Feeding Raw and Kibble at the same meal.

 I always thought it was because kibble takes so long to digest, the raw is actually sitting there longer then it has to be. So that increases the chances of bacteria and such from the raw.

There's no reason to separate the two, unless you actually observe that your dog does better with it separate.  But in general, the dog's stomach is well able to handle different things going through and sort it all out.  When you feed a raw bone, the bone itself takes far longer to digest than the fat, which is processed almost instantly - and yet no one has ever suggested that it would be a good idea to separate fat from bone, or meat from bone, etc.

The stomach is made to "send through" anything that is ready and hold back what is not.  Our own stomachs do the same thing, but the stomach of a dog is particularly suited to sort out different types of edibles and even reject non-edibles.  This is a life saving mechanism - most herbivores are unable to vomit and thus bloat is a constant danger to them.

Finally, bacteria that would be problematic, is pretty much all gi-active.  The environment of the dog's stomach is hostile to bacteria.  This is why we say that it's safe to feed raw in the first place, remember?  The dog's stomach is adapted to kill off most bacteria before it even gets to where it could multiply, and then their gi tract is adapted to move things through rather quickly, not giving anything that's left, a chance to become established.

So if something really is in the stomach longer, that would make it even less likely that the bacteria would get through. 

I mix them at every meal and have never had a problem. I think it is a myth.

mudpuppy

I mix them at every meal and have never had a problem. I think it is a myth.

  I agree; also, it doesn't take as long to digest kibble as is commonly thought. A noted gasterentologist (sp?)  who is also a DVM conducted a study and found it took 5 to 8 hours for kibble to leave the stomach.

stungerz

Hello,

 I read that feeding kibble and raw at same time is not recommend because they digest at different rates.  Can somebody go into a little deeper explanation for me?  For me, I can eat processed sugar, fruits, vegatables, and steak, which all digest at different rates and be fine.

 Thanks,

 SU

When you eat do you eat ALL cooked food or ALL raw food  in the same meal ?   Of course not.  My dogs have ALWAYS eaten raw and kibble together.  They digest at different rates... so what ?? It causes no problems whatsoever.  I don't know whoever came up with such a crazy idea...  IMO it's more like an "old wive's tale".. ie don't go swimming on a full stomach, etc.