Raw Food Diet for my German Shepherd

butert

I have been tossing around the idea of switching my dog over to a raw food diet.  The pros seem to out weigh the cons of the new diet.  I have always heard that feeding your dog chicken bones is bad for them.  On the raw food diet you are feeding the dog whole chickens, quarters, thighs, or legs bone and all.  After doing some research they say as long as the bones are not cooked it is ok to feed them to dogs.

Has anybody switched their dog to this type of diet?  What have you heard about this diet?

Mickey

Do you feed it outside? Seems raw chicken inside would get messy. 

gdenby

My daughter was an intern at a wolf preserve. She knows quite a bit about canines, and has let her huskies chomp on turkey bones when they have visited. She said that bird bones usually are discouraged, but doesn't quite know why, since dogs will eat them in the wild. And I did keep a Great Dane which would inhale whole chicken quarters with no ill effects.

She also mentioned that dogs adapted to be able to digest carbs, unlike wolves, which are pure carnivores. Bread, potato chips, etc., not raw things are fine. Essentially, most human kitchen scraps.

Dobie

When then commercial dog food issues happened a few years ago with Chinese sourced ingredients I lost a championship level Doberman suspiciously at 2 years old. I had another dog and wasnt taking chances. I went raw. It also helped that I worked indirectly for a meat company at the time. We feed mostly straight meat and a few veggies for about 3-4 years after that to two dogs. Raw bones arent an issue and dogs can eat things that would kill us. I fed lots of chicken, pork, lamb, turkey and cheap cuts of just about anything available. Include some organ meat also and skin. The idea is to replicate the whole animal being consumed. This diet is fine and dogs can thrive on it and really do enjoy it but should only be used for healthy animals. 

Little Steven

Pantypants has his on a raw diet. Dunno if he still reads the forum. I'll e-mail him if you want

Zmokin

gdenby said:

My daughter was an intern at a wolf preserve. She knows quite a bit about canines, and has let her huskies chomp on turkey bones when they have visited. She said that bird bones usually are discouraged, but doesn't quite know why, since dogs will eat them in the wild. And I did keep a Great Dane which would inhale whole chicken quarters with no ill effects.

She also mentioned that dogs adapted to be able to digest carbs, unlike wolves, which are pure carnivores. Bread, potato chips, etc., not raw things are fine. Essentially, most human kitchen scraps.

I think it is because poultry bones can potential break into long thin needle like slivers that can then cause damage where as beef & pork ribs are not likely to sliver.

butert

@Mickey I would feed her outside, I have not switched to this diet as of yet.

Thanks for the info @gdenby.

NPHuskerFL

http://rawfeddogs.org/benefits.html

Have many Mal friends that supplement or are 100% in the raw. You'll have to decide for yourself. The biggest hurdle is usually for having a reliable fresh source. 

NPHuskerFL

@Zmokin poultry bones are fine if consumed raw. Some remove them but, it's cooked poultry that poses more risk in that aspect. Same goes for beef and pork. Be aware of the potential risk with large dense bones causing tooth fractures. Antlers are an excellent way for the primal canine to clean their teeth as well as providing them good minerals and vitamins naturally. 

butert

Thanks for the information @NPHuskerFL.  I have done some pricing at my local butcher and it would be roughly the same amount as I am paying now for her dog food.

NPHuskerFL

Better yet if you can get an in with a farmer/rancher or processing plant. You want the freshest available. If you want more info I can put you in contact with some real good peeps for advise. Butcher would be okay but, likely more costly. 

NPHuskerFL

Do you belong to any GSD groups?  Ask 1000 people their opinion on raw diet and you will get a broad array of opinions.

Zmokin

I had an Aussie once that i found gnawing on a turtle in my backyard.  Her mouth was bloody.  Upon close inspection, the turtle was fine, tucked up tight in it's shell.  The blood was from cuts in my dog's gums from the sharp edges of the turtle shell.  Well, my backyard is fenced and I didn't know where the turtle came from.  The shell looked wild ( signs of older damage scars on the shell) but, never the less, I went door to door to all of my neighbors with fence next to mine and to their next doors as well, no one was missing a pet turtle.  I'm guessing some kid found it in the wild, caught it, and dropped it over my fence knowing I had dogs.  I think it was likely the kids right behind my house, but I didn't make any accusations.  I just took the turtle and drove to the nearest wilderness pond near my home.  Let the turtle go at the edge of the water.  He sat there for awhile.  But then when i moved, he quickly swam out and down under cover of the plant life growing along the shoreline.  sure looked like he knew where home was and he was there again.

butert

That would be great to get it from a local farmer because my butcher does not butcher the chickens themselves.  They come already butchered in frozen cases.  The more people I can talk to about this diet the better @NPHuskerFL. I am not currently in a GSD group.  During my research on this diet I did come across a few forums and the opinions and suggestions were all across the board.

NPHuskerFL

A good friend of mine I grew up with and served in the USN and now is an Army Veterinarian has strong opinions on this and one of the only things we disagree on. It is primal for a canine to eat this way. But, the most important thing is the source (disease free, antibiotic free & Non GMO). What did you end up deciding?  For the record we use Blue and it's been absolutely wonderful. We could see immediate results in her coat and gait and keeps her physique athletic. 

GalanteNate_OneEa

@butert Been doing the raw diet for years for my three pits, 50 65 and 85 lbs. I use uncooked chicken backs.  For an average GS you can feed about two a day, and I choose tripe for the table spoon of organ meat daily.  Very healthy.  Vet compliments my dogs teeth every time.

Good Luck!

GalanteNate_OneEa

Blue Buffalo wilderness is our go to dog food as a back up too.

HostileHarry

I've been feeding 3 labs a raw diet for 7+ years. You name it my dogs have had it raw. We procure our bulk meat from a restaurant supply place in Wisconsin. At first there were two of us ordering 500lbs for the free delivery. Soon a friend opened a local health food pet store and she took it over for us and drove a lot of interest so we could slim down and not order 500 lbs at a time. It's important to get the meat:bone:organ ratios correct over a week/month. 

HostileHarry

Also depending on the size of your dog you can go for a pre-made like JJ funds, bravo, Steves real food, etc. when we go on vacation and either board the dogs or have someone watch we use a pre-made since it's as easy as a kibble diet. 

If you plan on buying in bulk 40lb blocks, you need to figure out how you're going to thaw, separate and portion out for the week. I picked up some big plastic bins to thaw out the frozen parts for 24 hours and then separated into weeks worth of portions so it was easy to thaw and prepare. 

i will say that rhe first month or two will be a bit overwhelming as you figure out your process, but it will soon become second nature. Soon you will be looking at lists of random parts wondering what it is and order it to just try it  

i will never forget the day that I got 60lbs of beef hearts. Lol. My wife hasn't looked at me the same since the day she walked in on my cutting up giant beef hearts. Hahaha.