OK one more time....diet factors in a dog's health and SO DOES exercise and portions. And again I am not morally judging anybody for their choice of diet. Please read my ENTIRE post for what it is.

I've been feeding raw now for about 8 years. 3 of my 5 dogs have NEVER tasted kibble.

With that said, the dogs I had prior to this bunch were fed kibble- medium/cheap kibble. They were kept at a good weight. When they died they were 18, 14, and 13.5 years old.

It bothers me when I hear people say that feeding kibble is abusive, that the dogs won't be healthy, etc. My past dogs did pretty well on kibble. They were healthy, they hardly ever went to the vet. They were active and we did a lot of stuff together. They were EXTREMELY loved. I did the best I could for them with what I had.

I like raw, but it has to be fed with knowledge and education- you don't just pick up 100lbs of chicken and start feeding it to your dogs. It takes some work to make, to balance it, to keep everything clean and safe. If you can't do that for whatever reason, your dog isn't going to die from feeding it kibble.

Years ago, the majority of the dogs in this country were fed kibble - crappy kibble, too. Dog food has been evolving for years- and it will continue to evolve. Who knows where it will be in 20 years.

To answer the question, yes, I've seen fat raw fed dogs. Shyner, my Lab X tends to pack on weight just by looking at food so she has to be closely managed... she is 12 and prefers to hold down the couch when the other dogs and I go out on a hike.

Diet is not the only thing that factors into a dog's health. Environment, mangement, genetics, etc- they all play a part.

Just my 2 cents.

 Quote: Kelly

I like raw, but it has to be fed with knowledge and education- you don't just pick up 100lbs of chicken and start feeding it to your dogs. It takes some work to make, to balance it, to keep everything clean and safe. If you can't do that for whatever reason, your dog isn't going to die from feeding it kibble.

So true, Kelly. I know of a few raw fed dogs now that ,imo, would be WAY better off on kibble. Super skinny, coat so out of condition, they look horrible, but the owners believe they are feeding them right.

I have seen over weight raw fed dogs, inactive ones. I can't think of any fat ,raw or kibble fed ,active working dogs that I know.

Treats...biscuit things, OMG, I see those being fed way too often, just cause. I use Zukes & chicken pieces for training, but "how much" is taken into consideration when feeding.

Yup, common sense and love are key ;-)

ummm..now don't everyone stomp on kibble fed dogs!!!

tucker is fed Kibble...yes its the top of the line (Orijen) and i supplement him with fish oil, vit e and green tripe, but he's still kibble fed and not close to overweight.

as someone else pointed out...overweight in my mind has more to do with lack of exercise than wether the dog is fed kibble or raw.

Kibble feeders can also adjust their feeding to accomodate the weight of their dog. It's not just raw feeders that can do that.

 Quote: Cheryl Gee

Fat Italian greyhound on a raw diet. My other dogs are normal weight,one even lost pounds after starting a raw diet.
http://s1009.beta.photobucket.com/user/pearlymypearly/media/IMG_0846_zps92f6749c.jpg.html

aww...she even looks a little ashamed!

Portion control, very easy to do....most people just don't. People misunderstood me, I was speaking about a balanced raw diet on a metabolic level being better not how well people manage a dog on kibble or raw. You DO have an advantage when you eat the right diet for you metabolic type. I found this out for myself when I changed my diet. There's a book The Metabolic Typing Diet.

You can eat a perfect diet but eat too much, not exercise and you will be in poor physical condition. Likewise people who don't eat the best diet and work out all the time, they can look good for a while on the exterior but metabolically their system gets damaged over the years and health issues or gradual change in condition shows up later but they don't connect them to the diet because its not instantaneous.

You could also compare diet to a tool, some people are good with scissors others are not and even do harm. LOL

I understood, I just disagree

Kenzi cannot handle a completely raw diet. I tried it a couple times and she get sick. And I know how to do raw.

She can eat 50/50 raw and THK. Or 50/50 THK and kibble (Orijen or Victor) And she is in much better physical shape then when I was trying to feed plain raw.

Here's a question - if people have different metabolic types, wouldn't it make sense that dogs would, too? And that perhaps raw wouldn't be ideal for every dog?

In my own "family" there is at present a granddog and there have been in the past two of my own dogs unable to thrive on a raw diet.

And I know now and have known in the past dogs who could not, should not, be given a raw diet.

The metabolic typing diet states and incorporates that we are individuals with metabolisms that differ, and that our diets should differ too.

Dogs are individuals, too. Even if we exclude dogs who have what amount to open G.I. disease "wounds" that should not be exposed to food-borne pathogens, some healthy dogs just don't do well on the raw diet.

This turned out to be a good topic.

Maybe their diet could be tweaked more? Dogs probably have different metabolic types too just not as wide a variety as humans.

Ex: A Smooth Fox Terrier thrived on a raw red meat based diet, in fact he would not even eat chicken. Logan on the other hand only handles red meat occasionally, he thrives on chicken. Other dogs can eat very ripe fruit in their diets and are very healthy. I knew a lady who had Chinese Cresteds and they ate like that. Logan can't handle anything like that but my chow mix could eat some fruit from time to time.

 Quote: Mara Jessup

Here's a question - if people have different metabolic types, wouldn't it make sense that dogs would, too? And that perhaps raw wouldn't be ideal for every dog?

Not to mention that metabolism is one of the factors that is taken into account with today's advances in pet nutrition.

As I mentioned in a pm to someone; the health conscious/holistic movement in dog nutrition has forced the dog food companies to up their game, and there are some great (if not superior) formulated foods available nowadays.