Why My Dogs are Raw Fed

When my border collie, Chim Cham, started having chronic allergy problems, I consulted my vet. Without any apparent cause, she scratched pretty much non-stop. He had me give her benedryl and we gave her steroid shots, but still she scratched. When we could find no other indications, he said she was probably allergic to grass. Unfortunately, her quality of life was suffering tremendously. I even considered having her euthanized to get her out of her constant misery.

I started searching for info on the web. I found that the more likely cause for her chronic itching was an allergy to her dog food. After a little more research, I found out about raw feeding. I switched her cold-turkey with no issues. Within a week, her scratching had greatly diminished! Within a month, she'd stopped completely. In addition to the allergies, she was very over weight. She was not really over-fed per the dog food instructions. We'd switched her to a low-cal dog food, which probably had exacerbated her allergy problems.

After switching her diet to raw, her weight normalized over the next couple of months. Her teeth gleam like they are professionally cleaned. Her coat became so glossy that it looks like she'd glow in the dark. She also didn't shed nearly as much. (I still have no idea why that would be) I also noticed that her poops were much smaller and much less smelly!

With the success with Chim Cham, I also switched Libby. Libby was a very lean dog. She didn't have much of an interest in eating . I had some concerns that Libby might become too thin since Chim Cham had leaned out so much. However, that was not the case- but I think it was that she wasn't interested in the junk she was getting fed. Libby maintained a very healthy weight. Her teeth also are exceptionally clean and white. Her coat is also super glossy.

Now, let me stop here. It all sounds like the transition was easy. It was easy, but it wasn't simple. I'd read that my dogs needed 2-4% of their body weight daily. I weighed both of them, calculated their daily food allowance, and created a spread sheet of exactly what they needed to eat daily. I then spent an inordinate amount of time weighing and whacking their food into pieces so that I could get the amounts "just right". I started out feeding fruits and veggies as some misguided people recommended. It wasn't too long, however, before I discovered the prey model diet and it made an immense amount of sense to me! THIS was how God had designed a canine to eat! And so, a few months into it, I started to relax a bit. I realized that I didn't have to feed organ meat every single day. If they got the right amount--or something close to the right amount-- weekly, I was doing a good job! Also, I realized that if the chicken leg quarter was a bit larger or smaller than normal, I could just feed it anyway and not worry so much about being exact on the weight! It all works out over time. Now, since Libby is smaller than Chim Cham, I might feed the smaller portion to Libby--but if that turns out to be happening too often, I have the ability to just switch it one night. Once I relaxed, the whole diet got SOOOO much easier!

When I decided to breed Libby, she was in excellent physical condition, having been raw fed for a year or so. When my vet checked her several weeks into the pregnancy, he was quite pleased with her condition. However, he said I needed to switch her to puppy chow for the remainder of the pregnancy. I asked him why this would be so. He told me that she needed extra protein and high quality carbs as well as extra calcium and minerals. Well, I decided it was time to "fess up" about how I feed my dogs now. Surprisingly, he was very supportive. (I'd really expected an argument! LOL) When I described the prey model diet, he said, "That is EXACTLY what she needs!"

With the success of the diet for Libby and Chim Cham, it was only natural that I'd raw feed my pups. They did wonderfully. There is really nothing more satisfying than to watch puppies eating the way God designed them to eat!

I encourage all my puppy buyers to continue raw feeding for the life of their dogs.

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