Quote: steve behnam

Although I am curious if people who feed raw every worry about the long term effects of chemical, hormones and steroids that are added to "human grade" meats. The fact that organ meat is fed to your pets, and this is where most of the chemicals residues accumulate, are you ever worried?

I can only answer for me personally: yes.

And even more worried that this is the same meat that humans eat.

I limit my dogs' organ meat (which they do need) to 5 or 10%, and I buy certified organic meat. I am lucky enough to live where this is not hard to find and where there are several nearby sources.

I keep in mind that the meat in commercial dog foods is certainly no better, and probably much worse, than what we feed raw from the grocery store.

What about the reputable high-end manufacturers of kibble that say they only use human grade meats, never by-products? Does this make it worse than feeding raw?

I guess what I'm saying is if you're feeding a high-end dry food that uses human grade meat sources and has the right blend of vitamins and minerals, why not feed that instead of raw? I understand that in the wild they would eat raw, but we used to eat raw also then we discovered fire. Just because they would do something in the wild doesn't make it right.

 Quote: steve behnam

. . . I am curious if people who feed raw every worry about the long term effects of chemical, hormones and steroids that are added to "human grade" meats. . .

There aren't enough hours in the day to worry about all the possible ramifications of what's going on in the canine and human food chain. I do my research, decide what I think is reasonable and then, as someone said, adjust when necessary.

 Quote: steve behnam

What about the reputable high-end manufacturers of kibble that say they only use human grade meats, never by-products? . . . if you're feeding a high-end dry food that uses human grade meat sources and has the right blend of vitamins and minerals, why not feed that instead of raw? I understand that in the wild they would eat raw, but we used to eat raw also then we discovered fire. Just because they would do something in the wild doesn't make it right.

Well, up until just a few weeks ago, the list of "reputable" manufacturers had several dozen more names on it than it does now.

Before I switched to raw, I did (and continue to do) as much research as time permits on which to base my feeding choices. At a certain point, stop comparing the food and compare the results in your animal instead. The noticeable improvment in my dogs after switching to raw is enough to keep me doing it. And after our rare visits and checkups, my vet, who doesn't support raw feeding, can't offer any valid reason to stop.

Mike

 Quote: Steve Behnam

...if you're feeding a high-end dry food that uses human grade meat sources and has the right blend of vitamins and minerals, why not feed that instead of raw? I understand that in the wild they would eat raw, but we used to eat raw also then we discovered fire. Just because they would do something in the wild doesn't make it right.

Many people agree with that. Many people agree that cooked meat with a lot of grain (over 95% of kibbles have what I would call a lot of grain), baked and extruded and with the calcium that the dog evolved getting from the bones attached to the meat supplied as a supplement in the kibble -- that all this is as good as (or better than) raw.

I think that dogs can thrive on the best of the commercial foods.

It does give me serious pause to discover that most of them are made by a couple of companies and that several of them had no real knowledge of what their own products contained, but still..... I do think that a carefully-chosen commercial diet can be fine. I mean, as long as it's not sabotaged/poisoned.

I do NOT believe that it can be superior to a well-thought-out fresh diet, any more than I think humans are better off with processed packaged foods than with fresh foods.

http://leerburg.com/feedingarawdiet.htm#switch

But we all do what we think is best and what we are able to do.

 Quote: mike armstrong

Before I switched to raw, I did (and continue to do) as much research as time permits on which to base my feeding choices. At a certain point, stop comparing the food and compare the results in your animal instead. The noticeable improvment in my dogs after switching to raw is enough to keep me doing it. And after our rare visits and checkups, my vet, who doesn't support raw feeding, can't offer any valid reason to stop.

Mike

A big fat "ditto" to this from me.

As a recent convert to an all raw diet, here is my 2 cents worth. I fed my dogs a high quality kibble and they did fine on it. No major health issues, skin and coat were fine. I also included some raw foods in their diet daily but the majority of their diet (80% at least) was kibble. After reading this board and a couple of books on the subject, I decided to go all raw about 2 weeks before all the recalls started. Sure, I worry still some of the things that Steve ponted out, but the joy with which they attack their food at every meal is very rewarding and I am gaining more confidence as time goes on. Also, my 8 year old female GSD is running after a ball for the first time in 2 years. She has arthritis and I swear she is like a new dog since I started this diet. My 6 year old female has thrived on it also and I can see an increase in her energy, as well.
Also, if you think about it from the dogs' perspective, how would you like to eat the same boring food day after day? Certainly a high quality kibble like Canidae is better than most of the stuff out there and but as Dr. Pitcairn said in his book, the basic thing that processed foods are missing is "life". My am convinced that my dogs will have a better life now.