My Vets, semi successful argument against All Raw meat diet???

[blackshep]

Originally Posted by Wild Wolf

My biggest pet peeve is people who have no experience with wolf diet and behaviour making claims like that.

In 9 years of watching the Haliburton Forest Wolf Pack I have never seen a wolf eat the stomach contents. They would pull the stomach content out and shake it to remove the green blob, then eat the stomach. Occasionally I have seen a wolf or two go over and lick the stomach contents or sniff it intently, but never consume it.

Hey Wild Wolf, have they caught the loose wolves yet?

I can't believe someone would release them like they did

[staceybullock]

I feed my GSD two chicken leg quarters a day, and supplement from time to time with pheasant, quail, beef liver, pork or fish ~ but only on a bi-monthly basis at best.

Prior to feeding him RAW, he was on a kibble/meat mixture and had constant diarrhea, was easily nauseated (car rides, etc) and looked to thin (Ribs showed). Now he looks great with a shiny coat, clear eyes, and more energy.

The chicken costs me .78 per lb, and he gets about 2 lbs. a day.

never going back to kibble for him.

[Bonnie Corcoran]

What is green tripe? We feed our dogs cooked green beans twice a week and I notice that the shepherd no longer tries to gobble down grass when we are walking so it looks like they do need greens of some sort.

[Smoke]

It is true they do eat the stomach contents of prey and adding vegetables to the raw meat is a good idea. I add our table leftovers to the dogs meat all the time.

[blackshep]

Wolves don't eat stomach contents. They stomach acid tastes bitter and burns their mouths.

http://www.kidsplanet.org/tt/wolf/reading/5hunting.PDF

"In consuming the kill, wolves do very little chewing. For the most part, they tear off
chunks of meat and swallow them whole. And they eat every part of a kill, except the
skull and stomach contents. What they don’t eat immediately they will cache, or store, for
later consumption or to provide for the pups in the pack."

[BamasPride]

Ok what are the amounts of each that he should eat on a daily basis ? And from which animal is it best I have a local butcher that will sell organs and bone scrapes at a discounted price so I will check with them to see what all they have available in a regular basis

[yote54]

I agree, feed human quality when possible. I fed one of those 'raw diet' foods in a tube and apparently my dog held the bacteria in his system never did do well. Grain free Acana and Fromm has saved him and my rescue both. Guess it depends on the individual dog. Mine do get raw chicken legs a few times a week. Frozen, great substitute for some sort of rawhide chew. that's for sure.

[Wild Wolf]

Originally Posted by blackshep

Hey Wild Wolf, have they caught the loose wolves yet?

I can't believe someone would release them like they did

Horrible event... shed many tears...

Not sure if you've been following but Granite passed away (alpha female) due to her gun wounds, and Haida (alpha male) and Lonestar (his son) are doing well, but haven't been returned to the enclosure yet. They are seen every day, though, and come to the center to eat. Two wolves were lost thanks to someone's ignorance.

2 dead, 2 remain outside and they are working hard to get them back in safely.

[Lilie]

I find it interesting that if a coyote comes up on a large dead animal, deer, cow etc., and the body is intact, they will begin feeding from the anus...after they eat the eyes.

If they are feeding from the anus, I don't know how a coyote can skip the stomach contents.

[martemchik]

Dogs (and wolves) do not have the enzymes to digest raw vegetables. It would make sense that in theory wolves could eat the stomach contents of their kills because those greens would've already had some enzymes on them in order to break down and digest the actual green. But I doubt this happens as it would be pretty hard to choke down some of those acids and enzymes.

That being said...blanched or thoroughly blended vegies will get some rate of absorption in canine digestion. Not all, but some. And although they don't need it, it can't hurt to get a few extra vitamins and nutrients that aren't present in meat. It's not a necessity, but it won't hurt them either. Some vegetables are wonderful for clearing up digestive issues...when my boy gets the runs, we just give him a few tablespoons of pureed pumpkin and it clears it up faster than any medicine the vet has ever given us.

I wanted to add...if not for the cost and the storage space needed to buy in bulk, I'd be doing raw. At the moment we just feed a high quality kibble. We used to do pre-made raw, but had to stop due to some food issues. Can't say I've noticed a difference with anything in my boy since he's been on 100% kibble. With some dogs, depending on the problems, you'll see huge improvements, but with others, it really won't affect them at all. In fact...my boy needs carbs to slow down his digestive process or otherwise he gets hungry in the middle of the night and starts to puke bile. We noticed feeding him kibble slows this down considerably and he can then make it to the morning meal.