I wrote this to pass along to a friend in 2006:
I think one of the reasons that my 17 year old golden/lab mix, Kaley, lived so long is because of the food that she and Sophie are eating. A friend introduced me to this diet 5 years ago and I’ve not looked back. I also think Sophie would have revolted against me if I changed back to the old feeding habits. She wouldn’t eat the very expensive kibble I bought for her unless I added water and heated it in the microwave. Nothing like feeding mush to keep teeth clean.
The first night I cut up a chicken and put their bowls down, I though they would look at me like I was crazy. Instead, they grabbed their leg quarters and crunched away. Since then, they have eaten: chicken; lots of pork parts – butt, neck, ribs, and other parts like feet, snout, ears on occasion; beef parts – meat when I find it on sale and then heart, liver, kidney, tripe (ick); whole fish; raw eggs; tom turkey necks; anything else I can find. Other meats (like rabbit) would be great, but finding them locally and then finding them for under a dollar a pound is not easy. I always cruise the meat dept to see what’s available and what’s on sale. For someone who doesn’t eat red meat, I have dished out some interesting stuff to my dogs.
Although supplements like vitamins are not recommended, but I do add glucosamine with MSN and Omega 3.
I’ve included some links for you to explore so that you can get an idea of what we are doing. Once you get into it, it’s quite easy. And I can guarantee that your dogs will love it. You will also not have to worry about cleaning their teeth and if they have any allergies, they will probably go away too.
2019 Update
Not much as changed, really, since I started feeding raw food to my dogs. The price of the meat/organs, etc, has gone up, but not so much that it has changed my methods of feeding. Riley was my first puppy to be totally fed raw, but he led the way for Finnegan, Darcy and Pippin. Each puppy was different, but the end result is that they all love their meaty meals.
A few adjustments are that I don’t feed as much chicken as I used to. Darcy doesn’t tolerate it well, so I have migrated to hamburger, pork and beef heart as my main muscle meat. I do feed a lot of chicken parts like heart, giblets and necks, but those don’t seem to be a problem.
Liver is also something that I am sure to feed during the week. I try to follow the 80/10/10 guide (80 meat/10 bone/10 organ), so they get a small amount of liver every other day or so. If I can find kidney, I will add that in too.
And, while many raw feeders do not supplement, my dogs all seem to do well on the Nature’s Farmacy Dogzymes Complete, which has a little bit of everything.
In 2003, I joined the Rawfeeding Yahoo Group and started receiving emails with questions from people all over the world who were new to raw feeding and the answers from several very knowledgeable and patient moderators. I learned so much just by reading those posts every day. The Yahoo group has migrated to Facebook and can be found here.
Here is a very interesting website with “recipes” that illustrates just how easy raw feeding can be.
Another good reference is Tom Lonsdale’s book, Raw Meaty Bones. His website isn’t fancy, but has lots of good information about raw feeding and the pet food industry.
Final Notes
Do your research before you begin! I did before I started and still, after almost 20 years, I still belong to the rawfeeding facebook group and check in every now and then. Ask to join the Raw Feeding group and then skim the posts for a week or two. Check out the FILES link on the left and you will be able to take advantage of YEARS of combined research by the moderators.
Check out my Blog post about raw feeding – lots of good info to get you started.