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Thanks but that link didn't really address the subject I brought up. I don't feed my dog kibble and don't believe that it's the best thing for any dog to eat, but high quality home made plant food works fine in place of inferior meat. My dog isn't fat either, she's very slender, in fact I feed her more oz of plant based food when I feed her meat.

Yes and it's super-light. Make sure to read the descriptions because often a 10 lb. bag will yield 30-40 lbs of food after water is added. So it is a great value. This is the kind of stuff I was considering adding to her present food that I make her.

Freeze-dried meat will not contain the all-important bone. Not only do dogs need to chew for psychological reasons, but they derive most of the dental benefits of raw feeding from chewing bones. Additionally, freeze drying kills the beneficial enzymes that help keep teeth clean and bright and aid digestion (freezing alone does not).

It's also extremely expensive. For that much $$ it should be the BEST thing possible, and it's not (that would be real raw meat).

Dogs did not evolve to eat "plant food" and the links I provided address that fact in great detail. What do you mean by "inferior meat"?? Again: there is nothing whatsoever wrong w/ meat that has been frozen a few years--it is just as good for dogs as it ever was. Only picky human beings can tell a difference in taste--never had a dog care!

At any rate, ANY meat of ANY quality is a better diet for a dog than plant foods. I really can't say that enough times. If you want to live with a herbivore, get a rabbit, a guinea pig, a horse, a cow, etc. Don't live with a dog if you are unwilling to provide the diet that they evolved to eat.

Yes, you would have to feed more "plant food" than meat b/c, as we all know, plant food is lower in calorie density. I'm glad your dog isn't fat, but that doesn't meant that she will not develop diabetes, which is, as in humans, brought on by incorrect diet.

I feed my dog chicken or meat along with vegetables and chia seed along with vitamins. My vet wanted to put her on kibble but I refused, and he admitted she is very healthy.

Question about bones. I would like to give my dog real bones but read that cooked chicken bones splinter and can kill a dog. Do you give your dog raw beef/chicken bones? Need some guidance with that one. Thanks.

Never give a dog cooked bones of any sort. Our dogs main meal comes from green tripe mixed with organ meat and bones. In the morning the larger one receives a couple of grass fed chicken breasts (bones and all) and the little 35 pounder receives a chicken thigh (bones and all)... with other raw meaty bones given on a regular basis.

Dogs eat meat... just no way around it. Dogs are also not wolves... not even close... and it doesn't really take that long to domesticate a canid to be entirely different from the source animal...

The meat I feed my dogs and cats come from our own cattle which are treated in the best possible manner. We are also involved in several animal rescues and in educating pet owners of spay/neuter...

I do understand the conundrum of a vegan feeding their pets meat... one I wrestle with often...

Yes--raw ONLY, and only smaller bones (not the weight-bearing bones of large ungulates (deer, cattle) as they can break teeth). Chicken bones, cattle or deer ribs, etc. are all good, fed at 10% of the total. I usually give a bony meal (i.e., meat w/ bone in) every 3rd day (my dogs eat once a day, which is most natural for dogs--cats need to eat more often). The other days it is boneless meat or meat w/ very few bones, as well as organ (liver is essential). The reason this is necessary is b/c "dressed" animals, like chickens, have organs and other non-bone stuff removed, so they are 20-30% bone instead of 10% bone as they would be if fed as whole undressed prey.

NEVER feed cooked bone, as others have said. Keep it simple and close to nature: wild canids and felines eat RAW meat and bone. Don't cook it, don't add stuff to it, don't give them plants. Just give them what they actually evolved to eat. More often than not, Mother Nature really DOES know better than we do.

I have a friend who is VERY vegan. She will not purchase anything with animal product in it. Saying that, she fed her dog a vegan diet for years. She realized she needed to take him off the vegan diet because he was not doing well on it. He was tired and listless, his coat was ratty, he smelled, among other things. She moved him to a raw diet and he perked right up. His coat was shiny and he no longer smelled.

I have two dogs I transitioned from kibble to raw. They were constantly over-weight on the kibble no matter how much I restricted it and exercised them. They had horrid gas and there poop was disgusting. When they went raw, they slimmed right down. While they are not "skinny" they are not flabby. They are muscular (and they are little breeds!)

I feed my dogs very well but I am lazy about it. I spend more on dog food than I do on my own food per month. I get high quality frozen patties which include the organs and bones and they have separate bones to chew on. Dogs need something hard to chew on to clean their teeth. The way I feed my pups makes my contact with their food very minimal. I will also give them raw root vegetables as I am cutting and prepping them.

The change in them since I switched them to raw had made it totally worth it!

Now... if anyone had some advice regarding switching cats from kibble to canned or raw... Mine would rather be sick than eat the moist.

Actually, it DOES--physiologically at least. It takes millenia for evolutionary changes to occur and dog food hasn't been around that long! Most dogs aren't as large and powerful as wolves--hence the caution to avoid large leg bones, etc.-- but simply scaling things down accordingly works great!

Best cat site on the web: http://www.rawfedcats.org/

See the link "Practical Guide" link for help with transitioning. Note that the first step is to stop feeding 24/7. If your cats are refusing canned food, I'm betting you're feeding kibble free choice. That is TERRIBLE for cats and leads to so many problems. Start by offering a measured amount (1/4 cup is plenty) per cat for 30 min. only. Separate cats into their own rooms to eat (they learn very quickly where they each belong and will lead you there in order). Put it down, wait 30 min, and take up what wasn't eaten. DO NOT offer it again for 12 hours. Then do it all again. Since they like the kibble they will quickly figure out that they need to eat up when it's offered.

Once they are on the meal plan, start mixing in a little grain-free canned food (EVO 95% meat is best). Many cats will go RIGHT to raw so you may be able to skip this step.

Anyway, the link above explains it all in detail. IMPORTANT: Pay attention to the warnings about hepatic lipidosis--cats cannot fast and you need to be careful about that when transitioning.

In my household, it took Calvin (who forced my hand on the raw thing b/c he had IBD-smelly poops, diarrhea, losing weight, poor hair coat, then not eating well, acting not himself, etc.) 2 weeks to transition. 2 weeks after that he was a 100% different cat--turned him around 180 degrees. Within a few months he was back at a good weight, with glossy coat, smelless poops, super energy, etc.

Lincoln (who died of cancer last year thanks to a shot of depo provera at the vet's 7 years prior ) transitioned VERY fast. Like 2 meals, LOL.

Jonah was weaned directly to raw and never looked back.

What kind of frozen patties do you get, positivelyoptimistic? And where do you get them? I might be able to handle that better than actual bloody, raw meat.

Those patties really aren't a good idea. They are very expensive and, in addition to not being any chewing work, they have other downsides. See here:

http://rawfed.com/myths/ground.html

And if you feed the patties (with bone in them) AND some bones for chewing, you are unbalancing the diet by feeding way too much calcium and phosphorus, which can have negative consequences.

I am in a larger centre in Canada so I can go to any number of "healthful" pet food stores. I specifically feed my pups http://www.arushapetfoods.com/dogfood.htm as it is relatively local to me.

Thanks ETeSelle! I will definitely delve into that link!

Eteselle and Knut, thank you so much!

My poor baby (a 10 lb. chiweenie) gets nothing to chew on other than a dog biscuit, and I'm starting to feel very badly about that.

I can't wait to thaw out the chicken in my freezer and give my baby some real, RAW bones. I never give rawhide chews to my dogs anymore. One of my dogs from years ago died of an intestinal blockage, and I'm convinced it was from all the rawhide chews I used to give her. That was such a heartbreak, and 15 years later it still hurts to think about it.

Can't wait to give the current baby those raw chicken bones!