Raw Dog Food: Make It Easy for You and Your Dog

I am a fanatic about real food for animals. Just think about it, Would you be healthy if you only ate ensure every day? Can you really trust the pet food industry that says you are too stupid to feed your dog, when you feed yourself and children every day? Dogs evolved along side humans and have similar nutitional needs. Even if you decide on a cooked diet for your dog, any thoughtfully prepared fresh food would be better for the health of your pet than highly processed, preservative laden dog foods. This book is an excellent beginners guide to feeding naturally. I have shared it many times with friends whose dogs had health issues such as hair loss, itchy skin, overweight or digestive upset. Everyone who followed through became a believer also. Get this book, it will cange your dogs life!A little about my animals. I have an 8 year old rabbit whose diet consists of liberal amounts of timothy grass and orchard hay along with fresh fruits and vegetables. Her favorite treats are dried pineapple bits. Four rats of varing ages who eat left-overs from the table. And two retired show dogs.My dogs are Rhea, spayed, 10 years old and as healthy and active she was when she was 6. She does have hypothyroidism and takes daily replacement pills for this condition. This form of thyroid disfunction often causes weight management issues as well as hair loss, skin problems and other health issues. Slick is 6 and unaltered. Their diet consists of mainly raw chicken ($.58 a pound chicken quarters from Walmart.) I also prepare a vegetable mixture about once a month and freeze in individual servings for ease. They eat the vegetables frozen. Treats are cheese, raw or frozen vegetables and table scraps. Absolutely no grain, ever.To prepare the vegetables, I simply seek out what is in season and therefore cheap, or free if you have a garden or know someone who will share their abundance. I run all the vegetables and fruits through a juicer to break down the cells so the dogs can digest the nutrients. The pulp and juice is then mixed with ground meat, again cheap or free if you know a hunter. I also add ricotta or cottage cheese and Vibrant pets, which is a vitamin and mineral supplament.Pros: Healthy, glossy coats, very little grey even at their age.No preservatives = no yard clean up. Poo turns white and disappears within 2 weeks.No weight or skin issues, even with Rheas thyroid condition.No 'doggie' smell, and I can pet them for hours without getting that greasy dog yuck on my hands.Clean teeth and fresh breath. At a recent vet visit I asked about teeth cleaning given their age and the vet said both dogs had very clean teeth and healthy gums that did not require cleaning. BTW they are schnauzers with full beards. Often dogs with hairy faces have more dental issues.Less expensive that premium dog foodCONS: There is work involved. About 2 hours once a month to prepare veggie mixture.(it may be less for you as I have two very active farm dogs with a combined weight of 170lbs)People will give you a hard time about this non-conventional feeding, but who cares when your dogs are happy and healthy?

This is a great book if you are looking for information or, as in my case, MORE information on raw feeding your dog. This book has been most helpful. It is also funny. Adding some levity to most subjects always helps. I have learned a lot and will continue my quest to spread the word to any dog owner I meet. KIBBLE IS LIKE FEEDING YOUR DOG POISON. Get with it people! Did you know that almost every dollar spent on nutrition research for dogs and cats is paid for by the PET FOOD INDUSTRY? What do you think their conclusions are going to be? All of the nutrition classes in every vet school are TAUGHT BY THE PET FOOD INDUSTRY. They have it covered from every direction and it is truly sickening. Wake UP! Pet food did not exist 100 years ago. How did dogs and cats survive before? The pet food industry is winning the fight because people are lazy. It is far easier to stick a cup into a bag and dump it into a bowl than to actually prepare REAL FOOD for your precious pets. I made the decision more than 8 years ago to dedicate myself to feeding my dog a raw diet. She lived a disease free and extremely healthy life free from allergies, skin infections, ear infections and all of the other maladies that pets suffer today. The vets are making a fortune just on selling dog food. Listen to this. I was taught by a holistic vet about the value of real food for my dog. He said this to me: "How would you like to eat brown, crunchy things out of a bag, and nothing else, for the rest of your life?" No thanks, people! My dog was so excited at mealtime that she followed me dancing and spinning around on her hind legs until I set the food bowl down. She stuck her head in and never came up until the bowl was licked clean! I will never, ever feed another dog of mine kibble.

I have been feeding my dogs Biologically Appropriate Raw Food BARF for one year now. I cannot imagine ever buying a bag of dog food again. My dogs nasty ear infections are gone, their teeth are gleaming white and their poops "magically" disappear in my yard. Their coats are shiny and healthy and they have no joint problems, gas problems or skin problems.As humans, we do not sit down and calculate every vitamin and mineral in our diets and it is not necessary to do this for our dogs. There is no recipe for feeding your dogs a healthy raw diet, only a guideline. This book is a great beginner book for feeding raw food. It does not go into scientific details because you do not have to be a scientist to feed a dog, or yourself for that matter.I know that in the old days there was no such thing as kibble and I cannot remember ever hearing of someones dog having things like cancer, skin infections, allergies and diabetes. Nowadays, all I hear is how sick everyones pets are! Dogs are not designed to eat a diet that is 40-60% corn and other grains such as found in kibble. The meat and by products in dog food are just horrible! They are allowed to use roadkill in dog food!I am a Nurse Practitioner with a Masters degree in science and I know that most disease in the U.S. is caused directly by our terrible diet. If you love your dog then you should strongly consider changing to this raw food diet. Your dogs will be happier and healthier then they ever could be if they are eating kibble. People are healthier when they eat a whole food diet and dogs are healthier too.In the wild, a dog would eat only raw meat and occassionally some grass. They would get a tiny bit of grain and vegetable from eating the stomach contents of whatever animal they killed, such as a rabbit. They would crunch up the bones and have perfectly white teeth.Personally, I don't go to the trouble of grinding up vegetables for my dogs. I give them whatever salad or veggies we have leftover from dinner along with their raw meat. It is cheaper and healthier to feed the natural way. Try it! I guarantee you will love the results! Everyone that I know develops a different routine for feeding their dogs the natural way. All you have to do is start somewhere and this book is a great guide to get you started.

As someone new to raw feeding I thought this book would be helpful but it's very vague and confusing, it's also very cheap looking/poor quality. I wasn't impressed.

A great introduction into RAW food. I'd definitely recommend this book if you're thinking of going down this route. It was immensely helpful to me when I was starting out, and answered any and all questions I had even before I had thought of them.This book explores different strands of thought within the RAW feeding community, and goes so far as to explain how to suss out what your dog needs more/less of just by looking at his number twos!

I was recommended going onto a RAW diet when we got our new puppy, but thought I needed to do more research. After reading as much as possible on line, I settled for this book over other, in some instances, more expensive ones.Ms MacDonald writes in a easily understandable way, and introduces feeding your dog raw meat without blinding the reader with science (yes, the science is there too but written in layman-speak).

I feed my 2 German Shepherd's a raw diet and I'm always reading to improve my understanding and knowledge to make sure they get the best possible diet. I loved this book! And learned a couple of things I didn't know, also had a few questions answered. I literally downloaded the book to my Kindle and finished it in one sitting before bed. Carina's writing style is friendly and flows easily. She explains technical aspects without being technical. If you are thinking about feeding raw or your furry friends are already on a raw diet you should get this book as part of your collection. You'll be happy and so will your four-legged friends!

I've been a raw-feeder for years, and wanted a simple book to guide a friend on her journey to raw-feeding as well as my advice (as it is good to hear information from different sources). This book is easy to read, and has lots of sensible advice. It isn't perfect, but I read it first and felt it would be very useful. She loves it and is convinced that raw-feeding is the way to go. Brilliant.