grind/cut up the meat, etc. 

2. I have not invested in a meat grinder that can handle bone, but plan to do so later. My stand mixer has a grinder attachment which is fine for meats alone. I've been buying bonless or de-boning by hand.

3. I have purchased meats at my local markets, just watching for good prices. So far I've used chicken thighs, chicken livers, and ground turkey. 

4. I don't know whether they've been eating melamine-chicken. I hope not. I tend to doubt that the melamine would have been incorporated into the chicken muscle.  My biggest concern is chicken livers, since they filter toxins in the body. I may leave out chicken livers for a while and either supplement the vitamins A&D or use beef liver.

5. There is a list of supplements that are needed to complete the recipe.  I have found them all locally. At first I searched online, and then I realized that they were all available through the Vitamin Shoppe. The Vitamin Shoppe has a couple of local stores. I just drove over and bought them off the shelf - easy sneezy. I'm sure other vitamin stores have good supplies - that's just the most convenient one for me.

6. I realize that many of the supplements are probably sourced from China, regardless of what the bottle says. I'm not happy about it, but it's currently part of our imperfect world. If they're for human consumption, perhaps someone has tested them somewhere along the way, or if a major problem exists, it will have been detected already. When people fall over dead, it attracts attention, after all.

7. When I mix up a batch, I parcel it out into little fridge/freezer containers suitable for about a day's consumption. For my two cats, the 9.5 oz container is about right. I fill it 2/3 full. When using the catnutrition.org recipe for boneless cat food, one batch is enough for about a 2 week supply for my two adult (10 lb) indoor cats. I freeze them (the food containers; not the cats), and every evening take one out of the freezer at dinner time and let it thaw in the fridge until dinner the next day. This quantity thaws nicely in the fridge in 24 hours and is ready for the next feeding.

8. Going forward, I have ordered meats from Hare-today.com. They have chicken hearts available, so I can give the girls a natural source of taurine. I have also ordered up some ground chicken, turkey, and rabbit meat with bones. 

9. The food preparation takes a little time, but it really isn't bad. Preparing a batch that lasts 2 weeks doesn't seem like an excessive time commitment to me. Once you round up the supplements, the rest is relatively easy and quick. Probably the most time consuming thing is de-boning chicken if you buy it bone-in.

10. Hygeine, hygeine, hygeine - When the cats leave food behind, I toss it after 30 minutes. When I prepare their food, I observe careful raw-meat handling precautions and clean up scrupulously. Utensils and containers from their meals go into the dishwasher for a hot, hot cleanup/sterilization. Vegetarians don't usually need to think about this . . .

If I can do this, anyone can. My cats are thriving on it, and I no longer worry about "which cat food is safe".

[willyagogo]

Thanks zanzie!!...

I'm glad to see that it's working well for you. The more info I read...the better in helping me decide if I should go totally raw. My dogs are getting some raw now and then via soup bones (beef) that I get now and then.

Some things that I've read say you can just give them (dogs) raw chicken necks and quarters (bone in)....and I question that (because I don't want my dogs to choke)...they even say it's better to give them the whole carcass!!!

I'd love to hear from any dog owners that feed the raw diet this way....like I said, the more I read, the easier it helps me to arrive at a decision.

Once again..thanks zanzie for sharing your experiences!!!....

[Mary K]

Zanzie, Thank you for reviewing your process. I had printed out the instructions from catnutrition.org, but still have not started the raw diet.  Articles like yours are very helpful for one like me. There are always lots of little bumps to iron out, on top of all the big problems for someone totally new to this. Getting a real-life story is great. You mention vegetarians; are you one? Most of us raw-feeders/potential raw-feeders are. I like your positive attitude, too! Good luck!

[Cindy Nevarez]

When I first tried raw on my kids 3 years ago, all the dogs were getting bone-in chicken parts.

The big dog was getting leg quarters, the next size was getting drumsticks and backs. The little dog was getting wings.

I changed the big dog's to drumsticks as he started to gain too much weight.

The next size dog at the time was 12 years old. One morning when I gave her a back she starting choking, and actually abrubtly fell over on the floor from lack of air. I rushed over to her and yanked out the back from her throat. She recovered, but that was the end of giving her large bone-in pieces. Mind you I was assured by my 'raw advisor' that this wouldn't happen. When I told her about it she acted shocked and said she ahd never heard of that happening.

After that I kept watch over all the dogs when given their 'parts.'

A few years have gone by now, and I started noticing that as the older dogs got older, they had difficulty chewing their parts...esp. the one who had choked...she would keep trying to just swallow the whole pieces down. By then I had her on wings. So shortly afterward I stopped giving the 2 old dogs any parts at all.

Now the only one who gets them is the largest dog. He still gets 3 drumsticks every morning for his breakfast along with a large raw carrot.

[willyagogo]

Thanks Cindy!!!

My dogs just love carrots!!!....I give them little pieces all throughout the day as treats (sometimes apple pieces as well as banana too)......

They had some raw beef yesterday (boneless)....it was their first actually! I held it in my hand and let them tear at it ( sepaprately of course) so they wouldn't scarf the whole piece down at once.....

What about liver?...How often do you give raw liver..and what animal liver do you like to feed raw? I'm scared about that one. To date they get their liver cooked a bit.

Once again...thank you all in advance!....