I realize that, for a large segment of the canine owner population, the words raw feeding conjure up images of a mysterious cult of fanatics exploring a new and trendy gimmick. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The fact is that commercial dog food has only been around for a relatively short time and was created for much the same reason that TV dinners were…Convenience.
What would you rather have for dinner: a perfectly cooked New York strip steak, hot off the grill or a Swanson brand Salisbury steak out of the freezer? Yes the TV dinner WILL keep you alive but that's about all you can say for it.
The internet abounds with information of all kind about raw feeding. A simple web search will turn up hundreds of sites, both pro and con, on the subject. I don't pretend to be the end all and be all of canine nutrition. What I do have are my own impressions based on many years of personal experience. All I ask is that you do your own research… set aside your preconceived notions and hopefully make the right decision for your canine companions.
I started out much the same way as many of you. Dog food wasn't dog food if it didn't have those two words printed right on the label. I was led to believe, by the pet food industry, that they had nothing but our pets' best interests in mind. Additionally I was also taken in by the grand sounding words…”Scientifically formulated” on the bags and cans. This created visions in my mind of sterile laboratories and Doctors in white lab coats.
In reality, commercial dog food is nothing more than a collection of cast off by-products of the human food industry. All the stuff not fit for us to eat. Dogs are carnivores. They are designed by nature to eat meat. Any real biologist will tell you this. The pet food industry would have you believe differently. They fall back on a couple of very clever tactics to cloud the truth and peddle their wares.
The first of these methods is simple enough. Dogs don't buy dog food. Sounds innocent enough on the surface but it's the basis for everything they do. The advertising, packaging, and even the product names are created to elicit a response in the consumer. WE all grew up listening to our mom telling us to eat our veggies. At school, in health class, we had the three food groups drilled into our heads. Most owners tend to think of their canine companions as members of the family and if you press them…as little people in fur suits.
It's not much of jump in logic from that point to believing that our dogs have the same nutritional needs as we do. Sure we all know that “people food” shouldn't be given to our dogs but at some level we think they need the doggy version of the same three basic food groups. The problem with this logic is that dogs are not now nor have they ever been…humans.
When I first switched over from traditional kibble to raw feeding it wasn't done lightly. My wife and I read everything that was available for months and even talked to people from both camps before making our decision. The actual process went a lot more smoothly that we would have imagined. The results, especially on our older animals, were nothing short of amazing. We had a Sarrloos wolfdog who was 16 years old at the time of the switch and beginning to show his age… understandable for a 125 pound canine of advanced years. In a little over a month I watched the years melt away and saw him regain much of his former glory. We lost him shortly after his 18th birthday to cancer but I will always wonder what would have been possible if he'd have been on a species appropriate diet his whole life.
All domestic dogs are descended from the Gray wolf.This is a scientific fact. Many people would like you to believe that wolves and domestic dogs are two different species. Some of these people even go so far as to point to some unproven distant relative as the basis for our canine companions. This is incorrect of course but it more closely matches what a lot of people WANT to believe so the myth is perpetuated.
Wolves and domestic dogs are carnivores. They are designed to eat meat (other animals) to survive. Their digestive systems are FAR too short to receive any benefit from vegetable or plant material…much shorter, in fact, than our own.
It's wrong to think of them as an animal that has evolved into a completely different species. This takes place over the course of millions of years…not the ten thousand or so we have shared our lives with wolves and their descendants.
If anyone is interested in more information about the benefits of raw feeding… how to get started … and the number of Veterinarians how now support and endorse this method. Please feel free to visit on of the following websites to get pointed in the right direction:
Raw Learning
Raw Meaty Bones
Switching To Raw
