# Why did you originally start to raw-feed?



## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

And when was it? I got my dog in Aug last year and I fed him raw right when I got home from picking him up from the breeders'. I decided on raw because when I was reading up on puppy care info it came up in a thread and I decided to research it!:tongue:


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Ive been feeding partially raw for about 6 months now, but until last week I hadnt taken "THE plunge!"LOL And the reason would be because it is SOO much healthier!:biggrin:


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

I've known about raw for years, but it's not until recently that i decided it would be feasible and safe... our last dog died from complications in surgery from ingesting a sock  

I decided that as dogs will pretty much dry to scarf down anything that what the hell, bones can't be all bad, at least they can digest it. The main reason though... I can honestly say i've never loved anything or anybody as much as i love my dog, He's the highlight of my day every day, and i want the VERY VERY best for him.


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## Nani (Apr 14, 2010)

Almost 11 yrs ago I was happily feeding some sort of "professional food" for working and active dogs. I had just graduated my puppy from purina one, cause purina one is the high end food of course, to something like iams or eukanuba. Cause that's even better!!! LOL 

A coworker brought in a book called natural food for dogs and cats by Pitcairn. I read the book in a day and she told me all about raw feeding. The next day I went to the grocery store and bought ground turkey, bone meal powder, nutritional yeast, cottage cheese, lecithin, alfalfa and kelp, eggs, veggies and some vit c,e and cod liver oil. My bag of "dog food" went to the shelter. (sorry pound puppies!)

I fed that for a couple years then was introduced to Dr. Billinghurst and the barf diet. He made a lot of sense so I ditched a lot of the supplements and started adding whole meat with bones. 

It wasn't until last year that I started rethink the whole "to veggie and fruit or not" thing with pmr. I've come to the conclusion that a healthy dog does not need fruits or veggies and I have switched my kitties over to a 90%whole prey, 10% other, diet.

My eldest dog had a cancerous lump removed and all is well but I do juice leafy greens, some cruciferous, bell peppers and mushrooms and feed that to him a few times a week as a preventative. I also have upped his cod liver oil and give him a few supplements my holistic vet has recommended.

Maybe the veggies work, maybe they don't but I feel that the best medicine comes from nature.

Kinda of long and rambly but that's our journey through raw and back:biggrin1:


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## JoeynZoey (Apr 25, 2011)

I may have heard of raw sometime as I was growing up, but finally was furthered into it about 2 years ago.

I was seeking information about a specific kibble on a board for my zoey's breed, when one spoke up for me to switch to raw. It began then where I started looking upon my own research along with being given very useful information. I was very paranoid about "germs" and the usual "will my dog choke" thoughts but was finally convinced to slowly begin the process. 

So I began a half kibble/raw diet for zoey and was quickly becoming comfortable with the whole raw diet first hand. I finally felt thoroughly informed and well mentored to switch over completely. 
This was about two years ago now, and it has helped dramatically with her overall physical condition and well being. I still learn a load about raw diets as much as I love feeding her these days 
Never would I switch back to kibble for my zoey not even a consideration. I think zoey thankfully and willingly agrees


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## Onyx'Pa (Jan 18, 2011)

We went RAW thanks to this forum! Christy's research and studying convinced Us rather quickly that if We were going to be having Great Danes, well... umm... it would be best for All involved to have Their nutrition utilized as efficiently as possible! I'm convinced that roughly 75 - 80% of what The Boys ingest goes to tissue and muscle development. We are grateful for this knowledge gleaned from Dog Food Chat.
Lucas


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## Kibble And Cans Kill (May 28, 2011)

I have been raw feeding my whole life.... Say the last 25 years, since I was 14. Unfortunately a lot of us raw feeders do not write or read to the boards around the world.

Due to my construction background I decided to rent in Manhattan instead of driving in every day. When I first moved into the neighborhood of 90th, I was surrounded by animal lovers galore.... Only to realize I was the only raw feeder. Now imagine yourself alone, ASPCA 2 blocks away, a pet pharmacy 1 block away (ever heard of a prescription written for a healthy animal, less alone a store owned by 2 guys that don't own animals?), and a woman who wrote 6 books on furnishing your home if you have pets (the local pet expert people listen to), also asked me for the whole year of 2009 what I fed my dogs... She was appalled I fed raw because her holistic vet was against it.

So, I did what any of us raw feeder would have done! I made my own t-shirt logo, and started a Facebook Page.

I do not tell anyone how to feed their dogs, or what to feed them.... But I do make fun of all the locals all day long.
So if you'd like to laugh, stop on over - there's plenty of laughter to go around!

And to all the raw feeders, your animals thank you for not falling into the propaganda bullshit that is sweeping the pet world!


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

Because of all the junk in kibble. After researching here, no question it was the thing for me to do.


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## Khan (Jan 17, 2010)

Khan will be 2 in August. (where has the time gone!) Anyway, after bringing him home I put him on a high quality kibble. I had been feeding high quality loong before it became mainstream. Problem was his system didn't like it. No worries, I just changed formulas. Still no luck. After a couple months of this, and several parasite tests I began really examining ALL the ingredients in Everything he was eating. Turns out his body has trouble with the Omega 3's. I was also given a link to the Merck Vet Manual. There I found something called Malabsorption Syndrome. It was as if this text book read was written specifically for Khan. The "cure" is feeding a raw diet. 
From there I found this site, and within a few days we were taking the "plunge" Jan 2010 was when we started, and by Feb. he had gained 7lbs! For the next 6 months he gained 7-10lbs each month!
If it wasn't for the support and patience of everyone on Dog Food Chat, I'm not sure I could have gotten thru it as easily. 
I know my other two really thank DFC at every meal; since after a few months I ditched the kibble for them and switched everyone to raw!


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## CavePaws (Jan 25, 2011)

Well, I decided it was a must when I realized how much money I could save AND they would be eating the best diet I could every possibly provide for them. They started in late January and switched over completely by the end of February - we started them on half raw/half kibble and it worked well for us. It cost me more switching them completely to raw until we got the freezer...now it costs me so much less.


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## rawdogs (Jan 29, 2011)

In feb 91 i brought home a 9 week old st poodle,with a bag of kibble from the breeder,over the next five yrs i must have tried every dry and canned food on the shelf in an effort to relieve her open sores,liquid poo,infected ears,and very foul breath,
Finally realised she was mainly reacting to grains and colourants,so found a food that contained neither,for 5yrs she was fine,as long as she ate nothing else,then the formula was changed and we were back to square one.
In 2002 i found an internet item about raw feeding,the last four years of her life were the healthiest she had ever been.


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## SilverBeat (Jan 16, 2011)

I had been researching raw for a while before I got a dog. I decided that whatever dog I got, they would be at least partially [ideally fully, but due to my living situation that may or may not have been do-able] raw-fed. When I finally brought Wallaby home he had started refusing meals at the rescue. That went on for some time, he was very underweight when he came home with me. I didn't want to upset his system TOO much with the move and drastic diet change, so I offered him blue wilderness, he refused. Offered solid gold the following morning, nothing. Cracked an egg into the kibble, he ate the egg but left the kibble untouched. 
That night I gave him a chicken wing and he's been raw-fed and loving it ever since. 

The funny thing to me is that I haven't run into too many people telling me I'm going to kill my dog. The vet and one of our family friends are the only people I can recall who have been adamantly against it. Everyone else [especially people in my generation who are a bit young and tend to question everything] who has found out about it says that it just makes sense, and that my dog eats better than they do, etc etc. 
I also don't try to hide it and I'm not shy about bringing it up into conversation. Photos of Wallaby eating raw are on my facebook. A friend of mine found out about raw because of facebook, and now she wants to switch her Great Pyr to raw. I'm never going to be one of those people who shoves their beliefs down other peoples' throats... but I will be singing the praises of raw until the cows come home!


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I've told this story before but will again, it is here in the archives somewhere. I brought Cayenne home at 9 weeks after picking her out of the litter at 5 weeks, she was the runt but for my first B.T. I didn't want a knucklehead and she had a very pleasant docile personality.:becky:

We brought her home but had nothing but issues with icky poo and her not wanting to eat, we did everything possible and lot's of money at the vet:frown:. We'd find a kibble that worked for a while then she'd start back with the runny poo again, long story short and many more dollars at the vet and still no answers. I did finally find Innova, and then Acana that did work for her but that was towards the end of my kibble journey when I started here on the "dog food forum" 

So after lots of runny poo and not eating, Cayenne is now known as the raw "I'll eat anything machine" literally there is nothing that she won't eat that is raw. Her and her brother Leo started raw on 11/08 and now there is another rescued sib that eats raw as well. We have never second guessed our decision to feed raw and will always for the benefit of health and happiness.:becky:


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## SpooOwner (Oct 1, 2010)

I'm healthier by eating whole, unprocessed foods, why wouldn't it be the same for my dog?


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## trikerdon (May 14, 2011)

Kibble And Cans Kill said:


> I have been raw feeding my whole life.... Say the last 25 years, since I was 14. Unfortunately a lot of us raw feeders do not write or read to the boards around the world.
> 
> Due to my construction background I decided to rent in Manhattan instead of driving in every day. When I first moved into the neighborhood of 90th, I was surrounded by animal lovers galore.... Only to realize I was the only raw feeder. Now imagine yourself alone, ASPCA 2 blocks away, a pet pharmacy 1 block away (ever heard of a prescription written for a healthy animal, less alone a store owned by 2 guys that don't own animals?), and a woman who wrote 6 books on furnishing your home if you have pets (the local pet expert people listen to), also asked me for the whole year of 2009 what I fed my dogs... She was appalled I fed raw because her holistic vet was against it.
> 
> ...



I tried to look up your facebook page but when it asked me if I was a fan and I clicked yes I got this back:
You must be a fan of that page or that page does not exists!
So if you still have a page let me know how to get there
Thanks


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## nupe (Apr 26, 2011)

i started RAW ...NOT BECAUSE he was doing bad on kibble or anything like that...but because just like the army...I wanted him ..."TO BE ALL HE COULD BE""..LOL...and I have never looked back!!!


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## Montana (Apr 10, 2011)

As soon as I adopted the Mexican, I was on the internet all the time researching everything I could, but funny enough, nothing to do with nutrition. I figured Orijin was the best thing I could do, so I was set on feeding her that. I stumbled across Dogster while looking for training methods, and just about owning a dog in general, and found the raw feeding section and it was all uphill from there.


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## sassymaxmom (Dec 7, 2008)

I had already been through dogaware so I knew about raw from working on Sassy's kidney diet but didn't think I could afford or had room to store raw. I finally did the numbers and realized meat is cheap and Max doesn't eat much. I was sick of tossing out chicken bones from the dogs' food as well. The house freezer and frig were pretty full until I got my birthday dog freezer though!


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

bishopthesheltie said:


> And when was it? I got my dog in Aug last year and I fed him raw right when I got home from picking him up from the breeders'. I decided on raw because when I was reading up on puppy care info it came up in a thread and I decided to research it!:tongue:


It was actually because of my little white cat, Serenity. (I wrote about it in the "Success Stories" thread.) I started in September of 2010.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

I had an 8 month struggle with my corgi Grissom, with weight loss, lethargy, liquid stools, ear infections, etc. ans tried and tried to find the "perfect" kibble for him. We went through
Wellness
Wellness Core
Evo
Evo red
california natural
and none were any better than the next. I scoured this forum, seeking more and more info on finding the perfect food for him, trying as hard as I could to just make him comfortable so he could run and play again. Many sleepless nights went by, many naps interrupted by that well known dog's-gonna-puke lurching noise (you know, that one that takes you from a dead sleep to flying across the room like a ninja, dog in hand, muttering "dontdoitdontdoitdontdoit") 
Until finally, while on EVO red... I realized I wasn't finding the perfect kibble because there simply wasn't one. It didn't exist./ I was chasing ghosts. They all, even the "premium" ones... are processed garbage. I trotted to my vet, had a FULL exam one last time. x rays. full blood work. fecal. EVERYTHING. he recommended an RX "low residue" diet, and in the same visit the word "carbohydrates" kept coming out. Grissom wasn't tolerating carbohydrates. His recommendation, switch to this crapinabag, then also to antibiotics every day, and bi weekly steroid shots, to help his body "cope" with said carbs. 
My solution? Skip the meds, skip the shots, and remove the carbs. 
Three days later, my 8 month battle was officially over. No more itching. No more diarrhea, seemingly overnight weight gain, and we never looked back.

Now I enjoy learning more about raw, trying to do better by my dogs, trying to help other people make the right choices for their pets, and forever sharing Grissom's story...


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## monkeys23 (Dec 8, 2010)

Well it was pretty obvious from minimal research that raw was always best for them, but due to excuses like lack of freezer space and $$ constraints I never took the plunge. I just used Evo because it was more economical for Lily. Scout was on it as well when she came to me and did okay aside from the odd loose stool.

But after turning from Evo after the buyout and going to Acana grain free, I started having problems with Lily on Grasslands. Her stool was always extremely firm and though I'd always given RMB's for teeth cleaning with no issues, we suddenly had issues with rock hard poo resulting from the excess calcium. Like hard enough that we had to go to the vet once for an enema. So I still didn't take the plunge, I guess I thought it'd be difficult or something. I got THK Force instead. Well she lost a lot of muscle and gained fat, though her poo problem was fixed. It was very very obvious to me that even with added organs and RMB's, THK was not what she needed because of all the useless carbs and plant matter. So I went PMR with her and its been far simpler than I imagined it would be. I did half and half with Scout for a couple months, but finally just went full PMR with her too because it was costing about the same either way. Scout's teeth have benefited enourmously from the change!


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## Northwoods10 (Nov 22, 2010)

What really made me want to switch was because it made so much sense to feed raw wholesome foods in their purest form instead of something processed and cooked. The more I read, the more it made sense and I was wishing I had done it a Long time ago!! 

But cost was also a huge deciding factor for us. We were spending MORE on premium kibble for two dogs than I am spending on PMR for 3 dogs. :grin: It was well worth the switch. 

I have happy, healthy dogs who are being fed the best thing there is for them, IMO. That makes me very proud.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Northwoods10 said:


> But cost was also a huge deciding factor for us. We were spending MORE on premium kibble for two dogs than I am spending on PMR for 3 dogs. :grin: It was well worth the switch.



This was the kicker for my husband! He kept thinking about the out right cost for the meat, but then I showed him how much we were spending on kibble for the 2 dogs and showed him that we could easily afford to also feed Leo(3rd dog) on RAW with the money that we were spending on kibble!! :shocked::shocked:


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## BrownieM (Aug 30, 2010)

I started feeding raw because I had a growing interest in providing the best possible *everything* for my dog - including species appropriate nutrition. As I researched different kibbles, it became evident that raw was the most appropriate thing to feed.


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## mischiefgrrl (Oct 28, 2010)

Tanis had horrible, chronic skin infections after a round of antibiotics from being attacked by another dog. I was desperate to get him healed again. His hind legs, back and underside were bald, bloody, scabbed and full of pus. I'd tried every holistic trick in home cooked food and it just kept getting worse no matter what I tried. I'd thought about raw for a while but didn't think I could commit to it. I was one of those concerned with the mess and the cost. I did some research and bumped into a man walking his dog who suggested raw when he saw how bad Tanis looked and the light bulb finally lit up.

I never took before pictures because it was too sad and gross but here is an "after" shot taken this morning.










Healing his skin was my only concern. The other benefits were an unexpected perk!


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## mischiefgrrl (Oct 28, 2010)

BTW before raw when he laid on his back, the only hair on him from the chest down was on the very tip of his penis. Even his tail was bald.


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## mel2mdl (Sep 7, 2008)

When we got Thomas, he threw up all the time. Had to buy premium dog food. Cost a fortune. So we switched to the cheaper option of raw. Wasn't planning on feeding the other raw because of his age, but Oscar kept stealing Thomas's food and Thomas kept trying to eat Oscars wet food. What the heck, lets just feed both the same!


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## Ethel (Aug 14, 2011)

Because in my county I couldn't find a "quality" kibble (the best are Royal canin, Eukanuba and Purina). I was desperate because I knew that I was feeding my puppy with something that could hurt her. Than I started to research what I could do. 
Before, I was a victim (and even the worst, my puppy was a victim) to that marketing thing that if you don't feed kibble, your dog won't have a balanced nutrition.
And discovered RAW feeding. SOOOOOOOOOOO hapy about it. 
I wouldn't change it now, even for most "quality" kibble. And I'm very glad I found you and this forum. Thank GOD.


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## lauren43 (Feb 6, 2011)

Avery was from a rescue, his foster mom was feeding him raw and even though I wasn't completely sold on the whole raw thing she convinced me to give it a try, I haven't looked back since (ok maybe once when I realized he chipped a couple of teeth). I had almost no idea what I was doing except for what his foster told me which was a good starting place but then I began researching like crazy about raw.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Because of a vet in the ER clinic we visited reglularly.

Him: You need to feed her Science Diet
Me: I don't want to feed my dog corn
Him: Most people don't realize that corn is good for dogs
Me: I don't think it is
Him: Well, you are in here with your dog twice a month - and I am a vet, so you need to take my advice or you aren't doing the best for your dog.

We haven't been back to the ER since we started raw, so I can't tell him I figured it out without his %%^&^%$ Science Diet.


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## eternalstudent (Jul 22, 2010)

I read the list of ingredients of Royal Cannin kibble which I bought with my puppy!!!

After seeing what they where I decided that there must be a better way, and started on raw / kibble (as a way of getting rid of the kibble), gave up on the kibble as becka preferred the raw chicken (and Bill's sage words of "just ditch the kibble").


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## danecolor (Nov 22, 2010)

raw feeding seems to be pretty commonplace among dane people so i had known and read about raw for fun for a long time. i did not really think it was something i would be able to do until later in life. then i found this forum and read for several months. i was suddenly totally into the concept of feeding raw and just dying to try it myself. on May 21st we finally took the plunge and Riley has been happy every day since. our transition was incredibly easy and the diet fixed things i was not even aware were wrong with her. her red, swollen armpit allergies disappeared in a matter of weeks, her teeth went from tartar rimmed (the vet actually thought they looked good!) to completely white and healthy, her large mushy poop turned into tiny odorless pellets and her coat and muscle tone improved too. 

raw had always just made sense to me but i am glad i finally took the plunge to do it for my own dog.


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## hmbutler (Aug 4, 2011)

I'm embarrassed to say that a month ago, I thought Purina Supercoat dry food was a good diet for my pets (though who am I to argue with the opinion of a VET?? lol). I actually stumbled across a booklet given to me by an eBay seller that I bought a dog toy from a few months ago. I'd never opened the pamphlet and found it in the pile of papers I was shredding. I decided to flip through it before tossing it out. On the second page, these ppl, who had 30 years experience training dogs, suggested that dry food had no place in a dogs diet, that it was no good for them, and that they should be eating raw meat, raw bones and raw blended fruit & vege. 

I thought it was interesting, and kind of made sense that a dog should eat raw food, so I did a bit of googling. I found out what fruit and veges were safe for dogs etc, and found info on BARF (something I'd definitely never heard of!). It wasn't until I googled raw dog food or something of that sort that a page lead me to the PMR page, which lead me to here. I spent an entire work day (slow day at the office hehe) reading these forums and decided to cut the veges, raw meaty bones was the way to go. 

It was a day and a half after finding that pamphlet that I had duke started on raw lol no messing around. And I haven't (and won't!) look back  after 2 days on raw, my mum and I could not believe the changes to his poop, and after a week and a half on raw, mum commented today that his eyes have cleared up and his coat looks shinier  best decision I ever made for my pup!!


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## lily (May 16, 2011)

we got annie when she was 12 weeks she came with a bag of purina but it smelt nasty so i switched her to james wellbeloved and she was doing great,then on another forum they were raving about a food called fish4dogs,twice the price of james wellbeloved but i reasoned it must be better for my dog, dah,after 3 weeks of her eating her new food she was itching ,i couldnt think what was causing her to constantly itch







,her red belly and pit got worse as time went on she wore a tshirt 24/7 to protect her from secondary infection,antibiotics,antihistamines,creams,potions ,drove her and me nuts,was it food?was it contact?was it envioremental?,i stumbled on raw feeding while researching allergies and their causes so thought well it cant do anymore harm than kibble,jumped right in ,4 months later annie no longer scratches ,its taken all this time and shes been itch free for 10 days now so i reckon it was the kibble all along,fingers crossed it will carry on,and thanks to this site and all you raw feeders who are always there when i struggle as i no longer need to be on the laptop for hours i just have to come here and i find my answers,karen


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

I just want to say Annie is adorable LOL, like seriously one of the cutest dogs I have ever seen.


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## doggoblin (Jun 6, 2011)

Our Old English bulldog had problems with allergies. As a result we were simply browsing when we came across Annie's story on a bulldog site amongst other examples. The more we looked into raw the more it made sense. Ordered "Work Wonders" by Tom Lonsdale along with a BARF book. Reading through both, the prey model simply made more sense to us although we weren't calling it prey model at that point. Also as soon as we started looking at BARF we noticed the spread of commercialization which is the problem of normal store brought dog food. I still wonder how long before we get Pedigree "BARF" tins. Feeding the dogs as we do, we see what are dogs are getting and we can make adjustments. I can't see ourselves changing back.


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## lily (May 16, 2011)

thankyou CATY M,,doggoblin ,i wouldnt change her back either ,though did confess to listening to the breeder about kibble ,fed her 2 meals of the rubbish,mounds of poop more itching later soon got a boney meal down her lol,but i did do a confessional on her lol,was very desperate and had little patience and have to say i got my old man to clean up!!!!,karen


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

Tobi said:


> I've known about raw for years, but it's not until recently that i decided it would be feasible and safe... our last dog died from complications in surgery from ingesting a sock
> 
> I decided that as dogs will pretty much dry to scarf down anything that what the hell, bones can't be all bad, at least they can digest it. The main reason though... I can honestly say i've never loved anything or anybody as much as i love my dog, He's the highlight of my day every day, and i want the VERY VERY best for him.


does your girlfriend know this?


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## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

I started feeding raw because of my Chihuahua Toby that almost died this past spring. He has so many health problems and I was really out of options for him. I started researching a more natural route to help his heart and lung health and improving his diet went hand in hand with that. So after finding that one week into a raw diet he was literally like a different dog I put all my guys on it. It's been fantastic!


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

lily said:


> we got annie when she was 12 weeks she came with a bag of purina but it smelt nasty so i switched her to james wellbeloved and she was doing great,then on another forum they were raving about a food called fish4dogs,twice the price of james wellbeloved but i reasoned it must be better for my dog, dah,after 3 weeks of her eating her new food she was itching ,i couldnt think what was causing her to constantly itch
> 
> 
> 
> ...


her belly is all cleared up and everything? she's so cute....i think we need pics of her without the rashes, don't you?


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

hmbutler said:


> I'm embarrassed to say that a month ago, I thought Purina Supercoat dry food was a good diet for my pets (though who am I to argue with the opinion of a VET?? lol).


Don't feel bad, I fed dogs dry dog food for more than 30 years and it never dawned on me to feed raw food. We are all victims of the pet food marketing, and the vets.


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## BoxerPaws (Jul 19, 2011)

Despite owning cats my entire life, it wasn't until we started looking to add a dog to our family that I really started looking into pet foods. I can't really remember what my mom bought to feed our cats, just that there was always kibble, and my childhood heart-kitty got wet, too (our second cat didn't). When I finally got my own cats, they got kibble (Purina Cat Chow, then Purina One - I thought I was doing so well!). I finally started learning about foods, and my younger cat had issues with puking often, so the cats were switched to Authority brand kibble, which I thought was so great compared with the Purina. Finally, in my pet food learning journey, I came across an analysis/rating site, and finally learned what makes up a "decent" kibble. The cats now get Chicken Soup brand kibble and Wellness wet food (thus far, they have been totally uninterested in any raw morsels). When we brought Zoey home, she was transitioned from the Canidae the breeder fed to Chicken Soup also. Her poo was never firm from day 1, though she didn't have any other issues, and she wasn't having diarrhea.

I'd been reading a lot about raw for several months, but never thought it'd be feasible. Finally, a thread about how much we feed our pets/what we feed them/how much we spend sparked my interest when a couple of the raw feeders said they could feed their pets for around $1/day. I was floored! I never in a million years thought it could be that affordable.

So, I talked to my husband about it, and he agreed that if it's that affordable, it's the way to go. It's been almost an entire month now (come Friday). We're having some troubles with the transition (lots of runny poo/diarrhea recently), but Zoey loves her meals like she NEVER loved her kibble. Now when it's mealtime, she's literally bouncing up and down and spinning in circles waiting for the bowl to be put down. Despite this excitement, she's a good girl and sits patiently until we tell her to go ahead and eat, haha!

Despite the difficulty in the transition, I know we're doing the right thing, and I'm plugging along hoping things improve soon and we can start giving her more variety. Here's hoping one of these days we can get the cats on board, too!


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## lily (May 16, 2011)

will take some pics magrice and put them on,karen


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## lily (May 16, 2011)

annies belly now ,10 days post itch!!!lol,karen


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## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

Here goes, going to try and shorten it:

So, I used to feed my dogs Purina, mainly because I didn't know any better, and also because others I knew thought it was a good food. Marketing etc. Of course, they did well for about the first 2 years of their life, as any young, growing dog will probably look good enough on any food. 
Then the problems started, they started to get fat, so I cut their food intake, they remained fat (I figured they looked ok). Patchie started to have some scary digestive issues, it was on and off bloody constipation, and sometimes soft stools. All three of my dogs started to get weird allergies, and while they were on flea preventative and all, there seemed to be no explanation other than "it's a flea allergy", well, I was at a loss. Patchie also started limping on occasion, and getting hotspots frequently, now a 5 year old dog should not be limping. All three of them had burst energy, but would tire out quickly (I thought it was normal at the time). I never once thought it might be the food, but I knew something wasn't right, my dogs weren't old yet and they were having problems. Popi had lost all the hair on her sides, in front of her legs, no fur. They had terribly dirty teeth and stinky breath as well.

What really opened my eyes, was a journal post on deviantart (an art website) from this girl with her awesome orange mutt (she no longer has an account *cry*) where she posted about dog food, and the different grades and ingredients, (and also a little bit about PMR) etc, etc. This actually happened a little less than a year after I saw my dogs with problems, and in an unexpected place too, it was like as if by fate the answers just popped up in front of me. SO that's when it started, I became obsessed with getting better food for my dogs, I was upset that for such a long time, I didn't know the crap I was feeding them. I started out with Blue Buffalo, grain inclusive, I was going to transition my dogs over 10 days, but I kept looking at the ingredients on that Dog Chow bag and, well, I ended up thinking "screw this" and just straight out gave them the Blue. I actually started seeing a difference, for once, my dogs had lost some weight, I was pretty happy giving them that for a few months, but I was still obsessed with feeding them even better. So, I did more research, and settled on Wellness Core, they did pretty well on that, although Popi started to pudge up a little. However the allergies were still there, albeit a lot less, so it may have not been the food this time around, but I'll never know, as the Core was costing me a lot every month to feed them, and seeing as I had no job, I couldn't continue it, but I didn't want to downgrade them to the Blue again.

So, started the search again for better food, and I saw a mention of raw somewhere, then I also remembered the devart post and the tiny bit mentioned on prey-model. I started looking up Barf and PMR, I still thought at this point in time, that dogs were omnivores, until I did a little more research, stumbled across the rawfoodmyths webpage, and learned a lot. But, I did start my dogs on half-raw because I was still paranoid and all that maybe I wouldn't balance their meals correctly etc. etc. Then I stumbled across this forum, and started lurking. Once I started to see their teeth clean up, how much they enjoyed the food, and I don't remember what else, I decided to take the full plunge into raw. A week into raw, ( I was giving them pork necks, and chicken necks etc) I came on here and made my first post, tbh I was almost ready to take some "how dare you have fed them purina! >:O" comments, but nope, everyone here was awesome and friendly and willing to help out. I got them onto chicken backs then, even though I did stray from the plan every now and then and usually lucked out (I'm a bad bad dog mom). 

Everything went pretty smoothly. My dogs no longer have any digestive issues (except when I'm dumb and feed them too much organ). Patchie hasn't limped in ages Their teeth are almost pearly white, there is still a bit of tartar left from kibble (so I might have to brush it off), even almost a year into raw now. About 4-5months in I started to see a transformation in their muscle tone, they do shed less, the poops! They barely smell, and are so tiny and disintegrate in the grass within a day or two. Popi's and Patchie's allergies have been totally gone for a long time now. No hot spots in almost a year, their weight is perfect. So far, raw has been a keeper, I would recommend it to most owners out there.

My family thinks I'm a little lost in the head still, and they still think my dogs are on the thin side, but they have definitely stopped telling me that I'm going to kill my dogs, so it's a step up for them too.

P.S: Forgot to add, one of the reasons for raw as well was that it was just sooo much cheaper than the high end kibbles.


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## doggoblin (Jun 6, 2011)

3Musketeers said:


> tbh I was almost ready to take some "how dare you have fed them purina! >:O" comments, but nope, everyone here was awesome and friendly and willing to help out.


Think that's because the majority would have to own up to having fed the same or similar.

I think another thing which told us we were looking in the right direction was when we got our old english bulldog, aged 3 and had her checked by the vet. They commented her teeth were good for her age. Looking back when we started looking at raw this seemed a glaring pointer, especially with the raw meaty bones site interviews with Tom Lonsdale. With dogs living hopefully at least 10+ years why should a 3 year old dog have dental problems?


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## angelbears (Jun 9, 2011)

We started feeding raw because our dog has terrible chin acne that explodes into a bacterial infection. After numerous rounds of antibiotic, it never would go away. After hours upon hours of research we decided that raw made sense. We have been raw for about 5 months now. Unfortunately, there has been no improvement. 

However, we did take in a rescue 6 weeks ago. She was very underweight and her coat was dry and dull. She is looking and doing great. I do believe in raw with all my heart(mind) but it is not a miracle cure for everything. It still is the best diet that we can feed our loved ones.


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## nikkiluvsu15 (Jun 9, 2010)

Actually, Kelley (northwoods) was one of the main reasons I decided to try it with Harleigh. We are on the same Lab board and she was talking about it, so I decided to research some. She got her first chicken leg quarter soon after and with some help from Kelley we were on our way :biggrin: She's been on raw ever since, even if it was just partially. 

Another reason was that Harleigh never really did AMAZING on kibble - there was always something like losing hair, terrible gas, etc., so I wanted that to change too.... and it did!  She seems more energized when she is on 100% raw too, which is something that I definitely want and love. Plus, it seems like the natural thing to do.


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