Well, yesterday I took Apollo (my 19 week old all black GSD pup) to the vet for his check up. The vet's assistant came into the room and went nuts over what a beautiful coat and skin he has. I'm quite proud of it, it's the deepest black I've ever seen, and shines like he's some kind of canine-angel <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

So, I tell her that it's because of the diet that I feed him. Good quality dog food in the morning (Combo of Natural Balance Adult premium kibble, Canidae canned, Natural Balance rolled)and then raw for dinner. Hard boiled eggs, salmon, frozen chicken wings, cottage cheese, plain yogurt, sirloin, carrots, greens, apple cider vinegar, vit. C powder, bone meal, and my own special recipie of 'chicken patties' (hearts & gizzards blended to a puree with some garlic, then frozen... he loves to eat frozen things, he's teething and the cold feels good).

Anyway, as I'm listing these ingredients, she gets a growing look of horror on her face like I'm beating my puppy with an iron rod or something. She tells me that I "should NEVER feed your dog raw food!!!"

So I go on to list the benefits that I have been researching on this great site and others over the past few months. She doesn't care. She tells me they will get salmonella, to which I respond a dog's immune system is different, and isn't affected by the levels of salmonella found on good quality food, etc.

She just shakes her head and tells me that none of that is true. The vet herself comes in and tells me I should never feed my dog bones. She's had to surgically remove them from stomachs, intestines, etc. I ask her if the bones were cooked, and she says that the dogs usually get them from the garbage... that answered my question.

Here is my question to you, however. I have read so much positive feedback about the raw diet during all of my research. I have looked here and other places extensively for negative experiences or problems, and have found none at all except small allergies to specific foods (carrots, root veggies, etc.) Have any of you had a bad experience, and is there anything I should be aware of regarding feeding a raw diet to my 19 week old pup? I don't feed him any bones larger than a small chicken wing right now, I vary the menu, supplement it with vitamin C powder, bone meal and a multi vitamin (hoping to help his ears come up faster).

I just want to be sure to do the best thing for my pup, and I felt like I was being burned at the stake yesterday. Does anyone have any objections to the diet I am feeding right now, or bad experiences with it that could harm my pup?

Thanks in advance...

-Lee Reicheld

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I have had those visits myself! Sadly, many vets and even technicians will tell you that you are going to kill your dog, then offer you a delicious bag of science death to take home instead. I finally found a vet who doesn't endorse it, but doesn't fight me over it either. I chose to ignore the tech's as most are just carrying out orders to begin with. (even though they still agitate me)

As I was waiting to take my bitch in for her C-section I even kept overhearing the receptionist say on the phone to a client "oh, well it won't hurt to go ahead and give him another shot if you are not sure when the last one was" :rolleyes: "it won't hurt him" I heard repeated at least twice.

There ARE some risks to feeding raw, but there are risks to feeding kibble as well. For me, the risk of a bone causing some sort of intestinal problem is a lot less than feeding crap ingredients over time.

I keep my diet choices on the 'don't ask, don't tell' level. If you know of others who feed raw in your area possibly ask them who they use for a vet and how the vet feels about it. If not, call around and see what you can find out.

It is a rare vet that can see the forest for the trees on the subject of vaccinations and the all-natural diet. In your canse. You need to find a new vet. If she is so stupid not to realize that dogs that dig bones out of the garbage are not the same as raw bones - well she needs to go back to University.

And on the subject of Vet Techs - well most of them I have seen have ego poroblems. They get 2 years of training and consider themselves experts - when in fact they are almost all clueless about nutrition, vaccinations and training.

I recently got into a debate with a friend who is a vet over raw diets. His big worry was parasites.
I explained the benifits of things like garlic, ginger and other herbs, as well as a strengthend immune sytem capable of expelling parasites. There was no convincing him- toatally closed minded on the subject.
The funny thing is...we had this discussion while eating SUSHI!!!
Dan

I think half the problem is that they (vets and their techs) rarely get to see really healthy dogs and cats, especially if they're all eating the prescribed Science Diet!

One of my good friends is a tech for my vet. She is against the raw diet and while she takes good care of her dogs, they are kibble rounded with coats that could look so much better. She's impressed with my dogs' health and appearance, yet there is still no convincing! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> I won't give up!

I hate vet techs, I hate vet assistants more.

"Don't talk to me", is usually the first thing I say to them.


I'm lucky, my vet has been very receptive to my raw diet and has in fact been helpful!! Imagine that, but he is an old timer. He remembers the days when people still fed their dogs real food.

This is a little off subject, but since we are vet-bashing, I just couldn’t resist. My beef has to do with early spaying. My neighbor acquired a lab puppy a year ago. He asked for my opinion re spaying and I advised him to wait till after the first cycle. Since my advice didn’t cost him a penny and his vet’s advice cost much more, he went ahead and spayed her at 5 mos. Now he’s dealing with nocturnal incontinence. Hanging out with people who normally don’t spay/neuter I never heard of this problem. But now that I meet a lot of pet owners, I started asking around. I was flabbergasted to find out that almost every other bitch has this problem and has been on that long-ass-named drug for months, sometimes years. All were spayed early, some as early as 3 months!!! And no one finds that unusual or upsetting--just part of dog ownership, you know... Well, as far as I’m concerned, this borders on malpractice <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

This is too funny. We have our annual appointment for one of our dogs today and the vet clinic has this one vet tech that I just can't stand. She treats me like I don't know anything and she's the smartest person in the world. She was really pushing the heartworm shot on me (right after it first came out) finally I told her that I would talk to the vet about it and not her. Kindof ticked her off but oh well.

As far as the spay/neuter issues it's mostly that it's PC to tell people to do this early. God forbid if someone doesn't spay/neuter, especially the lowly "pet owner". (Don't get me started on this topic.)

I think half the problem is that they (vets and their techs) rarely get to see really healthy dogs and cats, especially if they're all eating the prescribed Science Diet!
so true. I could probably count on 1 hand the number of adult dogs I've seen at my vet's office that were in comparable physical shape to my dogs. when I first adopted my older dog, the vet didn't even comment that he was carrying 15+ extra pounds (now he's down to 55lbs)-he complimented him for being built like a tank!

 Quote:

Originally posted by VanCamp Robert:
I hate vet techs, I hate vet assistants more.

Hey, I resent that. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> I wasn't like that. In fact I first dabbled in raw almost ten years ago when Cindy had Abady raw. The vet I worked for flipped. She talked about parasites yadda yadda yadda. I just ignorned her and went on to feed my dog what I wanted. So not all techs and assistants are close minded or ignorant about the benefits of raw diet and dangers of vaccinations. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />