[MaggiesDad]

Have a look at http://www.allprovide.com – although a commercial food, it is raw with all natural ingredients and supplements to give your dogs all they need. Its a good place to start whilst you get the hang of DIY 🙂

[jakes mom]

There’s a whole forum devoted to raw feeding, lots of great info there and lots of knowledgeable people. I do give my dog and cats some raw food, have not transitioned to only raw yet. Part raw and kibble is fine. Some say the difference in digesting the two types of food can cause a GI problem but I think that idea has been mostly debunked. Check out the raw feeding forum, I think you’ll like it. Good luck.

[puppypiles]

This is all really excellent! I appreciate everyone’s input.

I think I have been lucky in that I have had managers and worked in stores that dedicated significant time to training their employees. One store I worked at had great relationships with food reps, so we got news and info about their foods as it was happening. For example, when I found out that Nature’s Variety was changing their frozen raw to distinct dog and cat formulas, I went immediately to a raw feeding Facebook group and told everyone. No one believed me cause it hadn’t come into stores yet! But I had a good chuckle when it did start integrating into stores.

Have there been other instances where you needed to correct store employees? Or when you spoke to the customers after the employees helped them and helped them instead?

[InkedMarie]

I have been at PetCo, overhearing employees talking about dog food. I have yet to find one who knows what they’re talking about. I did correct an employee who told someone tht Freshpet is raw. It’s not raw, its cooked then cooled’

We have a local pet store who has mostly teenagers to early 20’s employees. They don’t know much. I overheard someone saying ‘corn is fine for allergies” & I butted in.

I wish all employees were trained but who’s going to train them? I haven’t met many managers who really knew about dog food either.

I do frequent some boutique pet stores & they DO know.

[Abe A]

First I want to thank Mike for setting up this site. Great job! We have a 1 year old puppy who is healthy. We have been feeding her Blue Wilderness product and she recently stopped eating two meals a day and going to 1 meal a day. We switch per the recommendation of friends, a local pet store, and the vet said…try a raw meat diet.

We purchased Orijen Adult Food Kibble and then Stella and Chewy raw food. WOW!!!!! she devoured the food over the past three days.

Questions:

1.) We are thinking about transitioning her to Raw meat diet. Any thoughts or experiences would be greatly appreciated.

2.) Is it ok to give her a combo kibble/raw meat in the morning meal and then a full raw meat dinner? Frankly, I do not think she even cares about the dry kibble food. She wants the meat.

Thank you,

Abe

[Mike A]

Hi everybody, my name is Mike and Im an owner of a almost 3 year old Boxer. I’ve come here for advise on how to deal with pancreatitis.

So, as I mentioned before I have a Boxer named Kolbie and shes 3 years old and weighs in about 65 pounds. She has had an issue with an upset tummy, arched up back, drueling, and wont eat from time to time the past year or so. It always seemed to clear up by days end so we never thought too much of it and it didnt happen very often. As of late, the instances increased and she has since been diagnosed with pancreatitis. We were feeding her Taste of the Wild, and Mother Hubbard peanut butter flavored treats. We would also put peanut butter in her kong for her as an extra treat also and this was a daily thing. I would also give her marrow bones to chew on and have since learned the marrow is high in fat.
She has been on Purina HA now for almost 6 weeks as prescribed by our vet and we have cut out all the extra stuff and the pancreatitis episodes have stopped. I have been adding boiled chicken and rice to the food to make it more appetizing for her. I have noticed since being on the food she has lost about 3 pounds, her coat has dulled and she seems to be shedding more. I would like to get her off this food and back to a better diet but I have no idea where to start. A raw diet is not possible for me to do on a daily basis so I would like to feed her a high quality kibble and I dont mind adding boiled chicken and rice to it if thats a good thing to do.
I was going to put her back on TOTW and nix all the other fatty stuff but after reading the bad reviews from forum members I am reluctant. So I guess what I am getting at is I need some help to choose a quality food and treat to keep my pup healthy and happy.
Thanks for reading and I’ll be happy for any advise and suggestions.

[John M]

in case nobody knows this apparently appears to be a thing and appears to be superior to all of these things.

http://www.rawmeatybones.com/petowners/feedyourdogrmb.php

okay ya do know
/forums/topic/eating-raw-meaty-bones/

• This reply was modified 10 years, 9 months ago by John M.

[puppypiles]

I know raw and canned are more species appropriate, and I want to continue feeding him this way. It is however hard for me to feed him a can at 7am, and not be home until 8pm. If he’s tired of that flavor, the can of food has sat out for 13 hrs, and that’s 13 hrs that he hasn’t eaten. Plus who can have a social life when they have to be home every morning and every night on the dot to give him food? I want to give him the option of being able to eat when he needs to, and not have to schedule everything around canned diet.

As far as cost goes, he is the pickiest gosh darn cat in the whole universe, and one can he might have loved 3 days ago no sits uneaten. He has actually been diagnosed with anorexia by 2 separate, excellent vets, and has a standing prescription of mirtazapine, an appetite stimulant.

[Akari_32]

Since dry food isn’t species appropriate, and can cause some serious health issues anyways, if he doesn’t want to eat it, don’t make him. Dry is especially dangerous for males if they don’t get enough water. If we were talking going from dry to canned, and he didn’t want to eat the canned, I’d say keep bribing him, but there are more cost effective ways to feed a cat than introducing dry food. Brands that typically offer coupons for canned food are Halo, Wellness, Holistic Select, Blue Buffalo, and if you dig, there are many more…. I can tell you right now that you can get 5.5 oz cans of Halo Vigor for free at PetCo with the coupon Halo has on their website. I fed my cat for $20 a month on canned with coupons. Now I’m doing it with raw, and he loves it 🙂

[weezerweeks]

Dumb question but I have an ant hill in my back yard where Bailey plays. It is under the straw so I can put something on it and water it in and put the straw back but I am paranoid about chemicals. Does anyone know of something safe I can put on them. Thanks

[puppypiles]

My cat has been on an all wet and raw diet since he was about 8 months old, and he’s nearly 3. He’s the picture of health, very svelte, and the vets just love him.

However, I am interested in adding some dry food into his diet. This is for several reasons.

Firstly, it’s a cost issue. Feeding high quality wet and raw foods (Weruva, Natural Balance, Earthborn, Rad Cat, Feline Naturals) is pretty pricey, and dry food, even the highest quality, is significantly cheaper per pound.

Secondly, I work in retail and work long hours (50+ a week). When you’re only feeding wet foods, it’s difficult to leave some out as it will go bad. I’d like to give him the option of having SOMETHING there if he gets hungry.

I realize the diet I’m feeding him now is a good one and dry food is not as good for a cat as wet and raw. My intention is to find a food he likes so it can be used in an emergency, and up to 25% of his current diet.

When he was younger and eating some dry, he ate California Natural Grain Free chicken. I haven’t tried that again, but I did try some Orijen red meat, which he totally snubbed. He also hates all things fish, and only eats canned/raw foods with poultry, lamb, or beef.

[puppypiles]

I would check with your vet and maybe also THK. They say you can mix premade raw with their base mixes, and I don’t think that would be much different than the supplemental cans like Wellness 95%.

[InkedMarie]

Hi Chrissy,
I buy it ground from both Hare Today and Reel Raw Dog.

[Dori]

In my opinion, and that’s all it is, I would change their food. They’ve been on this particular food for a long enough time that you know they are not losing weight. Feeding them at the low end (25% below their intake plus on the low side) could cause health issues of another sort. Recommended guide lines of manufactured dog foods will mean that more or a little less, they will get their nutritional needs from that food given the approx. amount they recommend. If you are always given them less then or at the lowest end of recommendation could possibly lead to nutritional deficiencies.

My suggestion would be go find a 4 or 5 star rated quality food from a reputable company with a moderate to high protein, moderate fat and low carbs and I wouldn’t feed any of the foods on THE list. I checked almost all of those foods earlier today and they are all low in fat and high in carbs.

I may have mentioned that I have three toy breed dogs that I keep on the lean side. I feed them all commercial raw diets. I rotate proteins and brands. Commercial raw dog foods are all very high protein, high fat and low carbs. I don’t have to adjust the amount of food that I feed them going from one to the other commercial raw food because they are all accustomed to high protein and fat diets with low carbs. As a matter of fact there are times that I will feed them more than their normal amounts to get a little more weight on them. My feeding method for them is that I feed them between 2.5% and 3% of their body weight. I bought a cheap digital kitchen scale on Amazon. I think it’s a more precise way of knowing that you’re feeding them the correct amount of food each of them needs. I’ve never liked measuring dry kibble (when I used to feed it to them over three years ago) because not all dry foods are the same exact size so that the cup size will always vary somewhat in the amount your feeding them.

[Dori]

Please don’t suggest any foods that contain any form of rosemary in it. Rosemary and Rosemary extract have been known to trigger seizures in seizure prone dogs even if they’ve never had a seizure before. There have been studies that have confirmed this for humans. My step daughter has suffered from epilepsy after a car accident many years ago and she was told to avoid rosemary. She, of course, is on seizure medication because hers were constant and severe. No studies, to my or my vets knowledge, have been done so far on canines and due to the cost may never get done. I know vets do site the human studies and feel that it’s probably best not to feed a dog with seizures or possibly seizures in the canine family background rosemary and rosemary extract with the thought that this would also carry over into the canine world. If home cooking or giving dogs leftovers for meals they should not contain any rosemary either. Why chance it. Better safe than sorry as the saying goes.

A good kibble that doesn’t contain rosemary (but please double check any and all recommendations) is Nature’s Logic. I know the sardine formula doesn’t contain it.

Nature’s Variety Instinct kibbles do contain rosemary and/or rosemary extract so please do not recommend that kibble. I do feed the Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Foods but they don’t contain rosemary. At least not the ones that I feed.

[Judy P]

What about The Honest Kitchen dehydrated food? There are numerous choices including at least 3 grain free and including numerous minerals and supplements. Also, for kibble, what about Great Life and Pioneer Natural (made by Great Life)? I prefer to feed raw and dehydrated but the ingredients in these two grain free kibbles certainly seem far above the norm.

[Bobby dog]

Hi Linda:
I am always on the lookout for average to low fat commercial raw foods. I find most recipes too high in fat. Good or bad fat it’s in there and I want the majority of my dog’s calories to be from protein not fat. Here’s an article on fat in commercial raw foods:
/choosing-dog-food/raw-dog-food-fat/

From my list I only have one food that may fit your needs Primal Frozen Venison. On a dry matter basis using the numbers from their site it is about 16% fat. Their Frozen Rabbit recipe is also low fat (17% DMB), but you mentioned rabbit might not agree with your dog.

You might consider making your own raw if you are unable to find a suitable commercial diet. Here is a list of books for making raw and home cooked diets:
http://www.dogaware.com/diet/bookreviews.html

Since your dog is not too thrilled eating TOTW kibble maybe try another brand or have you ever thought about supplementing with canned instead? Here are some low-fat canned foods I feed Wellness Core Weight Management, Innova Large Breed Sr., and Weruva’s Marbella Paella, Paw Lickin’ Chicken, and Bed and Breakfast recipes. On Weruva’s site they list their nutrition information in dry matter basis. Other low-fat canned foods I want to try are Fromm’s Four Star Shredded Chic or Beef and Petsmart’s Simply Nourish bisque or stew foods.

Feeding a balanced diet is important, however if my dog had a health issue it would definitely be priority for me. Regarding Sojos foods and mixes there have been comments posted on DFA about the vegetables coming out of their dog as they went in and lack of info on their labels. Some posters suggested grinding the mix before feeding it. You can do a search for comments on Sojos here’s one thread:
/forums/topic/sojo-premix/

Concerns have also been posted about The Honest Kitchen foods and mixes. Posters have commented on digestibility issues, label accuracy, feeding recommendations, and questionable information provided by customer service and the owner of the company. Check out the comment sections on the review side for more info:
/dog-food-reviews/honest-kitchen-grain-free/
/dog-food-reviews/honest-kitchen-dog-food/

Good luck!

[DogFoodie]

Hi Joanne,

I’m not a Merrick fan, but know others who do who haven’t had issues. Personally, I chose not to use their products.

You can only get Timberwolf via mail order and that might be inconvenient for your sister. I once ordered some samples of Timberwolf and was disappointed that the samples I bought were so close to expiring and that the ingredients were different that those listed on the website. Maybe I bought my samples in between the updating of the website or something. Either way, I chose not to use it further.

Personally, if one of my dogs had ever had a seizure, I’d avoid rosemary at all costs. There is enough evidence to support that it can cause seizures in those dogs that are seizure prone.

Like I said before over on the review side, I’ve always like Canine Caviar. They’re in the process of changing some recipes. So, if you go that route, I’d make sure to look at the new foods and be sure that’s what you’re using because the old formulas will no longer be available soon.

Will your sister be feeding a rotational diet? I feed both of my dogs a rotational diet of all kinds of kibble, canned, dehydrated, raw and fresh, whole foods. That’s one of the ways I satisfy my passion for trying all those great foods that are available out there! Plus, it provides a more complete nutritional profile and limits exposure to less desirable ingredients – especially ingredients like carb sources; ie: grains, potatoes, peas and other legumes.

Edit: I was just recalling that I believe Timberwolf may be available in some retail outlets. I live in the Chicago area and have never seen it in a store near me.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 9 months ago by DogFoodie.

[Chrissy L]

InkedMarie- when you say you feed ground raw do you grind it yourself? Or do you purchase it?

[crazy4cats]

Hi Kevin-
So far treats have not been rated on this site. I too have dogs that like to gnaw. Bully sticks are their favorite. My dogs each get one 6 inch bully per week. I have to attach them to vice grips to make sure they are not swallowed. I have 80lb golden labs. I mostly buy the Cadet brand at Costco with no issues for the last 3 years. If Costco is out, I have bought them from best bullysticks.com.
I also give them large raw marrow bones, pig ears, and most recently Fish beams from THK occasionally.
Another thing they enjoy is when we prepare a kong for them. You can stuff one with canned food, pumpkin, wet kibble or any combination of ingredients they like and then freeze it. This is the most time consuming chew toy I’ve come up with for them. Unfortunately, I rarely take the time to do it. Lol! 🙂
I hope you get some ideas that work for you.

[Susan]

Hi, I don’t know many American raw diets… Barf has their Kangaroo 3% fat, 11% dry matter (kibble) that’s low in fat & a new one has just come out called Barf lite or Honest Kitchen ZEAL is suppose to be good.. http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/dog-food/zeal

[Dori]

In all seriousness I would start feeding your dog a commercial raw diet. Also if she continues to vomit, diarrhea and not eat during the weekend you need to start administering plain, non flavored Pedialite which you can buy over the counter at any pharmacy or grocery store in the baby/infant aisles. Also purchase a syringe. If she won’t drink it, then start administering small amounts, maybe 3cc’s at intervals. You need to keep her electrolytes in check. Make sure it’s plain unflavored so that it doesn’t contain any sugars.

[crazy4cats]

Hi All-

Just received an email informing me that Primal Pet Foods is voluntarily recalling a single lot of Raw Frozen Feline Turkey Formula 3 lb. size.

Akari-
Something that helped us with the open door issue is to add a screen door that automatically shuts when you let go of it. That way when you are bringing in groceries and such, it closes behind us. But, it doesn’t help when someone stands there holding it open. (my mother!) LOL!

[Linda M]

I have a 14 y/o bRat Terrier whose has been on Stella & Chewy’s frozen patties since late last summer. Since switching her to raw, her Trygycerides have been rising, but I was alarmed when they doubled on her last blood panel (they are now at 2200). The rest of her blood panel is normal, aside from an elevated Liver ALP (now at 174…but that is down from 600 about 4 years ago, thanks to a daily dose of Denamarin).

Her weight fluctuates between 18 and 20 pounds. She is sedentary for the most part (sleeps most of the day while we are working), but otherwise has tons of energy and always happy to go for walks (thankful that Chicago weather is finally breaking and we can get some exercise again).

She has always had a heart murmur (around a Grade 2 for most of her life)…about 3 years ago we were told it was a 3 borderline 4…last summer she started coughing and the vet told us her murmur was a 4 borderline 5 and she was in the early stages of Congestive Heart Failure. She was put on a daily dose of Enalapril (2.5mg twice per day) and Vetmedin (5 mg. per day split into two doses). That was also when we switched her to a raw diet, and within weeks her cough disappeared. That was last September…at her visit this past week, she no longer shows any signs of CHF and her murmur is now at a 2 borderline 3…the vet is shocked and amazed that her murmur has improved and told us that he wouldn’t believe us if hadn’t seen it for himself…he says murmurs NEVER improve. He is skeptical of the raw food, however, I attribute her improvement to the change in diet more than anything (not to say the meds haven’t helped…I have no doubt they have).

This is a dog who shed like crazy until switching her to Raw – now she barely loses any hair and her coat is thick and shiny. The muscle mass along her spine was deteriorating (you could see her pointy spine bones sticking up along her back) and she was developing spondylosis…with a “clicking” sound that you could also feel along her spine. After a month on raw, her bones no longer protruded through her back and now she can once again race up & down the stairs and on the furniture (to my dismay)…the clicking is gone. Raw had done wonders for her health, and I’m sold on it being the best for her.

She is, however, sensitive to birds…no chicken, duck, pheasant or we start dealing with itching along her lips and paws that quickly devolves into infections. We have been rotating her on beef, venison, lamb & rabbit (tho I have my concerns about the rabbit being an issue with her lip…so lately I’ve avoided feeding it to her).

She is fed strictly 2 1/2 small patties of Stella & Chewy’s twice per day, 12 hrs apart…and her only treats are carrot chips. I keep a bag of Taste of the Wild Lamb on hand…I leave handfuls of them in her bowl to eat at her leisure if she get’s hungry between meals, but she rarely touches it (unless I’m late with a feeding).

Because of her high triglycerides, my vet would like to get her onto a lower fat diet. He suggested kibbles & prescription kibbles…but I will not go down that road again…Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein nearly brought her to the brink of a malnourished death prior to Raw…no way I will go back.

So…any suggestions on how to lower the fat content while still keeping her on raw and not feeding any “crap” foods?

My working theory is to use SOJOS grain-free fruit & veggie mix (the kind you rehydrate with water) and combine that with 1 Stella & Chewys patty per day (half 1.5 oz patty at each feeding). I am having a difficult time working out how much of each to feed her while keeping the fat under 15%, the protein and fiber in a higher range, and the calorie amounts appropriate for her size/age & slower-pace lifestyle. Would love to see all of her blood panel numbers in the normal range at her next test…not just for her sake, but to prove to the vet how beneficial this raw diet has been.

ANY suggestions or help would be GREATLY appreciated!!

• This topic was modified 10 years, 9 months ago by Linda M.
• This topic was modified 10 years, 9 months ago by Linda M.

[DogFoodie]

I’ve used the VE tripe treats. The dogs love ’em. There are gobs in a big bag, too. Most are pretty well sized, but some are scrawny.

[InkedMarie]

I use ground raw so I won’t be of much help. If you’re on fb, look for some raw feeding groups. There are also non fb raw groups too. I stopped feeding marrow bones as I had a dog crack two teeth & he gnawed on marrow bones & Nylabones; I’ve stopped both. I now use beef rib bones.

[Dori]

Riley and Molly. If she is your only dog then there is no reason why you could not afford to feed her a good quality commercial raw diet. I have a Maltese, a Maltipoo and a Yorkipoo. They have all been on a rotation of commercial raw diets for the past three years and all are doing phenomenally well. A toy or small breed dog does not need a different diet or food than a regular dog other than a large breed dog puppy that needs less calcium in its growing years.

[Akari_32]

He said with out knowing exactly what is causing the levels to be so high (which would require testing and such), he couldn’t say for sure if she would be ok to be put under or not. He said they could be high because of the state of her mouth, or because of something else, such as cancer. My thought is that they are probably that high because of this infection that she’s had for who knows how long, most of her life, I’m sure. Antibiotics are no longer helping her. We just finished a $25 week of Clavamox, with no change at all. The free 250mg Omoxacylin (how ever the crap you spell it… lol) did more than the Clavamox did.

I think detoxing first would be a good idea. But that would then involve more blood tests later down the road… Ugh, so much money D: What would the risks be of detoxing for a while and then doing the dental with out another set of blood work?

I posted a brief history of more or less whats been posted in this thread on RCF Chat (Off topic sister group to the Raw Feeding Community group on Facebook) and the general consensus is that I should just bite the bullet and do the dental. Actually, no one thats replied said I shouldn’t do it. In the end, it is moms choice, and she’s really upset about the results of her blood work, and would devastated if anything happened to her while she was under the anesthetic. She’s pretty much at the no-dental-ever-put-her-on-medicatcation-to-fix-her-liver-and-kidney-functions point right now.

[Anonymous]

I loved the raw frozen beef marrow bones as a treat, once or twice a week for my dogs.
My medium sized dog is fine with them, however my poodle developed pain and discomfort (nausea, vomiting, shivering), she liked to grind the bone into small fragments and consume…..well x-ray showed calcified material in her stomach and colon. Luckily it passed on it’s own, however if I give this dog a bone, I have to watch her carefully and remove the bone before she gets down to the nitty gritty.
Proceed with caution.
PS: I prefer to lightly cook meat, chicken…as I cannot afford fresh killed organic meat.
I buy from the reduced price section at the local supermarket and often freeze first.
I had a meat grinder, I recently took it to the Goodwill…not worth the trouble, imo

[Chrissy L]

Hello,
I have a 3yr 120lb Great Dane and a 4yr 8lb Chihuahua, I am wanting to wade into raw feeding instead of jumping headlong, because I’m not sure my dane will like it. He is a bit picky but he has started eating non-food items so the vet said he is lacking something in his diet. I do have access to a butcher, but not game meat. And I dont know what bones are ok for one dog and not the other. I also would rather not feed commercial if possible, I am a stay at home mom and so I have the time to put into whatever prep is needed.

Thanks

[aquariangt]

Akari-are you using a premix of any sort? Are there those for cats? Or are you just doing a full on homeade raw?

[Akari_32]

The problem with feeding a cat dog food is that dog food typically lacks taurine, which is essential for cats. And the problem with feeding chunked canned foods is that they are very (*very*) high in carbs. Carbs are hard on a cats system, because they aren’t meant to digest them, and they take a lot of water for their bodies to break down. Not to mention, they are the cause of tartar build up on the teeth, with out regular brushing. I do include some chunky style canned foods in my cats rotation, yes, but they do not make any significant portion of his diet.

I’m actually finding a raw diet is cheaper than even using coupons to get super good deals on premium brands. With raw, you want to use lots of dark and red meats and hearts because they are high in fat and taurine. Dark meat chicken is cheap, usually about $1 a pound, pork is around $2.50 a pound, and many cuts go on fantastic sales for $1 a pound. Large pieces of meat and chicken bone are great for dental health. He also eats much less on raw than canned. On canned he normally gets about 9 oz. On raw, he eats 6 oz.

[crazy4cats]

Hey Guys-
I only feed my dogs raw a couple times per week. I usually feed either frozen or freeze dried. When I was on the Primal website doing some comparisons, I ran across this statement:

It is important to only serve Primal raw foods when completely thawed. Frozen foods can be difficult for animals to digest. Never microwave any pet food. Microwaves cause the fat molecules to radically change, making fats less digestible, and ultimately they can become harmful to your pet’s long-term health.

I often forget to thaw out the frozen nuggets and mix them in their kibble partially frozen, not really thinking much about it. According to their statement, feeding it frozen can be tough on them.

Any thoughts on this?

[Akari_32]

Guys. I was looking back through the thread, and it’s been a year since I brought Kitty home!! :O this calls for celebration! I think I’ll get him lamb for his next raw meal :3

Speaking of raw, I’ve got an order of 8oz Reditainers on the way from Amazon! Right now, he’s getting 6oz of canned and 6oz of raw, rotating days. He’ll get either Fancy Feast, Wellness Duos or Wellness Sliced/Minced/Cubed (2x 3oz cans) one day, a 5.5oz can of Friskies Special Diet (randomly replaced with Newmans Own, and a couple other brands) another day, 6oz of balanced raw the next, and then another 5.5oz can the next day, and then it starts all over again. I opted to pull the better brands (Halo Vigor, Halo Impulse, and Natures Variety) out and save them for if I ever go away and whoever watches him cannot do raw. There’s probably 8 cans, none of them expiring until sometime in 2016 (I wrote all the expiration dates down on the tops of the cans). Once the rest of the canned is gone, he will be on 100% raw! I’ve got something like 50 days of canned left, so it’ll be a while, but I’m very happy with his coat and teeth improvements with raw only being a few times a week 🙂 Can’t wait till I’ve used all the canned up 😀

[mountainhound]

You don’t have to feed raw, there are a million brands out there that are not made of recycled waste.

[Stacey A]

Hi. We’ve been making our own dog food for many years and I feel like it’s selfish not to share with others the way we make it economically. I realize the majority of people don’t have access to the same resources that we have but some people might benefit from this information and it really saves a lot of money while being very good for the dogs.

The #1 most important item we have to make this possible is our large pressure cooker. The reason it is so important is that when you pressure cook a chicken the bones become very soft and crumbly like chalk. You can literally take the leg bone of a pressure cooked chicken and pinch it into pieces between your thumb and forefinger. No splinters – and LOTS of calcium and other minerals. This only works with chicken. The bones of turkey, beef, pork etc. will not crumble this way. We have not tried it with fish and we do intend to, at some point. The pressure cooker is well worth the expense because keeping the bones really makes a chicken go a lot further and provides the dogs with a lot of nutrition.

We live on a farm and raise chickens for our friends and family and process them here. All we ask for, in exchange for the work we do raising the chickens, is the cost of feed and all of the “byproducts”, which we use in our homemade dog food. So basically we raise chickens and get paid with dog food. I’m not sure if our definition of “byproducts” is the same as the definition on the dog food bags but, if it is, “byproducts” are definitely not a bad thing. We keep all of the backs, necks, bones and organs (but not the stomach or intestines or feathers or heads/beaks). We would keep the feet because, believe it or not, there is a LOT of meat on feet and they are full of glucosamine etc. In many cultures, people eat the feet after the scales and toenails are removed. Unfortunately my husband is so grossed out by the appearance of the feet that he insists we throw them away and won’t even allow us to give them to the dogs.

I realize others don’t have access to the byproducts that we do but you can just use whole chickens and get the same results. When you cook a chicken for your family you wind up throwing over half of it away. Don’t throw away any part of your store-bought whole chicken, not the giblets or the skin or the necks or bones. If you want to keep the breasts for yourselves and give the rest of the chicken to the dogs you’re getting a very economical meal or two for yourself and the dogs.

So – just throw your whole chickens into your pressure cooker with some water and pressure cook them for 45 minutes to an hour. We think garlic is good for dogs and add a lot of it to the chicken but some people feel like garlic is bad for dogs because it comes from the same family as onions. As far as I know, no studies have been done. It depends on your altitude and what weight you use on the pressure cooker and it might take some trial and error – but cook them until the bones just crumble between your fingers. For us that’s 45 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure. Keep the broth to add to the water you cook your grains in.

Next, cook up an equal amount of rice or oatmeal, wheat berries, amaranth – whatever grains you have cheap and easy access to. We’ll use anything except for corn meal because we don’t want to feed anything GMO to our dogs. Oatmeal and rice are very cheap. There’s some controversy over potatoes but a lot of people feel potatoes are fine to feed to dogs instead of or in addition to grains.

Next, an equal amount of veggies. There’s some controversy as to whether or not the dogs actually need the veggies but they’re a good filler, they’re cheap, and they’re probably good for the dogs. We use stuff from our garden and also go to GFS and get the huge cans of green beans, carrots, and peas.

Just mix everything together and package it up – 1/3 meat, 1/3 carbs and 1/3 veggies. We currently feed our dogs 50% homemade dog food and 50% kibble just to make sure they get a lot of variety, but kibble makes us nervous. You never know when your brand is going to be on the recall list. We’d switch to 100% homemade dog food but we’d have to have a lot more chicken that way and we don’t believe in buying meat. We don’t like to eat anything we haven’t raised ourselves so we know for sure there aren’t any hormones etc. and that the animals were raised and butchered humanely and with very good sanitation.

We also feed the dogs other things when they’re available. We raise milk goats and have access to a lot of fresh raw goat milk – we have been careful not to give the dogs too much goat milk because we don’t want them to get diarrhea but we’ve never had any bad results from giving them small amounts of the raw goat milk or goat yogurt. Goat milk is so much more digestible than cow milk, and if you make it into yogurt or kefir the lactose gets removed. Also, kombucha is very good for the dogs and prevents cancer. We make our own and it only costs about 30 cents per gallon to make.

We have always had large breed dogs – shepherds, shepherd mixes. They’ve lived 13-14 years so we must be feeding them right.

[MaggiesDad]

Hi, I am one of the owners of Allprovide, and would like to address some of the points made above!
All our foods meet or exceed the AAFCO guidelines for nutrition, and this is stated on the first page of our site. If you look at each page for our products, we give a full nutritional analysis, on an “as fed” basis. We feel this is a more accurate way to understand what you are feeding your dogs.
The Guaranteed Analysis for each product is clearly shown on our boxes. I have noted the comments about this being absent from our site and will ensure this is updated! We do however show a full nutritional breakdown for all products.
We only use human grade, USDA Grade A inspected or Select meats. We never use any intensively farmed animals, and frequently take home the chicken we buy for ourselves! We would never feed our four dogs anything that we wouldn’t eat. Our chicken comes from Koch Foods and Harrison Poultry Inc in case anyone would like to check them out.
We do offer free two day shipping across over 30 States. Our foods are frozen and shipped in polystyrene boxes inside cardboard boxes for extra insulation, and in the summer months we will also use dry ice where appropriate.
We include vegetables in our foods because of the excellent nutrients and minerals they supply, not for the carbohydrates. The veg is ground finely to enable the dogs to access all the goodness, as of course just like humans, they find it difficult to process cellulose without some help breaking it down!
Our products have been developed so that they can be cooked in their 1lb pouches where customers may have concerns about bacteria. The bone pieces are extremely small, and soften during the cooking process, thereby ensuring no hazard. Some people have an issue with the natural pathogens found in raw meat, so even though our food is fully tested to be as safe as possible, we thought this would overcome any concerns someone may have about feeding Allprovide if for example they have to be extra health conscious due to a compromised immune system or having a young family. Personally, here at Allprovide we all believe in the benefits of raw feeding, as opposed to cooked or processed foods, and our dogs won’t eat anything else! (Although our Chihuahua for some reason only known to herself demands that her food is cooked in the morning and raw in the evening!)
Regarding the cost of our product, we are firm believers that quality does not have to be expensive. We source only the best ingredients but keep our overheads to a minimum to keep our costs down. We also do Bulk Buy packs with minimal packaging to pass the savings to our customers who do not want to be deluged with cardboard to recycle! We also set up our factory in Georgia to be close to the source of our ingredients, because Gainsville is the chicken capital of the USA! We never cut corners, and insist that all our ingredients only come from the human food supply chain.
We are very proud of our product and what we do, and anyone is more than welcome to tour our new factory in Norcross, GA
If anyone has any further questions about our products, or ingredients, or simply would like to try some free samples, please feel free to call me, Michael, on 678-585-1606.

[SdianeM M]

I wish I could post pics of the samples they sent me. I do not know anything about feeding raw, but I’m ready to learn. The food is delivered in vacuum packages of 1 pd size. They have a batch number on the package.

The packages were in a cardboard box, and that was in a styrofoam container. My shipment was delayed by FedEx, so I got it in 3 days – all frozen.

The owner sent me free samples to try, but I need to finish her off so her kibbles first. The owner is very nice and willing to help. He welcomes people to visit his factory in Norcross, GA.

I am anxious to learn more from all of you.

[Jennifer H]

Dori : Oh yeah, I have no plans to heat it. That seems silly to me to buy a raw food and then cook it. I usually just get his food set up about 30mins before hand to let it come to room temp, although now that it’s heating up I just give it straight out of the fridge.

It wasn’t bolded or anything, just kind of tucked in a random spot on the ingredients section, I pretty much found it by sheer chance haha.

The ONLY thing I can think of is they are keeping prices low to develop a customer base, they claim they have a very successful business in the UK as well (but I could not find more info on that).

I like the ingredients, a lot, although the fat seems rather high. I want to like it, and I can’t wait to hear back after you call tomorrow!

If I get too worried about it I can just toss it, I’m not too upset over a loss of $15 :p I am a little worried over it, but I only plan to feed Toby a small amount at first until we learn more about the company.

I live in Florida, and I got 2 day shipping for free. I’d really like to see how everything is packaged. Still kind of bummed about it being in 1lb bags, not sure how I’m gonna portion that. Thinking about just plopping it in ice cube trays.

The website is a pain to navigate. From what I’m seeing all the recipes have roughly 60-70% of the calories coming from fat.

[Dori]

I should first inform you Jennifer that I am a commercial raw feeder so I wouldn’t cook, warm up or microwave any food I’m feeding my three dogs. But as Sandy has stated, and she would know better than I would, if bones are truly finely ground up then I guess you could cook them or warm them up in your microwave which is basically cooking them. That, to me, basically negates the reason for feeding a commercial or home raw diet.

I didn’t see the mention of AAFCO though I’m glad you did. I found their site a bit time consuming and not particularly easy to get around. I do have a problem in that their food is as inexpensive as it is and that shipping is free. Though I live in Georgia, not anywhere near their manufacturing plant, they say than can FedX my orders free of charge over night. As I said earlier, something just seems off to me but I’m not sure what. I’m going to call the company tomorrow and get some answers to some questions I have and I’ll post back here.

It also concerned me where it was mentioned the amount of fat in the calorie count. I really do need a review of this food from Dr. Mike and his team before I would ever feed it to my dogs.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 9 months ago by Dori.

[Jennifer H]

Dori – I agree that something does seem a bit off. It’s a lot of marketing but not a ton of information about the product itself. The owner does seem rather forthcoming however. I’m just really suspicious of the pricing and the free 2 day shipping. It doesn’t really all add up.

I’ll only feed it occasionally to Toby due being wary of the product, but it would be rather nice if it ends up being an affordable raw food. But small companies make me nervous.

I found this on the ingredients section : “Allprovide is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog or Cat Food Nutrient Profiles for gestation, lactation, growth, maintenance or all life stages as appropriate. See individual product labels for details.”

It also weirds me out that they say the product can also be cooked, but they use ground bone in the product.

Although I did enjoy this on the feeding section “OVER-FEEDING AND OBESITY ARE MAJOR CAUSES OF SERIOUS ILLNESSES.” I should print that and tape it to my neighbors door.

[Dori]

I’ve never heard of Allprovide Raw. Think I’ll wait until Dr. Mike and his team review the food and what thoughts they have, if any, on the company itself. I would be interested if, indeed, it is on DFA’s list of foods to be reviewed. I’ll wait.

Aquariangt: There’s no mention of GA on the site and also no mention of AAFCO either. Not that I don’t have foods in rotation that aren’t AAFCO compliant I just find it odd that they don’t even allude to it. I can’t, with comfort, feed a diet that at bare minimum doesn’t have a GA anywhere on the site unless we’re all missing it. Like you said, weirds me out too. Something seems off to me, obviously I could be wrong.

Jennifer H: Please give us an update once you’ve received the food and have fed it for a while. Thanks much!

• This reply was modified 10 years, 9 months ago by Dori.

[Jennifer H]

Somehow I missed the giant “free shipping” sign on the site. Oops.

How can they offer it so cheap though? I would be paying only 15.20 for my first order of 8lbs of raw, grade a dog food with free shipping. Now I’m suspicious.

[Jennifer H]

Wow I really love the ingredients in that food. I think it looks really good, but I’d like to know the dry matter % of fat to make sure they aren’t getting most of their meat from fatty cuttings.

I don’t like that it’s in 1lb pouches, as that could be a pain to portion for smaller dogs, but that probably cuts costs for them.

The site kind of sucks though, and I’m having difficulty estimating shipping (it keeps telling me free, which I know can’t be right. Also 50% off your first order holy smokes!)

I have no issue feeding vegetables to my dog so long as they are properly processed. Personally I think farmed meats lack some nutrition, and that it can be quite difficult to fully balance a diet with just meat/bone.

I feed my dog a homemade raw diet, but he’s so small (12lbs) it can be difficult to balance. I’m considering switching to a rotational commercial raw diet with a few RMBs a week.

Would love more info on this product 🙂

[Dori]

Hi John. Just saw your post here and I’d like to reply and help if I can.

Nope, it wasn’t me that suggested that you keep your dogs on the same protein. That’s totally against what I do or would recommend. I may not have explained things correctly. What I had said is that I would suggest that you find a few different (proteins) that your dogs do well on and rotate within the brand if, in fact, there are different proteins in that brand that you can feed. Also find other brands with proteins you dogs do well on and rotate within all the brands all the proteins that your dogs can eat. Rotate proteins and brands. It is never, in my opinion and the way I feed, a good idea to keep a dog long term on any one protein and on any one brand.

I can’t comment on the Acana line or any dry food as I’ve mentioned before. My allergy, intolerant girl can actually eat Nature’s Logic kibble but only the dry and only the sardine formula and only in my way of rotating which is often.

Other foods I thought you might want to consider to add into their diets are Nature’s Variety Instinct Freeze Dried Lamb (doesn’t contain any poultry, fowl, or beef)

Nature’s Variety Limited Instinct Kibble Rabbit or Lamb.

Stella and Chewy’s Freeze Dried. They have a rabbit, a lamb and also a venison formula. None of which contain beef or fowl of any sort.

I think adding freeze dried to their diets in rotation would be a little more cost effective with the kibbles you’ll be feeding because this way, at least, they’ll be getting some of the benefits of raw on occasion. The other is that if freeze dried is too expensive as their entire diet in rotation you might consider rotating through the freeze dried foods that I mentioned and use them just as their treats. You’ll be sure they’re getting healthy treats and they’ll benefit health wise and you don’t have to worry about what’s in the commercial “treats” which usually contain something dogs with food intolerances have issues with. I hope this has helped. Sorry, but I hadn’t realized that you were on the road 9 months of the year. Hopefully when you stationary from time to time if your room has a fridge with small freezer you may be able to just buy small bags of raw frozen to add into their diets. Nature’s Variety Instinct is sold in most, if not all, Petco and Petsmarts and they seem to be everywhere in the country. I love that you travel with your dogs and that they are a priority in our lives. Yes, we are all rather companion animal obsessed (or most of us are) and we like it that way. So, never fear, you’re not in the minority in the world of dogs and your wanting to do the very best you can for them. I’m pretty sure it would be a safe bet that most of us dog obsessed people on this site feed our dogs healthier diets that we do ourselves and our families. I’ve been known to do a McDonald’s drive thru from time to time for myself and my husband yet would rather die than feed my dogs any low quality garbage dog food. They become our children and, as such, we commit ourselves to their health and welfare. As typical parents, we usually put ourselves last. In my opinion that’s a good thing. They can’t choose what they eat, we do it for them so we should try to do the best for them. It’s the least we can do for them when you consider all they give us in return.

[John P]

Update: First, I want to thank everyone again for your thorough, prompt, and caring responses. I’ve tried to browse the forum to see if I could help anyone as you’ve helped me. So far, I haven’t found any topic that I feel I am qualified to give an educated opinion, but I will check back regularly.

Back to Iggy and Bella – I have had the luxury of feeding a mostly raw diet in this “detox” or “transition” phase only because this is the off-season for my business. In a few weeks, my dogs and I will begin our regular business road trips across the country (I could fly, but I would never crate my dogs in the cargo bay unless absolutely necessary). I travel with my dogs because I don’t want to be without them for extended periods of time, and I know most boarders won’t (and often can’t) provide the love, care, and attention that my dogs get from me (and that I feel they need and deserve). I tell you all this only because our transient lifestyle for nine months out of the year necessitates a dry dog food/kibble. That is why I have taken all of your excellent advice and focused my research and attention on dry dog foods.

Right now, I have found three highly rated dry dog foods with three distinct proteins that I plan to begin introducing into their diets. Here they are:
• Acana Singles Pork and Butternut Squash Dry Dog Food
•. Acana Singles Lamb and Apple Dry Dog Food
•. Nature’s Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet Rabbit Meal Dry Dog Food

Ideally, I would like to add at least one more food with at least one more single distinct protein to keep in the rotation, although I’m having trouble sorting through all the options to find anything suitable. I know both Iggy and Bella tolerate venison because they did well on the small bag of the Sweet Potato and Venison dog food I bought from that hack brand when I was desperate to switch and couldn’t find anything better at my local PetCo. They also do well with the raw venison that I get from my dad and brothers (they are hunters and have freezers full of the stuff). However, I can’t find any highly-rated venison food that isn’t fortified with fowl or beef (or both). If someone could give me a suggestion on a single-protein venison food, I would greatly appreciate it. Considering they will be getting this food in a rotation with other highly recommended foods, I think it would be acceptable for this venison food to have a lower protein count (correct me if I’m wrong – I’m just guessing). Alternatively, if you know of another protein that is not fowl, fish, beef, bison, or the proteins listed above, I could really use that help too. I’m afraid if one or more of these options don’t work out, which is quite possible, I’ll be going back to the drawing board and coming back begging for more help. Haha!

I believe it was Dori who suggested (or possibly impied) that I should at least consider using multiple foods with the same protein for the sake of variety if I am unable to find a suitable number of distinct proteins. If I must go that route, suggestions on single-protein dry dog foods (or, I suppose, dry dog foods with a mix of these proteins, although I find that highly doubtable) that I should try within these limits would also be very helpful, especially as I prepare logs and attempt to rule out sensitivities that might not be protein-related.

I have some excellent news, too! I have found a locally-owned pet store that is only an hour’s drive from my house. Their prices are significantly cheaper than sites like Chewy and Wag. Per 25-pound bag of premium dog food brands like Acana, I can save an average of $20 to $25. Also, they offered to order any food they don’t carry with no minimum quantities per order and no special order fee. They staff is friendly, knowledgeable, and extremely helpful. They even told me about this website before I had a chance to tell them that this is where I had done my research. I’ll never give PetCo or PetsMart my business again!

Thank you again. I am glad that I joined this online family of pet lovers. Among my friends and family, my dedication to my pets is often derided as obsessive, and my investment in their health is deemed wasteful. This community understands the relationship I have with Iggy and Bella, and I would go so far as to say that you encourage it. I look forward to hearing any additional help that any of you might have to offer, and I especially look forward to contributing my experiences to help others in the future.

[Akari_32]

I’ve never even heard of that brand. Just looked it up, and what concerns me is how cheap it is. Makes me wonder how they source their meat. Could be 4D meat, or something like that. Seems a bit strange for a premade raw diet to be so inexpensive. However, they could just have a really good relationship with local farms and ranches. Who knows for sure, with out actually contacting them and asking where they source their meat from.

That said, dogs don’t need veggies in their diets. They simply lack the ability to fully digest plant matter. It’s not very expensive at all to do a home made, balanced, prey model diet, of 80% meat, 10% bone, 5% liver, and 5% other organs. Pretty comparable to the price of a good kibble, and usually a bit cheaper when there are good deals. I use the Raw Dog app for iPhone to help me calculate it all, however, I do not balance every since day like the app does, but over a few days. The dog I’m feeding is so small it would be nearly impossible to give him such a small amount of bone and organ every day lol

Raw helped my yeasty dog a lot. Unfortunately, a good deal of his allergies are environmental as well, so he is not 100%, but is still doing much better on raw than he was on any kibble I ever tried him on. The thing with yeast is you don’t want to give it any fuel, which is carbs. Carbs are found in veggies and plant products, which Allprovide has. It’s best to just make your own diet if your dog have yeast problems. There are several groups on FaceBook that are really great resources for beginners, such as Raw Feeding Community, Prey Model Raw (PMR) for Dogs, and Raw Feeding FRIENDS. You should definitely check them out 🙂

[SdianeM M]

I have been researching a lot and it sounds as though a raw diet would help my pup with yeast issues.

The owner of Allprovide dog food graciously sent me out a sample of his food that he is selling that can be served raw or cooked.

Has anyone looked into this food? The owner mentioned that his product is on the list to be tested by Dog Advisor; however, it will take some time.

[Dori]

Hi Beverly. Glad her eyes seem to be clearing up and that she’s liking what is a fabulous food. Don’t forget that you can rotate through the different proteins and, of course, through other freeze dried foods. Primal is my favorite of all raw and freeze dried foods. Second for freeze dried foods is Vital Essentials.

And now I’ll have to start bugging you to go to gravatar.com and post a picture of Sugar. I can’t wait to see her. We love doggie pics. 🙂

[jakes mom]

Just wanted to throw this out to everybody. I have a cat, Smudge, who’s struggled with one yeasty ear for years. We’d go to the vet, do the ear drop thing, it clears up, back again in no time. Thru this site (vet never mentioned it) I decided it might be a food issue. I have not been able to figure out what the problem is. Now to get to the coco oil part. I’ve read so much here about the good things coco oil can do so I bought some and Jake and a couple of the cats like it. Not Smudge of course. I went online to read more about it since I had a big jar to use up. One thing I read said that women use it to treat yeast infections. I started using a tiny dab in Smudge’s ear twice a day. It took about a month but no more gunky ear. Now I use it every couple of days and her ear is nice and clean. I’m hoping this is ok? Seems like the best I can do is try to keep the reactions at bay since I can’t find the food culprit. I haven’t seen this use of coco oil mentioned. She won’t eat raw.