Raw Feeding: Our Story

Over the coming days I will be posting several articles all about raw feeding. Ideas, information, links, and my own thoughts on the subject. To give some perspective to these articles, I thought it best to start with a little introduction as to how we started feeding a raw diet and my background.

For those new to this subject, raw feeding refers to offering meat and bones in raw form to your pets. The basis of this diet goes back to before commercial food became available. Dry and canned foods have only been on the market for for the last century or so, not really becoming popular until after World War II. Before that time, dogs and cats ate whatever scraps were tossed to them combined with prey they caught on their own. Not long before that, they fended pretty much entirely for themselves. The digestive tracts of these animals has not really changed in thousands of years, but their diet has been flipped completely around in a matter of half a century. Many pet owners are now trying to remove grains and less natural items out of their pet’s diet, raw feeding would be one end of the spectrum of natural food choices.

Before Raw
I started working in veterinary hospitals when I was still in high school. Cleaning cages, walking dogs, and mopping floors sort of work. When I went off to college I continued to work at vet offices, doing assistant and technician work as my experience increased. I loved being around animals, and I loved making a difference in whatever way I could. I supported the veterinarians and their advice, recommending the foods we sold and learning the ins and outs of commercial pet food. If a cat had bladder crystals, we had a food for that. If a dog needed to lose serious weight, we had a food for that. It was very straight forward, and I never gave it two thoughts.

Many raw food devoted folks say that food companies financially influence veterinarians and their staff, having worked in the environment for years, I can offer a firsthand opinion. While I will say we had ‘free’ items, there were no tropical vacations or 5 star meals being spread about. I am talking free canned food lids, a few pens, and maybe some bandannas for the pets. I will say that most of the vet offices were given a handy reference book, so that a diagnosis could be matched up with a recommended food type quickly and easily. I rarely saw any material on homemade diets, and never saw or heard anything on raw food at the vet hospitals unless it was from a client that came in. It was not that the veterinarians did not want to carry it, it was more that it wasn’t widely available or even known about. With the number of subjects and topics vets have to be experts on, I can understand why researching diets usually never went further then finding a different brand of commercially available food. Here were some additional thoughts I had on the vet community and raw feeding previously.

So when I got my first kitten in my early 20’s (Cosmo), I did not give food any thought. I bought what was offered and recommended at the vet hospitals I worked at, Science Diet and Eukanuba were the two I used most often.

Fast forward about five or six years, another kitten later (Dexter), and now a puppy was added to the mix. Samson was a miniature pincher puppy who was handed over by the owners to a vet clinic I was working at in the evenings (I now had a cubicle job during the day). He was a bit rough around the edges, had diarrhea, and needed some serious socialization as he was originally from a pet store. I decided to take him in, maybe permanently, and see what I could do. This is where my food ideas were turned upside down.

Making the Switch
Samson had chronic diarrhea from day one. I tried every food we had at the vet office, various medications, and we did test after test looking for parasites. In the end, it looked like he had serious food allergies. I fed him enough dry food for a 50lb dog, and he barely stayed at 12-13lbs, food just went straight through him.

One of the staff members at this vet hospital had experienced something similar with a pup she rescued a couple years before. Rather then diarrhea though, this dog had chronic skin sores and irritation, again determined to be food related. She went through FAR more trials and medications then I did, only to still have a very pink, sore, and uncomfortable pooch. We had a client who frequented our clinic that fed a raw diet, and after talking with her, and doing much research, she took the plunge and put her allergic dog on raw. It worked, her dog healed and looked great!

So when I was experiencing problems, I started researching raw food early on. I had never given it much thought until I had a pet with major medical concerns. I joined forums, read books, and asked questions from local raw feeders. The more I researched, the more it just made sense (medical problems or not). I picked a course of action, bought supplies, and took the plunge.

I converted Samson to a raw diet overnight, and within two days he had his first normal looking stools! After adjusting to his new diet and detoxing, Samson blossomed on raw food. His coat looked incredible, he developed muscle definition that was better then our bird dogs, and his stools were great. It wasn’t long before I had to cut his food back a bit as he was gaining too much weight. Another sign that we had headed in the right direction, was if Samson ate a single piece of dry food or grain based treats, he got diarrhea again.

Eventually Samson went to live with a nice lady looking to replace her miniature pincher that had passed away. He has done wonderful with her, even getting a bit ‘plump’ which I never would have thought possible when I first met him. He still had a few behavior problems, and her situation worked well for them (although years down the road, I would love to work with him again as I know so much more about training, but they are happy together so that is what counts).

After Samson’s success, I quickly moved down the list, and converted my husbands three bird dogs and my felines. The dogs took to the raw like there was nothing to it. They gained great muscle mass, better endurance, and looked great. Their teeth were healthy, and their stools were perfect.

The cats once converted did better then any of the dogs had. I was amazed that my sleepy groggy cats suddenly turned into running, jumping, and talking fiends. Their eyes looked incredibly bright and clear, and their coats became very dense and thick. They became very heavy, not because they gained fat, but because they developed muscle mass that I never expected. My cats weigh far more then anyone would expect by just looking at them. Best part of all, the litter box smell became almost non existent.

Changes Over Time
I first converted my pets to a raw diet around September of 2002. The dogs went to a whole food type diet, and the cats went to a more ground version that I made myself (I will talk about various techniques in a future article). As time went on and I learned more about the diet, I changed and tweaked our recipes. The dogs started with veggies, I later removed those. I used a lot of supplements to begin but also removed almost all of them as I got better with variety and feeding organs. The cats are now on a more whole prey version rather then ground meats. We have done a lot of growing and changing over the years. Raw feeding is more of an art then a science, every animal is different, resources vary depending on where you live or your budget, so being flexible is key.

Bayou joined us through the local bengal rescue a couple years into raw feeding, so I worked him into the diet as quickly as possible. He was nauseous the entire time he was on dry food, but as soon as he converted, it went away immediately. Now, just a couple dry food kibbles and he has an upset stomach for about a day. This was the perfect diet for him as well.

Asia came to us in July, and the breeder actually fed a partial raw diet. She made the conversion easily, and now thinks that any commercial food should be buried straight away! I had never switched a kitten to raw, and was amazed at how easily she learned to chew bones. She is now my best raw eater in the house.

I have to admit though, our dogs are no longer on a raw diet as of about two years ago. I am officially the cat person of the household (and the raw advocate), and my husband is the dog lover. He travels with the dogs often as they are working bird dogs, which made feeding raw on the go difficult. We also had medical problems develop with one dog, and to make absolutely sure it wasn’t a problem in the diet, we converted her back to commercial for a period of time. The medical problems did not go away, but my husband decided to stay on dry food as it was easier for him to handle. We keep them on a grain free human grade dry food which is as close to natural you can get with a kibble. I also supplement with cooked fresh foods, canned food, and large bones for chewing on and cleaning teeth. While I do think raw is the absolute best, I know first hand how hard it is to maintain a raw diet, so I support alternative better foods just as well.

Going Forward
The future of raw feeding is wide open as I see it. More and more pet owners are becoming aware to the possibility, are trying it, and are succeeding. Just in the seven years I have been feeding I have seen countless amounts of new information become available. The term itself is less foreign, and I meet other raw feeders frequently where before it was almost unheard of. I am excited to the possibilities. My hope is that with this shift, more credible research and testing can be done to better help the veterinarian community and fellow raw feeders.

The funny thing for me is, researching raw feeding has opened my mind up to far more then just food for pets. I had a lot of medical problems at the time which I have almost completely cured just by changing my diet as well. I may have ended up down this path eventually, but raw feeding my pets is truly what opened the door of awareness for me.

I encourage everyone to look into what you feed your animals. It doesn’t mean you have to convert to raw, but at least be aware. Read the ingredients, understand what those ingredients are, and make an educated decision. Do not let advertisements, sale price, or pretty pictures on the packaging influence the health of your pets. I believe the only way to keep food companies honest (pet or human), is to make sure we are educated as consumers.

Stay tuned, more information on raw feeding and pet food is up next!

(Please note, all information provided at epetmeadow.com is intended for educational purposes only. Before making any decisions for your pets, please do as much research possible, consult with a professional, and make a well informed decision. See disclaimer for additional information)

Tagged as: food, Raw