raw foods: I was hoping to get an answer from someone who has experience in this. I have a couple questions about feeding raw foods to my puppy. Is it safe? Is it really better for her than the crappy commercial food like Science Diet and Why?? How do I get started? I read I have to make it balanced and complete, How? Should I be using some sort of vitamin supplements as well? Which meats, veggies and fruits are best? Which things should I NOT be feeding her( ex. onions) ? Is there anything else I should know before considering this? Can you recommend a good site with some sort of recipes or something? Thanks, A best answer will be awarded if there is one :)|||I raw feed 2 Staffordshire Bull Terriers. Both since 8 weeks of age. One is nearly 3 years old and the other is 10 weeks. For the first week or two feeding raw stick to one type of protein. Chicken is best. Large chicken pieces with bone are good. Then include another type of protein like lamb. Again do this for a week or two. You can then include organs, this should make up 10% of the diet. 5% of that being liver. Add organs slowly, they can be a bit rich for puppies at first. I dont feed Maggie 10% just yet, I will increase to that over the next month or two. I have got her on frozen whole raw sardines, which are great for teething. And I give her a bit of heart each week. Other meats can then be included. Here's a list of all the different types of meats you can feed. http://www.rawfeddogs.net/Recipes If you include fruit and vegies no more than 5-10% of the diet. They are best fed pulverised. These are optional, as a majority of the diet should be meat. Greens and sprouts are best. No grapes. Here's a few sites to help get you started. http://www.rawlearning.com http://leerburg.com/feedingarawdiet.htm Hope this helps.|||Good for you. Both the rawfeddogs and b-naturals sites are a good starting point, also google raw feeding and barf diets. There's a lot of good information on line, read everything so that you have a basic knowledge as to what's needed for good canine nutrition. I've been raw feeding for over 6 years and my diet has evolved over the years and tweeked to suit the needs of my dogs. Join an on line raw feeding group, experienced raw feeders input is invaluable when there are questions. Good Luck.|||I have fed my dogs a natural raw diet for the last 10 years, they are fit and healthy with shiny coats and have never had a dog with an allergy. Do a google search on BARF by Dr. Ian Billinghurst. BARF stands for biologically appropriate raw food....or bones and raw food. I agree with you about Hills and most other dry kibble foods. There are very few good ones but you can't access them anyway so it doesn't help you.|||I have fed a raw food diet for 14 years, to Yorkies and Border Collies, puppies and adults. They eat what nature intended, which does not include cereals (no kibble) etc. There are some very good books, email lists and web sites that will help you learn and understand about raw feeding. I am including some links below which IO hope you will find useful. Well done for taking responsibilty for feeding your dog this way.|||Dogs are carnivores so when people add the yogurts. veggies, fruits its really for their amusement. Dogs will do just fine with WHATEVER meat you decide to feed. Some genetically weak pups/dogs are allergic to certain foods, so I would test the dogs out with small amounts first with whatever you plan on feeding them!|||Make sure that you are informed about this as it can be bad for the dog if not done properly. Talk to your vet or breeder and get their opinion on this.|||www.b-naturals.com|||Raw Feeding. Is something that you have to thoroughly research before trying it out. Because if you don't know enough about it, don't know what or how much to feed, etc. It could be dangerous for your dog. And you could be giving him not enough proper nutrients. And also I read somewhere. Where dogs with weak immune systems or something like that. Couldn't handle raw meat. So you want to make sure that your dog can handle raw meat ok, and that their isn't any problems. Why don't you just feed your dog a High Quality kibble? Like Wellness or Innova? As you can order foods online. Also their is a home-made diet that you can do for your dog. Which is something that should also be thoroughly researched before trying also.|||To get started, do some more research. You will find conflicting camps out there, though, so just remember: dogs are carnivores. They may eat vegetables or fruits in times of famine, but they give little other than a full feeling. You know that dogs should eat meat, that's why you won't feed Science Death, so why add veggies and fruits to their diet yourself? Dogs need a diet of 80% meat, 10% organ (half of that liver) and 10% bone. That's it. As long as you feed a variety of meats and organs, your puppy will be fine. LOTS of people have weened whole litters to raw food without incident. If you feed a proper diet, you shouldn't need any supplements (assuming the dog is healthy to begin with). Over supplementing is just as dangerous as under, so don't give "just in case" supplements. I also recommend you join the Yahoo! groups raw feeding and rawchat: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfe鈥?/a> http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/RawCh鈥?/a> More websites to check out: http://www.rawlearning.com http://www.rawfeddogs.net http://www.rawfed.com/myths|||Germany (most European countries) have higher standard on pet foods than NA. Could you get a local retailers to ship to you? If you can find it, this is the best dry kibbles in the market. Orijen is the brand. I use the 6 wild fish and sea vegetables one. I asked similar question before...I got these two good responses. See below in " ". The key thing about raw is food safety. My friend feeds his Dane raw since he is like 8 weeks old. "I agree that raw feeding is beneficial for our pet dogs and cats - it not only promotes a healthier digestive system but can prevent auto-immune disorders and intolerances. I raise and breed staffordshire bull terriers as well as owning three cats of various ages. They eat raw meat, meaty bones and offal in the approximate ratio of 2/3 muscle meat (including heart) and the remaining third a combination of meaty bones and organs. This is not rocket science and these ratios are worked out over a week or two not on a daily basis. Liver is very important for its essential nutrients but don't feed more than once a week as vitamin A is fat soluble and too much may cause problems. The major part of their diet is bone-in chicken pieces and kangaroo (mince or chunks) but they also eat whole fish, pork, beef, lamb, whole eggs etc. Each animal eats between 2 and 3% of their ideal adult weight per day. Pups eat the same amount as the adults - just in several feeds a day. Once you feel comfortable with feeding this way you will be able to 'eye ball' the correct amounts to feed and also be able to adjust food intake depending on the activity levels and/or appearance of your dog. I find that by shopping around I can feed my pets for less than the cost of 'premium' commercial foods. My pets never need teeth cleaning and very rarely need vat care either. As others have stated, dogs are designed by nature to eat prey NOT cooked biscuits, grains and vegetables. Read the first link for the reasons why. And to the vegetable/omnivore people please read the myths links as hunters do not eat the stomach contents of their larger prey nor does the occasional eating of berries etc change an animal's scientific classification. Source(s): Dogs are Carnivores" An article clearly explaining the physiological reasons behind this classification http://www.thewholedog.org/artcarnivores鈥?/a> A feeding guide published by Tom Lonsdale, a vet who advocates raw feeding and has been widely published http://www.rawmeatybones.com/diet/exp-di鈥?/a> A website debunking some of the many myths regarding raw feeding and bones. http://rawfed.com/myths 2 months ago 1 Rating: Good Answer1 Rating: Bad AnswerReport Abuse Lioness Well, I DO see the relationship between kibble and giardia. Just like I understand the relationship between other things like salmonella and kibble. Kibble takes a lot longer to digest than a raw meat diet, therefor, everything sits in the intestines for longer than it really should. THIS is what leads to dogs getting sick. I'm not saying it will magically end your giardia problem, but it sure can't hurt. Here are some sites I like, since there literally is so much information it will make your head spin: http://rawfed.com/myths/ http://rawfed.com/myths/preymodel.html This company sells all different kinds of premade raw diets (which I don't do much with anymore) but I think this feeding calculator is really snazzy. http://www.barfdirect.com/catalogs/store鈥?/a> This is a yahoo group I like. They can be pretty hard core, but nothing says you have to do everything the way everybody else says you should. Get the info and make your own rules. http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfe鈥?/a> I feed prey model (which means essentially I try my best to mimic my dog eating a whole prey animal in the wild) as opposed to BARF which usually uses more bone and veggies (which I don't bother with). Add: It's one thing for the average pet owner to be ignorant of the facts...but vets who fail to to "get it" really disappoint me. Look around, there might be a holistic vet in your area that can give you lots of info, too. (I had no idea there was one in my area until I got completely fed up with my old vet giving me "the look" every time I told them I feed raw.)"|||Personally I would stick to proper dog foods, a good brand that will give your puppy everything your puppy needs. Puppy's stomachs are very sensitive and you can make your puppy very ill by feeding it the incorrect things, I know in the wild dogs will eat anything but they don't live as long do they? So stick to the best things to help your puppy grow in to a healthy dog that will live a long time