The Raw and Holistic Pet Food Thread!

[RandomGemini]

Some of us are crazy about what we feed our pets. I've noted a need for a place for discussion about it, so here it is!!

Open for conversation about raw and holistic feeding of your pets! What do you feed? Why do you feed it? Feel free you share without fear of being judged for it.

[No-Pro-mwa]

You asked for it, hehehe, I feed 2 of my 3 dogs raw as they both have allergies. The Turtle my basset has very bad ones. I have been working on this dog for 6 or so years.......you have no idea how old it has gotten and how many things I have tried. But I do think the raw has helped her some.

Marlo my Bull Mastiff also has allergies. I had to be very careful what I fed her, some foods were better than others. She had a rash on her belly that would get bad on some food and better on others. It would not totally go away til I started her on raw. It went away and has never come back.

I had to do allot of research on it and am a member on a dog food forum from which I got allot of help from people on there. The one thing I do know is you just don't start feeding your pets raw without doing some research, there is a right way and there is a wrong way to do it.

Now Richter my pitt bull eats both raw and dog food. Not at the same time but in different meals. He doesn't seem to have a problem with this and I have trouble getting enough raw so this is easier for me. He either eats Natures Logic or Fromm with some home cooked mixed in.

I don't get worked up with what people feed there pets other than I do really hate the cheap foods. There is a really big difference in the quality of foods and I don't understand how one can feed there dogs ground grains with little meat in it.

I will however say on the dog forums there are some people on both sides that would get really worked up about it. Fun to read but I usually don't get involved in those kind of discussions.

[RandomGemini]

I don't even go to dog forums anymore because of the flame wars about pet food. People would get seriously mean about it.

I feed Nature's Variety Instinct Salmon Meal to the dogs. They also get a spoon full of coconut oil daily, Lexi gets a daily dose of Hylasport, which has Glucosamine, Chondroitin and MSM for her joints and I also give Vitamin E for their coat. My cat, Porter gets Nature's Variety Instinct Turkey Meal cat food and I feed him Merrick canned Turkey and Duck pate. Porter is old and missing several teeth, so he cannot shred raw or whole food to eat it.

I have fed pretty much everything in terms of price range. So far, the best food I have found for my dogs, is NV. I had them on Orijen for a while, but they got ear infections that I think were related to the white potatoes in Orijen. As soon as I switched to a white potato free food, no more ear issues.

[LovePhals]

Great thread! I hadn't heard of Nature's Variety. I have 2 dogs both are fed Blue Buffalo. One eats lamb and the other the chicken. The chicken is a lower protein food with mostly veggies and fruits. The lamb is good with sensitive stomachs. We tried a lot of different foods until we found blue. I am very strict on their food and treats having no by- products and real careful about chicken.
I also give them Blue or Merrik wet food once a week. They wait patiently to eat this food, they love it!
Why coconut oil?

[RandomGemini]

Coconut oil has antibacterial properties that supposedly keep yeast populations in the body in balance. So stinky feet, dog smell and yeast based ear infections are minimized. I haven't seen any of those things in my dogs since I started giving coconut oil. They also say it boosts the immune system and I know it's helpful for dry skin and coat issues.

You can also use it on the pads of their feet to heal cracked paw pads. You just give about a teaspoon once a day. My dogs eat it right off of the spoon.

Blue is a great food. I have a dog here that can't eat turkey, for whatever reason, and another one that can't eat chicken and I have had one dog with food allergies so severe that she could only have fish as a protein.

I believe in feeding what works. There is no one food that is perfect for every dog. I have a new puppy coming home sometime next spring and our puppy will be fed Eukanuba LB puppy food and then get switched to Canidae when he or she is a year old, because that's what the breeder recommends for her dogs. I had to experiment to find a good food for both Jet and Lexi, because they are both rescues and Lexi came to me with a raging UTI and Jet had infections in both ears. So you feed what works. I'm lucky I can feed the same food to both of my dogs.

[Mandy2705]

I wonder if coconut oil would help my doxie who suffers from occasional pancreatitis.

[orchidsarefun]

don't know about dogs, but our cats are allowed outdoors and they supplement their diet with mice and rabbits and birds ( unfortunately ). Just as important - grass.
They do consume all they catch so its not like a fox in a henhouse type of thing. However I do think that the engineered cat food nowadays is supposed to contain all the essential ingredients that an outdoorsy diet provides but personally I think the cats benefit from the 'freedom' of the outdoors too. I haven't worried at all about predators and other wildlife as nothing can beat a savvy cat.

[RandomGemini]

Mandy, I wouldn't add anything new to your doxie's diet unless your vet gives it their OK. Pancreatitis comes and goes in flares and anything can set it off.

We think our cat may have it, he has gone through periods of random vomiting and we had to give him a run of IV fluids and meds to get it under control... then removed all proteins except for Turkey and Duck from his diet. He doesn't get anything else at all. We almost lost him a couple of months ago, then he bounced back.

[Mandy2705]

Good advice RandomGemini and I am happy to hear your cat pulled through. My Doxie is a delicate little puppy 😜 I have to be so careful with him, while my other Doxie can eat whatever she wants.

[Ordphien]

I feed blue to my cats.
I keep attempting raw, but my cats don't seem to like much actual meat.
The shelters they came from feed... corn essentially. So they associate dry kibble with food a bit too much for my own personal comfort.
Of course... They could be catching things when I let them out for all I know.
Chicken is liked by everyone.. But other than that each cat has its own personal tastes.
Recently my local mom and pop store started to stock more food variety.
And a fridge is being installed! Which means I might be able to buy those prepared meat meals.

I really want to tailor their diets more.
One cat really needs lose a couple pounds. We go for a mile walk every day but I suspect he's eating more than he should.
On the flip side I have an older cat that doesn't have enough weight on him. Which I'd really like as he goes through old age.
I got him when he was 8. And his food habits are very hard to change.
The littlest one will eat anything. But his listening skills need work lol.
And I've never met a cat so afraid of outside world. Leash training is such a pita.