My first Rottweiler, Zelda, was very sick her whole life. Early on the veterinarian thought the issue was food intolerance. We tried many, many different dog foods, each trail being more expensive than the previous. After all, the more expensive the food the better, right?
My husband started doing dog food research and found price had nothing to do with quality. We attended a dog nutrition seminar and subscribed to a couple informational sources about dog food.
My husband found and presented the option of raw feeding. I was leery at first, and it didn’t help that our vet at the time was adamantly against it. However, knowing that kibble wasn’t working for Zelda we decided to make the change.
This was not an easy decision. We didn’t know anyone who was feeding raw and internet sources were controversial.
We switched to raw and saw immediate improvement in Zelda’s health. The most obvious improvement was the chronic diarrhea diminished and she began having normal stool.
Our dog food research continued, and continues to this day with what we feed Liezel.
Whether you feed raw or not, the ingredients and where the ingredients are sourced are most important.
Here are the ingredients in Liezel’s raw food (this is the turkey, she also eats beef and lamb):
Turkey, turkey bone, turkey heart, turkey gizzard, turkey liver, green beans, squash, broccoli, salt, potassium chloride, Vitamin E, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, ferrous sulfate, manganous oxide, potassium iodide, Vitamin D3.
And the ingredients in the dehydrated addition to her raw:
USDA Potatoes, Flax, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Celery, Apples, Bananas, Blueberries, Cranberries, Pumpkin, Garlic, Vitamin A, Vitamin D3, Vitamin E, Niacin, Iron, Calcium, Phosphorus, Zinc, Riboflavin, Thiamin, Potassium, Manganese, Chloride, Copper, Magnesium, Pyridoxine, Cyanocobalamin.
In comparison, here is an example of a poorly rated kibble:
Ingredients: Whole grain corn, meat and bone meal, corn gluten meal, animal fat preserved with mixed tocopherols, soybean meal,poultry by-product meal, egg and chicken flavor, whole grain wheat,animal digest, salt, calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, dicalcium phosphate, choline chloride, zinc sulfate, yellow 6, vitamin E supplement, l-lysine monohydrochloride, ferrous sulfate, yellow 5, red 40, manganese sulfate, niacin, blue 2, vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, calcium pantothenate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin B12 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, vitamin D3 supplement, riboflavin supplement, calcium iodate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex(source of vitamin K activity), folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite
And, here is an example of a five-star rated kibble:
Ingredients: Deboned lamb, lamb meal, duck meal, whitefish meal, whole peas, red lentils, field beans, deboned duck, whole eggs, deboned walleye, duck fat, herring oil, lamb liver, herring meal, sun-cured alfalfa, pea fibre, whole apples, whole pears, pumpkin, butternut squash, parsnips, carrots, spinach, cranberries, blueberries, kelp, chicory root, juniper berries, angelica root, marigold flowers, sweet fennel, peppermint leaf, lavender, rosemary, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E, zinc proteinate, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product
In Liezel’s food and the five-star example, the ingredients are real – real food. Whatever your feeding, whatever the price, read the ingredients and know what you’re putting in to your four-legged family member.
You should do a post about prices for raw feeding vs kibble..I would like to learn more since we have 3 dogs 70+ and up.
Right now our dogs eat a mixture of high rated kibble and The Honest Kitchen.
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I can certainly do that! There are a lot of variables in price depending on how much work you want to do. Some people buy meat, bones, organs from the butcher and either have it ground or grind it themselves. We have considered doing it ourselves but have been concerned with getting the correct vitamins and mineral supplements. I could put pricing together based on store bought raw though. I’ll work on it!
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Thanks!
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I do not own a dog, several friends do. As I observe ‘all their various health difficulties’ with their dogs, my gut keeps saying there is something wrong with the manufactured kibbles.
That goes for cats, too! Many obese cats today and I will bet it has to do with dry cat food.
I feel it is great you made the effort to go raw. ren
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Ren, I think you are 100% correct! When we started to look into the manufacturing process of kibble, we found some disturbing facts. Sometimes 4D meat is used (dead, dying, diseased, deformed), the nutrition is stripped from the cooking process so manufactured nutrients are sprayed on the food, as is flavoring to make the food more palatable. A lot of food while made in one country is sourced from another and the pet food manufacturers do not have to say where. The worst part, IMO, is that people don’t know any better. They trust that the picture on the bag, showing fruit and veggies and chickens, is representative of what’s in the bag. Not necessarily so. Between the over-vaccinating, poor diet, and environmental chemicals, it is no wonder so many dogs die of cancer.
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OMG! That is horrible! You are 100% right about the ‘worst part’ being that we are kept in the dark about it. Our poor pets. OMG! Thank you for doing your homework and being such a great dogparent.
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Thank you for helping spread the word about healthy eating! Our dogs are on a homemade diet (cooked meat), steamed veggies and small amount of grains and I am really happy that people are starting to look at what is actually in the kibble they are feeding their dogs!
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Lots of people have told me “We’ve always fed our dogs xyz kibble” and in the same conversation will tell about their former dogs dying of cancer. Maybe it’s coincidence, but I have suspicions.
When I really started reading about dog food and the pet food industry it was eye-opening. To be honest, I should probably make Liezel’s food myself, I’m just not sure if I’m ready to start concocting bone and organ mixtures in my kitchen…
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