Today’s post in the What Are You Feeding Your Wolf series deals with how to go about switching your dog over to a raw meaty bones diet. I’ll also discuss some of the perceived risks of feeding a raw diet and why most of them are inaccurate, or misinformation/lies implanted in our collective conscience by wealthy pet food companies and veterinarians.
This post is meant to provide general information for switching your dog to raw from kibble. I urge you to do your own research and/or consult a veterinarian who is well versed in the area of raw feeding.
The main concerns that I run into when talking to people about switching their dog to a raw diet are that raw feeding is complicated, inconvenient and too expensive.
I suppose raw feeding can be as complicated as you make it out to be but it really isn’t rocket science. If you find preparing your own lunch for work the next day an inconvenience, you may find feeding raw an inconvenience.
Admittedly purchasing raw pet food from retailers be little pricey, going this route can be more convenient (for people that don’t like to prepare their own lunches), but there are, many places to buy suitable raw food for your dog, such as;
- Raw food retailers
- Butchers
- Farmers
- Supermarkets
This past thanksgiving my local butcher cut up some turkey carcass into manageable pieces for my dogs and gave them to me for free. They were just going to throw them out anyway.
The other day I was at the grocery store and found some turkey wings at a good price, so I picked some up. Zeus and Sweety loved them, and lots of chewing = clean teeth = healthy dog.
Raw products purchased from retailers come in a variety of forms.
I
‘ve purchased chicken back & neck as a whole piece and I’ve purchased it in a 1lb block format. I’ve purchased 2lb frozen blocks (meat, veggies, bone dust), called a butcher block in my area.
I live on the west coast of Canada where fresh whole herring and salmon are available, so from time to time my dogs will eat fish. Fish is stinky, so they LOVE it! I’ve also purchased rainbow trout from the supermarket when it goes on sale. Beef, tongue, liver and heart can be bought at the supermarket too, is usually super cheap, and a healthy addition to your dog’s meal once or twice a week.
If you live on a farm or near a farmer’s market, you’ll probably be able to find whole chicken and free range eggs at a really good price. There are options, lots of them! Feeding raw doesn’t have to be expensive, but I’ll talk more about the cost of feeding raw in tomorrow’s post.
How to Switch to Raw
As Nike says, “Just do it!” In this post I talked about how a dog’s and wolf’s digestive systems are identical. Here’s what a week in the life of the diet of a wolf (or any other wild dog), might look like;
Monday – Scored big, bagged a deer! (om nom nom)
Tuesday – Venison leftovers
Wednesday – Rabbit with a side of bug larvae.
Thursday – Tasty Partridge (not overly filling)
Friday – Nada (no more leftovers, bummer!)
Saturday – Nada (that moose was sooooo lucky dude!)
Sunday – Freeze Gopher!! (Get it?)
Wild dogs and wolves don’t eat the same thing every day. They don’t kill an rabbit and say, “Geez, I wish I would have saved some rabbit from yesterday to eat with this gopher today. Man I’m gonna have diarrhea for sure now!” I’m not saying that your dog will definitely not have some temporary gastrointestinal upset, but the sooner you can get him or her off of their junk food kibble, the better.
“I recommend that, if possible, you make a complete change without any lead up. Simply stop the old diet and start the new.” – Tom Lonsdale
In his book, Work Wonders: Feed Your Dog Raw meaty Bones, Lonsdale recommends feeding only one type of food for the first week. He suggests whole chicken or chicken back and frame, and then provided any gastrointestinal issues that may have arisen have resolved themselves, you can begin introducing a variety of other types of raw meaty bones.
When it comes to palatability, Lonsdale says that, “most dogs are in touch with their inner wolf.”, but finicky eaters may benefit from a 24 hour fast before they readily take to their new diet. It took Zeus three days of not eating before he finally started eating his raw food. I think he just wasn’t exactly sure what he was supposed to do with it. Now he ‘wolf’s’ it down.
You may think that fasting your dog is cruel, but in fact it is very common for many wild carnivores to fast and they’ve evolved to deal with it.
William Pollak D.V.M. on fasting: “Many experts on canine nutrition recommend occasional fasting, such as one day without solid food per week or month, to simulate the natural conditions in which these animals evolved. Fasting gives the digestive organs an opportunity to rest and helps the body repair itself. In the wild, predators alternate between gorging themselves and going for one or several days without food, so a once-a-week or once-a-month fast is both beneficial and easy for most dogs to adjust to.”
Mitigating Risk
In switching your dog to a raw diet, you may encounter the occasional short lived problem which may or may not include;
Diarrhea
Diarrhea could result from your dog’s digestive system having to learn, or re-learn how to digest fresh animal protein. Diarrhea can also result from an animal being exposed to a new bacteria for the first time. Remember, they’ve evolved to deal with bacteria.
Choking
Pieces of meat or bone cut too small could be a choking hazard as can kibble and chew toys. A dog is much less likely to choke on a big hunk of meat and bone that it has to work at, as opposed to small pieces – relative to its size.
Some people treat their dogs like babies with respect to their food, cutting it into pieces for them. Carnivores do not need their food cut for them, mother nature equipped them with built in knives (for cutting their own food) in the form of very sharp teeth. Having to work at eating their food provides mental stimulation for them as well. Still choking is a possibility not only for domestic animals, but wild animals alike. I choose to supervise my dogs when they eat, mostly because I enjoy watching them enjoy what they’re eating. If one of them were to choke I’d be right there.
Salmonella Poisoning
This is probably one of the biggest concern the uniformed have when it comes to feeding raw. If you choose to believe the pet food conglomerates and anti-raw veterinarians, you’re buying into their BS that if you feed your dog raw, you risk exposing them and you to salmonella poisoning. Yeah no!!
Most of us have seen documentaries about wolves on the Discovery Channel and have seen them make a kill, eat some of the prey and return at a later time to consume the remainder, suffering no ill effect. Why? Because mother nature has equipped them to be able to handle a variety of different organisms and bacteria. Salmonella does not make dogs or wolves sick, unless, you inject the bacteria directly into their blood streams.
You yourself can avoid Salmonella poisoning by practicing the same good hygiene when feeding your dog, that you do when you handle your own food. Salmonella cells can be shed in a dog’s feces and is thought to be present in the gut of approximately 30% of dogs regardless of what they eat, kibble or otherwise. So, if you don’t want to get Salmonella poisoning then make sure you handle your dog’s food safely and don’t eat his poop! Click here to read an informative fact based article on Salmonella poisoning as it relates to dogs and raw feeding.
Worms
Human grade meats contain few if any worm cysts. Nuff said.
I’m including this link to The Dangers of a Raw Meat Diet by Purina, just cuz I find it amusing.
If you’re an RMB feeder, how do you go about it? Do you buy pre-packaged raw from a retailer or do take a “Do It Yourself” approach?
In tomorrow’s post I’ll talk about the cost of feeding a raw meaty bones diet.
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