I started researching the BARF diet after my dog got sick and I have decided to stop or at least start weaning my dog Bob off of store bought dog food. The comments I'm finding are mixed, while a large amount say it is a good idea there are a handful that say it's not healthy. Is it? Would Bob, my two year old (almost three) Westie be healthier on a raw food diet or would I be doing him more harm?|||Feeding raw is the natural way for a dog to eat. Think about it - commercial dog food is a relatively new invention; people have had dogs as pets for hundreds of years before there was dog food. As long as you're researching it and feeding it correctly, its absolutely healthy. Even vets are on board with feeding raw now - my vet's office sells raw food.|||My Crested has been on a raw diet for over a month now. He has white teeth, and I have not brushed his teeth since starting the diet.. chewing on the raw meat and bones has removed 5 years worth of plaque. His skin is in the best shape its ever been. He's had fair skin to begin with, but Im not finding the ussual blackheads. The skin eruptions he ussually gets on his feet and neck have lessesned, he also licks at his feet less. Stools are firm, he gets loose stools easily. As long as you've researched to learn how to balance the diet, a raw diet is the healthiest thing you can feed your dog.|||Put it this way: anatomically, dogs have not changed much since the days before they were domesticated. Their insides are very similar to that of wolves. In the wild, do you think that dogs would eat commerical dog food? Of course not. All a dog needs to be healthy is raw meat, plain and simple. You know exactly what they are getting - no additives, corn, soya, etc. I would definitely encourage it.|||As long as you are feeding a good complete and balanced diet, raw feeding is very healthy for your dog. Especially if you are having certain potentially diet-related problems with your dog. (you would be amazed how many 'normal' health problems dogs have are related to diet) Your dogs size and/or breed really don't make a whole lot of difference other than requiring you match your dogs portions to his size. I personally prefer prey model diets to BARF, but I think both are a big step up from kibble. This is one of those things that you really will never get an official answer on. Even among vets there is a huge amount of disagreement as to what diets are the best. Much of it is due to lack of education on nutrition, and some simply out of hesitation because raw meat would make US sick (though we know that dogs and humans are NOT created equal). In the end, it's a decision you have to make for you and your dog and see how it works for you.|||I personally dont feed raw...its just not for me, Im a vegetarian so its a little tough for me to deal with that amount of raw meat, but, it is healthy for your dog. Just make sure you do your research very well so you know exactly how much and what to feed your little guy.|||He may be suffering from allergy symptoms. Try the food "Blue Buffalo," the food contains the least allergens possible, and is ultra-digestible. Excellent potency in vegetable and fruit content and has worked wonders in my dogs.|||Natures Variety has a raw diet that's good and easy to use.Look at their web site and you can get coupons.|||I don't feed raw, but if I did I would feed prey model diet, and not BARF. Starring for my contacts that feed raw.|||Gee cute the way you are going one would think you are against raw feeding. 1. The digestive tracts of dogs have NOT changed through domestication and suddenly rendered them unable to process raw meat, bones and organs or even made them omnivores either for that matter. Dogs still have the same short guts and ph levels needed for consuming and eating the raw diet 2. Sickness and death huh? Then explain why there are TONS of dog, cat and even ferret breeders who have had MULTI generations of animals on this diet and ALL have died well into the life expectancies of their breeds if not live longer? Explain why there are more and more litters of pups who never have and never will be on kibble and are perfectly healthy. 3. Wrong again on the vets. Not only are there vets who recommend and encourage people to feed raw but there are vets who do it themselves. Nutrition is not a required course in vet school. 4. Disease/Germs - the same proper food handling skills we use in our own food are applied here. And again animal vs human - their stomachs are NOT like ours and never will be. Their threshold for things like e coli and salmonella are much higher. Someone's home is only at risk if they keep a dirty house and live like pigs. Clean habits make for healthy people AND animals To the op - yes you can feed your dog raw. If he's healthy now there is NO reason not to switch to raw especially if his illness was kibble related. Most people aren't vets, think of dogs in human terms, and honestly have NO clue about raw feeding to begin with. Here are some links for you to check out, mostly prey model though as IMO dogs do not need plant matter in their diet beyond the occasional treat. http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Rawfe鈥?/a> http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/RawCh鈥?/a> http://www.rawfeddogs.net/ http://www.rawfed.com/myths/index.html http://www.mypetcarnivore.com/rawfeeding鈥?/a> http://rawdiettruth.blogspot.com/ http://www.topdog.ie/index.php?pageid=ra鈥?/a> Winnie here looks like she is at death's door doesn't she? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muuHxpMCL鈥?/a>|||Any uncooked food contains bacteria such as salmonella, e.coli, etc. any uncooked food is harmful to either human or pet. We cannot compare wild animals such as wolves to our pets! Canidae Grain-Free and Taste of the Wild are the most recommended dog foods The raw diet is okay for a wolf, coyote, fox or other wild dog. But thousands of years of domestication has changed the digestive system of the dog. they are at risk of getting sick from the same bacteria we are such as the ones i mentioned ______________________________________鈥?br> Most of those people, when they did mention raw diets to their veterinarians, got a lecture about the dangers of homemade diets and raw foods in particular. A lot of vets think it's impossible to make a homemade meal for a dog or cat without a PhD in nutrition and a food laboratory in the garage. And a raw diet? Given the amount of bacteria in raw meat, they say, that's a recipe for sickness and death for your pets. ....

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