# Why do people feed raw?



## Hopie20 (Jan 25, 2014)

Dogs ancestors ate raw meat but for centuries dogs have become domesticated and evolved to this way of living, so their digestive system won't be able to digest this RAW food properly. 

So I would like to know why you think this way of feeding is better than commercial foods?


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## JayJayisme (Aug 2, 2009)

You make ignorant statements as though they are fact, the hallmark of a troll.

Do your research. 

"Domestication" is a social state, not a physiological one. Just because dogs (not all dogs BTW) have been domesticated doesn't mean their physiology suddenly evolved or changed, something that would take thousands of years. A domesticated dog's digestive tract is pretty much the same as a wolf, which is pretty much the same as it has been in canines for tens of thousands of years. 

Commercial pet food has been around for less than a hundred years and was developed for two reasons. Convenience to the user and profit for the manufacturer. Its existence has nothing to do with any evolutionary change in a dog's digestive system.

Now please go troll somewhere else.


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## Celt (Dec 27, 2010)

Humans have been cooking food for a long time but we are still able to digest food in its raw state. In fact, we are encouraged to eat foods that are minimally process as being healthier for us, providing us with more nutrients, etc that contribute to our well being. Dogs have been eating a processed diet for a lot less than we have. Dogs were originally fed the "left over" discards which included raw chunks of (often spoiled) meat or trimmed meaty bones. Human diets were once quite meat heavy before agriculture was developed. So a raw diet makes just as much if not more sense than a processed one.


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## Hopie20 (Jan 25, 2014)

I was asking why people feed their dogs on raw food answer the question or don't bother answering, they aren't completely the same as they use to be hundreds of years ago! this information was from a QUALIFIED vet!
Its just a simple question.


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## doggykong (Jan 8, 2014)

Hopie20 said:


> I was asking why people feed their dogs on raw food answer the question or don't bother answering, they aren't completely the same as they use to be hundreds of years ago! this information was from a QUALIFIED vet!
> Its just a simple question.


In my experience, for the most part, vets always advise against raw diets. Usually because they are getting paid to endorse shitty dog food companies. 
People feed raw because it is what works for them and their dog. 
If you don't like the idea of raw, don't feed raw. It is as simple as that.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

Hopie20 said:


> I was asking why people feed their dogs on raw food answer the question or don't bother answering, they aren't completely the same as they use to be hundreds of years ago! this information was from a QUALIFIED vet!
> Its just a simple question.


Vets know very little about nutrition. Kibble makes them money. Period. Most of what they know on nutrition comes from kibble sales reps who make money selling to the vets. It's all about money. Kibble has only been around about 60-70 years. Dogs for thousands of years. Do the math.


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## JayJayisme (Aug 2, 2009)

Hopie20 said:


> I was asking why people feed their dogs on raw food answer the question or don't bother answering, they aren't completely the same as they use to be hundreds of years ago! this information was from a QUALIFIED vet!
> Its just a simple question.


As I said, do your research before coming here making ridiculous assertions that fly in the face of what everyone here is doing successfully on a daily basis. If you did even a little digging on this subject, even just here in the forum archives, you would have all the answers to your inflammatory questions. You would also discover that veterinarians, much like human doctors, receive very little training in nutrition and actually know little about it. Additionally, most of the training they do receive is sponsored one way or another by pet food manufacturers. The most egregious of these offenders is Hills (producers of Science Diet, Prescription Diet, and other brands of crap food). "Qualified vet" means nothing when it comes to nutrition, as most of us have discovered through dire circumstances and while troubleshooting health problems in our dogs. 

If you REALLY want answers to your questions, go buy a book called _Raw Meaty Bones_ by Dr. Tom Lonsdale. His site is here: Raw Meaty Bones

And if you think physiological evolution with something as complicated as the digestive tract can happen in "hundreds of years", you really have no clue. A thousand years is a blip in the map when it comes to evolution. You make it sound like dogs physiologically evolved from carnivores to omnivores in a couple hundred years. That is exactly what the pet food manufacturers want us to believe, except perhaps for Orijen who had the balls to publish a white paper awhile back titled _The Biologically Appropriate Food Concept and the Dietary Needs of Dogs and Cats_ that admits that dogs are, in fact, carnivores. Props to them for being honest about it!

I suggest you locate and read this paper. Sorry, I'm not going to track it down for you. I've got better things to do and you clearly need to learn how to do some basic research before jumping into a community and stirring the pot like this.


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## Savage Destiny (Mar 16, 2011)

Commercial dog kibble has been around less than 100 years. Dogs have been eating raw a LOT longer.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

If dogs can't digest raw food, then my dog should be pretty skinny as that's all she's eaten for the past 6 years or so.


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## Shamrockmommy (Sep 10, 2009)

The beauty of feeding dogs is, they actually can thrive on MANY different things. Heck, dogs can even live quite well on a vegetarian diet (not that I recommend it!). 

Feed what you like to feed and what your dog DOES WELL ON (please, listen to what your dog tells you!) and who cares what anyone else thinks, seriously. Unless a dog is truly suffering or the species as a whole is dying out from malnutrition, perhaps we don't really need to worry about it so much?


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## Celt (Dec 27, 2010)

Hopie20 said:


> I was asking why people feed their dogs on raw food answer the question or don't bother answering, they aren't completely the same as they use to be hundreds of years ago! this information was from a QUALIFIED vet!
> Its just a simple question.


I did answer the question. It is very simple. Fresh/raw is almost always better than processed. People feed raw foods because they believe (and are supported) that these foods provide more nutrients, etc that are necessary for good health. Why would they then not feed fresh food to their pets. 
I was also responding to the statement that dogs have evolved to a point where feeding raw foods would be undesireable. Many vets "believe" feeding commercial foods to be more appropriate due to most owners' lack of knowledge of the dietary needs of their pets, their own training (often) "blinding" them to alternative diets, profit, or fear of being sued if "issues" develop from eating a raw diet (which is still considered a "wild hare" idea by most of society).


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