hi i have two almost one year old puppies, one a black standard poodle, and the other a golden retriever :]],, they have been eating science diet the whole time weve had them,, well wen i workout( which is rarely ) i go on bike rides around my neighborhood, which is abut a mile long, and they will come with me,, but by the end of the mile they are absolutely exhausted,, its sad bc i kno they should be in better shape,, i want 2 feed them better bc i kno standard pet food isnt natural for them,,i hav a delemma tho,, i can barely afford 2 buy my own groceries better yet my doggies! so i was thinking that buying them giant cans of tuna, and maybe potatoes,, would be better than nothing,, wht do you all think?? any suggestions ?

fuzzysox-
we're horribly broke. so much so that dog food would/could be problematic. but feeding raw and healthy to your dog is pretty easy. we don't do much raw meat now, but we did when she was a puppy. i ground raw turkey legs (bones and all) and fed that too her, and she also ate raw chicken, raw beef and raw lamb. instead of the meat, you can give them marrow bones, they're affordable and you can choose how often to give them fresh ones. raw eggs are WONDERFUL for dogs. and you only need one a day, sometimes two if you like. cooked eggs can cause skin irritations and problems, but raw is great for the eyes and fur and skin.

we buy bulk organic brown rice and feed the dog a cup of that every day if it is cooked. only my husband eats it, so we just make enough for him and the dog. the raw egg is often cracked on top of the rice with a dash of cod liver oil (i bought it for myself last pregnancy, but couldn't stomach the taste, so we give it to her). and whenever i have fruit or veggie pulp that isn't citrus or garlic/onion, that gets mixed in as well. carrots, cabbage, broccoli, apples, berries, pears, all of it gets eaten by our little doggie. she also eats the baby's scraps. it's their bonding time.

i figure diversity is good for her. my husband works at a restaurant, so he'll bring home tuna, prime rib, salmon, asparagus, potatoes, etc, and she eats that richer cooked food on some weekends. he also brings home bone and meat/fat scraps that are raw. she is very slim and healthy and can run for miles. (really, for a 3-legged mutt, she can boogy).

hope this gives you some ideas, and perhaps some comfort in your situation!
peace-

I go to an organic butcher and get chicken necks and backs real cheap, he has them on Thursdays and they're fresh and the dogs know the difference.
I buy 10 lbs at a time for about $15. I also give them organ meats, some I buy like turkey livers which I dehydrate. I will buy commercially prepared raw dog food on occasion like green tripe and offal to make sure they're getting the "whole" carcass.

I make them dehydrated crackers with zucchini blueberries and flax or pumpkins seeds. They devour them. I give them raw eggs too mixed in with green smoothie.

Harry my Jack russell turned seven today and he is sleek healthy and full of energy with no signs of his age. His teeth don't have tartar so I don't have to worry about teeth cleaning which is expensive. Suspicious warts/swelling on eye have disappeared since switching him back to a raw canine diet.

I don't give them anything cooked if they've just eaten raw because different enzymes are involved in digestion of raw vs. cooked so I keep raw food and cooked treats/meat separate by several hours.

thanks for that note, dulset- i forgot to mention it. we only mix raw eggs with the rice and the fruit pulp.

we always keep the raw meat and fat separate from the cooked foods. (cross-contamination seems scary)

Hi guys! Is there a site I where there are do's and dont's of food mixing in raw feeding of dogs??? I wanna build up the health of my dogs... one has mange and the other might have mange...

www.rawfed.com

Start adding grated carrots and other finely chopt vegies to their food. Anything cheap, but not leafy. Increase with time.




[www.healingplace.ca]


This is the vet clinic that our dog's vet is at now - she's actually a homeopath, but is truly an advocate for all natural pet care. She was so great with our dog, who was a sick puppy when we got her. Our dog went unmedicated and raw within 24 hours of our getting her, thanks to Julie Anne Lee. She's not like any other vet I've met and I wish there were more like her.

Anyway, I remember reading something that she wrote about not transitioning too quickly to raw meat for pets cuz their systems may not be strong enough to withstand microbes until they become stronger. Adding raw vegies is an excellent way to transition them.

We're strict with our dog - she only gets raw meat and veg mixture, raw veg chunks when I'm eating them and she LOVES them all, raw chicken wings, and dried ooligans as snacks. She's almost 6 years old and everyone thinks she's a puppy - she's never sick unless she horks down a pizza crust she finds on the sidewalk.



Raw carrots and raw chicken bones are quite cheap,though I know it all costs something.

maybe you can offer to walk and petsit other peoples pets in the area to make a few more $$$

you seem to love your pets and animals .. this might solve 2 problems

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

aquadecoco Wrote:
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> Start adding grated carrots and other finely chopt
> vegies to their food. Anything cheap, but not
> leafy. Increase with time.
dogs can't digest vegees unless they're overcooked/pureed to a mushy like consistancy. they lack the enzymes to break the outside cellular walls

fuzzysox Wrote:
-- so i was thinking that buying them giant
> cans of tuna, and maybe potatoes,, would be better
> than nothing,, wht do you all think?? any
> suggestions ?
instead of buying huge cans of tuna how about huge cans of chicken and potatoes or better yet raw chicken? dogs don't really fall prey to salmonella because their digestive tracts are very short and their stomach acids are way way way stronger than ours so they can digest RAW UNCOOKED bone and raw meats. the rawfed site that was given is a great site, you'll learn lots. i homecook for my pups and i also give them raw, i haven't made the transition to complete raw yet. i figure if you get them off of sciencedie and onto "real" food you're doing great...science die isn`t a very quality food no matter what the vets say or how pretty the package is. yer puppers will need a calcium source from somewhere...that's where the raw bones come into play. but until you gain some knowledge they'll be ok...just get them off science die