no veggies in a raw diet?

[guster girl]

Ok, here goes. I've always been told to add veggies to the raw diet for my dog. But, I just joined a raw feeding forum through yahoo, and, ALL of them say veggies aren't necessary. :( I'm not changing anything, yet, but, I'm willing to listen to them and learn from them. It's a pretty cool forum so far, with some intelligent people and ideas. If anyone wants to know what I learn or what they're saying, ask me. I'll share anything I learn. :)

[joycenalex]

alex the wonder dog gets half of his food, by weight, from ground veggies. which yahoo groups are you on? i'm a menber of k9Nutrition and k9Kitchen, i mostly lurk tho, since i've been feeding raw for almost 4 years.

[DogLover9501]

I was talking to Jen(a friend of mine) and we both thought that feeding all meat didnt sound too healthy.

I was thinking about feeding raw, but my vet & my mom changed my mind, naming all the reasons why we wouldnt eat raw meat(parasites(sp?)...etc) so I have decided not to feed raw.

[guster girl]

Well, as far as not eating raw meat as humans, that is fine. But, dogs and cats have different digestive systems. They don't hold their food in their bodies for long periods of time like we do. But, anyway....

Well, the more I read about actual wolves and wild dogs, is that they DON'T eat the stomach contents of their prey. I mean, that was the whole reason I was feeding veggies. And, anything I read saying to feed veggies says they should only be about 30 to 40% of the diet. I've been feeding Finn 8 oz meat and 1/4 cup veggies three times a day. I'm still so nervous about feeding poultry bones! I'm on a couple of raw feeding and labrador retriever groups at yahoo. And, I've mostly just been reading, but, most of them are saying that they don't feed veggies. Just meat and bone.

[Shelteez2]

I still feed veggies, but only because my dogs like them so much. They only get about 3 tbsp of veggies each though. Sometimes I'll mix an egg in with their veggies as well, or sometimes yogurt.
I don't believe they are extremely vital to a raw diet, but I don't think they hurt either. Those are just my opinions though :)

A question for you as well. When you say you feed Finn meat, what kind of meat? Do you include organ meats in there as well?

[guster girl]

Well, I had given him organ meats one day and they upset his stomach. I'm planning on reintroducing them slowly, though. I'm just trying to get all this right. There are so many differing opinions, I just want to find what works well for finn and me.

[Shelteez2]

I see. The reason I asked is because I do think organ meats are neccesarry. Not a lot though.

Did you ever check out that site I've posted before?
www.rawdogranch.com

It's really informative. :)

[guster girl]

I'm planning on reintroducing the organ meats, I think I just gave him too much for a first timer. :) I didn't have a clue! All I knew was that they looked grody. ha ha. especially the hearts. ugh. It was almost too much for me, and, I've never had a queasy tummy. I'll go to the store tonight and check out some stuff. It looks like I may be changing it up a bit for him. :) Hey, I have some chicken drumsticks that the date (best sell by) is nov '03 (i forgot i had them, how bad is that). They've been in the freezer the entire time i've had them and they were frozen when i bought them. Is it still safe to eat them? If it is, Finn may be having his first chicken parts tonight. :)

[guster girl]

I checked that site out! Thanks for posting it...

[binka_nugget]

I don't think it's as important as meat, organ meats and such but I don't see any harm in feeding some anyways.

[Kathleen]

We feed our dogs stewing chickens, we cook them up and then take the meat off the bones and my mom grinds up a huge bag of carrots and grates them in the food processor. I also have lately been cooking up broccoli to give them too for the calcium in it as our female dog has start of osteoporsis. And we also give them ground pork and hamburger occasionally. Used to give them cooked liver but its expensive and so don't much of that anymore.

They should get veggies too in their diets. They need it.

And a good dry food along with the other food.

We also take the chicken and beef broth and pour some on their food which they love.