My dog has been sick and the vet is scaring me about feeding raw. Should I just give him raw? Do you agree? I have no one else to ask.

Hi Ed and Cindy,

This is the first time I have emailed you, though I have referenced your site more times than I can count over the years.

I have owned working Shepherds for 10 years now (all of my adult life) and have fed raw this entire time. I feel that I know a lot about raw, much more than the average person. But right now I am questioning myself and it's driving me mad, so here is the deal:

Last Monday I went to a trial and picked up kennel cough. It's the first time I have ever had it. I don't vaccinate for it (only parvo and distemper once as babies and titer after that from then on - rabies is not where I live so I get to get away with not doing it). My male was the one who brought it home so he had it first and gave it to the other two dogs. He coughed quite badly, but I read that it would be a disturbing hacking so I just let things take it's course. My female only coughed a little and my 4.5 month old puppy never more than snorted a bit.

This passed monday I woke up (they sleep in my room) and Yanik (my male) had jumped on the bed and was in my face wheezing etc. He was clearly distressed and very, very unwell. Long story short, because you don't need me to go on and on, he ended up with pneumonia. He was touch and go because he hid being sick very well until he couldn't hide it anymore on Monday. His fever was 107.8! Anyways, $2,700 later he is home after 3 days hospitalized and still ill, but recovering.

The vet has told me very strongly not to feed him raw while he is immune compromised. I am the first one to tell my vet to stuff it, he's better off on raw, but I am just so worried about him getting sick again I came home and cooked his food. Ha ha, he won't eat it. I was a bit shocked, I didn't think it would be a problem. He is a slim dog, he doesn't have "reserves" so it's not that he's not hungry because he's fat, he is hungry, but he is being fussy - he's not eating normal things that he LOVES like yogurt, I think he is a little nauseous actually. He acts like he wants it and then sniffs it, and literally looks ill from sniffing, it so he walks away. He needs to eat with the medication and I don't want to just not feed him. If he was healthy I would just starve him til he ate, but in this case I can't do that. The only thing he will eat is kibble - ew. After a day and a half of kibble, I am reeling in disgust. I am worried that I am doing way more damage to him on kibble and that it's going to take him longer to get better etc.

Ha ha. I guess I am looking for someone to tell me exactly what I am telling myself: That it's perfectly fine to feed him raw. He is not an unhealthy dog, he just got sick. I am hoping that you have a similar story to make me feel better about doing what my gut tells me to do. I lost his sister (my favorite dog of all time, an amazing czech bitch) 2 months ago to meningitis. I spent several thousand trying to save her. I have NO money left and if he were to get sick from being fed raw because it is "contraindicated in a patient that is immune suppressed resulting in a new infection or growth of resistant bacteria," I am screwed. Stupid vet fear mongering me... I feel like a victim. I feel I should just give him raw. Do you agree? I have no one else to ask.

Thanks for your time,
Kimberly