Barf vs home cooked questions
 

I'm trying to conquer my boys itchiness. I normally feed him and my girl chicken products (livers and hearts included) with some changes (sometimes pork sometimes beef)

Since Loki has always been itchy I wanted to try eliminating chicken and go with strictly beef products and see.

My vet gave me info on preparing a home cooked variety of one protein, one carb , and one vegetable product that was recommended by a leading (local) dermatologist. She gave this to me advising against the beef switch because she felt it would be useless.

With her recomended diet, the protein source is something like ell fish rabbit venison, or beans of some sort. But it all requires cooking. With certain vegetables I can understand cooking for taste appeal to my boy, but I don't understand it for the protein source. Doesn't that extract some nutritional aspects?

Who here prepares a home cooked variety? I was thinking about trying it with maybe fish, potatoes, and carrots an see what becomes of it?




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I don't have much experience with the raw things and what to feed for what, but I have read that vets are pretty consistently against feeding raw food because they are worried that the dogs will become sick from the bacteria that can grow on it, which is probably why they recommended cooked food instead of raw.

Beans? Dogs aren't vegetarians and shouldn't be getting their protein from plants. I actually don't really understand the adding of carbs or vegetables at all. I can see adding some veggies just to bulk up a meal or as a treat, but as a staple? The unusual proteins are probably to eliminate some of the allergens from popular protein sources (chicken, beef).

As to the cooking, that's probably because, as Akari said, they are not a proponent of raw. I guess if you want to sear it off that would be .. okay .. but I wouldn't completely cook it. In fact, I would probably just do raw using the usual formula if you're going that route.

There are those who feed home cooked meals, but I do not. I feed raw. I will add that while some dogs have chicken allergies, supposedly beef is also a pretty regular allergen.

First, to feed a balanced raw diet you need to include 5 or more source of meat. Just feeding chicken products is not balanced and could possibly be the cause of the itchiness. Not even that they have allergies to chicken, just that they aren't receiving a balanced diet.

I am not a vet, but if my dog was having problems with one protein source (like chicken) I would switch to a different protein source, such as beef, rabbit, goat, etc. This is also why it is suggested to only feed one protein source when starting to feed raw to see what the dog can handle. When we started Bella on raw we only fed chicken for about two weeks. Then we introduced small amounts of beef and gradually increased. Then we added goat, etc., etc. This process allows you to pretty easily track and see what is giving your dog problems.

Also, dogs are not omnivores. That is a myth. The argument is that wolves eat the contents of their prey's stomach, which is only true with small prey like rabbits. They don't even always eat the stomach of large prey, but when they do eat the stomach of an elk or deer they tear it open and shake the contents out. This has been observed over and over, but somehow this myth is still perpetuated.

What I am trying to tell you is that there is no reason to feed carrots, potatoes, or beans. In fact, unless you grind them up or put them in a food processor dogs cannot even digest them. They don't have the capability of breaking down the cellulose in plants. The only other way to make them digestible is to cook them, but then you lose a large portion of the nutrients - which basically defeats the purpose.

Something to remember is that unless your vet specialized in nutrition (very rare) he or she had very little nutritional training beyond being told "tell your clients to feed dog food." Some have done their own research, but the vast majority have not, which is why so many vets do not support a raw diet.

Having dealt with several dogs with skin and allergy issues I would suggest trying a diet that contains NO carbs of any kind.

Dogs are not designed to digest or process carbs. Their physiology is geared towards eating meats. Meat protein is easily broken down in the digestive system. A dogs digestive system is very short - it needs foods that are easy to break down.

Most vets that recommend cooking meat don't understand or are not comfortable with raw diets.

Just one note - if you DO go the home cooking route you will need to find some source of calcium. You cannot feed cooked bones to a dog - they are dangerous.

RAW bones are safe. Cooked bones - not safe.

What you can do for calcium if you go the cooked route is to cook the smaller bones from the animal in a pressure cooker with liquid until the bones can be mashed with a spoon (they must be very soft!). I do this with whole chicken or turkey sometimes, but it looks like you are going for different proteins.

thanks for the tips.

I can't help you with the cooked menu. Rarely, I will scramble some eggs for mine, but it's more for my own entertainment than anything of a nutritional choice. They are hilarious to watch in anticipation. It's just a treat, though.

My dogs don't get any carbs or veggies, and my senior came back with impeccable blood work after her last annual. Vet was crazy impressed with her results at her age. They graze on the lawn a little, but they've never snuck off into the famer's field and stolen an ear of corn in their dietary desperation, so I have no reason to believe they're missing anything. Rabbit in the cornfield, however, is an entirely different matter ;)

The only real bacterial danger I fear from raw meats is my sloppy handling and getting myself sick, lol. Of course, I'm sure my stomach can't handle gobbling cat poo, licking my privates, or slurping up my own/neighbor's vomit, either, but theirs seem to handle all that dirty business just fine.

I don't give them any cooked bones, because I don't want the brittle things doing damage to their insides. Don't wanna pay the vet bills, and would be heartbroken besides.

As for cooking extracting some of the nutritional aspects of the protein source, I'm uncertan here. Like boiling water leeching vitamins from veggies? IDK.

But what I can comfortably say is that you will lose some of the great dental benefits by cooking. Also, the mental stimulation that the dogs get working meat off a bone. Those are two benefits I wouldn't trade for the world.

Barf vs home cooked questions
 

I feed our GSD a home cooked diet. We did a consult with http://www.betterdogcare.com to formulate a balanced home cooked diet.

She provided us with a weekly recipe which includes pork, beef, millet, potato, liver, kale, pumpkin and yogurt. She also recommended supplements to make the diet balanced.

Our 13 month old spent 10 months with digestive and allergy issues. After 3 months on the home cooked food, his digestive and allergy issues are gone.


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