Raw Feeding - **Objective** Views Please

[JoanneF]

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non food animal meat including euthanised dogs

I have heard that too, but never found a credible and reliable source. Do you have a link?

 

[CoCo2014]

I have heard that too, but never found a credible and reliable source. Do you have a link?

From the 1970s ?????? Look up "Origin of BSE", the same company owned a butchers that sold condemned chicken meat to the public & the company's boss was jailed for 7 years. My late father worked in the animal feed industry(even though we never fed any commercial food to our dogs)& the manufactor involved in making the dog food bought some of their ingredients from the firm my father worked for & one of their drivers was present when environmental health, the police etc raised their Doncaster factory. He saw the piles of dead domestic animals being recorded & then removed, it made him physically sick.

 

[JoanneF]

I guess 50 years ago, standards may have been different?

I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm challenging what you say, I really don't want to be contentious. But I also feel people shouldn't feel concerned about feeding high quality prepared dog food. With all types; raw, dry and wet; there's a broad range of quality.

 

[Feverfew]

Interestingly there have been many more recalls for commercial processed dog foods for salmonella etc than for raw foods & of course in the UK all meat used in pet food is supposed to be of human quality & tested for salmonella etc regardless of if it's raw, dry or canned.

It was a found that a commercial processed animal food manufacturer was including non food animal meat including euthanised dogs, cats etc At the same time they were including mutton from sheep with scrapie(transmissible spongiform encephalopathies)in cattle feed thus causing Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in UK cattle.
Makes me convinced never to feed my dogs commercial dog food

I don't know what the figures are on recalls, so I can't comment on that, but the overwhelming majority of pet dogs are fed commercial food, and in the majority of cases without serious consequences.

Of course, one can always be very unlucky, and in some cases a pre existing condition can make a dog vulnerable.

Given that a lot of dogs eat all sorts of disgusting things, including animal poo, they do generally have very robust constitutions. For example, they are less likely to be affected by salmonella than humans are. Dogs are hugely advantaged by being able to vomit easily, unlike equines, hence very few dogs experiencing life-threatening colic.

Not everyone can afford to feed their dog on human-grade, organic meat, and feeding cheaper fresh meat might actually cause more problems than feeding a good commercial pet food, in addition to the welfare concerns around cheap meat. I happily feed raw, commercial raw and commercial tinned food, and I would say to any owner, get the best food you can afford and that is convenient for you and suits your dog: if that is a commercial pet food, that's absolutely fine.

 

[CoCo2014]

You won't see the recalls as they are from the manufacturers to their direct customers.
Most commercial processed dog/cat food contains ingredients that are simply fillers of no value to the animal, which usually results in lots of poop being produced. Dogs/cats don't need vegetables/cereals/fruit in their diet. My dogs have always enjoyed raw veggies & fruit, but it isn't an essential part of their diet as carnivores. If you look at their teeth, they have not evolved to grind food, they are for biting & ripping flesh & chewing on bones.
It's for human convenience that processed commercial food has been produced, not for the benefit of the animal.
I know from experience what my dogs do well on

 

[Feverfew]

You won't see the recalls as they are from the manufacturers to their direct customers.
Most commercial processed dog/cat food contains ingredients that are simply fillers of no value to the animal, which usually results in lots of poop being produced. Dogs/cats don't need vegetables/cereals/fruit in their diet. My dogs have always enjoyed raw veggies & fruit, but it isn't an essential part of their diet as carnivores. If you look at their teeth, they have not evolved to grind food, they are for biting & ripping flesh & chewing on bones.
It's for human convenience that processed commercial food has been produced, not for the benefit of the animal.
I know from experience what my dogs do well on

Everything you say may be perfectly true. I am not defending pet food manufacturers. I am making the point that not everyone has the luxury of time or money to buy and prepare fresh, organic, human-grade meat for their dog. For those people, commercial pet food is a very good option, and no one should be made to feel they are somehow failing their dog because they can't follow your no doubt exemplary practice.

Incidentally, there is some evidence that dogs have evolved to digest amylase (starch) due to their very long history of domestication. Recent advances in pet food involve the use of insect-based diets. Dogs are scavengers, and survive very well on a mixed diet. They are an incredibly successful species, being supremely adaptable.

Finally, there are 7 million pet dogs globally. There is already huge overconsumption of meat by humans. It is unrealistic to imagine that every pet dog can be fed the diet you suggest; hence the continuing success of commercial pet food which I believe has improved considerably in its nutritional value since the 1970s.

 

[arealhuman]

Well it seems I've started a healthy debate! It's good to read everyone's views, thank you all for contributing

As I said previously, we're probably going to try Honey's prepared raw food and see how Rusty gets on with it, introducing him to it initially by having one meal of it a day (their trial pack should last around 10 days). If he likes it and gets on well with it, we'll move over to this diet which will be supplemented by things h has now - diced chicken for treats, a bit of fruit here and there and so on.

So far, I am impressed with Honeys. They were helpful on the phone without pushing me to buy stuff, emailed me over the weekend to see if I wanted to order and offered to send me a free hard copy of their natural feeding book. No doubt this is a subtle sales tactic, but they didn't have to offer this. I will let you all know how we get on (I'm actually quite nervous about it!).

Oh, about food standards, I recently spent 6 months working in a food production company and undertook some training whilst there. One of the most notable things I took away from this is that there was an average percentage of your weekly shop (can't recall if it was 2% or 5%, but something like that) is adulterated food, i.e. it's not what it says it is. This could be something relatively minor like the recent reports of British honey not actually being British, or more scary stuff like the horsemeat scandal. Either way, it was a purposeful deception. I found the more deeply you look at the human food production chain, the more likely you are to say "ewwwww".

 

[Feverfew]

You won't see the recalls as they are from the manufacturers to their direct customers.
Most commercial processed dog/cat food contains ingredients that are simply fillers of no value to the animal, which usually results in lots of poop being produced. Dogs/cats don't need vegetables/cereals/fruit in their diet. My dogs have always enjoyed raw veggies & fruit, but it isn't an essential part of their diet as carnivores. If you look at their teeth, they have not evolved to grind food, they are for biting & ripping flesh & chewing on bones.
It's for human convenience that processed commercial food has been produced, not for the benefit of the animal.
I know from experience what my dogs do well on

Well it seems I've started a healthy debate! It's good to read everyone's views, thank you all for contributing

As I said previously, we're probably going to try Honey's prepared raw food and see how Rusty gets on with it, introducing him to it initially by having one meal of it a day (their trial pack should last around 10 days). If he likes it and gets on well with it, we'll move over to this diet which will be supplemented by things h has now - diced chicken for treats, a bit of fruit here and there and so on.

So far, I am impressed with Honeys. They were helpful on the phone without pushing me to buy stuff, emailed me over the weekend to see if I wanted to order and offered to send me a free hard copy of their natural feeding book. No doubt this is a subtle sales tactic, but they didn't have to offer this. I will let you all know how we get on (I'm actually quite nervous about it!).

Oh, about food standards, I recently spent 6 months working in a food production company and undertook some training whilst there. One of the most notable things I took away from this is that there was an average percentage of your weekly shop (can't recall if it was 2% or 5%, but something like that) is adulterated food, i.e. it's not what it says it is. This could be something relatively minor like the recent reports of British honey not actually being British, or more scary stuff like the horsemeat scandal. Either way, it was a purposeful deception. I found the more deeply you look at the human food production chain, the more likely you are to say "ewwwww".

Sounds like a plan! I agree, Honeys do seem good in terms of ethics, customer service etc. Little known fact: it was started by the brother of the author Will Self!
I think there's a good chance Rusty will do well on raw, and as long as you take sensible precautions, the risk of contamination is low. Just keeping the prep area and any utensils separate from human ones and handwashing before you eat should pretty much protect you from any nasties.