Do you feed raw food?

I give my dogs raw venison, raw chicken, and the occasional raw eggs. The venison is either ground (for the very little ones and the Japanese Chin), sliced muscle meat, or bones. When I give them chicken, I give necks, backs or feet, mostly. Do any of you feed raw food? If so, what do you feed and why?

 

I do not feed raw foods to my dog.
We fed our dog with cooked rice combined with what cooked dishes/meals we have. They usually eat what foods we eat. Sometimes we cook food for them if we know that they will not like the food that we are going to eat for the day. Our dog enjoys eating cooked rice too much. And also love to eat vegetables and coconut meat.

 

No. Humans should not eat raw food because of various diseases that could be in them (mad cow, etc.). I wouldn't recommend giving a dog raw food either.

 

Actually, both humans and dogs eat raw food in complete safety every day, as long as the products are correctly handled. In addition, dogs have enzymes in their stomachs that humans don't, so they can digest foods that would make humans sick. Feeding any food comes with a risk, though, whether it's kibble or fresh.

 

I at one point was feeding my dog raw food and she started to have skin issues. Because it wasn't a balanced diet her skin on her belly started to turn black. She also started itching a lot. I took her to the vet and found out she has developed allergies. My vet knew how I felt about the commercial dog foods so she gave me a recipe to help with both her itching. After about a few months of feeding her this cooked food her itchies subsided. Not 100% but they are much better and her black skin went back to normal. This was almost 3 years ago and she is still on the same diet to this day. And health wise she is still very active for a 13yr old dog.

 

Dogs can handle raw meat quite well. They aren't going to get sick from it like people do. That said, it isn't really necessary to feed them raw either. My dogs mainly eat dog food now. I did have them on raw chicken for a while but I think they liked it a little too much Their reaction to feeding time was just a little too excited (I want to keep my fingers). They aren't nearly as excited about the dry dog food they get

 

I do not give any raw food to my dog. If I give him any table food I only give him cooked food. Sometimes I will give him a little bite of eggs or hamburger after I cook it. I mostly just let him eat his dog food and rarely ever give him any of our food. We try to keep him from begging every time we get food out or eat a meal, so we do not give him much of our food and we also try to keep him at a healthy weight.

 

No, Candy doesn't eat raw food. She turns her nose up at it. I have to cook the food first. Except the bones which I give her to gnaw for fun. That she can take raw.

 

I haven't tried it. It is better to cook foods so that you are secured about the protection of your dog. Cooking can kill harmful microorganisms like bacteria, fungi and even pest.

 

No, I don't want to eat raw food and I do not expect my baby boy to eat raw food either lol! He is my baby, and I would hate for him to get sick!

 

I heard some rumors that giving raw food to the dog will make it more vicious. Is that true?

 

There is no truth to the rumor that feeding a dog raw food will make it vicious. However, a dog will regain interest in eating and may seem overly enthusiastic, leaping or lunging at its bowl in order to eat. Cooking is not necessary to kill parasites. Many parasites are killed by freezing, as well, so if you feel uncomfortable feeding your dog fresh raw meat, freeze it for a couple of weeks before feeding. If you feed chicken from the grocery store, then you don't need to worry about that at all, as almost all "fresh" chicken in the store has been frozen after being soaked in brine and injected with salt water and "juices."

Wahcashmom, just because you don't enjoy eating raw food doesn't mean your dog wouldn't. He is not a little human in a fur suit, he is a dog--and that makes him a predator. Predators eat their food raw after killing it. Their digestive systems produce different enzymes than ours do, allowing them to eat raw meat without becoming ill (and I'll go out on a limb here and say that many humans also eat raw meat without ill effect). I'm not saying that you *need* to feed your dog raw meat, but don't anthropomorphize your dog to explain away your distaste at feeding raw meat to him.

 

I never try giving them raw food and I think I never will. Raw foods are not recommendable as it may be a source of worms on your pet so better keep it out on your list.

 

I like that trick about freezing the meat for some time before feeding it to the dog. I suppose it will have to be really deep frozen to kill the worms or whatever unwanted organisms that may be in it.

 

I don't feed my dog raw food. I find it necessary to only feed him dog food. I don't see any reason why I should feed him anything else if he likes it just fine.. I also know I would not be able to afford it. I can barely afford to buy groceries for myself.

 

Haha! I could sense that sometimes your dog eat better food than you are and sometimes your dog gets to eat first before you do.

Same here.

 

This is true. There are only 2 rationalizations for feeding them raw food, and that would be that in the wild it's what they would eat and the fact that their stomachs can process things better than we can most of the time. However, in the wild they don't have the same privileges and protections that we can provide by domesticating them and their life spans in the wild are significantly lower, and though their stomachs can process some things that we can't, there are still things like bacteria and other disease that can affect them.

 

That is really true. Our pets are not used to raw foods in the first place and introducing uncooked foods might cause a more serious health problem to our beloved pets. And we want to teach our pet some manners too.

 

I remember having one dog that liked raw meat. He would wolf it down. Then vomit it out again after an hour or so. Apparently his stomach cannot take the raw meat.

 

As far as health concerns for the dog, I don't know any science to it but I find it safer to just cook any meet I have for my dog. Dog's stomachs can obviously take a lot more then ours, but especially in dog's use to bacteria free dog and human food I'd imagine they would be a greater risk. Usually when I am cooking if i have extra big enough. bite size pieces of fat or rough meat, I throw them in the pan at least for a quick cook while dishing up the plates. Since I love my food well seasoned its a happy medium between plain and seasoned for him.