May 24, 2011
My dog has really only eaten kibble, recently we butchered our own meat and decided to give him some of the bones. He became sick and the vet thought it was because of that. Ideas?
Full Question:
We have a 4 1/2 month old male german shepherd. We feed him kibble, only because thats all I ever knew, however, we just butchered our own meat and have given him raw bones. I'm not sure if it was a coincidence, but he ended up very listless, some vomiting, and had a fever of 104.5. The vet thinks possibly that the fat combined with the bits of bone may have induced a bacterial infection in his pancreas, are we feeding him the wrong bones? They are not cooked, they are about 6-7 inches long and as big around as my wrist not a lot if any meat on them but visible marrow, I'm pretty new at this so your opinion is helpful, our vet is what you would consider NOT pro raw.Thank you,
Shauna
Cindy's Answer:
I think a raw diet is the absolute best diet for any dog, but just jumping into it without any research can result in a sick dog.
Read this article on feeding a raw diet. It’s a work in progress but there is a lot of good information there.
I would also recommend these books, Natural Nutrition for Dogs & Cats and Raw Dog Food.
You can also go to our Feeding Dogs Page for a list of articles and books that will be helpful to you.
There is a right and wrong way to feed dogs a raw diet, and it does take a bit of time and dedication on the part of the owner to do the research before starting this method of feeding. From the sound of it, the bones you gave to your dog would be what I consider a recreational bone, not a raw meaty bone. The definitions of terms can be found in my article and in the books I linked above.
I hope this helps and I hope your pup is feeling better.
Read this article on feeding a raw diet. It’s a work in progress but there is a lot of good information there.
I would also recommend these books, Natural Nutrition for Dogs & Cats and Raw Dog Food.
You can also go to our Feeding Dogs Page for a list of articles and books that will be helpful to you.
There is a right and wrong way to feed dogs a raw diet, and it does take a bit of time and dedication on the part of the owner to do the research before starting this method of feeding. From the sound of it, the bones you gave to your dog would be what I consider a recreational bone, not a raw meaty bone. The definitions of terms can be found in my article and in the books I linked above.
I hope this helps and I hope your pup is feeling better.
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