Raw Feeding: A Natural Diet For Labradors. To help you find your way around this guide to raw dog food and natural feeding I have divided the article into five key sections. You can use the green menu to skip to the section that interests you. The majority of Labradors are fed on a commercial processed food. But there is a growing interest in feeding dogs BARF or a completely raw diet of meat and bones. My 11 month old has ate something or multiple somethings that are causing her not to eat or drink anything. This Raw Pet Food Trend is Worse than Cheap Processed Food. Hi,what would be the most obvious reason for a dog to throw up yellow bile?One of my bassetts which is around 4 years old throws up yellow bile at least 3 nights a. Dinovite® Liquid provides the delicate nutrients your dog needs in a yummy, easy-to-feed formula. Just squeeze a little on your dog's food and mix. I have been feeding my own Labradors and Spaniels, all working gundogs, on a natural raw diet for over a decade. However, I am not evangelical about raw feeding. I don’t believe that raw feeding is necessarily the best option for every family and every dog, and we’ll look at why that is as we go. What I will do, is answer your questions on raw feeding. We’ll look at the claims that are made both for and against raw feeding and at the evidence to support them. My vet just did a punch biopsy on my 6 yr old female dal, Abbie. She has a lump just to the left of her spine. Doc said it is not dorsal facet, cyst or bone fragment. And I’ll help you decide whether or not raw feeding is a route you want to go down with your dog. ALL ABOUT RAW FEEDING FOR DOGSThe growth of interest in raw feeding for dogs has continued steadily over the last few years. All About Raw Feeding For Dogs. The decision to switch my dogs to a raw food diet was not one I took lightly. In fact it took me over a year to take the plunge, after doing my research and being fairly confident it was the right decision. Unhappily, there is still some inaccurate and misleading information about raw feeding available online and elsewhere. Both from those that feed their dogs on a raw diet, and from those that oppose raw feeding. There are also . To clear up some of the misconceptions about raw feeding, about what it can and can’t do for your dog, to establish how safe it really is, and how easy or difficult it is to put into practice. Let’s start with some general information about what feeding raw diet involves. What is raw feeding? Wild dogs, and our dogs’ common ancestor the grey wolf, are all predators. They are designed to chase, catch, kill and eat other animals. Raw feeding is designed to replicate the kind of diet that wild dogs and wolves eat when they catch and consume their own prey, and to replace commercial dog food entirely, for the modern raw fed dog. Why do some people feed dogs on raw? Considerable numbers of experienced dog owners have changed over to raw feeding in the last few years. We’ll look at those benefits below. There is also a movement towards a more natural, less . They no longer need to kill in order to survive, and most dogs get their daily rations in a bowl. Some people feel that raw feeding is dangerous for dogs and those who live with them, and irrelevant in the modern world. Different types of raw feeding. Not everyone who feeds raw dog food, does so in the same way. The two most popular types of raw feeding are the BARF diet (biologically appropriate raw food) and the RMB (raw meaty bones) diet, also known as the Prey Model. But it is also possible to buy commercially prepared raw food, in a neat packaged form for those that don’t want to handle and prepare their own raw meat. A large part of the diet of most modern dogs consists of carbohydrates usually in the form of grains and/or vegetables. Natural raw diets are based on protein and fat, and are low in carbohydrates or virtually devoid of them. What is BARF? The main difference between the BARF and RMB diets is that the BARF diet contains vegetables. BARF advocates believe these are essential to replace the stomach/gut contents a wild dog would get from access to the prey animal. But I also want to take a quick look at our third option, which is to purchase raw food, ready prepared. Nature’s menu and other commercial raw foods. A range of frozen raw foods is available from commercial pet food suppliers, they come with appetising names like . And though many people try, neither I nor anyone else can tell you for sure that one method of feeding is safer, in the long term, than the other. What we can do, is look at the advantages and disadvantages of raw feeding and at the risks and benefits, and then try to compare those with the risks and benefits of feeding dogs on kibble. Before we do that, let’s just look put your mind at rest on one common concern. Will raw feeding make my dog aggressive? Some people worry that if a dog is allowed to tear and consume the flesh of other animals, he will revert to his wild instincts and become a dangerous killer. Happily, this is not the case. Raw fed dogs do not experience any changes in temperament or personality as a result of raw feeding. There are however, precautions you need to take around dogs that are eating raw meat because it is so valuable to dogs, we’ll look at that below. Right now, let’s help you get closer to making that decision. IS RAW FOOD RIGHT FOR ME & MY DOGThere are several distinct aspects of raw feeding to consider when you are looking into switching your dog over to a raw diet. These include. Health and safety for your dog. Health, and safety for your family. Convenience and practicality. Many people have concerns about the safety of a raw diet for their dogs, and worry about their dogs choking or dying from a bone penetrating their stomach or gut. And these risks need to be addressed. There are also risks to those living with the dog, we’ll look at those too. But a part of your decision should also be based around the practicalities of raw feeding. For many modern people, used to processed and convenience food, handling raw carcasses is a big deal. So before we go any further let’s take a look at what raw fed dogs actually eat, and how that affects you, as the provider. What do raw fed dogs eat? Raw fed dogs eat meat and bone. More precisely, they eat meat on the bone. It isn’t a question of dicing up some nice stewing steak and dropping it into your dog’s bowl. In fact, your bowl will probably be redundant as anything you put in there will be lifted out so that your dog can get to work on it with his jaws. Actually crunching and swallowing bones is a crucial part of the process because bone contains minerals that the dog needs, and because the abrasive action of the bone in the dog’s mouth, contributes to his dental health. You need to be comfortable with this aspect of raw feeding, and it can take a bit of getting used to. Are you comfortable with handling raw meat? If you want to feed a natural raw diet, you are going to be handling raw animal body parts not pre- packed steak or ground mince, and you need to be comfortable with that too. It isn’t for everyone. If you are going to feed BARF you will also need a food processor and be prepared to spend some time liquidizing vegetables for your dog. But, if you are going to feed the Prey Model, you will need to include . Which brings us to storage and preparation. If you feed green tripe (which contains semi- digested vegetable matter) a couple of times a week, you don’t need to worry about liquidising vegetables for your dog. Storing raw food for dogs. Feeding raw requires a generous amount of storage space. Buying in bulk can save you money and many suppliers will only deliver to each area once every few weeks, so you will need a big freezer. You’ll also need a safe place to store the day’s food while it defrosts. Preferably in a separate fridge or at least on a dedicated shelf of your main refrigerator. Preparing raw food for your dog. If you are used to preparing raw meat for your family you’ll know what is involved, but if you are not, you need to learn the rules that are involved in safe meat preparation. This includes separate defrosting areas in the fridge, separate chopping boards, separate meat knives and somewhere to wash everything in very hot soapy water or sufficient space for those utensils in the dishwasher. You’ll also need somewhere safe for the dog to eat his food, but we’ll look more closely at that in a moment. Now you have some idea of what is involved in feeding raw meat to your dog, let’s get down to the risks and benefits of raw feeding. The results people claim for raw feeding. You will hear a lot of claims made for the benefits of raw feeding. You’ll hear people say dogs have shinier coats, or are calmer, or happier, or that their immunity is better. Let’s be clear, the evidence for these kinds of claims is sadly lacking. And many if not most kibble fed dogs are happy and healthy with shiny coats too. If your kibble fed dog is not one of those, then he may need a check up from your vet to begin with, rather than a change in diet. The known benefits of raw feeding. There are some benefits to raw feeding which are widely acknowledged and for which in some cases there is good evidence. Let’s have a look at those. There are some for the dog, and some for you. Less dog poop / nicer poop. Dog fed on a completely raw diet poop less. By less, I mean smaller poops, not less often, though this can happen. Dogs fed on a completely raw diet also produce poop that doesn’t smell very much at all. This is a particular advantage to those who have to pick it up! In fact, it is easy to underestimate just how this can improve life at home if your dog poops in your yard or garden. Raw fed dog faeces are firm and within a few hours of being passed, if broken open, will crumble into a pale dry powder. This is simply because almost all the food is tailor made to suit the dog and fully digested. What is passed is mostly powdered bone. Healthy anal glands for your dog. Every dog has some glands next to his anus which nature designed to be emptied regularly by the pressure of his poop as it travels on its journey to the outside world! Kibble fed dogs tend to produce large quantities of rather foul smelling soft faeces, which do not always have an effective emptying action on the dog’s anal glands. Anal glands that are not emptied can become very smelly, and irritating to your dog, who may then scoot around on his bottom in an attempt to relieve the irritation. This tends not to happen in raw fed dogs, which are less likely to need their anal glands emptying artificially by hand (usually your vet’s hand).
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