Raw vs Kibble

 I read the EVO bag last night, and it made me gag. Out loud. In obedience class. Then, I laughed, and read a quote for everyone (just to make sure they knew I was totally insane)....

It says EVO matches the benefits of raw. LMAO! 

Thanks for the advice! I know EVO may not be the best but it's the best I can find where I live. I know she does have an allergy to grain but that's the only one I have seen.

So an egg and fish oil added to her dinner will help her coat. do I add this every night? Or just 3 times a week? 

I would just add fish oil and not egg. I think anywhere from 3x a week to daily would be good. Make sure you also add a vitamin E, because fish oil depletes vitamin E in the body.

EVO is actually a top of the line grain free food. I think Jennie was just laughing at the claims that EVO is bascially the same of raw. Being kibble, it's TOTALLY different.

 Time seems to be the big difference. Feeding kibble like Evo is much more about marketing than nutrition . Natura makes better balanced products but because Grain Free is the big Fad and the market is out there Evo was born.. Most likely the meat for Evo Red comes from the Head, neck, tongue area.. It's not like you are getting the choice cuts with any kibble. But if you have the time feeding Raw seems a good idea..I have a hard time understanding how I would balance , give the right Vitamins, etc , to get the results professionals do .

 I like to add Wysong Archetype, or NV Freeze dried to a kibble diet. It's almost like feeding some raw.  

Kewl! Thanks.

Where I live I can't get Natura or anything like that.. *pouts* *makes a note to self* Don't forget Vit. E....

When we get our Great Dane puppy in a couple years, we'll be feeding him Raw. I'm not doing it with Maze because it's just to much right now so I'm doing the research so I can teach the BF how to do it.. The Dane will be his first puppy without my help raising him... 

Luvntzus

 I think Jennie was just laughing at the claims that EVO is bascially the same of raw. Being kibble, it's TOTALLY different.

Oh Ok!  I see that raw and kibble are COMPLETELY different. I mean I knew they are different but I just never knew how different. 

I always thought that in the kibble was the same thing was feeding raw..  

One food you might try is  Timberwolf's Ocean Blue - http://timberwolforganics.com/pet-foods/Ocean-Blue-Canid-Formula-33lbs-15kg 

It's grain-free, fish-based (more natural omega 3's), and available online! I haven't tried it yet but I'd like to. My dog does well on their Wild 'n Natural variety, particularly when supplemented with fish oil *and* vitamin E. (They work best when you feed them together, I want to say around a 3:1 ratio favoring fish oil, but I just kind of wing it with my guy.) If you don't want to use fish oil, you can also feed oily fish, like sardines :) 

You guys make me want to try raw for my aussie. The links were good, thanks. But as much as I want to try it, it doesn't seem like it would travel well. What do you do when you go on an extended vacation with your dog - like a backpacking trip or camping trip, etc? 

 Well, if the trip is only a day or 2 long, I would freeze whole meals in a baggie or tupperware container and just before I left, I'd take them out and pack them into a cooler or cooler bag.  Backpacking may be more difficult, but if they are frozen solid and insulated they should stay pretty cool for a couple days at least. 

Also if you are on the road with your dogs, picking up a couple chicken legs and a pack of liver is almost always a possibility.  If it comes down to it, grabbing a can of mackeral or some tins of sardines and a carton of eggs is easy.  However if you forget to pack the kibble, and your kibble doesn't happen to be available wherever you go, well then you have issues. 

The other possibility Julie is to only do half and half or somewhere close to that.  You can always transition back to kibble for trips.  I think though that you'll find traveling isn't that hard with raw. 

Is half and half a good option? I could really do half and half and just take kibble with us when we travel. hmmmm

How would you figure out how much kibble and how much raw to feed? And would the dog skip the kibble and hold out for the raw? 

Jewlieee

Is half and half a good option? I could really do half and half and just take kibble with us when we travel. hmmmm

How would you figure out how much kibble and how much raw to feed? And would the dog skip the kibble and hold out for the raw? 

 

I know alot of people who do half and half.  As for figuring it out, you could do the scientific thing and check out how many kcals you Neiko is getting now on kibble, then figur out half of that, measure how much meat would make that many kcals and whatnot, but honestly, if he starts looking fat, cut back. If he loses weight, add more... 

As for him skipping a meal... Raw is digested pretty quickly, so by the time its time for kibble, the raw is gone... he'll be hungry.  I don't think our dogs really ever get hungry in the real sense of the word when we feed them 2 full meals a day of kibble.   Kibble stays in their systems too long.