Switching from raw to kibble

[anifunk1962]

I've been feeding my 2 dogs a raw diet for almost 5 months. They really like it, but I thought they would be doing better by now, especially the older dog (6 years old). I recently stumbled upon a website with a vet talking about a study she did with dogs on raw diets and high quality kibble and how the dogs on a raw diet, in the long term, didn't do as well as the others. She also talked about thyroid imbalance with a raw diet. So now I'm worried I'm making my dogs sick and am not sure what to do. I'm thinking about switching to a high-quality dry food. Any advice or suggestions?

[LabbieMama]

Oh, how I'd love to see RFD's response to this. Can't wait. RFD, are you awake?

[LabbieMama]

I've been feeding my 2 dogs a raw diet for almost 5 months. They really like it, but I thought they would be doing better by now, especially the older dog (6 years old). I recently stumbled upon a website with a vet talking about a study she did with dogs on raw diets and high quality kibble and how the dogs on a raw diet, in the long term, didn't do as well as the others. She also talked about thyroid imbalance with a raw diet. So now I'm worried I'm making my dogs sick and am not sure what to do. I'm thinking about switching to a high-quality dry food. Any advice or suggestions?

I'm not a raw feeder so I can't answer this, but RFD and rannmiller can of course help, and they sure will. Be assured, they will.

[anifunk1962]

I hope I'm not stirring up a hornet's nest. I just want to do what's best for my dogs. To be fair, the vet who did the study has her own line of dog food, but I've had a question in my mind about feeding raw for a while now because of what I've heard people say about dogs "evolving" and being "domesticated" and not adapting well to eating raw. I'm a little confused now because I can see the good and bad in both ways of feeding.

[LabbieMama]

I hope I'm not stirring up a hornet's nest.....

I just want to do what's best for my dogs. To be fair, the vet who did the study has her own line of dog food.

This just makes for interesting discussion which I appreciate because the Forum has been rather quiet lately.

Is the vet Dr. Jane Bicks who developed Life's Abundance dog food line? I have heard of her and the food she developed, in fact, I have had salespeople pushing Dr. Bicks' research and the food.

We all want to do what's best for our dogs. That's why we are here.

[RawFedDogs]

[QUOTE=anifunk1962;12663]

They really like it, but I thought they would be doing better by now, especially the older dog (6 years old).

In what way are they not doing better? In what way are they doing bad?

I recently stumbled upon a website with a vet talking about a study she did with dogs on raw diets and high quality kibble and how the dogs on a raw diet, in the long term, didn't do as well as the others.

Is this one study done by one vet who is pushing a brand of kibble? Define a "high quality kibble". Which raw diet? How long is "long term". How does she determine "didn't do as well"?

She also talked about thyroid imbalance with a raw diet.

There is no thyroid imbalance with a prey model raw diet. My dogs have been on a raw diet for 7 years with no thyroid imbalance. I had thyroid checked in one of them about a year ago and it was completely normal.

So now I'm worried I'm making my dogs sick and am not sure what to do.

It's easy to read these websites that are pushing garbage and get scared. They use these tactics to get you to purchase their food. You can read web pages that will tell you you are killing your dog by feeding raw. Believe me, if that were the case, my dogs would be dead by now. They are both perfectly healthy.

I'm thinking about switching to a high-quality dry food. Any advice or suggestions?

There is no such thing as a high-quality dry food. It is all highly processed garbage from the human food processing plants. If the ingredients weren't used it dog food they would go to the dump.

Stop worrying. Think about it. Wolves have been eating a raw diet for millions of years. What do you think people fed dogs 100 years ago? 200 years ago? Kibble has only been around for a little over 50 years. Why don't you ask the dog food companies to prove their garbage won't kill your dogs. IMO it does.

[RawFedDogs]

To be fair, the vet who did the study has her own line of dog food, but I've had a question in my mind about feeding raw for a while now because of what I've heard people say about dogs "evolving" and being "domesticated" and not adapting well to eating raw.

Dogs haven't evolved. They still have digestive systems identical to wild gray wolves. Kibble has only been around a short while. Certainly not long enough for a dog to eveolve to eat that junk food.

I'm a little confused now because I can see the good and bad in both ways of feeding.

If you can find anything good about kibble other than it's convenient and cheap, you found more than I have. That stuff is terrible to feed a dog. If you don't think so, try eating some yourself. See how you like it? Afraid to? then why feed it to your dog?

[JayJayisme]

Afraid to? then why feed it to your dog?

While I don't necessarily disagree with your position and advice RFD, at the same time, I don't eat raw beef, raw chicken, raw bones, and raw organs. Raw fish sometimes at my favorite sushi place, but that's it. Just because I won't eat it doesn't automatically make it bad for my dogs.

BTW, my pups are doing okay on raw chicken every other day or so. If I have a couple more weeks of success with it, I'll slowly reintroduce raw beef ribs back into their diet. Thanks for the advice to try chicken awhile back.

Jay

[RawFedDogs]

While I don't necessarily disagree with your position and advice RFD, at the same time, I don't eat raw beef, raw chicken, raw bones, and raw organs. Raw fish sometimes at my favorite sushi place, but that's it. Just because I won't eat it doesn't automatically make it bad for my dogs.

I do know several people who do eat raw meat. I know this one lady on another board who is in her 60's I think and she has eaten raw meat since she was 6 years old. She said her grandmother used to feed her raw hamburger when she was 6. She never cooks any of her food anytime. She correctly maintains that cooking destroys nutrients.

Kibble is cooked so not eating raw is no reason not to eat kibble. In my mind if a food is not good enough for me to eat, I won't feed it to my dogs. I will not put kibble in my mouth.

BTW, my pups are doing okay on raw chicken every other day or so. If I have a couple more weeks of success with it, I'll slowly reintroduce raw beef ribs back into their diet. Thanks for the advice to try chicken awhile back.

I suggest you feed pork ribs a few weeks before moving to beef. I don't remember the size of your dogs but for medium to large dogs, I suggest feeding a slab of ribs rather than indivual ribs. Even if a slab is too big, I would feed 3 or 4 ribs still attached in one piece.

[Doc]

I've moved from chicken backs, quarters, to turkey necks, and pork ribs. What's next other than some organs and fish? Beef ribs?