Do raw fed dogs live longer?

The reason why dogs have a hard time digesting veggies is because of their shorter digestive tract. The veggie don't stay in long enough to be broke down. We humans have a hard time digesting some veggies like celery, corn, beans, cucumbers, peas, broccoli, and carrots and so on.

It would be interesting to me to know which dogs lived well beyond their life expectancy no matter what they ate--raw or not.

 
My boss' dog died at 17 1/2.  He was a raw fed Golden Retriever.  He was also a well trained, well loved therapy dog.
 
My ancient dogs:
Dachshund - 15+ years
Beagle - 16 years, 7 months
Yorkie - 18+ years
Yorkie - 17 years (still here)
Border Collie/Spaniel mix - 17 years, 2 months (my heart dog - thankfully, still here)
None of these dogs were raw fed.  And, three of the four ate crap food at one time or another in their lives, since they were rescues.
Good genes are good genes!  Do I think that my feeding them good food has extended their lives?  Probably - although I don't believe that longevity is dependent upon feeding raw.  I have nothing against it, but I also have nothing against feeding a good quality kibbled food, or even canned. 
What I think is even more important for longevity in dogs, because they are such social animals, is to be part of the life of the household, and not treated as if they are an afterthought.  Dogs suffer stress and depression, just like humans, and it is up to those of us who care about their lifespan to learn to recognize it, and alleviate it when we can.  Want a dog with a long life?  Love it as a canine, and learn to speak its language, and train it to understand ours. 

Want a dog with a long life? Love it as a canine, and learn to speak its language, and train it to understand ours.

 
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Jessies_mom, yes I am only referring to vegetables in their raw form.  The pulp from veggies are usable, something you would do at home, and there is some benefit from the vitamins and nutrients from that pulp (whether or not it is really suitable despite being usable is another story.  I have read from some I consider very knowledgeable (Connie for instance who is a member here but not sure if too involved with posting much these days) have helped one her dogs battle cancer w/addition of veggies, but again home prepared stuff.  I think commercial style raw diets hammering in the raw veggie theme are the ones to be skeptical.  One would be much wiser taken this upon themselves at home rather than relying on a commercial raw diet trying to capitalize on a carnivore theme.  I think what Sasha was really referring too was are seeing a lot of raw diets popping up bragging about raw vegetable content in their raw diets, and that is where the skepticism arises as to benefit.  Much better off to take upon this task at home if going in that direction because you then know what your getting, how much has been pureed and sufficiently broken down so you know it is not passing through the body whole form.  If a dog eats a string bean out of the garden (raw form), it comes out the other end looking indeed like a string bean.

Spiritdogs, I agree with you that love and attention is a big factor in keeping dogs happy and healthy.  It can also make them fight harder when something is wrong.  Two cases in point.  My Purina fed 12 1/2 yar old irish Setter was diagnosed with a very, very, very agressive bone cancer.   Just a couple of months before my vet's receptionist  had found a small lump on her lab's wrist, it was diagnosed as the same cancer and within a week the dog wouldn't get up and wouldn't eat.  We were told we needed to amputate THAT day or within a week Boots would not be eating or able to get around.  Oh, he had started limping on that back leg on Friday and we thought it was his arthritis.  By the time we could get him to the vet on Monday, he was just dragging that leg.  The cancer worked that fast.
 
Well, long story short, we opted against amputation, just give him a few good days and send him to the bridge.  Only those few days turned into exactly 10 weeks of going fishing with me every day, swimming, chasing crabs in the shallow water, trying to catch the shore birds, trying to get fish off my stringer, eating all kinds of doggie no-no food (chocolae, piles of ice cream, apple pie slice with ice cream strawbettery shortcake, banana splits, chocolate pie, all the melon and tomatoes and lettuce, etc he wanted to it.)  Each week I took him in twice a week and my vet would check at him (no charge to me), shake his head and say "I don't understand it, but we don't have to do it yet."  Boots actually gained weight instead of losing. When we found it in his shoulder, we sent him to the bridge that day.  he had been fishing with me the day before, but had not spent as much time in the water and I think I knew then it had spread.  I  could have kept him a few days more, but that didn't seem right.  He enjoyed life to the very end.  My vet  believes that Boots' love for me and my love for him held the cancer at bay for a while.
 
Next case--my Purina fed 4 year old Golden Retriever came down with autoimmune hemolytic anemia and liver damage brought on by his 3rd proheart6 injection.  He spent 8 days in ICU before he died.  His HCT was normally right at 50. On the 4th day in ICu it dropped to 9.7 and he had two units of blood.  My ve said he should have been dead when it went below 11.  Another time he had "no seen platellets" in his blood sample.
 
I visited him 3 times a day for an hour each visit and I took him fresh boiled chicken breast meat, which he gobbled.  i was allowed to take him outside, still attachd to IV to do his business and to spend time hugging and loving on him.   PH6 caused  a lot of deaths due to AIHA, and also a lot due to liver damage.  My poor boy ended up with both (many dogs had 2 or more of the reactions) . 
 
Hunter fought for 8 days, but on Oct. 16, 2003  he went into siezure and died at 8:40 PM.  My vet believes his love for me and my devotion to him made him fight so hard to live, live when he should have already been dead, but in the end he couldn't beat them both.
 
In both these cases we believe it was love, loyality and devotion that made these dogs live past when they should have been dead.  I do not think it would have been any different if I had been feeding them raw or  3 day old road kill  I picked up or  any brand of kibble.  And now that I think on it, the will to live has to be in a body that can fight and apparently the Purina had done it's job.

If there is reincarnation, I need to come back as one of your dogs, Sandra. I need to be spoiled pure-D rotten.
 

Thanks Ron.   Would you prefer fresh caught & baked flounder or canned mackeral, boiled chicken liver or boiled beef liver?  LOL,  Om kist a few Minutes I am going in to boil some chicken hearts and sweet potatoes for them.

spiritdogs; I agree with willowchow  [sm=clapping%20hands%20smiley.gif]

I don't think there is a definitive answer to this..The wild dog ate raw carion and ate the stomach contents also of their prey,...most of the contents were vegetable matter...but no one knew their life expectancy..I used to tell clients to pick out a good  named brand of commercial dog food and try it..if their pet liked it and bowells were normal stick with it...I don;t  know if there was an average length of time my patients lived but I did have a bunch of oldies..my own dogs ate table scraps and dog food and they seemed to do OK, and with 7 kids there wer lots of table scraps...But whatever you feel is best for your pet, go ahead and do it..if you have problems then change something.

And a number of us have come to that conclusion. But, by all means, when in doubt, get bloodwork done.

Not that bloodwork is definitive.

Emma's bloodwork was *perfect* from two different vets, with different labs, when her skin was yellow. Her eyes were yellow. She stunk. It was quite obvious what was happening.

Textbook perfect blood.

Anything you cook sounds fine.
 

ORIGINAL: jessies_mom

I was wondering if those of you who feed raw have dogs that have lived beyond the life expectancy for their breed or have personal knowledge of other raw fed dogs that have

My oldest German Shepherd turned 14 last weekened.  She's been raw fed since she was about 6.  At 9 she had FHO surgery due to arthritis caused by a poorly set dislocated hip.  She also was diagnosed over 3 years ago with Spondylosis.  We believe she had a stoke not too long ago since the right side of her face seems to 'droop'.

This video was taken about 2 weeks prior to her borthday (warning - it's 1.4 Meg in size):

http://www.rawdogranch.com/uploadpix/neke/Neke20060516.MPG

Her son Riggs, who's 9 also has a bad hip.  I truely believe without the diet he would have needed surgery way before now.

  She looks great for 14 and doesn't show any sign of arthritis in the video;  thanks for the post.

Excellent video. One might say the proof is in seeing. As I have mentioned before, many of us have simple visual cues to our dogs' health. Coat, eyes, energy, motion. And your dog is certainly doing well.
 

I have a Ph.D. in biochemistry, and let me assure you that bloodwork tells you very little about the dog's nutritional status.
 
I agree the issue is complicated. Some dogs would undoubtedly live to age 18 no matter what they ate, others are doomed to an early demise no matter what they eat. However, in humans, practically every disease of old age (cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, osteoporosis) has been strongly linked to diet. Folks who eat an "ideal" human diet tend not to get these diseases, or at least get them later in life than folks who don't. I can't imagine why it would be any different for dogs. Every study on humans suggests it is very very important to eat a wide variety of fresh foods. Vitamin pills are no substitute for fresh food. Commercial dog food: it's not fresh, and there is no variety. It is well-known to be deficient (yes, even the super brands) in unstable nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids and taurine.
Another often over-looked factor that strongly contributes to a healthy long life: exercise.