The Move to RAW

It's a humid summer's evening here and I finally have a chance to sit down and update some more....

Let's talk about Morgan now...she is my remaining Golden Retriever and she will be 14 in a few weeks. This sweet old gal had battled recurrent hot spots and other skin issues for many years....I changed foods....I had her tested for thyroid problems...and while she'd enjoy some small measure of relief....the skin problems just did not go away.

Last Fall...I put her on Grain Free dog food and the change was dramatic...no more hot spots or chewing on her legs....even her stinky ears were clearing up. Well....give a Stupid Smack...Morgan wasn't just allergic to corn and wheat in her former dog foods...she was simply GRAIN INTOLERANT !

She'd done so well on Grain Free that I soon changed the other dogs to the same dog food and they, too, showed improvements in their coat condition.

A few weeks ago...I took the dietary change one step further....to a RAW diet. Of course the dogs still get some dog food in the evenings ( still grain free )....the RAW now encompasses abut 70% of their total dietary intake...and will remain so for a while yet as I still have several large sacks of kibble to use up ... after that I will keep some small bags handy for hubby to feed if necessary,,,in case of illness, boarding or if I should have to travel overnight for work.

The dogs were sure comical at their first RAW snack. I had gone shopping with hubby and picked up a package of raw chicken wings and after putting away the rest of the groceries...opened the package up and gave each dog a wing.

Morgan munched hers down right away....Penny was a little more reserved BUT Peggy Sue and Zander glared at me as if I had totally lost my mind...

" Uhhhhh......'cuse me.....what is this ??? It's RAW....ewwwwww....GROSS !!!! "

Took a few minutes to convince the Newfs that I really, truly wasn't trying to POISON them and decided to give in and crunch-munch on the wing. Next morning they got raw meaty pork neck bones and those met with immediate approval....and now they get so excited when the raw food comes out of the freezer or fridge that I would hate to accidentally drop a package of meat as I am sure the herd would come thundering in...grab it and run.

Of course, they are also now capitalizing on the fact that they get TWO meals a day instead of just the dog food in the evenings when I come home from work. Their main meal is now BREAKFAST and this is the RAW meal; dinner is just a small portion of grain free kibble....probably about 1/4 of what they got before.

I get an excellent price on raw chicken necks ( in a 40 lb case ) from one of our local grocery stores ( in fact just placed another order ) ; and I divide this up into 3-4 lb freezer bags. I also get large packages of raw pork necks ( will see about a case lot of those ) and large raw meaty shank bones from the same store. From another supplier I get 1 and 2 lb containers of raw green tripe and this last order also got the dogs some beef organ and chicken organ blend and also some ground Rabbit/Vegetables. Once a week or so the dogs get canned mackerel...OK...not technically RAW...but still a good protein source and a source of essential fatty acids.

When the dogs get a meal of other than the raw chicken or pork bones, they get a portion of steamed mashed vegetables and oatmeal which they all love. We also supplement with cold pressed salmon and sardine oils and a kelp supplement made especially for dogs on the RAW diet.

I believe my dogs are coming into the best shape of their lives and I wish I had not thought for years that people who fed their pets a RAW diet were crackpots...because they sure are NOT. In fact, I even recently purchased another freezer...a small frost free that became the family freezer and the older, manual defrost, is now the storage freezer for the dogs' food and also some of my cookie ingredients.

Morgan had had severe tartar encrusted on her teeth and after just a little over a month on RAW...her teeth are almost perfectly CLEAN; Zander had been scheduled for a dental cleaning last month and after the diet change I was able to cancel the appointment. Peggy Sue had shown just a little staining of her teeth....GONE...and Penny's teeth have also shown massive improvement.

No stinky ears and cotton pads full of greasy smelling discharge ...coats no longer show dryness and doggy dandruff and all (especially Morgan ) seem much more mentally alert and that is saying a lot for this almost 14 year old dog. And, since, at her last check-up, her geriatric blood panels were all normal...I have reason to believe that this sweet old gal will be with me a lot longer....

Huge thanks go to Peggy Lange and many, many other Newf-L members for educating me on the benefits of the RAW diet and for their reading shelf recommendations to further the learning process.