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Also... I did travel a ways to another store, but no chicken livers! But I should be able to find some somewhere. Will Chicken leg quarters have a better meat to bone ratio than whole chickens in general?

Is liver the only organ I am concerned about giving? Meat, bone, and liver and thats all the dog needs for great health?

We're all going to die of something eventually! And we (humans/dogs) are all exposed to MANY carcinogenic substances every minute of every day, which is impossible to avoid. Plenty of people and animals who eat a species-appropriate diet still get cancer; their organs still wear out. There is no beating that.

Since you don't even know what these "lumps" are, I really don't get what you're asking. There is cancer, benign tumors, lipomas, abscesses, and many other possible causes for "lumps" in dogs. Some of them may be preventable (for a while at least) with diet--some of them may not. But you are asking an extremely vague question and expecting a specific answer.

My animals did just great, for the most part, on kibble as well. My kibble-fed Greta and Ellie made it to age 17. Emma made it to 18. Sophie (larger dog) to 14. I've had cats make it to 18 and 19.

I've had some problems that were directly attributable to feeding commercial food (the IBD in the cats, lymphoma in one cat, kidney disease in old age in dogs and cats, and possibly Cushing's). But with only a few exceptions all my animal have lived long lives.

My goal is to provide a higher quality of life for my animals, a goal I believe is assisted by their going to raw feeding. They are more likely to be robust and healthy longer and they are happier b/c they are able to rip and chew their food.

If your goal is only to avoid nebulous, undiagnosed "lumps," I guess I would say either switch to raw or just stick w/ grain-free kibble.

You're kinda frustrating me. Again: All chicken parts (whether cut up or still in a chicken shape, have HIGH BONE CONTENT. You are NOT feeding "whole chicken," period. You are feeding DRESSED chicken. Entirely different thing, and you will ALWAYS need to add additional meat! If you PM me your email addy I will send you a spreadsheet showing the bone content of all chicken parts.

RE: organ: You need to feed 80% meat, 10% bone, 10% organ, half of which much be liver. The other 5% can be other organs, the easiest of which to find is kidney. You do need to find another organ.

Be careful buying chicken--much of it is "enhanced." This means that sodium has been added. ALWAYS read the label--it should have 80mg or less per serving. Anything higher has had sodium added and is NOT appropriate for pets.

Sorry, I do tend to get frustrating to other people... and to myself at times... just know its not intentional!

If you all don't go to the vet, do you heart worm and flea medicine your dogs? I assume you do the rabbies shots... atleast where I am thats required by law, but I think thats the only thing.

I take my animals to the vet when they need it. Just had the vet out here yesterday for one of my horses.

I give vaccines and I use heartworm and flea/tick preventatives.

I am not anti-medicine or medical treatment, I am just anti-bad-medicine and pro prevention when at all possible.

I just wanted to chime in and say that I feed my dogs vegetarian dog food, and they are healthier than ever. My golden retriever's skin issues have cleared up, and she has more energy than she has had for a really long time. They have been on this food for approximately 9 months. So, for those who say that dogs "must" have meat, I have to disagree - they do not.

I'm not a vet nor do I play one on TV so take this for what it is worth.

I don't think 9 months is enough time to tell if a vegetarian diet will have any ill-effects on your dogs. If you want to compare them to humans (and in a way you are if you are saying what is good for us is good for them) most humans go years before their poor diet has any medical consequences.

My dogs have had their initial vaccines but I haven't had them vaccinated since. We don't have rabies around here (yet) and the shot isn't required, so I don't do rabies. I use the flea/tick preventative also, but that didn't require that the animal see the vet.

I did get my cats vaccinated when I boarded them for a vacation (the dog went back to the farm she came from), since it was required. I'm just not a fan of yearly vaccinations; I think even the vet association has said every 3 years is adequate.

Here are some links that you all may find helpful:

http://www.organic-pet-digest.com/vegetarian-diet-for-dogs.html
http://www.peta.org/living/companion-animals/vegetarian-cats-and-dogs.aspx

I do 3-year rabies shots (once every 3 years). I do not vaccinate otherwise. I order HW medicine online. I haven't had fleas since going raw and haven't bothered w/ Frontline, but now it turns out that I have cytauxzoonosis (a tick-borne disease carried by bobcats, transmissable to domestic cats, and usually fatal in them) on my property, so everyone is now on Frontline to keep the dogs from bringing cytaux-infected fleas into the house. I order that online as well.

Just as I only go to the doctor's when there is something wrong with me, I only go to the vet's when there is something wrong w/ the critters. I also take the older ones in for annual (and later every 6 mos) labwork to make sure we catch old-age diseases early if they occur.

Good luck with that. The results of your feeding a diet for which the animal did not evolve will be felt later on in your dog's life.

True for dogs re: rabies--unfortunately, ALL the 3-year vaccines contain an adjuvant which has been implicated in causing vaccine-associated sarcoma (often deadly) in cats. The safest rabies vaccine for cats is the 1-year Purevax (no adjuvant).

Rabies shots actually seem to last up to 10 years. Unfortunately, the drug companies and most vets refuse to accept that, so the 3-year requirement remains.

Any vet who tells you that rabies vaccines are required ANNUALLY is lying or misinformed. There are now no states in the US where that is the case.

It is a good idea to vaccinate kittens and puppies against distemper, parvo, etc., but it is UTTERLY unecessary to continue to do so year after year. Why are we told it's necessary? As with many things, FOLLOW THE MONEY!

How do you order heartworm online if you don't have a heartworm test done yearly? Around here, HW is good for one year. When ordering online (at least at the places I've tried) they will only give you a one year supply and then they require new results from the vet.

I only do 3 year rabies now after having too many dogs and cats react to vaccines over the years. We had two different cats develop cancer specifically from a vaccine years ago. A few years ago, one of my dogs had a horrible reaction from a vaccine and after an ER vet bill that was bigger than my mortgage, I stopped getting all the unnecessary vaccines.

A good vet who respects you will write prescriptions for you. There is no need to re-do the test annually as long as the dog is on HW preventative year-round. If you are in an area where you don't give it in the wintertime yet, then yes, you should have a neg test before restarting. Otherwise it's not necessary.


Yes, but please note what I posted above--you should NOT give cats the 3-year as ALL 3-years contain the adjuvant that causes VAS (the cancer your cats had). Use ONLY Purevax if you choose to vaccinate.

I actually do not vaccinate the cats at all regularly. The only reason to do it in indoor animals is legal--if the cat were to bite someone and he was not up to date on rabies vaccine, he would have to be quarantined to make sure he did not have rabies. I'm not even a LITTLE bit worried about that, so my cats get a rabies shot at age 1, another at 6-8 years or so, and that's it. I only use Purevax now that it's available.