"Raw Meat: A Dangerous Fad"

I have given my dog the choice, fresh tuna or canned Innova? which one do you think he chose? he will not touch kibble, or canned anything...I just saw him devoured 2 lamb shanks, tail wagging all the time.  Once he was done he came up to me licked my face and is now peacefully asleep at my feet with a smile on his face, oh and by the way, when he came to live with me his breath could clear the entire country, after eating raw meaty bones, his teeth once deemed by a vet as useless are now whiter than mine and his breath frehser than must humans I know. []

Congratulations to you on your decision olinda! Its so good to be confident in your decision!  I know I am equally as confident in mine to feed kibble with meat and veggies and other things that are good for my dog.

Haha I spend too much time on this forum!  I saw the name Olinda and had to come see who the heck Olinda was!  Nice to meet you!  It is nice to be confident with your choice of what to feed your dogs.  I feel good just knowing that I am doing everything I can nutritionally for my dogs.  And I love the fact that they love me for it.  I must say that I get a certain amount of satisfaction from the puppy kisses afterward too.  Especially since they have better breath than I ever knew a dog could have.

Excellent for you. I feed my dog kibble and he doesn't smell and his breath doesn't smell. It's great when you find something that works, isn't it?
 

Hello, to all.  It was certainly not my intention to annoy or offend anyone.  I just wanted to share my personal experience with raw, instead of buying an already made model like Dr.  Billinghurst or Bravo, I now buy my meats, veggies etc and prepare his food myself, it gives me great satisfaction.  I just got back from the vet, for his annual check up and is better than ever.  I also have friends who have their dogs on a premium kibble diet and they are extremely healthy.  I guess like I said before it all boils down to presonal preference.  At the end we are all trying to do what we feel is best for our beloved comapanions and that is the only thing that matters.

I myself can bring myself to eat any meat that is not well cooked and can not give it to my dogs either.  They get their kibble in the morning with canned food meatballs containing their sups.  Each gets a fish oil, an EsterC, and a multivitamin.  The 11 year old also gets a couple of MSM/Gluco caps (he has a little arthritis in back legs) and a thyroid cap, and the 6 1/2 year old gets a SynoviG3 and an MSM/Gluco cap (she had surgery on both knees for luxating patellas at early age.)
 
AT night they get a little kibble with canned, unsalted green beans and carrots slices and boiled or baked meat which includes fresh caught fish,  canned mackeral chicken livers, gizzards, hearts, beef heart, beef liver, ground beef, or boneless chicken..  The 11 year old also gets another tyroid and another MSM/Gluco cap.
 
I grew up with us feeding our English Setters and Pointers any and all bones and never gave a thought to it and never had a problem.  We are talking 40-50 years ago.  Also, my Dad did feed Purina Dog Chow and we had many dogs live to be 12-15 years old.  We lost a couple to distemper, one to poison, a couple stollen, one killed by car.
 
A few years  ago I was in the work area at my vets with KayCee either getting her splint off her leg after surgery, or getting stitches out and there was an adorable chocolate lab puppy back there, jus limp as a dishrag.  he had a temp of 107.  He had eaten a bone, it had splinter and punctured his stomach and peritonitis had set in.  They couldn't save him.  My dogs have not had a bone since--i can't get that lab puppy out of my mind.
 
So it boils down to I can't feed my raw and I am scared to give them bones.
 
 

Wow Sandra, I don't blame you for being afraid!  I would also!
However,,, I might want to come to your house for dinner one night by what your dogs eat!!!

Sandra was the bone the Lab puppy had cooked? I can almost bet my bottom dollar it was!We all know how bad cooked bones can splinter and the damage they can cause [&:]

If i eat meat,which is pretty rare these days i have to have it cooked extra well done,i prefer steaks a little burnt actually.TBH i really dont like touching or even looking at raw meat,but i do it because thats what my dogs need to be mentally happy and physiologically healthy.How can i push my distaste for meat onto my dogs who have evolved to eat a raw diet and IMO is their right.I have seen the differences the addition of only rmb's can make to a dogs mediocre diet and i just can not argue against them!

For me the benefits far outweigh the risks,i have fed raw bones for many, many years and have not had any problems. If one feeds their dogs rmb's correctly and safely there are very few things that can go wrong!

ORIGINAL: sandra_slayton


  He had eaten a bone, it had splinter and punctured his stomach and peritonitis had set in. 

 
Did the owner say what type of bone it was? was the bone cooked? it they are cooked they bones hardens and easily splinters...was the dog unattended when he was eating it? I feed my dog raw meaty bones, but I make sure they are the non-weight bearing kind (i.e chicken necks, backs, ox tails, turkey wings etc) , and I never, ever leave my dog alone when he has bones.  I set up a picnic blanket, bring my books ( I am a radiogy major) and his bones, he eats, I study, I keep an eye on him.  I also took a first aid class for dogs, where I learned doggie CPR and the Heimlich maneuver.  Thank God I have never had to use it.  The benefits that he gets from the bones (cleaner teeth, fresh breath, exercises jaws, plus all the nutrients found in bones..calcium, roteins, collagen, etc) makes it worth it, plus I don't have to take him to the vet to get his teeth cleaned oh and get ut under heavy anesthesia.  But it all comes down to whatever works for the individual. 

Ditto Olinda,great post!

I have heard plenty of bone choking,perforation stories,well not plenty,maybe a few and they all usually come down to owner error! [&:]

I just wanted to say WELCOME! to Olinda, and let you know that there is an initiation.

You MUST post photos of your dog to be approved[][][][][]

This is Romeo, I hope I uploaded his picture right.  I wish I had one from how he looked at the shelter, but I do not.  Anyway, he is the light of my life and I would not give him anything I did not think it was safe.

Oh, he is SO cute!!!

ORIGINAL: jennie_c_d

I just wanted to say WELCOME! to Olinda, and let you know that there is an initiation.

You MUST post photos of your dog to be approved[][][][][]

Thank you for welcoming me. I hope I have not sounded too pushy and not for a lack of a better word either.  I tried to post a couple of pictures; however was only succesful with one.  Is a picture of Romeo at the park after having gotten shaved for the summer last year.  I will try again.

 
The benefits that he gets from the bones (cleaner teeth, fresh breath, exercises jaws, plus all the nutrients found in bones..calcium, roteins, collagen, etc) makes it worth it, plus I don't have to take him to the vet to get his teeth cleaned oh and get ut under heavy anesthesia.  But it all comes down to whatever works for the individual. 

 
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