# Can I feed my dog raw and dry food?



## HealthyDogTreats (Nov 25, 2008)

I hear so much about dogs on raw diets. Am I able to feed by dogs both raw and dry dog food?


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

If you do, you have to make sure they aren't at the same time! I've heard it's recommended to keep it at least 9 to 12 hours apart from your raw feeding or there's a possibility the cooked food (aka: kibble) will slow down their digestive system and give any bacteria a chance to take hold in a way it would be unable to on a pure raw diet. 

Why do you want to feed kibble and raw? I've heard of some people doing kibble in the morning and raw at night, but I'm not sure why they would feed it that often. It really trumps the benefits of raw to be giving kibble that often IMO


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

I pretty much agree with what rannmiller said. It is not recommended that you feed both but I know some that have done it successfully. I have never understood why someone would want to dumb down a good raw diet with kibble.


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## blackdoberboy (Dec 12, 2008)

I am currantly feeding 1 cup of Primal raw along with 1 cup of Timerwolf-Wild and Natural twice a day...I have a 3 year old(just three a few weeks ago)working Dobie. Is there anything wrong with that???


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

Feeding raw meat with kibble is not a good thing. Primal has raw meat as you know. Kibble is difficult to digest and takes about 12 hours or more to move though the body. Raw meat digests in just a few hours and needs to get out of the body pretty quickly because of bacteria. It can't get out of the body while kibble is holding it up. Yes it's bad to feed them both during the same meal.


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Oh yeah, I would recommend spacing them out for sure! ...or eliminating the kibble completely. To save money (because I know Primal costs an arm and a leg and still has a lot of crap in it dogs don't need and doesn't do anything for the teeth at all), I'd recommend switching to a prey model raw diet. Tips and advice for that can be gotten off of Rawfeddogs' signature.


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## blackdoberboy (Dec 12, 2008)

TIMBERWOLF IS NOW GONE
I added it because he wasn't holding on to his weight with just the raw.He is training in Schutzhund which uses a lot of energy. But he was just three so maybe just raw will let him keep his 92 pounds.


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Awesome! I'm so jealous of you and your dobie. Dobies are my absolute favorite dog and Schutzhund is so cool to watch! Have you looked into prey model raw yet? That'll save you a ton of money trying to keep weight on a working Doberman! And he'll probably love crunching through the bones and meat.


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## selfservepetspa (Jan 4, 2009)

*Raw Feeding*

We feed Orijen and Primal and don't have any problems with it. Primal recommends that you mix kibble and Raw when switching your dogs\cats over to raw (they obviously want you to switch completely to raw). Nature's Variety does as well. I used to believe in the whole waiting 9 hours - but after talking to some people, I have mixed and tell others to do so as well.

I always had my doubts about the delay because the digestive tract digests different nutrients at different times from the stomach to the intestines and so on. One example would be eating sushi and rice -- if the case about waiting for hours was true, then we would not be able to eat raw fish and rice together=)

I would love to hear some more input.

Dave


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

selfservepetspa said:


> I would love to hear some more input.


I still think the argument not to feed the two together is a valid one. I honestly don't understand why one would want to dumb down a perfectly good raw diet with junk food anyway. It seems to be a large step backwards.


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

selfservepetspa said:


> I always had my doubts about the delay because the digestive tract digests different nutrients at different times from the stomach to the intestines and so on. One example would be eating sushi and rice -- if the case about waiting for hours was true, then we would not be able to eat raw fish and rice together=)
> 
> I would love to hear some more input.
> 
> Dave


Probably because the fish doesn't have bacteria in it like salmonella and e.coli so we can eat it just fine without getting sick. Also, there's a big difference in the digestive tracts of dogs and humans. 

Humans (as I understand it) are omnivores and are built to eat both plant matter and animal matter and can therefore digest them at the same time with no trouble. 

Dogs on the other hand, are not humans or omnivores, they are carnivores. They are built to digest meat, bones, and organs of their prey, not grains and veggies. Moreover, they are built to digest it raw, because as Kymythy Schultz would say "biologists have yet to find a wild carnivore that cooks for itself" NUTRITION

Dogs' bodies are made to digest raw food because it has all the enzymes in it already so they can digest it faster and more efficiently. When the food has been cooked, the enzymes are destroyed and the dog then has to use enzymes from other parts of its body to digest the food. Obviously this takes a longer amount of time (and energy on the dog's part) and slows down the digestion process within the dog. Also, since it's using more enzymes to digest the food, it impairs the immune system. 

When you feed raw alone, the dog's body is able to digest it at a normal pace, using the enzymes available in the meat, rather than from its pancreas. This keeps the immune system in top functioning order (along with the rest of the body), and has a variety of other benefits. 

When you feed cooked food alone, it still takes longer to digest and robs enzymes from other parts of the dog's body. 

When you feed raw with cooked, it still slows down the digestion and impairs the immune system, giving any possible bacteria in the raw meat a chance to manifest itself within the GI tract. This is obviously not the desired effect of feeding raw so why anyone would actually _want_ to do that is beyond me.


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## selfservepetspa (Jan 4, 2009)

*Dumbing Down*



RawFedDogs said:


> I still think the argument not to feed the two together is a valid one. I honestly don't understand why one would want to dumb down a perfectly good raw diet with junk food anyway. It seems to be a large step backwards.


It doesn't have anything to do with dumbing down to any diet.

If I can get someone off of Beneful and on to Canidae or someone from Canidae to Orijen or someone from Orijen to Orijen and Raw --- Guess what I am happy because thier pet is doing better than what they were doing the day before.

A lot of people including myself being a new business owner can not afford raw (would love to be there -- no matter what people think or see how busy we are at our shop, we don't get free food and can't afford it). A couple years prior to opening our shop I thought I was doing the best thing feeding Science Diet, WOW I was off and that is why we exist now!

I have not seen a study for either, have not had any issues mixing myself and nor have have had any of my customers have an issue, Nature's Variety and Primal tell you to do it when transitioning.

Please keep me updated, because I do understand the concern if it was valid, but the arguement is always the same without any solid studies either way (my example sucked, I admit it -- thanks for the points RannMiller:tongue: ).


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

You're welcome haha. 

A word about Primal and Nature's Variety raw food. They are much better than kibble, yes, but still not the best or cheapest way to feed raw. If you're feeding even Canidae, you can feed raw for cheaper than that if you do prey model raw. Just throwing that out there. 

The reason I would never put my dogs at risk with the whole raw and cooked at the same time thing is because the only reported cases with the CDC of dogs getting sick from salmonella or e.coli is when the contaminated meat is fed with cooked food/kibble (like a dog getting ahold of an egg shell after eating a bowl of kibble) or if the meat has been sitting out at room temperature for over a day and a half. 

So in my opinion, that's better than studies, that's real life examples of it happening.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I have to say the only 2 times my dog has thrown up in the middle of the night is when she has gotten ahold of cooked food and eaten it. She's really quick, and with all the grandkids here for the holidays it was hard making sure she didn't get more. So, I know it does affect my dogs, getting fed raw, and then sneaking cooked.


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## LoveNewfies (Jun 18, 2008)

My biggest concern is not the digestion rate between cooked and raw, it is the fact that most cooked and kibble diets contain grains and they can block the uptake of some minerals. I've personally never seen a dog have a problem when being fed a combination of kibble and raw or home cooked and raw.

I think the example given of the dog getting sick from scoffing some cooked food was more a tolerance issue - if a dog is not accustomed to eating cooked food, they may have some digestive upset just as easily as a kibble fed dog might if they scoffed some cooked or raw food somewhere.

I think the idea of feeding a kibble diet and adding some raw is far better for the dog than feeding kibble alone. I do agree they *should* be fed separately, but either way, it's a step up from feeding just kibble.


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