Thoughts on raw food diets

[haniaamir0]

I have 2 rescues. 1 is a 4 month old (I’m guessing) shepherd mix and the other one is a 1.5 year old GSP / bloodhound mix. I’ve been doing some research on raw food diets and I know there are a wide range of opinions on the matter. What’s your thoughts and experience with it?

 

[shinemoon]

@haniaamir0 I have seen some dogs do great on it. I don't have the freezer space or time for raw food, but if I did I would consider it. It can vary with the individual dog. If you do decide to do raw, I would buy one of the premade mixes or consult a specialist to determine which variations of a raw diet would suit your dog the best, as much of it can be tailored around the individual dog and their requirements.

 

[haniaamir0]

@shinemoon Great! Thank you!!

 

[pudhayavan]

@haniaamir0 If you do it right, it's good for your dog. If you do it badly, it's absolutely freaking dangerous.

Kibble (most, not all) is a safe middle ground for people who don't have the time or energy to get it right. Same with pre-mades, tins, etc.

For people who want to dabble, but don't have the time to develop the knowledge and put the prep-time in, you can always mix a small amount of DIY raw food into a commercial diet.

 

[fairyjoyeux]

@haniaamir0 I recommend you check out the Raw Feeding Veterinary Society (here their website. It was founded and run by vets and it had great resources

 

[haniaamir0]

@fairyjoyeux Thank you!!

 

[der]

@haniaamir0 There is no legitimate scientific research published on raw food diets; no peer reviewed papers, nothing. So basically, there’s no REAL, properly studied evidence to suggest that it’s a good idea— only anecdotes. If you went down that route you could potentially be spending a ton of money on a diet that adds zero benefits, or even causes harm.

If you still chose to feed a raw diet with that in mind, be aware that you’d have to be extremely careful to make sure your dog actually gets the nutrients it needs, in the proper levels. You’d have to consult a veterinary nutritionist and follow strict feeding guidelines. It’s super complicated and expensive to make certain that you’re not depriving or overdosing your dog on different nutrients.

There’s definitely a reason that pre-made kibbles exist, and it’s not just laziness! The big brands have to adhere to very strict standards of excellence and follow the guidance of (often multiple) veterinary nutritionists and scientists. They go through rigorous testing to guarantee the proper levels of nutrients within all their batches of food, and the best brands will do feeding trials as well (where they don’t just do chemical analyses on the nutrient levels, but actually feed their food to animals and test those animals to make sure it’s working, basically).

I highly recommend you look through the wiki on r/puppy101 about nutrition.

If you’re willing to put in the time, effort, and money, as well as take the risk, going with a raw diet could be right for you… but I’d recommend against it lol

 

[secretsis]

@der "Nah, too much to read, just gonna do what everyone else tells me."

-Everyone following dangerous fads.

 

[pudhayavan]

@der

There is no legitimate scientific research published on raw food diets; no peer reviewed papers, nothing.

This is a very odd point to base your premise on - are you suggesting we need mountains of scientific research to know that zebras graze, leopards eat meat, whales eat seals, etc.? Of course not. They eat the food that is most appropriate to their species.

If raw food diets were so unhealthy, all our zoo animals would be on a species-appropriate 'kibble', but they're not.

 

[der]

@pudhayavan I’d say it’s odd to base your comment on comparing the dietary needs of dogs (pets that have been domesticated and selectively bred into wildly different animals than what they started as) with the dietary needs of a wild animal.

I said there’s no legitimate research published on raw diets for dogs. I didn’t say there has to be 1000s of pieces of evidence— I simply said there’s nothing that proves it’s beneficial, and nothing that proves it’s detrimental either. I never said it’s unhealthy; it’s just a risk, and if you or OP are willing to take that risk I’m not going to stop you

 

[cathya]

@haniaamir0 It’s great done right, kibble has only been a thing since since world war II. Before that it was canned food and before that… dogs have subsisted on scavenging throughout 95% of their history with mankind. Raw can be a solution for dogs with a lot of food intolerances.

That said, I have 2 dogs 45 and 60 lbs. One is super sensitive to food so she’s on a super pricey grain free kibble. The other is on Royal Canin. Feeding them each month on these mid-high quality kibbles costs maybe $150 a month… getting raw food from a non-shady supplier would cost a lot, I know some people put a ton of effort scrounging for cheap meat and do it for less money… but in my case the potential benefits of raw don’t justify the cost at all.

My pets are dogs, doing well on their current diets, they’re evolved to live on human refuse and if I wanted to dump an extra $100 a month on them I would sign them up for a cool training class instead.