Food and Health Q&As

Hi Cindy, I have a rescue pup, Shepard mix (small) about 8 months old. She seemed to have normal stools when we got her. I first started her out on a grain free natural kibble (call of the wild) and she had loose stools. She had a stool sample done and we found out she had gardia. We treated her with Pancur for 5 days and she had VERY loose watery stools during that time and for a couple more weeks after, we decided to switch her to raw diet cold turkey and the runny poop continued. We had...

Hi Cindy, As always thank you very much in advance for you help and the answer. I am going to switch my 61/2 month old GSD to raw. I have a couple questions. She is our house dog and would like to train her as a personal protection dog. I work nights and she spends the day with me and the evening with my wife and children. How should we direct her during the cooking time of our own meals? She is always following my wife by her side during the house work (cooking, laundry...). W...

Good morning Ed, I have a Giant Schnauzer 10 week old puppy that I'm feeding a raw diet, and 1C origen dry (large breed puppy) food offered for extra (usually not touched). I noticed today that his front legs are bowed. Is this normal for a puppy, as growth rates vary? I feed 3/4- 1 # of raw chicken necks every other day. Should I cut that down? I went to your website (super great web site Ed... thanks for ALL the info there. I'm recommending it to the breeder of my Giant to link to from ...

Hi Cindy, I noticed that you feed canned Mackeral and canned Salmon. My question is, is there to much salt in the two of these or will it be fine? Thanks! ........Tim

Hello Cindy, Thanks to you and the information I have attained from your web site and the books you recommend, my two female G.S.D.s have never been happier or healthier. We are all very happy. I wanted to know if and or how you would recommend warming up the meat portions of their food. I don't freeze much so it is mostly just out of the fridge. I have been soaking the chicken quarters etc. in a ziplock bag in warm water and then I hear about plastics leeching out. We could go crazy. Any ...

Hi Cindy, Two weeks ago we started our one year old dachshund/terrier male on a raw diet. We adopted him in October and he was very underweight and had dry flaky skin as well as a mild case of demodedic mange. He is eating chicken necks in the am and Oma's Pride raw mix at night ( we live very close to Miller Foods in Ct where Oma's Pride is made). We are supplementing with sardines, eggs, cod liver oil, olive oil and O'Paws fundamental vitality, which is a powder supplement of vitamins ...

Hi Cindy, I've written before you've given great advice. I have a 14 month old female bulldog. I've had her on a raw diet for about 3 months now. I'm feeding her chicken, hamburger, etc. mixed with natures varieties natural frozen raw diet venison/ rabbit, chicken. She's having problems with going pottie. She has to push real hard & it takes a while. Some times by parts maybe 2-3 pieces come out she walks away & the process repeats its self and sometimes takes her a good 15 minutes to go. ...

Hi Cindy, Recently we switched our 7 year old dog named Molly (she resembles an australian shepherd) from kibble to raw feeding. I switched her cold turkey and it seemed to work well the first 2 weeks then she started to throw up yellow bile and even vomited right after she ate a couple of times. I started with chicken necks then chicken quarters. My wife definitely is happy we switched but the bones are a concern for her but not for me. (I love hearing the cracking and crunching!) Then wh...

Hi Cindy, I love your website and have been devouring it... how cool are all of you!!!... but no one ever talks about raw feeding toy breeds... I have 2 eight pound chihuahuas... I have been raw feeding since december but I have to tell you... it is terrifying and I dread every meal... I have only used chicken so far... they say to use the size of their head without the snout... I am not visual so that alone is hard!...so for example, every night I get out 2 drumsticks, 2 wings, 2 thighs, ...

Hello, I took my dog in for a check up and talked to my veterinarian about the raw food diet you push and she said; bad idea. She said dogs will contract Campylobacter and salmonella from raw chicken just like humans. She said eating raw chicken is unsafe for humans and why would you risk your dogs health by feeding them raw chicken? I've been making my own dog food; cooked with a protein source such as elk; oryx; deer; chicken; pork or beef mixed with brown rice; cooked vegetable; egg...

My dog is on a raw diet. He's a 7 month old 40lb boxer/pit named Tyson. At first I started with a wide variety of meats (chicken backs/neck/liver, ground chuck, tripe, egg, etc.) and I'm afraid I've moved to fast. I was also mixing it with wet food or dry kibble. He has had bad diarrhea since the change and I'm wondering if it's his system getting used to the raw or if it's or the different variety of raw meat being introduced to quickly. If so, and I'm to start him slow and work towards a co...

Hi Cindy, I have a 2 year old GSD - He is being tested for pancreatitis and other Digestive ailments (result are not in yet). His symptoms are excessive thirst, excessive drooling, heavy breathing, lethargic and loose stool. They started 2-3 weeks ago and have gradually gotten worse. (He also has severe skin allergies in the winter.) The emergency vet tested him and said it is nothing life threatening. My vet is doing additional test and has put him on a prescription ID dog food and withi...

Hi Cindy, I have a 2 year old GSD - He is being tested for pancreatitis and other Digestive ailments (result are not in yet). His symptoms are excessive thirst, excessive drooling, heavy breathing, lethargic and loose stool. They started 2-3 weeks ago and have gradually gotten worse. (He also has severe skin allergies in the winter.) The emergency vet tested him and said it is nothing life threatening. My vet is doing additional test and has put him on a prescription ID dog food and withi...

I need some help with my cairn terrier who is 7 and has cushings and diabetes, we have already had the eye surgery so he will not go blind. I need an easy turkey or chicken raw diet for him to be recommended to me ASAP for HIS sake and mine. Thanks.

I have a quick question for you. I will be switching to a RAW/BARF diet very soon and was wondering about rawhide chews. Currently they can keep my Vizsla very occupied and that can be very convenient with an inside dog. Are rawhide chews considered "ok" on a RAW/BARF diet? Thanks, Michael

Hi Cindy, Jake is an 84# lab. He is all muscle. Ever since one of our vets suggested that he lose a little weight, I have been focused (probably too focused) on his weight. (The joke is...the vet is fat!!!) As a lab, and an active one, Jake likes to eat. I give very few snacks, and even then, a snack is raw ...a bone with a little meat on it, sometimes a chicken foot. I feed according to your guide (your vitamins and all), and even then, he licks his bowl clean and continues licking to ...

Hello Cindy! How are you? My question is: Can I feed my pup RAW food about 3 times a week and then all natural dry KIBBLE for the rest of the week? I am planning to do RAW food about every 3 days. Will this schedule of dry kibble for about 2 days and then raw food for a day mess-up my dog's stomach, or will my pup get used to this? I do not have time to feed raw food all the time but I still would like to feed raw food as much as I can. I am planning to feed INNOVA because you guys have it...

I started my 3.5 month old GSD puppy on a raw diet this Saturday. I fasted her for a meal (so no breakfast) and she got raw chicken for dinner. I decided on a cold turkey approach. I haven't been able to find any chicken backs or necks at any stores nearby, but my grocery store had leg quarters on sale so I grabbed a couple packages of those. Her first two meal was the thigh part of the leg quarter, plus two spoonfuls of cottage cheese and yogurt. We've been giving her cottage cheese and y...

I recently just started my 7 yr old Gordon Setter mix on the raw diet, haven't had any problems with runny stool, my trainer/boss introduced me to raw I had never heard of it before, she gave me a chicken back to try, told me not to feed him for 24 hrs to get the dry food out of his system and that would decrease the chances of diarrhea. well, I did that and then offered him the chicken back but he wouldn't eat it, tried it that night and the next morning. still nothing. so I wondered if ma...

My dog takes his chicken pieces and buries them under the couch cushions!