Information on Raw Diet
There is little doubt that dogs evolved from wolves. How they were actually domesticated is still contested. The current theory is that wolves frequented areas close to humans in order to take advantage of their leftover food. Given how opportunistic dogs are, that makes a lot of sense. The wolves that were less skittish around humans continued to take advantage of the free food, they reproduced and passed on that trait (acceptance of being near humans) to their offspring. Eventually man decided that wolves would be useful and viola, we have domesticated canines.Today, most domestic dogs in the United States are eating another form of rubbish. It may smell better and come in pretty packaging, but most commercial dog food is comprised of ingredients that are considered not fit for human consumption. It is just another form of trash with artificial flavoring, color and supplements added, repackaged and cleverly marketed as 100 percent nutritionally complete.
Physiologically, dogs are no different from wolves; their DNA is almost exactly the same; dogs and wolves can cross breed and produce viable, fertile offspring. Human beings have changed the appearance and temperament of the domestic dog, but their internal organs and physiology haven't changed.
I am not going to recreate the wheel as this web site has compiled a list of most, if not all, of the common myths surrounding feeding raw.
Most of my raw feeding background comes from my cats. Cats are obligate carnivores, they can be incredibly finicky and do not have the jaw strength that my dogs have, so they are a bit more difficult to feed. My dogs eat some of what I feed my cats (which is usually ground), but much of what they eat is whole. The two things that I believe are most important when feeding a raw diet to dogs is (1) variety; and (2) making sure they do not get too much bone in their diets. I know of many people who feed their dogs a diet consisting primarily of chicken necks and backs. This is not a good diet. Sure, it's cheap, but it is not balanced and the dog can end up constipated. A good ratio to follow in the diet, taken on a weekly basis, is approximately 5-10 percent organ meat (make sure to include liver), 10-15% edible bones (this percentage does not include recreational bones like marrow bones that most dogs cannot consume, if yours do, then include it) and 80-85 percent muscle meat. Watch your dog's stool. This is a good indication of whether your percentages are accurate or not. If the stool is dry or crumbly, then you are feeding too much bone; if it is soft, then too much organ meat. In addition to raw meat, a couple of times a month my dogs get canned salmon or mackerel.
Except for occasionally giving them my leftovers, I do not feed my dogs any vegetables or other carbohydrate. I have no problem with lack of energy or keeping weight on them. The only supplement that I give albeit infrequently, is salmon oil. My dogs get a lot of meat from grass-fed sources (venison, rabbit and soon sheep and goat that I've raised) so the omega fatty acid ratio of the meat will be correct (animals fed grain have high levels of inflammatory omega fatty acids). I do not feed any dairy products except for occasionally cheese for a training treat. I don't feed any herbs or garlic either.
For training treats, I use dehydrated meat, cooked chicken or turkey, occasionally cheese or Wysong's Archetype food. Except for Archetype as an occasional treat, I feed no commercial dog food whatsoever.
I find feeding my dogs a raw diet very, very simple and incredibly rewarding. There's no doggy odor (I couldn't live with that, I'm a cat person at heart; I couldn't live with my cats if they were smelly either). Their stools are small, well-formed and easy to pick up. If I don't pick them up, they very quickly turn to a powder and disappear. Their teeth are pearly white and there's no bad breath. No ear or foot odor either. Their coats are shiny, silky and they shed very little.
I've discovered switching a dog to a raw diet often results in diarrhea which usually resolves in a few days. Which is interesting because when switching cats to a raw diet, the problem is getting them to eat it, not diarrhea. If you are considering putting your dog on a raw diet, go slow and use only one protein source for the first few days. Many dogs, especially if they have been vaccinated a lot, cannot tolerate chicken or eggs so keep that in mind. Adding digestive enzymes to the diet for the first month may not be a bad idea either.
As with my cats, I would not consider feeding anything to my dogs other than a raw meat diet. The benefits far outweigh the extra cost (feeding raw is more expensive than feeding most types of commercial food) and the added time it takes to prepare the food. I owe it to the carnivores that live with me to feed them what they evolved eating.