Question by Minnie: Dog Raw Food Diet/Training Question?
I want to start my beagle on a raw food diet. But, since raw meat is expensive, is it possible to put fruit and maybe some cut up sweet potatoes in with his dry food? He has food allergies and right now he is on EVO salmon & herring dry dog food. He eats it fine. He is a 35lb 9-10 year old beagle. I’m just curious as to what types of produces I can add to his dry food? He also has food and toy aggression towards other dogs and most people he has food aggression with. He only allows me to pet him and take his food while he’s eating. Advice on this would be great because I am hoping to get another dog in the near future, a puppy to be exact. Also, if anyone has an email I can contact them for future questions, that would be great.
Best answer:
Answer by Lizzie
if you get the original book, The B.A.R.F. Diet (B.A.R.F. stands for either “bones and raw food” or “biologically accurate raw food”) book, you will see that you are SUPPOSED to add fruits and vegetables, and the book will tell you how much and which kinds.
Veterinarians are now speaking against raw diets. There is a lot of danger involved in this diet. I have known a dog that died after eating raw chicken (with bones) that a store worker had failed to put a “previously frozen” sticker on. Bones that have been frozen will splinter in the digestive tract. Splintered bones can kill dogs. There is also a huge risk of salmonella poisoning to YOU from handling the raw meat and even just being around a dog fed a raw diet (no more kisses!). Salmonella can kill you and your whole family.
You would be wise to consider ALL of the facts before you go ahead with a raw food diet.
You can probably find the book, The B.A.R.F. Diet, at Dogwise, www.dogwise.com. You might also find it as a used book at Better World Books or E-Bay (both are online). Alibris.com is another place to look.
There is a wonderful book about Asset Guarding behavior, which food related aggression and possession aggressionare parts of, called MINE! It is written by Jean Donaldson. She tells you what to do about it, too.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Maybe try a product called Sojos. It’s a base that raw meat is added to in order to make your own fresh dog food. It comes in Original (healthy grain base, orange bag), or Europa (potato & veggie base, green bag). You just add meat & water. An 8 pound bag costs $ 20 for the Original Or $ 60 for the Europa and would last a 25-50 pound dog 5 weeks.
If you stick with entirely home prepared food, use 60% meat, 20% carb (rice, potato, oatmeal, ect), and 20% fruit & veggie (apple, carrot, spinach, banana, kiwi, broccoli, kale, collards, ect). A little yogurt can be good too. Just make sure any carbs or veggies are well cooked so they can be digested.
I want to touch on a few of the things Lizze said as some of these things are innacurate and will only serve to frighten you away from a raw diet.
“if you get the original book, The B.A.R.F. Diet (B.A.R.F. stands for either “bones and raw food” or “biologically accurate raw food”) book, you will see that you are SUPPOSED to add fruits and vegetables, and the book will tell you how much and which kinds.”
-BARF is only one type of raw feeding that is based on the theory that dogs are omnivores. Dogs are, however, carnivores and adding fruits and veggies to their diet is unnecessary. Adding fruit only adds sugar to their diet that they shouldn’t have. All of the biological evidence screams carnivore. All you need to do is look at the anatomy of a dog to see this. They can’t even process raw fruits and vegetables.
“Veterinarians are now speaking against raw diets. There is a lot of danger involved in this diet. I have known a dog that died after eating raw chicken (with bones) that a store worker had failed to put a “previously frozen” sticker on. Bones that have been frozen will splinter in the digestive tract. Splintered bones can kill dogs. There is also a huge risk of salmonella poisoning to YOU from handling the raw meat and even just being around a dog fed a raw diet (no more kisses!). Salmonella can kill you and your whole family.”
-Vets are speaking out about raw diets simply because they are told to. MY vet has been feeding her dogs a raw diet for nearly 20 years. When done right a raw diet is no more dangerous than kibble. Dogs do choke on kibble and die. And frozen bones splintering is a myth. We feed frozen every night. We rarely feed thawed meat. We have never fed anything not previously frozen unless it comes straight from the animal. If you feed wild game it is actually recommended to freeze it for a few weeks before feeding. Cooking is what causes bones to splinter. There is no risk of salmonella as long as you treat your kitchen no differently than you would as if you were preparing a meal involving raw meat handling for your family. We handle steaks, chickens, pork chops, etc without risk as long as we wash our hands and clean our counters properly so why do folks think there is so much more of a risk when preparing meat for the dog? I don’t know very many people who wash their hands after preparing a kibble meal for their dog. I never did. However, the recent recalls that have been hospitalizing people has been from salmonella contamination in KIBBLE. Raw meat is no more dangerous than kibble. Our dogs kiss us all the time. I know many raw feeders and none of us push our dogs away when they kiss us. None of us has gotten salmonella poisoning. Raw fed dogs are no more of a salmonella risk than kibble fed dogs.
A properly researched and executed raw fed diet can do marvelous things for a dog. There are so many things that people are afraid of when it comes to a raw fed diet that simply aren’t true. I feed PMR (Prey Model Raw) and it doesn’t include any produce. If you want to feed raw maybe once or twice a week you wouldn’t have to add anything. There are many people that I know who feed only partial raw. In my area feeding raw is cheaper than feeding kibble. We buy whole chickens for under $ 1/lb and can get beef heart for about 60 cents/lb. We feed other things to but those two meats, in particular. are what helps us save some money.
If you are interested, check out preymodelraw.com and dogfoodchat.com. DFC is an amazing community that has something for everyone. Many of the folks who helped me when I started feeding raw a few years ago have been feeding raw for decades. The raw section is mostly PMR but there is a smaller BARF section as well if that is what you’re more comfortable with. There is also a huge kibble section as well. Both sides are very knowledgeable. The raw side will be able to help you figure out what you could add to your Beagle’s kibble. There are plenty who feed both raw and kibble and they will gladly point you in the right direction.
Dogs are carnivores. Feeding them fruits and veggies is very unnecessary since they lack the enzymes to break down plant cells and gain nothing at all from eating them
A true omnivore has the needed enzymes, dogs don’t. That and they have a short digestive track and high PH and acid content in their stomachs made to break down bone and kill bacteria in raw meat.