Totally confused now :s

[Kev]

Ok so I'm pro-raw for dogs because obviously it's good, right lol
As I'm trying to soak up as much information before my puppy comes I ran across this article from alpine k9's hans.
AlpineK9 German Shepherd Hips, Health& Upkeep - German Shepherd Raw Diet
He mentions that cooking the meat is better for the pup because they are easily digested with broken down proteins. Im totally confused here because one side says that puppies do fine with just raw but on the other end I also hear that cooking the meat for them when their young is even better so they can break down the protein and eliminate bacteria such as camplyobacter.
What are your opinions on this? And if I do decide to cook the meat (not bones of course), how long should I boil them for? (maybe 20 seconds?)

[onyx'girl]

One opinion doesn't make it true.
A healthy pup can handle raw meat as they have enzymes in their gut/mouth to break down bacteria.
If you are getting your meat from a clean fresh source, there should be little risk
This months Whole Dog Journal has an article on Apple Cider Vinegar(and vinegar in general) It will kill bacteria, including the camplyobactor...maybe douse the food with that, then rinse if you are concerned.
I've not heard of any puppies getting ill from raw feeding. Welcome to the Raw Dog Ranch would be another source to learn from. I like the articles that www.aplaceforpaws.com has as well.

[Lauri & The Gang]

My third litter of raw weaned Chinese Crested puppies are now 3 months old.

These are puppies that went from Mom to raw and all but one are still raw fed.

When I start weaning the pups I am a little more conscious of using FRESH meats. By the time the pups are 8 weeks old and ready to go home they have had at least a handful of meals where the meat was, shall we say, rather GREEN.

I have never had a problem feeding ANY of my dogs raw food that was less than fresh - including chicken that the smell of would burn your nose hairs!

I try not to make a habit of it and I don't feed off meats to dogs that are sick.

[lhczth]

My 5th raw fed litter is now 7 months old and I have raised a few others from puppies on raw. They don't need cooked meats. I, usually, don't feed meat that is older than has a smell I can tolerate, though I do feed tripe..........

[wyoung2153]

My puppy was weaned off with goats milk and fresh raw ground turkey. Now she eats the same as my adult GSD.

If you think about it... in the wild, after the pups stop drinking milk, eat just what the others in the pack do. There is no cooking over a nice fire so the pups can digest it better.

[Freestep]

I know it's confusing, because there are a lot of opinions out there and not all of them are educated. If you want to get really technical, when wolf pups are being weaned off milk, their first meal is partially digested meat that the parents regurgitate for them. So, you could take some meat and "cook" it by soaking it in an acidic solution--vinegar water or diluted lemon juice--and warming it up to body temp. But once you bring a pup home at 8 weeks, he'll have teeth and an immune system, and can handle fresh raw meat that isn't pre-chewed or pre-digested.