After reading the posts on raw and really doing some searching, I changed my dogs over to raw. I would have done it sooner if it weren't for the stupid vets saying how bad it was for them and my husband becoming skeptical with my reasons to change and the cost. Pretty much it was my male Schnapps ears that decided it. After having to deal with his runny eyes and ear infections plus dull coats in all of my shepherds, I decided I'd had enough. I bought a bottle of salmon oil, some verve by Honest Kitchen, vitamins, and even found a butcher who could accomodate my needs with the meats and organs needed for my dogs and got started. They all eat their meals within 10 minutes and there is never anything left over. None of my dogs had runny stools due to the change so I think they switched over quite well.
Within the week of beginning the new raw diet, I noticed that Schnapps eyes were no longer runny and red. I'm still treating his ears but I'm hoping after the food change it may be the last infection he has. I won't attribute the clearing up of the eyes to his antibiotics simply for the fact that he's had infections before and still, after treatment, still had runny red eyes. His eyes are clear and bright for the first time. I noticed that all of my dogs coats are beginning to gloss and feel soft rather than course. So far, with the diet, none of my dogs have exhibited any allergies with the meats or the grains in the verve as of yet. I like the fact we're not cleaning up to 15 piles of crap a day like we used to, it's a lot easier with just 4-6 tiny piles instead. One of my females never really seemed to thrive on the dog food so it heartened me to see her eat with such enthusiasm.
Ed, thanks for the info and thanks to everyone who posted about the raw diet. It was you who helped with this decision and I feel pretty confident in feeding my dogs and love the results.
Hmmm, now I wonder what I'm going to do with the leftover kibble I've got left? Maybe the vets would like to feed it to their dogs?
Kristina

It's wonderful to hear that you got such good results already. I find myself being happy for your dogs

And congratulations to you for stepping through the barriers!

Kristina,
That's wonderful news. You are so funny about the poop, but it's very true. I bet if more people knew about that benefit they would be much more inclined to give RAW a try!

I've been trying to convince some people at work to switch to raw. They've been telling me that their dogs have some pretty severe allergy problems and nothing the vet tells them to do help much. So far, I've given three ladies I work with this website so they can see how much raw can really help their dogs and that they aren't the only ones with questions.
I regret that I hadn't changed their diets sooner. I could have saved myself a $350.00 vet bill each time Schnapps' ears would get infected (which was pretty often). I have to admit, my blood would boil every time they had something bad to say about raw feeding. Well, the next time I take Schnapps and my girls in for their checkup and they see how beautiful and healthier they have gotten, I will surely point out that RAW did the trick and those bags of kibble they have can go hang. I'll never feed them commercial food again.
I found that I enjoy feeding my dogs more, simply for the fact there won't be leftovers. My dogs get excited when they see me rummaging around in the refrigerator and when I take the bottle of salmon oil out. They know it's dinner time.
Another reason to not do kibble is any left over or spilled will attract rats. We were plagued by them and it took about 4 lbs of rat killer to get rid of them. Nope, it's raw from now on.
Kristina

I would bet that the ear infections will go away.
The store dog food makes my dogs produce a lot more wax in the ears and that gives them infections. Since raw wax is minimal and no ifections unless we do lots of swimmimng.
Infections can take time to go away. On the fist sign of infection try cleaning the ear with cotton ball and vinegar.
Works great

Congratulations, and be proud for doing so! A few years ago, a friend of mine took for a little tour at a food processing factory where he used to work at. The general public are not allowed there, it is out of view and fenced up. My friend was the only one getting off late that night, so he decided to show me around. At the entrance, I saw a stack of smelly dead cows and horses. He also showed me a large machine with thick saw blades. I asked him ,"so what's this machine do?". He said, "This is where we dump all this roadkill, and grind it all up.".

He mentioned to me that they made dog food out of it. The whole place had the "dog food" scent, but a bit nastier because of that stack of roadkill that was sitting there. The whole place smelled nasty, and it was dirty. For those us who feed a all natural diet to our dogs, thank god! I'll never, ever feed my dog that kibble @#$^ again!

And yes, their poop is smaller, too! My dog doesn't poop as often as before, either. Even my dad noticed the dog's poop size when I switched to raw. He said, "Hey? Your dog doesn't poop bricks anymore, what are you feeding him?" LOL

I have family visit on weekends, and they sometimes comment about how healthy my Malinois looks. He also had Pano for about three weeks. He started limping from one of his front legs, the limping switched to his hind legs, then one day it just went away. It's been almost three weeks since it disappeared, and he hasn't been limping since. Hmmm..wonder what it was....

I donated the rest of the kibble to the animal shelter today. Really, I felt rather bad because this food is simply not as good as what I'm feeding my own dogs.
I spoke with my neighbor about what she fed her own dog and she had said that her dog was put on the worst diet the vet could possibly give him. Apparently, their new and improved overly expensive science diet worsened her dogs symptoms of allergies and she ended up going with an expensive brand at a pet store.
I let her know about the raw diet if she was ever interested in changing but I think she's just comfortable with the brand she has him on. I respect her decision but I think it would be pretty cool if she gave it a try.
Kristina

Good for you kristina, I did the same thing with our dog food i actually donated it to a woman that lived few houses away, she was going through hard times and had a GSD ,I thought that she would love a bag of Royal Canin( almost full )I thought it was better than her not feeding her dog everyday (from what I had heard from neighbors)She has left since but I'm glad it was of use.
Raw is so much better , and actually fun to organize for your pets.We tried switching our cats but man they are so darn picky!
I give them organinc cat food but really would love if they accepted raw.They skipped eating 3 days and still would not touch raw meat.I had to give in to "cat food" But the dogs love their raw meat, I could never see myself going back to kibbles without a huge amount of guilt.Gald you made the switch!

I also switched two of my dogs to raw because of this site. I'm actually feeding half honest kitchen and half raw. The honest kitchen is like my crutch- I don't have a good source of raw yet, so am feeding leg quarters, thighs or drumsticks, pork necks, and cheap hamburger patties from walmart. I feel like with the honest kitchen, at least I can't mess it up too bad.
But recently on another list I heard that honest kitchen supports PETA, and sure enough they were on PETA's site. i need to write to them myself to make sure, but if they do, I can't in good concience feed it any more. Are there any dehydrated food alternatives available in the US?
vickie

 Quote: vickie ngala

. . . recently on another list I heard that honest kitchen supports PETA, and sure enough they were on PETA's site. . .
vickie

First off, I don't happen to feed THK and I definitely don't support PETA. But it doesn't appear to me that THK "supports PETA," only that they are listed on the PETA site - with almost 40 other companies/brands - as companies that don't test on animals. I wasn't able to find any reference on the THK site to PETA. So I personally don't have any problem with PETA's "endorsement." JMO

Mike