Well, what do you think about these opinions? I would really like to know! ---------------------------------------- pawsofprey.com/ Instagram: @pawsofprey_
The best part of this video is that it reminds all of us that experts don't actually know everything. I commend you for recognizing that you are still learning.
Love these videos, they are so helpful! My unpopular opinion is that even a moderately imperfect homemade diet is going to be WAY healthier and more nutritious than any processed kibble or canned food. I always tell people to learn the very basics and start feeding that, then continue to learn as they go, and just make improvements as they learn more.
Yes I love that one! I used to say balanced commercial food is better than an unbalanced raw diet, but I'm really conflicted on that one now. I have seen many studies where people have fed their pets an extremely unbalanced homemade diet (like chicken breast and broccoli) and they developed pretty bad health issues from it. Essential nutrients were deemed essential for a reason. However, if it's lacking a few nutrients from time to time, no harm done. This is where the body comes in to maintain homeostasis until it receives those nutrients through the food again. If you're feeding a variety of fresh, species appropriate foods and learning as you go, I'm happy.
I very much agree with learning on the go, but it truly depends on the diet, because feeding a nutrient defficient diet can be extremely problematic long term, feeding them a high quality wet food where they are getting in all their nutrients is a better option than unbalanced raw long term but yeah you have to start somewhere haha.
Maybe rotating in some commercial wet in the weekly mix from a reputable company is a good way to hedge one's bets. I do this for convenience and to try to cover all bases. I rely on The List by Susan Thixton (pet food consumer advocate) and buy only human grade, batch tested food that passes the stiff criteria that Thixton requires to make her list of commercial foods. Her list is of raw and gently cooked commercial companies only. Because one of my miniature poodles dislikes pure, frozen raw, our pack rotation contains gently cooked Evermore and gently cooked Raised Right. These foods are batch tested for nutrition and contain only a couple of supplements with the balance coming from the real food ingredients. Just another way of doing it "right"@@sashadzhafarov
If we get too caught up in the form of the diet rather than the nutrients it’s like not seeing the forest thru the trees. I’ve studied all this stuff for over 3 decades, trained by board certified nutritionists that formulated amazing therapeutic diets. The simple truth is optimal nutrients delivered to the pets body. I agree the nutrient profile can be imperfect but there have been some real disastrous results from imbalanced home feeding, whether raw or cooked. And labeling all kibble as the same is extremely inaccurate. There is a vast difference that most people don’t take the time to learn. Most negative comments about kibble are nothing more than repeated marketing that has little basis in scientific fact.
But, it is a fact that all kibble is high carb, the high carb content historically to facilitate forming a dough and also as cheap filler. As someone who has studied nutrition for decades, surely you appreciate the importance of macronutrient balance (carb, protein, fat) that is species specific. Just because a certain type of brand might have all the "optimal nutrients" of vitamins/minerals "delivered to the pet's body" does not mean it is healthy long term. The optimal nutrients delivered in starch that keeps the carnivore body constitutively high in insulin with high spikes of glucose throughout the day degrades health. Horses fed high grain with all the vitamins and mineral instead of grass do very poorly just as rabbits fed a high carrot diet, Camels fed meat pellets.....@@PetFoodPuzzleGuy
Us humans are much more nutritionally resilient, but our pets have quite a bit of resilience, too. I mean, look at the poor quality "feed" that's marketed for them.
@@PawsofPrey but if a group of board certified vet nutritionists and chemists CAN provide optimal nutrient levels, to even manage disease, shouldn’t we feed that?
@@anonperson3972 this makes sense since most of us have some days that are hardly nutritious! But with our dogs and cats we actually can do it…. So why not???? And looking at what dietary management can do for sick animals, manipulating those nutrients, again, why would we do it? And btw, most diseases humans deal with our indeed because of poor diet. Having said that though, genes determines more than nutrition. Thus we have perfectly healthy people on horrible diets and we have unhealthy people eating healthy with a healthy lifestyle! Genetics always wins!
I actually remember the video with Mariah and Dr. Billinghurst and even though he disagreed with her, he also said that he thinks Mariah has probably done more to promote and explain raw feeding than anyone. I agree, she has helped me to understand why raw and species appropriate food is so beneficial for our pets
I have a 2 year old dog I have raw fed since he was 6 weeks old (with a lot of help from your channel!). I couldn't balance his meals daily, and I have no access to spleen, green tripe, or mussels. He refused to eat dog food because he saw our older 12 year old dog eating raw meat and he decided he would not eat any more kibble. Since I couldn't balance daily, I was going to leave him on kibble until he grew up enough, but after a day and a half of walking away from his meals without touching them, I switched him over to raw and gave him the same badly balanced meals I was giving my 12 year old (she was 10 at the time, and I was just starting raw feeding, so I wasn't good at balancing which is why I wanted to raise him up on kibble.) Both of my dogs have refused all vegetables, so I've had to do the Prey Model only. My dogs are the most healthy animals I see at the park, or anywhere we go. My 2 year old is the most balanced dog I've ever met, he has incredible energy and has grown up to be almost three times the weight he was supposed to be (Both parents are below 2.5kg and he weighs a whooping 6.2kg). Most of his life I've only been able to source hearts and livers, and the occasional kidney, and I give them yogurt and egg. They also like eating the pet grass I grow for them every now and then, as I'm unable to find really good fiber sources like fur and feathers. Other than that it's mostly just muscle meat and ground bones (from turkey necks or chicken feet and neck). They're both extremely active dogs that go to the park to run every morning, during the hotter months they both go camping with me (I can the meat in jars when we camp (with a little rice and vegetables to make up for the lack of bone), so they eat cooked at those times), and every few weeks we take a whole day trip to hike up the mountains around Santiago, Chile and my dogs love it. The 12 year old has more energy now than she did on kibble when she was 4 years old. Anyway, my point is that my 2 year old is the healthiest dog I've ever seen, and even though his meals have never been 100% balanced, and in some cases not balanced at all, he's still the healthiest dog I've ever seen. So I would definitely recommend a poorly balanced raw diet over any kibble. In my experience Dogs grow up fine with unbalanced meals, and they thrive just by getting real meat.
Thanks so much for your input and experience! I'm so happy just feeding fresh foods made such an incredible impact on your dogs. As long as you're able to feed a variety of different proteins, body parts, and foods, that makes me happy.
Seeing is believing. Even though you did not balance the raw diet you fed your pup according to AAFCO and NRC data (and that is what we all actually mean when we use the word "balance" even though that data cannot be proved to be accurate) his body absorbed what it needed from the fresh, raw variety that you gave him. He rejected vegetables because his carnivore body needed the denser nutrition of meat. He rejected kibble because once he tasted his ancestral diet, the meat that his tastebuds had evolved to seek, he would not touch the kibble. And, if everything I just said is just random speculation then how is it that he is the healthiest dog you have ever raised? We all know the answer because it is so basic and so logical. With respect to the fiber and its roles in the carnivore GI tract, this is an interesting question. I read an article the other day about why dogs like to eat grass or it may have been a Karen Becker video, can't remember that suggested that the grass eating thing was simply to get some fiber. Wild wolves have also been observed to eat some vegetation and it is not because they were deficient in prey. It may be that dogs just know to eat some grass or other vegetation when they feel a bit of GI sluggishness-- They self medicate with a little laxative. Is a bit of plant fiber needed to feed their species appropriate, gut microflora? That is a common statement of fact by the "experts" and maybe only because humans need that but humans are omnivores. Anyway, a lot of "experts" claim that because dogs seek out grass and other vegetation sometimes that proves they are omnivores but I believe that it just proves that all animals, even carnivores, have evolved to crave some plants for medicinal purposes for GI issues. The fact that your two dogs avoid vegetation in the meal when possible is very telling. My two dogs also try to avoid vegetation. They will eat all the meat and meat juice around grains of rice or cooked pieces of carrots to the best of their ability and one would rather skip a meal rather than deal with plant material.
First, I love the humility you expressed in this video. That's so hard to do! I love that you have a hunger to learn more about raw feeding!... I thought it was great to hear about the balance over time. I often think about if dogs were in the wild, would they know what they need? How would they find "balance" in the wild? This helps me understand that dogs will be fine with what they are given "what they find", as they always have been for centuries. Of course, we want them to be as healthy as possible, and just like us, as we grow, that can be achieved. Taking that approach has helped me not stress as I continue to grow in knowledge as a dog owner.
This was an excellent video and helped dispel some of my confusion. I do occasionally add Raw pumpkin seeds to my homemade mix but I don't do it on a regular basis. Also finding out that pasture hens lay eggs with more vitamin d has also been a huge help and so I am only using pasture eggs as well as free roam quail eggs.
Nice to hear! I often times see that we worry perhaps a little TOO much in the quest for better nutrition. PMR with protein variety rotated and the addition of extra things like omega 3s and manganese seem to work a treat for my cat. Don't overthink it. Just read up and do your best!
I've been watching your videos for a couple years now. I really appreciate the fact that you have evolved, started thinking for yourself. You have educated yourself, but you were also using common sense. You are questioning things, and that is very important to do. Keep it up and make more of these videos. You have the guts to say and popular things. But it's only unpopular in certain circles. I think the majority agree with you.
I’m not a raw proponent and have been in veterinary therapeutic nutrition for 34 years, but I love your attitude of always learning, and yes, even willing to be wrong! Refreshing example, especially for those of us on CZcams channels. I think we have to accept the idea of investing the time, love and energy into feeding your pet raw is not for everyone.and as even with kibble, finding the right raw folks to trust is hard.
Thanks for your videos! I got started with my cats with your videos being a main source of my jumping off for other research. I think that was about 3 years ago, but it may have been 4 when I started to really dive into research. Its great to know that you are a Pet Nutritionist now! I have even got my local butcher, who gets meat from local grassfed farms, making a mostly balanced blend of all the organ, muscle and bones plus pasture raised eggs and sometimes bone broth. Which makes it easy for me to recommend to friends. We used your cheat sheet as a basis and I gave him other details on percentages of egg or bone broth.
I just wish more people who take a moment to educate themselves. Everyone claims salmonella and other pathogens and while yes, it is a risk. . .do the majority of these people not cook? Most home cooks handle raw meat every day, or at least every other depending on home life and while yes, those meats are being cooked. . .you're usually handling them raw to prep them. I haven't switched our boys yet, though I've been working to introduce as much variety as I can by way of toppers/treats so that the eventual switch goes smoother. We'll probably start out with a pre-made grind when we're able to have freezer space first and while they're adjust to that I'll start really getting into the gritty part of learning how to balance and looking at what variety I can order to us. . .living in the fairly rural central part of the country means almost everything is going to have to be ordered. There is an asian market about an hour away I'll probably convince my husband to make the occasional run to. . .but we need to get things settled financially first. For now they get high quality single ingrediant treats and tidbits of whatever protein we're cooking.
Great video! I'd imagine most who go raw already have a dog, so hyperfixating on a puppies nutrition is a moot point. Just get raw food in your dog, with close nutiontion profile and then hammer out kinks and personal needs over time. My service dog who I got at 5yrs was put on raw due to ulcer from dry food. Every blood and lab work he had was fabulous and lived to be 13. He was an Akita mix and they have ridiculously sensitive tummies. Love you Mr. Wolf 😙
I've been a strong believer of balance over time. I have to question the "Complete and Balanced" concept for every meal as applying the AAFCO nutrient levels... 1. Those levels seem to be based off of synthetic vitamins and minerals as applied by the pet food companies, 2. synthetic vitamins and minerals may be harder to digest than those from natural fresh food, 3. those requirement levels (vitamins and minerals) set forth by AAFCO have not really been tested over time to see if they are in fact the true requirements, 4. like people, each animal is different and thus they're nutritional requirements are different. We can never know what the true requirements are. I rotate feed my dogs nine different kinds of meat (with intermittent feeing of sardines weekly) throughout a two-week/three-week period to help insure they are getting what they need. They get muskrat, beaver, chicken, turkey, sheep, goat, duck, pig, and rabbit. This includes the associated organ meat that is ground with that particular animal I am feeding my dog. I too got too caught up in balancing every meal and it drove me nuts. I am always tweaking and updating what and how I feed my dogs, but it is still based on a "Balance Over Time" concept.
Yep, you make an amazing point! I actually use NRC's nutrient requirements, but they're not too insanely different. I understand why they're there, and they do help make things easier for owners who can't feed as much variety, or can't even make a homemade diet to begin with and thus need to feed a commercials diet, but I couldn't agree with you more regarding the issues with following these nutrient requirements to a T. Sounds like you feed an awesome variety, that makes me happy to hear!
I agree with ur opinions. Especially the last one on nuts and seeds. Nuts and seeds r hard for us to digest and deplete us of minerals that it takes to break them down if already deficient in vitamins and minerals. Nuts, seeds, and legumes should always be soaked first to make them bioavailable so that they don't deplete us of minerals. Fermenting them is even better as it makes them even more bioavailable, where the body can absorb the nutrients from them.
And, no wolf ever collected seeds and fermented them. A bit of almond butter in a recipe here and there for my dogs just to add variety of fatty acids and some plant fiber to clean out the GI tract is something I do but I decided a long time ago that I would not soak and grind almonds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. If people believe that it is too difficult and strange to prepare a meal for our dogs then they could end up back on kibble. That is what the pet food industry wants, of course.
Green tripe is my favourate raw food ingredient, it's got loads of manganese and other vitamins and minerals, gives them the amino acids of a muscle meat and connective tissue and contains the probiotic and prebiotics required for a complete diet.
I'm actually relieved to hear that growing puppies can balance over time. I stressed so much over my pug, but honestly, this makes me feel better as a whole about what I feed him!
Thank you for sharing! I have been following your videos and really appreciate how you not only just say "you should do this", but you actually list the reasoning behind it and back it up with science and stats. I've learned a lot from your videos like using oysters and mussels. Those were things that are never talked about in raw feeding. It's always just 80-10-10 and leaving it at that. So I appreciate not only the insight, but the fact that you don't stop there but you keep researching and learning to better the information you give out.
Whether your opinion is unpopular or not, i most appreciate the fact you are willing to say you dont know everything. We are human. In my line of work, i never claim to know it all. The ones that do know it all tend to know nothing.
I agree completely and happy you have changed your opinions. We are all constantly learning and this will likely continue. My dogs are 15 and almost 15. I have never ever given them any supplements in their entire life. One of them is very sensitive to shellfish and green tripe, both very high in histamines. So I don’t feed these. At 15 years of age she still can run like a two year old. Her ligaments seem find even though she was spayed at 6 months. Neither of them have any health issues. They have been raw fed homemade for over 13 years. They also eat zero plant matter. In fact, I am on the carnivore diet myself. Plants have all sorts of antinutrients and their bioavailability for dogs is questionable. More and more I am leaning towards Dr. Billinhurst's simple approach. I know he recommends plant matter, however, and I just don't do plants. They are also a big source of pesticides. And nuts and seeds can go rancid easily. I have learned to do what works best for my dogs. Dog nutrition has gotten way too complicated and is scaring people from doing it.
At first I went with the balance every day method, now I just feed my kitties a variety of species appropriate foods in approximate ratios + whole prey. They are happier and healthier his way actually lol Once you get the basics of balancing the rest is easy and you learn as you go!
Ferret raw feeders have been feeding ferrets both adults and kits a diet that is balanced by the week for many many years and have had no issues with it. Also, carnivores in the wild, ESPECIALLY those that live in groups don't get to eat every part of the prey every meal, so that means that their diet isn't always balanced.
Yep, that's how I used to feed my ferrets when I first started! Though I really didn't like the idea of feeding a week's worth of liver at once lol. They were fine on it, however.
Wow, another not only brilliantly produced/ edited video, but so helpful. I'm always stressing about my dog's raw diet and questioning myself if he's getting enough of the right nutrients. These videos always help. And put my mind a little more at ease.
@@PawsofPrey I really appreciate the Raw Feeding Cheat Sheet I downloaded from the links you emailed last year 🙂 There's just so much to keep reminding myself of! My dog is looking amazing and I'm sure it's due to his raw diet. I can't go anywhere without being told how handsome he is and how good his coat is (very proud dad, but try to be modest with it lol)
When I started feeding raw, it was to try to get constant GI upset under control. At the time red meat or any kind caused the same GI upset. So all I fed her was chicken and turkey. I gave her liver in every way I could think of (frozen, dried, etc) but she never ate it. I fed berries and veggies that other peoples dogs liked and she wouldn’t eat even one tiny bite. So in addition to chicken and Turkey all I could get her to eat was sardines and eggs. That was her entire diet for… about 2 years until I began slowly introducing red meats and pork, found where to source other secreting organs and a broader variety of muscular organs, and eventually figured out I could mix pureed veggies and fruit, along with finely chopped liver into ground beef. She’s had a balanced diet, every meal, for the last 2.5 years. But I say all of this because even when she wasn’t eating a balanced diet she had great labs, tons of energy, shiny coat, healthy skin, clear eyes, maintained the perfect weight and had consistent firm poop. Most of that couldn’t be said when she was on kibble. She’s 6.5 now, and is perfect and healthy. If she had been on kibble for those 2 years she was only eating chicken, sardines and eggs, I don’t know if that would be the case. Hard to know. I just remember her being miserable with a dull, sparse coat, constant diarrhea and unable to gain weight no matter how much she ate.
Raw bones (never cooked) are important (especiallyfor teeth,) just make sure they are size appropriate, dont give a schitzu a bison femur, lol We feed with mostly beef, some chicken, frequent egg yolks, and occasional raw fish, occasional offal, liver, . We've never had dogs that were so mobile, energetic and clear eyed at 11 years. 2 Jack Russells. Thank you for your channel.
I do balance over time because I feel simpler ingredients might be less burden for human and pets especially a pet with sensitive stomach or food allergy. The only supplement I use is vitamin e, and occasionally organs powder because there are few types of organs(eg: cow thymus, pancreas..) not commonly seen in my area.
your videos are always so well done, clear, and informative. thank you for being the cause of my cats eating a purely carnivore and raw diet. thank you for taking the time to break down the percentages and grams you use for Tangy personally, it really helped me when I first started.
I love your honesty and the quality of your video! Thank you for publishing your unpopular opinions on raw feeding. I think that raw feeders have a tendency on overthinking this type of dog food. My unpopular opinion is that it's OK to mix kibble and/or canned with raw. When we travel and my pup Wally comes along for the ride, I will sometimes - gasp - mix canned dog food with raw. It's just so much easier than schlepping along tons of fresh raw meals, and he's just fine eating that for a few weeks.
I agree. I've been doing this for 20 years. And sometimes I just shake my head at how complicated they are trying to make it now. To the point where they're actually scaring people away from feeding their dogs and cats raw. It's sad. On some face book groups I have seen people that have been told that they should just go back to Kibble if they can't feed a daily balanced diet. What a crock of crap.
This came at the perfect time! We`ve recently added two 4 mo old kittens to the family and I was really stressing about balancing and making sure they get everything they need, but one of them does not want to eat red meats, such as: beef, lamb and deer. She just refuses her entire plate of food when I try. She does love turkey, chicken, duck, quail and some fish. She also loves raw goats yoghurt that I make myself . I just keep looking for foods to add that she will eat, but It`s nice to know there`s no harm done in a short period of time.
I would always strive to feed as much variety as possible, especially when they're young! That way they imprint on many things. And I would suggest trying to find other foods that are secondary to the nutrients red meats provide so you can get some of those nutrients the kittens are missing out on (if any). But should you stress yourself out so much that you end up switching them to a commercials diet instead? I don't think so!
@@PawsofPrey will definitely try, just ordered some ostrich. But they've only been here for 4 weeks, so for now I'm quite happy with what they are eating. Forgot to mention, they also eat a little bit of rabbit and I'm going to try eggs from our own chickens that we keep.
Well i do worry a bit about my cats getting all the nutrients they need but i saw your opinion changing and it helped me. I belong to FB Raw Fed and Nerdy and while they are great folks, it makes me want to hide my head in the sand. I've spent literally an hour at the nutrient calculator changing ratios and ingredients trying to balance and just gave up, not to mention i can't source spleen, etc.
Definitely agree with these unpopular opinions! I have thought for a while that the "puppies and kittens can't store nutrients" was a bit off. Sure, adults may have a better capacity, but if young animals were really so vulnerable, I would think thar fussy eaters would suffer a lot more from their eating habits. And I definitely didnt have the most balanced meal for my sheltie growing up, and while she does have health issues, they're things that are genetic/breed endemic rather than nutritional in basis. And to piggy back off the zinc discussion, as far as I've heard so far, aren't zinc recommendations based on supplements? We already know that the human body doesn't process supplements as well as it does nutrients from whole foods, so even if the nutrtion databases are accurate, it could just be that dogs and cats handle the natural form of zinc better than the supplement. Excellent video, as always!
Green tripe should be easy to source if you have a local home kill butcher that is willing to give or sell you the stomach's fresh from the animals they kill. Although you may have to be willing to dig through their offal bins to get it and be able to stomach the smell of fresh green tripe. As a plus, the spleen is usually attached. Although I would suggest leaving the abomasum behind.
I love your videos. You help to keep people well informed and reassure them in the process. Do not stop! No matter our opinions, they will always be unpopular with some. *The following is just my personal opinion.* I agree with most of your unpopular opinions. A doctor once told me he did not recommend to his patients taking supplements or vitamins unless a deficiency was diagnosed or unless you had a disease that impacted the absorption of certain nutrients. Why would it be different for animals? Among his arguments were the following: generally, the synthetic molecule of the supplement is not the same as that found naturally in food. Our bodies have not evolved to adapt to the synthetic molecule and it is unclear how this molecule can interact or even interfere with other molecules and processes. In addition, over-the-counter supplements are not governed by as strict rules as prescription drugs and contamination is possible and not as rare as we think. So my unpopular opinion is that adding synthetic supplements to the recipe of my pets only increases my uncertainty of what's actually in it (here, I am just talking about synthetic supplements, natural complements such as oysters, mussels, seeweed, etc are fine to me). In addition, I find that balancing according to the NRC to the nearest nutrient gives the impression that it is too complicated and discourages people from switching to a homemade diet which could be beneficial to their pets (while several studies have shown that even commercial recipes do not respect the NRC when sent to the laboratory). I believe it is important to understand which foods provide which nutrients to your pet and that it is important to be well informed since our animals are not humans and do not have the same needs. Still too many people simplify their pet's diet a little too much, leading to significant deficiencies. In my opinion, variety is important, but we leave chemistry aside! We're not chemists. I trust millions of years of evolution more than a few decades of studies (which are not always impartial). And I also believe that there are several ways to feed your animal well and I have the impression that even among raw feeders, people divide and judge each other instead of helping each other and informing each other, which I find particularly unfortunate, because it only serves the pet food industry. *Sorry if my English is not perfect, I am a French Canadian.
I absolutely love this! You're spot on. I talk a lot about synthetic nutrients and how I'm not a fan of them anymore. I feel bad even suggesting them to people who feed a wide variety of foods, but what can I say, it was a learning process! Also, what a great doctor! It's hard to find someone like that.
@@PawsofPrey It’s sure that we are constantly learning. I changed my way of feeding my pets several times too. You don't have to feel bad about suggesting supplements if you do it correctly. You understand the supplements you add and why you add them. You don't give supplements randomly. And it is also okay to question the use of supplements. This is exactly what I meant by “I believe that there are several ways to feed your animal well ”. We don't have the answers to all the questions, and we never will. Don't doubt yourself and your learning process. Your videos are great and I learned a lot from you. In addition, advising people is a big responsibility. There are so many videos with recipes based only on chicken, bones and rice, so someone like you taking the time to explain why they add supplements and how to do the calculations can only be a positive thing. You're amazing!
I do agree about balancing over time. I no longer panic whenever a nutrient is low for a few weeks. However, I still try my best to provide my cat with a balanced meal daily.
Keep in mind that the daily "requirements" are based on dogs eating a crappy kibble diet. Kibble that contains anti nutrients from plant materials and processed ingredients. Without those anti nutrients blocking the absorption of nutrients, the daily requirements are very different. Often much lower. And there are no wild wolves or dogs out there eating oysters and zinc pills.
Also, an unpopular opinion that i have is that these "EZ complete" or nutrition completion powders are a bit shady imo, and that eggshell powder is not a true replacement for a raw meaty bone since these wet grinds dont offer teeth cleaning!
Ah, true! I do think they're useful for beginners, and at least they're designed for raw meals, but I wouldn't ever rely on it for a long period of time.
Entertaining video. Clever way to word your opinions. I totally agree. Red meat provides all the zinc a cat needs daily. Zinc and proper, even slightly lean body weight help to prevent arthritis in dogs and cats.
I am starting to dig into making home made dog food, I lost my dog recently and going forward when I get another dog, I want them toe at home made food. I just don't trust companies, no matter who they are, to not mess up our pets diet. For all I know, a life on mostly kibble could have potentially caused problems in my dog. I want ot be better, losing pets is so hard I don't want o be the reason for any health issues. Thank you for the information and the recognition that we always are learning, no matter what position we are in.
Nutrition is science, and science is NOT set in stone. Science evolves as new information is learned. Our understanding must evolve with new information.
If only people paid half as much attention to their own diets as we seem to do to dog food, we'd all be a lot healthier. Most human children eat diets that aren't remotely close to balanced every day. I'm certain it's true and you are right that there is room for imperfection.
I've been raw feeding my dogs for over 15 years and I love your channel. It is the only source of level headed, well researched information on raw feeding out there. However I must admit I always doubted the need to balance every day 😅 it just doesn't seem like something evolution would come up with. And even though our dogs might not be wolves anymore, I doubt they would have survived and thrived for so long if they had needed a perfectly balanced diet. My grandpa was a forester and bred German short-hair pointers for decades. Their food from puppy to old age consisted exclusively of green tripe and raw meaty bones he got for free from the local butcher, oatmeal and any hunted game "leftovers" ie fur, antlers, organs, heads, feet etc. He did this because he couldn't afford expensive kibble and had the healthiest, best looking, most sought after working dogs in the region 😂
I agree with all of this. And I think it would do people some good to go back and read the old books by Tom Lonsdale and Ian Billinghurst. Those two doctors have decades upon decades of experience with literally thousands of animals. I would not dismiss what they say. Just because they're not new. New does not always mean better. I've been feeding Raw for 20 years, and I've seen a lot of trends. Come and go. But I think the current trend of trying to get a daily balanced diet is really hurting the community and not helping the animals nearly as much as some people may think. Often the people that push this idea the hardest have a financial interest.
There are times where a zinc supplement may be necessary! But if you have a healthy pet, the meal is only a few milligrams low, and you're feeding a variety of different proteins and parts, no need in my opinion.
Until a dog lives over 20 years, that’s when they say that’s the proper diet. Yet, how and who can provide that? Major brand dog food chains will say their dog food helps dogs live longer, but in reality, it’s love. My chihuahuas are 12 years old on mixed kibbled and human food, and only has one vaccine.
My unpopular opinion is that feeding bone is unnecessary and can be dangerous if not properly digested EVEN when it's ground finely. I know someone whose dog had a severely irritated throat and esophagus from repeatedly puking up food with fine bits on bone. It was so bad the dog needed steroids to bring the inflammation down. It's also easy for them to consume too much calcium... I think ground eggshells are safer all around and bones should just be a treat for chewing if anything.
Ever since I've heard about the raw diet, I have wanted to put our new pup on it fully and be 110% perfect with every meal. Following you has helped me a lot with my raw feeding, and I'm even more glad that you talked about your past videos and things you disagree with now! It makes me feel better about what I'm trying to do, and I'm not hurting her in any way if I miss a bit of iron one day and zinc the next. I would like to ask if you will be redoing the balancing raw meals video? I don't want to tell you what you should do with your channel of course, but I'd like to know your current opinions on raw feeding and balancing :)
I like to teach about how to balance for those who like to stay on track with nutrients and calories, but I also want to let owners know that balancing over time is possible as well! So I'm not sure if I'd want to redo it. Possibly though!
Question!! I have 6 cats all currently eating friskies cat food and we’re considering a raw diet. But 1 cat lost his teeth in an accident outside! How do we feed bones? Do we grind them? Please send feedback soon.😢
Aww, all of them are gone? Yes, you can feed ground up meaty bones, a high quality bone meal, or seaweed calcium. For cats in particular, eggshell powder is also an option because in most cases phosphorus needs are already met through the meat and organs (eggshells don't provide as much phosphorus as the other 3 I mentioned)
I keep coming back to your videos and it's good to see that you're still learning and passing your new found knowledge on to the rest of us, keep it up! I've been adding a miniscule amount of kelp powder and a heaped teaspoon of soaked, chopped sunflower/poppy seeds to my pups food for a year now. Her meal always contains red meat so I've recently cut out the seeds and I'm using up the last of the Kelp powder. I tried a raw egg once and she had terrible diarrhoea so I'm reluctant to try that again. What does the egg bring to the party that the red meat is lacking so that I can find something else to fill the nutrient gaps?
Thanks for this video! Sometimes I do rely on zinc supplements mainly because red meats are out of budget very often, but I usually use zinc gluconate, which is less upseting to GI system! Also I share your opinion on seeds and nuts, which sounds pretty logical for carnivorous animals to not use them
I mostly watched your cat videos. I have a problem with adding a Vitamin E supplement every day, especially if it's not given with Vitamin C. Also, I don't suggest giving seafood regularly to cats. Certain seafoods, like raw sardines, mussels, and oysters, contain thiaminase which is an enzyme that destroys Thiamine (B1). Eating these seafoods every day can cause neurological problems. Cooking does destroy thiaminase, and it's OK to feed a cooked sardine once in awhile, but I would never feed fish regularly to a cat. Fish, amongst other things, is also linked to hyperthyroidism in cats.
Ive only watched 2 of your videos and I think youre brilliant. oI'm old...our cats from the 1960's ate kit e kat ( tinned cat food) and what we ate. they alll lived well over 15 years. Now people feed their cats biscuits WTF. or cats caught raw meat if they needed it or ran off with a piece of meat mum dropped on the floor when cooking.
Are you ever worried about salmonella being spread around your floor when they eat? My bf and I got into it because our dog ate the raw chicken feet on the carpet 😢 I just want them to be healthy and he read a bunch of articles saying raw can harm them
Don't worry! Salmonella is present everywhere anyway, it's probably on your skin right now. It takes a combination of two things to get ill from salmonella. You need to ingesting a large amount of something with it or something that has a lot of toxins from salmonella in it, and your tolerance to infection will be based on how robust your gut microbiome is, and whether or not you have developped some resistance to it by small exposure over time. The vast majority of people get sick from salmonella through vegetables, not meat or eggs. If you are particularly concerned then I would suggest focusing on feeding your dog red meat instead of poultry, as well as kefir and green tripe to ensure his/her microbiome is healthy. Dog owners will also share a lot of their microbiome with their dog, so as it's resilience builds up, so will yours.
My unpopular opinion is that the 80 10 10 or 70 10 10 concept is nonsense. My thinking on this is that wild canids would not always eat entire prey items, but would instead scavenge remains and when they captured prey focus on the most nutritious parts first. Then, when dogs starting living around humans ~40kya they were eating a lot of our leftovers, which we know dramatically increased the amount of bone in their diet. I think 80 10 10 is fine, but not "natural" necessary or even optimal. No idea what the optimal diet would be though! I think dogs are actually pretty flexible.
Hoping you have advice for the main issue i face. When i feed my cats things like raw chicken feet they latch onto it with their hands while the rip it apart. How do i deal with the potential bacteria spread from their little hands all covered in raw chicken walking on the furniture etc
Feed them in a room without carpet, such as the bathroom. Leave them in there for a little while. They will clean off their own paws. And remember, they dig around in their litter box, and then walk across your couch. :-)
I agree with all of them, especially the Zinc one. I have fed my little guy zinc supplements and every time I do he gets horrible diarrhea. I figured that was his body telling me it doesn't like them and they aren't needed,
About zinc, in my pet nutrition study I learned that grains have a negative affect on zinc. The NRC and other guidelines are based on commercial foods that sometimes do contain grains. So I think that maybe those numbers are higher than what we actually need in raw diets. What do you think?
I love your videos, they are so well made both visually and filled with information. I have a question about feeding my cat. I currently feed my cat wet food 4x day. I want to be able to replace one meal once in a while with a whole prey, like chicks, mice, and rabbits. How would you recommend I go about that? He's currently 1 yr old and has never had any raw food or a whole animal.
So i wonder if using pumpkin seeds for deworming is the best to do or only use it when you need it? A raw diet keeps the immune system healthy in order to fight off parasites . So us feeding our pets. A raw diet should essentially be enough ? 🧐
Haven't started mine yet! We pick up our puppy in 3 days!! :DDDD my first dog. We will be going to raw but will be doing so via a transition. No idea what to expect but it will be interesting.
I've seen tons of raw feeders meal prepping for the next few weeks, usually using one container for one meal. Is it really safe to mix different raw meats together in one container without bacterial growth or cross contamination? Is there a study that can back this up?
Mariah, have you looked into the Bones and Co. raw patties? If so, how do you feel about them? I’ve had a hard time finding reviews that aren’t from within the company, which makes me unsure if I want to try it for my pup.
how did you conclude zinc supplements are not necessary when they could be not bioavailable as a supplement? also wouldn't pureed nuts and seeds be in the digestive tracts of their prey?
I don't mean to say they're never necessary, I just don't think they should be as heavily supplemented as they are. And zinc picolinate in particular gives some pets gi issues. And yes, nuts, seeds, vegetables, and grasses will be some of the digestive contents of prey, but what really makes them beneficial is that they're basically fermenting. If I were to feed nuts or seeds, I'd ferment them for sure!
that's an idea. so i puree the seeds and leave out for 24 hours and it is fermented already? also do you have an opinion about saurkraut? seems like ppl add it to dog meals if it's minimal ingredients for the probiotic@@PawsofPrey
Hi so im looking into getting ferrets do you know if Raw paws ferret food is a good food? I want to homeade raw feed but its confusing and stressful and im trying ti see if they make good Raw food since it would be easier
Stop. Many humans can eat JUST beef, nothing else, for 10+ years and they're fine. I eat 80/20 ground beef with rice for 90% of my meals, and I'm an athlete. Nutrient balance is not a thing, as long as they get sufficient red meat. Red meat is a COMPLETE food. It contains all nutrients for both humans and dogs.
I loved this video! Please do another! I really would like to feed my dog raw but she has tons of protein allergies, so i cant rotate proteins accept between pork muscle meat only, rabbit and chicken. Thats all my dog could eat, do u have any recommendations? Is that enough rotating meats???? Please help!
Just because your dog might not tolerate chicken or beef, or whatever in kibble form, does not mean they can't handle it in raw form. Avoid those proteins for now but after a few months on raw, I bet you'll be able to re-introduce those and Raw foreman your dog won't have any problems. Most allergy tests are worthless.
@@PawsofPrey i did do a allergy test, however she was having many symptoms before i did the test and thats why i did the test, she was itching, licking, coughing and having diarrhea like crazy from multiple food allergies. However she also does have possibly some environmental allergies or something.
@@nogames8982 thats good to know but i needed to know what i was working with instead of guessing so i did a test. There is nothing wrong with tests for allergies, however i do believe its possible for the allergies to be reduced after feeding raw for awhile.
Any advice on a picky eater? I am trying to switch my dog to raw but he isn't taking to it as well as I'd hoped! He didn't know what to do with a chicken foot haha. And sometimes he will eat raw grind and other times he doesn't!
I do have a picky eaters video here! czcams.com/video/ed-nMQl_o6E/video.htmlsi=rlNN7ezGUrNnlGxS czcams.com/video/eQtUq6l94Qg/video.htmlsi=9VF_YADvnxs73rKC
If your dog has kidney disease, raw meaty bones will not help. Use eggshells instead. Also, feed lots of green tripe. I don’t agree with Dr. Ian Billinghurst’s advice to feed 60% of your dog’s diet with raw meaty bones. Horrible advice! Listen to him with a grain of salt.
I fed one of my dogs 50% Romiti bone, 30%, mussel meat, 10% Oregon meat, I actually maybe bump that up to 15% now and then, and 10% bitchy. Did this for over 10 years. I started her on a raw diet at three years old and she live to 16 years old. Raw meaty bones are wonderful. I fed a lot of variety besides that, but that was my base that she got most of the time. I still do that sometimes. And remember, he's had decades and decades of experience with thousands of animals. How many people can actually say that? So I wouldn't just dismiss him. Or Tom Lonsdale.
@@nogames8982 For healthy dogs, it may be true. But not for dogs with diseases. It’s not a one size fits all solution for all dogs. I listen and trust Dr. Judy Morgan over Dr. Raw Meaty Bones.
@@onlyinparadise4613 you're right. It's not for every dog. But there are a lot of things that you don't do when you have a dog with kidney disease or liver disease or whatever disease. But you can't dismiss general information on Raw because you have a dog with a specific disorder. most people do not have dogs with specific disorders. If you do, then you change up what you're doing for your specific dog.
@@nogames8982 My dog eats raw and still has diseases. I don’t like how Dr. Raw Meaty Bones talks as if eating raw is the ultimate holy grail. It’s nauseating to listen to him speak on Pet Summits. Raw is definitely better than kibble but raw does not fix, prevent or eliminate diseases unfortunately. Raw “can” help though.
To comment on the nuts and seeds thing. I would assume that nuts and seeds can be a good supplement if steps are taken to try and aid the absorption of the nutrition - like soaking and blending... Also would wild carnivores not eat some of the stomach and intestinal content of the pray animal, which might indeed be seeds and nuts whyfore we can assume with some degree of certainty that nutrient from nuts and seeds are absorbed?
The best part of this video is that it reminds all of us that experts don't actually know everything. I commend you for recognizing that you are still learning.
Love these videos, they are so helpful! My unpopular opinion is that even a moderately imperfect homemade diet is going to be WAY healthier and more nutritious than any processed kibble or canned food. I always tell people to learn the very basics and start feeding that, then continue to learn as they go, and just make improvements as they learn more.
Yes I love that one! I used to say balanced commercial food is better than an unbalanced raw diet, but I'm really conflicted on that one now. I have seen many studies where people have fed their pets an extremely unbalanced homemade diet (like chicken breast and broccoli) and they developed pretty bad health issues from it. Essential nutrients were deemed essential for a reason. However, if it's lacking a few nutrients from time to time, no harm done. This is where the body comes in to maintain homeostasis until it receives those nutrients through the food again. If you're feeding a variety of fresh, species appropriate foods and learning as you go, I'm happy.
I very much agree with learning on the go, but it truly depends on the diet, because feeding a nutrient defficient diet can be extremely problematic long term, feeding them a high quality wet food where they are getting in all their nutrients is a better option than unbalanced raw long term but yeah you have to start somewhere haha.
Maybe rotating in some commercial wet in the weekly mix from a reputable company is a good way to hedge one's bets. I do this for convenience and to try to cover all bases. I rely on The List by Susan Thixton (pet food consumer advocate) and buy only human grade, batch tested food that passes the stiff criteria that Thixton requires to make her list of commercial foods. Her list is of raw and gently cooked commercial companies only. Because one of my miniature poodles dislikes pure, frozen raw, our pack rotation contains gently cooked Evermore and gently cooked Raised Right. These foods are batch tested for nutrition and contain only a couple of supplements with the balance coming from the real food ingredients. Just another way of doing it "right"@@sashadzhafarov
If we get too caught up in the form of the diet rather than the nutrients it’s like not seeing the forest thru the trees. I’ve studied all this stuff for over 3 decades, trained by board certified nutritionists that formulated amazing therapeutic diets. The simple truth is optimal nutrients delivered to the pets body. I agree the nutrient profile can be imperfect but there have been some real disastrous results from imbalanced home feeding, whether raw or cooked. And labeling all kibble as the same is extremely inaccurate. There is a vast difference that most people don’t take the time to learn. Most negative comments about kibble are nothing more than repeated marketing that has little basis in scientific fact.
But, it is a fact that all kibble is high carb, the high carb content historically to facilitate forming a dough and also as cheap filler. As someone who has studied nutrition for decades, surely you appreciate the importance of macronutrient balance (carb, protein, fat) that is species specific. Just because a certain type of brand might have all the "optimal nutrients" of vitamins/minerals "delivered to the pet's body" does not mean it is healthy long term. The optimal nutrients delivered in starch that keeps the carnivore body constitutively high in insulin with high spikes of glucose throughout the day degrades health. Horses fed high grain with all the vitamins and mineral instead of grass do very poorly just as rabbits fed a high carrot diet, Camels fed meat pellets.....@@PetFoodPuzzleGuy
I’ve always been thinking, “How come humans do fine eating poorly balanced meals?” So this answers my question.
Us humans are much more nutritionally resilient, but our pets have quite a bit of resilience, too. I mean, look at the poor quality "feed" that's marketed for them.
@@PawsofPrey but if a group of board certified vet nutritionists and chemists CAN provide optimal nutrient levels, to even manage disease, shouldn’t we feed that?
Exactly!
That's basically what Dr Ian Billinghurst says. "Are your/your children's meals all perfectly balanced?" Obviously the answer is always "No" lol
@@anonperson3972 this makes sense since most of us have some days that are hardly nutritious! But with our dogs and cats we actually can do it…. So why not???? And looking at what dietary management can do for sick animals, manipulating those nutrients, again, why would we do it? And btw, most diseases humans deal with our indeed because of poor diet. Having said that though, genes determines more than nutrition. Thus we have perfectly healthy people on horrible diets and we have unhealthy people eating healthy with a healthy lifestyle! Genetics always wins!
I actually remember the video with Mariah and Dr. Billinghurst and even though he disagreed with her, he also said that he thinks Mariah has probably done more to promote and explain raw feeding than anyone. I agree, she has helped me to understand why raw and species appropriate food is so beneficial for our pets
Mariah is the ENTIRE reason I even knew about raw feeding! She's awesome!!
So many people are put off feeding raw because raw seems so complicated. This is a great video 🥰
It makes me feel bad! Yes, there is a lot to learn and keep in mind when raw feeding, but there's always a way you can ease into it as you learn.
@@PawsofPrey I wouldn't feed anything but and am always trying to convert people 🥰
I have a 2 year old dog I have raw fed since he was 6 weeks old (with a lot of help from your channel!). I couldn't balance his meals daily, and I have no access to spleen, green tripe, or mussels. He refused to eat dog food because he saw our older 12 year old dog eating raw meat and he decided he would not eat any more kibble. Since I couldn't balance daily, I was going to leave him on kibble until he grew up enough, but after a day and a half of walking away from his meals without touching them, I switched him over to raw and gave him the same badly balanced meals I was giving my 12 year old (she was 10 at the time, and I was just starting raw feeding, so I wasn't good at balancing which is why I wanted to raise him up on kibble.) Both of my dogs have refused all vegetables, so I've had to do the Prey Model only. My dogs are the most healthy animals I see at the park, or anywhere we go. My 2 year old is the most balanced dog I've ever met, he has incredible energy and has grown up to be almost three times the weight he was supposed to be (Both parents are below 2.5kg and he weighs a whooping 6.2kg). Most of his life I've only been able to source hearts and livers, and the occasional kidney, and I give them yogurt and egg. They also like eating the pet grass I grow for them every now and then, as I'm unable to find really good fiber sources like fur and feathers. Other than that it's mostly just muscle meat and ground bones (from turkey necks or chicken feet and neck). They're both extremely active dogs that go to the park to run every morning, during the hotter months they both go camping with me (I can the meat in jars when we camp (with a little rice and vegetables to make up for the lack of bone), so they eat cooked at those times), and every few weeks we take a whole day trip to hike up the mountains around Santiago, Chile and my dogs love it. The 12 year old has more energy now than she did on kibble when she was 4 years old.
Anyway, my point is that my 2 year old is the healthiest dog I've ever seen, and even though his meals have never been 100% balanced, and in some cases not balanced at all, he's still the healthiest dog I've ever seen. So I would definitely recommend a poorly balanced raw diet over any kibble. In my experience Dogs grow up fine with unbalanced meals, and they thrive just by getting real meat.
Thanks so much for your input and experience! I'm so happy just feeding fresh foods made such an incredible impact on your dogs. As long as you're able to feed a variety of different proteins, body parts, and foods, that makes me happy.
Seeing is believing. Even though you did not balance the raw diet you fed your pup according to AAFCO and NRC data (and that is what we all actually mean when we use the word "balance" even though that data cannot be proved to be accurate) his body absorbed what it needed from the fresh, raw variety that you gave him. He rejected vegetables because his carnivore body needed the denser nutrition of meat. He rejected kibble because once he tasted his ancestral diet, the meat that his tastebuds had evolved to seek, he would not touch the kibble. And, if everything I just said is just random speculation then how is it that he is the healthiest dog you have ever raised? We all know the answer because it is so basic and so logical.
With respect to the fiber and its roles in the carnivore GI tract, this is an interesting question. I read an article the other day about why dogs like to eat grass or it may have been a Karen Becker video, can't remember that suggested that the grass eating thing was simply to get some fiber. Wild wolves have also been observed to eat some vegetation and it is not because they were deficient in prey. It may be that dogs just know to eat some grass or other vegetation when they feel a bit of GI sluggishness-- They self medicate with a little laxative. Is a bit of plant fiber needed to feed their species appropriate, gut microflora? That is a common statement of fact by the "experts" and maybe only because humans need that but humans are omnivores. Anyway, a lot of "experts" claim that because dogs seek out grass and other vegetation sometimes that proves they are omnivores but I believe that it just proves that all animals, even carnivores, have evolved to crave some plants for medicinal purposes for GI issues. The fact that your two dogs avoid vegetation in the meal when possible is very telling. My two dogs also try to avoid vegetation. They will eat all the meat and meat juice around grains of rice or cooked pieces of carrots to the best of their ability and one would rather skip a meal rather than deal with plant material.
First, I love the humility you expressed in this video. That's so hard to do! I love that you have a hunger to learn more about raw feeding!... I thought it was great to hear about the balance over time. I often think about if dogs were in the wild, would they know what they need? How would they find "balance" in the wild? This helps me understand that dogs will be fine with what they are given "what they find", as they always have been for centuries. Of course, we want them to be as healthy as possible, and just like us, as we grow, that can be achieved. Taking that approach has helped me not stress as I continue to grow in knowledge as a dog owner.
Aw, well thank you so much!
This was an excellent video and helped dispel some of my confusion. I do occasionally add Raw pumpkin seeds to my homemade mix but I don't do it on a regular basis. Also finding out that pasture hens lay eggs with more vitamin d has also been a huge help and so I am only using pasture eggs as well as free roam quail eggs.
Nice to hear! I often times see that we worry perhaps a little TOO much in the quest for better nutrition. PMR with protein variety rotated and the addition of extra things like omega 3s and manganese seem to work a treat for my cat. Don't overthink it. Just read up and do your best!
I absolutely agree!
I've been watching your videos for a couple years now. I really appreciate the fact that you have evolved, started thinking for yourself. You have educated yourself, but you were also using common sense. You are questioning things, and that is very important to do. Keep it up and make more of these videos. You have the guts to say and popular things. But it's only unpopular in certain circles. I think the majority agree with you.
I appreciate you saying that, thank you ♡
I’m not a raw proponent and have been in veterinary therapeutic nutrition for 34 years, but I love your attitude of always learning, and yes, even willing to be wrong! Refreshing example, especially for those of us on CZcams channels. I think we have to accept the idea of investing the time, love and energy into feeding your pet raw is not for everyone.and as even with kibble, finding the right raw folks to trust is hard.
Thanks for your videos! I got started with my cats with your videos being a main source of my jumping off for other research. I think that was about 3 years ago, but it may have been 4 when I started to really dive into research. Its great to know that you are a Pet Nutritionist now! I have even got my local butcher, who gets meat from local grassfed farms, making a mostly balanced blend of all the organ, muscle and bones plus pasture raised eggs and sometimes bone broth. Which makes it easy for me to recommend to friends. We used your cheat sheet as a basis and I gave him other details on percentages of egg or bone broth.
I just wish more people who take a moment to educate themselves. Everyone claims salmonella and other pathogens and while yes, it is a risk. . .do the majority of these people not cook? Most home cooks handle raw meat every day, or at least every other depending on home life and while yes, those meats are being cooked. . .you're usually handling them raw to prep them.
I haven't switched our boys yet, though I've been working to introduce as much variety as I can by way of toppers/treats so that the eventual switch goes smoother. We'll probably start out with a pre-made grind when we're able to have freezer space first and while they're adjust to that I'll start really getting into the gritty part of learning how to balance and looking at what variety I can order to us. . .living in the fairly rural central part of the country means almost everything is going to have to be ordered. There is an asian market about an hour away I'll probably convince my husband to make the occasional run to. . .but we need to get things settled financially first. For now they get high quality single ingrediant treats and tidbits of whatever protein we're cooking.
When I calculated cooked home diets for my dogs since 2007 it called for zinc. It’s also important to get the zinc to copper ratio correct
Great video! I'd imagine most who go raw already have a dog, so hyperfixating on a puppies nutrition is a moot point. Just get raw food in your dog, with close nutiontion profile and then hammer out kinks and personal needs over time.
My service dog who I got at 5yrs was put on raw due to ulcer from dry food. Every blood and lab work he had was fabulous and lived to be 13. He was an Akita mix and they have ridiculously sensitive tummies. Love you Mr. Wolf 😙
I've been a strong believer of balance over time. I have to question the "Complete and Balanced" concept for every meal as applying the AAFCO nutrient levels... 1. Those levels seem to be based off of synthetic vitamins and minerals as applied by the pet food companies, 2. synthetic vitamins and minerals may be harder to digest than those from natural fresh food, 3. those requirement levels (vitamins and minerals) set forth by AAFCO have not really been tested over time to see if they are in fact the true requirements, 4. like people, each animal is different and thus they're nutritional requirements are different. We can never know what the true requirements are. I rotate feed my dogs nine different kinds of meat (with intermittent feeing of sardines weekly) throughout a two-week/three-week period to help insure they are getting what they need. They get muskrat, beaver, chicken, turkey, sheep, goat, duck, pig, and rabbit. This includes the associated organ meat that is ground with that particular animal I am feeding my dog. I too got too caught up in balancing every meal and it drove me nuts. I am always tweaking and updating what and how I feed my dogs, but it is still based on a "Balance Over Time" concept.
Yep, you make an amazing point! I actually use NRC's nutrient requirements, but they're not too insanely different. I understand why they're there, and they do help make things easier for owners who can't feed as much variety, or can't even make a homemade diet to begin with and thus need to feed a commercials diet, but I couldn't agree with you more regarding the issues with following these nutrient requirements to a T. Sounds like you feed an awesome variety, that makes me happy to hear!
NRC guidelines aren't any better. They are just the hot topic of the week.
I agree with ur opinions. Especially the last one on nuts and seeds. Nuts and seeds r hard for us to digest and deplete us of minerals that it takes to break them down if already deficient in vitamins and minerals. Nuts, seeds, and legumes should always be soaked first to make them bioavailable so that they don't deplete us of minerals. Fermenting them is even better as it makes them even more bioavailable, where the body can absorb the nutrients from them.
Oh yes absolutely! Fermenting is my favorite way to feed plant based foods.
And, no wolf ever collected seeds and fermented them. A bit of almond butter in a recipe here and there for my dogs just to add variety of fatty acids and some plant fiber to clean out the GI tract is something I do but I decided a long time ago that I would not soak and grind almonds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. If people believe that it is too difficult and strange to prepare a meal for our dogs then they could end up back on kibble. That is what the pet food industry wants, of course.
Thank you so much! I’ve always met zinc requirements but never zinc ratios but now your making me think it’s all okay thank you!
Green tripe is my favourate raw food ingredient, it's got loads of manganese and other vitamins and minerals, gives them the amino acids of a muscle meat and connective tissue and contains the probiotic and prebiotics required for a complete diet.
I'm actually relieved to hear that growing puppies can balance over time. I stressed so much over my pug, but honestly, this makes me feel better as a whole about what I feed him!
Thank you for sharing! I have been following your videos and really appreciate how you not only just say "you should do this", but you actually list the reasoning behind it and back it up with science and stats. I've learned a lot from your videos like using oysters and mussels. Those were things that are never talked about in raw feeding. It's always just 80-10-10 and leaving it at that. So I appreciate not only the insight, but the fact that you don't stop there but you keep researching and learning to better the information you give out.
Aw well thank you! Yes, I will always and forever be learning. I'm so happy to hear it's been helpful for you :)
Whether your opinion is unpopular or not, i most appreciate the fact you are willing to say you dont know everything. We are human. In my line of work, i never claim to know it all. The ones that do know it all tend to know nothing.
I agree completely and happy you have changed your opinions. We are all constantly learning and this will likely continue. My dogs are 15 and almost 15. I have never ever given them any supplements in their entire life. One of them is very sensitive to shellfish and green tripe, both very high in histamines. So I don’t feed these. At 15 years of age she still can run like a two year old. Her ligaments seem find even though she was spayed at 6 months. Neither of them have any health issues. They have been raw fed homemade for over 13 years. They also eat zero plant matter. In fact, I am on the carnivore diet myself. Plants have all sorts of antinutrients and their bioavailability for dogs is questionable. More and more I am leaning towards Dr. Billinhurst's simple approach. I know he recommends plant matter, however, and I just don't do plants. They are also a big source of pesticides. And nuts and seeds can go rancid easily. I have learned to do what works best for my dogs. Dog nutrition has gotten way too complicated and is scaring people from doing it.
I'm a month on carnivore 🎉
At first I went with the balance every day method, now I just feed my kitties a variety of species appropriate foods in approximate ratios + whole prey. They are happier and healthier his way actually lol Once you get the basics of balancing the rest is easy and you learn as you go!
Ferret raw feeders have been feeding ferrets both adults and kits a diet that is balanced by the week for many many years and have had no issues with it.
Also, carnivores in the wild, ESPECIALLY those that live in groups don't get to eat every part of the prey every meal, so that means that their diet isn't always balanced.
Yep, that's how I used to feed my ferrets when I first started! Though I really didn't like the idea of feeding a week's worth of liver at once lol. They were fine on it, however.
Wow, another not only brilliantly produced/ edited video, but so helpful. I'm always stressing about my dog's raw diet and questioning myself if he's getting enough of the right nutrients. These videos always help. And put my mind a little more at ease.
I really appreciate that!
@@PawsofPrey I really appreciate the Raw Feeding Cheat Sheet I downloaded from the links you emailed last year 🙂 There's just so much to keep reminding myself of!
My dog is looking amazing and I'm sure it's due to his raw diet. I can't go anywhere without being told how handsome he is and how good his coat is (very proud dad, but try to be modest with it lol)
Great video. So helpful
When I started feeding raw, it was to try to get constant GI upset under control. At the time red meat or any kind caused the same GI upset. So all I fed her was chicken and turkey. I gave her liver in every way I could think of (frozen, dried, etc) but she never ate it. I fed berries and veggies that other peoples dogs liked and she wouldn’t eat even one tiny bite. So in addition to chicken and Turkey all I could get her to eat was sardines and eggs. That was her entire diet for… about 2 years until I began slowly introducing red meats and pork, found where to source other secreting organs and a broader variety of muscular organs, and eventually figured out I could mix pureed veggies and fruit, along with finely chopped liver into ground beef. She’s had a balanced diet, every meal, for the last 2.5 years. But I say all of this because even when she wasn’t eating a balanced diet she had great labs, tons of energy, shiny coat, healthy skin, clear eyes, maintained the perfect weight and had consistent firm poop. Most of that couldn’t be said when she was on kibble. She’s 6.5 now, and is perfect and healthy. If she had been on kibble for those 2 years she was only eating chicken, sardines and eggs, I don’t know if that would be the case. Hard to know. I just remember her being miserable with a dull, sparse coat, constant diarrhea and unable to gain weight no matter how much she ate.
Raw bones (never cooked) are important (especiallyfor teeth,) just make sure they are size appropriate, dont give a schitzu a bison femur, lol
We feed with mostly beef, some chicken, frequent egg yolks, and occasional raw fish, occasional offal, liver, . We've never had dogs that were so mobile, energetic and clear eyed at 11 years.
2 Jack Russells.
Thank you for your channel.
I do balance over time because I feel simpler ingredients might be less burden for human and pets especially a pet with sensitive stomach or food allergy. The only supplement I use is vitamin e, and occasionally organs powder because there are few types of organs(eg: cow thymus, pancreas..) not commonly seen in my area.
your videos are always so well done, clear, and informative. thank you for being the cause of my cats eating a purely carnivore and raw diet. thank you for taking the time to break down the percentages and grams you use for Tangy personally, it really helped me when I first started.
Awww, you're so welcome! And thank you for the kind words
thanking you is the least I can do in return for what you have done for my animal family (:
Zinc also available in water, dont be scared, variety is the key
I love your honesty and the quality of your video! Thank you for publishing your unpopular opinions on raw feeding. I think that raw feeders have a tendency on overthinking this type of dog food.
My unpopular opinion is that it's OK to mix kibble and/or canned with raw. When we travel and my pup Wally comes along for the ride, I will sometimes - gasp - mix canned dog food with raw. It's just so much easier than schlepping along tons of fresh raw meals, and he's just fine eating that for a few weeks.
This makes me feel so much better. Ty. Continuing education is #1 great job!
Thank you!
Yay! Welcome to the other side...it just takes time & experience, but most people feeding raw over 20-30 years share these opinions, too. 🤗👏
Oh I know that! 😊
I agree. I've been doing this for 20 years. And sometimes I just shake my head at how complicated they are trying to make it now. To the point where they're actually scaring people away from feeding their dogs and cats raw. It's sad. On some face book groups I have seen people that have been told that they should just go back to Kibble if they can't feed a daily balanced diet. What a crock of crap.
This came at the perfect time! We`ve recently added two 4 mo old kittens to the family and I was really stressing about balancing and making sure they get everything they need, but one of them does not want to eat red meats, such as: beef, lamb and deer.
She just refuses her entire plate of food when I try. She does love turkey, chicken, duck, quail and some fish. She also loves raw goats yoghurt that I make myself . I just keep looking for foods to add that she will eat, but It`s nice to know there`s no harm done in a short period of time.
I would always strive to feed as much variety as possible, especially when they're young! That way they imprint on many things. And I would suggest trying to find other foods that are secondary to the nutrients red meats provide so you can get some of those nutrients the kittens are missing out on (if any). But should you stress yourself out so much that you end up switching them to a commercials diet instead? I don't think so!
@@PawsofPrey will definitely try, just ordered some ostrich. But they've only been here for 4 weeks, so for now I'm quite happy with what they are eating. Forgot to mention, they also eat a little bit of rabbit and I'm going to try eggs from our own chickens that we keep.
Well i do worry a bit about my cats getting all the nutrients they need but i saw your opinion changing and it helped me. I belong to FB Raw Fed and Nerdy and while they are great folks, it makes me want to hide my head in the sand. I've spent literally an hour at the nutrient calculator changing ratios and ingredients trying to balance and just gave up, not to mention i can't source spleen, etc.
Definitely agree with these unpopular opinions! I have thought for a while that the "puppies and kittens can't store nutrients" was a bit off. Sure, adults may have a better capacity, but if young animals were really so vulnerable, I would think thar fussy eaters would suffer a lot more from their eating habits. And I definitely didnt have the most balanced meal for my sheltie growing up, and while she does have health issues, they're things that are genetic/breed endemic rather than nutritional in basis.
And to piggy back off the zinc discussion, as far as I've heard so far, aren't zinc recommendations based on supplements? We already know that the human body doesn't process supplements as well as it does nutrients from whole foods, so even if the nutrtion databases are accurate, it could just be that dogs and cats handle the natural form of zinc better than the supplement.
Excellent video, as always!
Green tripe should be easy to source if you have a local home kill butcher that is willing to give or sell you the stomach's fresh from the animals they kill. Although you may have to be willing to dig through their offal bins to get it and be able to stomach the smell of fresh green tripe. As a plus, the spleen is usually attached. Although I would suggest leaving the abomasum behind.
I love your videos. You help to keep people well informed and reassure them in the process. Do not stop! No matter our opinions, they will always be unpopular with some.
*The following is just my personal opinion.*
I agree with most of your unpopular opinions. A doctor once told me he did not recommend to his patients taking supplements or vitamins unless a deficiency was diagnosed or unless you had a disease that impacted the absorption of certain nutrients. Why would it be different for animals? Among his arguments were the following: generally, the synthetic molecule of the supplement is not the same as that found naturally in food. Our bodies have not evolved to adapt to the synthetic molecule and it is unclear how this molecule can interact or even interfere with other molecules and processes. In addition, over-the-counter supplements are not governed by as strict rules as prescription drugs and contamination is possible and not as rare as we think. So my unpopular opinion is that adding synthetic supplements to the recipe of my pets only increases my uncertainty of what's actually in it (here, I am just talking about synthetic supplements, natural complements such as oysters, mussels, seeweed, etc are fine to me). In addition, I find that balancing according to the NRC to the nearest nutrient gives the impression that it is too complicated and discourages people from switching to a homemade diet which could be beneficial to their pets (while several studies have shown that even commercial recipes do not respect the NRC when sent to the laboratory). I believe it is important to understand which foods provide which nutrients to your pet and that it is important to be well informed since our animals are not humans and do not have the same needs. Still too many people simplify their pet's diet a little too much, leading to significant deficiencies. In my opinion, variety is important, but we leave chemistry aside! We're not chemists. I trust millions of years of evolution more than a few decades of studies (which are not always impartial). And I also believe that there are several ways to feed your animal well and I have the impression that even among raw feeders, people divide and judge each other instead of helping each other and informing each other, which I find particularly unfortunate, because it only serves the pet food industry.
*Sorry if my English is not perfect, I am a French Canadian.
I absolutely love this! You're spot on. I talk a lot about synthetic nutrients and how I'm not a fan of them anymore. I feel bad even suggesting them to people who feed a wide variety of foods, but what can I say, it was a learning process! Also, what a great doctor! It's hard to find someone like that.
@@PawsofPrey It’s sure that we are constantly learning. I changed my way of feeding my pets several times too. You don't have to feel bad about suggesting supplements if you do it correctly. You understand the supplements you add and why you add them. You don't give supplements randomly. And it is also okay to question the use of supplements. This is exactly what I meant by “I believe that there are several ways to feed your animal well ”. We don't have the answers to all the questions, and we never will. Don't doubt yourself and your learning process. Your videos are great and I learned a lot from you. In addition, advising people is a big responsibility. There are so many videos with recipes based only on chicken, bones and rice, so someone like you taking the time to explain why they add supplements and how to do the calculations can only be a positive thing. You're amazing!
I do agree about balancing over time. I no longer panic whenever a nutrient is low for a few weeks. However, I still try my best to provide my cat with a balanced meal daily.
Keep in mind that the daily "requirements" are based on dogs eating a crappy kibble diet. Kibble that contains anti nutrients from plant materials and processed ingredients.
Without those anti nutrients blocking the absorption of nutrients, the daily requirements are very different. Often much lower.
And there are no wild wolves or dogs out there eating oysters and zinc pills.
Also, an unpopular opinion that i have is that these "EZ complete" or nutrition completion powders are a bit shady imo, and that eggshell powder is not a true replacement for a raw meaty bone since these wet grinds dont offer teeth cleaning!
Ah, true! I do think they're useful for beginners, and at least they're designed for raw meals, but I wouldn't ever rely on it for a long period of time.
Entertaining video. Clever way to word your opinions. I totally agree. Red meat provides all the zinc a cat needs daily. Zinc and proper, even slightly lean body weight help to prevent arthritis in dogs and cats.
I am starting to dig into making home made dog food, I lost my dog recently and going forward when I get another dog, I want them toe at home made food. I just don't trust companies, no matter who they are, to not mess up our pets diet. For all I know, a life on mostly kibble could have potentially caused problems in my dog. I want ot be better, losing pets is so hard I don't want o be the reason for any health issues. Thank you for the information and the recognition that we always are learning, no matter what position we are in.
Nutrition is science, and science is NOT set in stone. Science evolves as new information is learned. Our understanding must evolve with new information.
If only people paid half as much attention to their own diets as we seem to do to dog food, we'd all be a lot healthier. Most human children eat diets that aren't remotely close to balanced every day. I'm certain it's true and you are right that there is room for imperfection.
I've been raw feeding my dogs for over 15 years and I love your channel. It is the only source of level headed, well researched information on raw feeding out there. However I must admit I always doubted the need to balance every day 😅 it just doesn't seem like something evolution would come up with. And even though our dogs might not be wolves anymore, I doubt they would have survived and thrived for so long if they had needed a perfectly balanced diet. My grandpa was a forester and bred German short-hair pointers for decades. Their food from puppy to old age consisted exclusively of green tripe and raw meaty bones he got for free from the local butcher, oatmeal and any hunted game "leftovers" ie fur, antlers, organs, heads, feet etc. He did this because he couldn't afford expensive kibble and had the healthiest, best looking, most sought after working dogs in the region 😂
I love to hear that! Little did he know he was feeding the most valuable diet they could get lol
I agree with all of this. And I think it would do people some good to go back and read the old books by Tom Lonsdale and Ian Billinghurst. Those two doctors have decades upon decades of experience with literally thousands of animals. I would not dismiss what they say. Just because they're not new. New does not always mean better. I've been feeding Raw for 20 years, and I've seen a lot of trends. Come and go. But I think the current trend of trying to get a daily balanced diet is really hurting the community and not helping the animals nearly as much as some people may think. Often the people that push this idea the hardest have a financial interest.
This video came at a good time, been thinking about getting a zinc supplement for the past couple weeks and now I have my answer.
There are times where a zinc supplement may be necessary! But if you have a healthy pet, the meal is only a few milligrams low, and you're feeding a variety of different proteins and parts, no need in my opinion.
Until a dog lives over 20 years, that’s when they say that’s the proper diet. Yet, how and who can provide that? Major brand dog food chains will say their dog food helps dogs live longer, but in reality, it’s love. My chihuahuas are 12 years old on mixed kibbled and human food, and only has one vaccine.
Thank you for sharing! Im learning a lot of great stuff!
I disagree with the 3rd one for dogs since we made them omnivores but for cats and ferrets I do agree with
My unpopular opinion is that feeding bone is unnecessary and can be dangerous if not properly digested EVEN when it's ground finely. I know someone whose dog had a severely irritated throat and esophagus from repeatedly puking up food with fine bits on bone. It was so bad the dog needed steroids to bring the inflammation down. It's also easy for them to consume too much calcium... I think ground eggshells are safer all around and bones should just be a treat for chewing if anything.
Ever since I've heard about the raw diet, I have wanted to put our new pup on it fully and be 110% perfect with every meal. Following you has helped me a lot with my raw feeding, and I'm even more glad that you talked about your past videos and things you disagree with now! It makes me feel better about what I'm trying to do, and I'm not hurting her in any way if I miss a bit of iron one day and zinc the next. I would like to ask if you will be redoing the balancing raw meals video? I don't want to tell you what you should do with your channel of course, but I'd like to know your current opinions on raw feeding and balancing :)
I like to teach about how to balance for those who like to stay on track with nutrients and calories, but I also want to let owners know that balancing over time is possible as well! So I'm not sure if I'd want to redo it. Possibly though!
Question!! I have 6 cats all currently eating friskies cat food and we’re considering a raw diet. But 1 cat lost his teeth in an accident outside! How do we feed bones? Do we grind them? Please send feedback soon.😢
Aww, all of them are gone? Yes, you can feed ground up meaty bones, a high quality bone meal, or seaweed calcium. For cats in particular, eggshell powder is also an option because in most cases phosphorus needs are already met through the meat and organs (eggshells don't provide as much phosphorus as the other 3 I mentioned)
You can make bone broth and give that to your cats. Just add it to the Friskies. Gives them the nutrients without the chewing. Good luck.
I keep coming back to your videos and it's good to see that you're still learning and passing your new found knowledge on to the rest of us, keep it up! I've been adding a miniscule amount of kelp powder and a heaped teaspoon of soaked, chopped sunflower/poppy seeds to my pups food for a year now. Her meal always contains red meat so I've recently cut out the seeds and I'm using up the last of the Kelp powder. I tried a raw egg once and she had terrible diarrhoea so I'm reluctant to try that again. What does the egg bring to the party that the red meat is lacking so that I can find something else to fill the nutrient gaps?
Thanks for this video! Sometimes I do rely on zinc supplements mainly because red meats are out of budget very often, but I usually use zinc gluconate, which is less upseting to GI system! Also I share your opinion on seeds and nuts, which sounds pretty logical for carnivorous animals to not use them
Love the channel. Have you read Tom Lonsdale’s book “raw meaty bones”?
It's a classic!
I mostly watched your cat videos. I have a problem with adding a Vitamin E supplement every day, especially if it's not given with Vitamin C. Also, I don't suggest giving seafood regularly to cats. Certain seafoods, like raw sardines, mussels, and oysters, contain thiaminase which is an enzyme that destroys Thiamine (B1). Eating these seafoods every day can cause neurological problems. Cooking does destroy thiaminase, and it's OK to feed a cooked sardine once in awhile, but I would never feed fish regularly to a cat. Fish, amongst other things, is also linked to hyperthyroidism in cats.
Ive only watched 2 of your videos and I think youre brilliant. oI'm old...our cats from the 1960's ate kit e kat ( tinned cat food) and what we ate. they alll lived well over 15 years. Now people feed their cats biscuits WTF. or cats caught raw meat if they needed it or ran off with a piece of meat mum dropped on the floor when cooking.
Excellent video!
Are you ever worried about salmonella being spread around your floor when they eat? My bf and I got into it because our dog ate the raw chicken feet on the carpet 😢 I just want them to be healthy and he read a bunch of articles saying raw can harm them
Don't worry! Salmonella is present everywhere anyway, it's probably on your skin right now. It takes a combination of two things to get ill from salmonella. You need to ingesting a large amount of something with it or something that has a lot of toxins from salmonella in it, and your tolerance to infection will be based on how robust your gut microbiome is, and whether or not you have developped some resistance to it by small exposure over time. The vast majority of people get sick from salmonella through vegetables, not meat or eggs.
If you are particularly concerned then I would suggest focusing on feeding your dog red meat instead of poultry, as well as kefir and green tripe to ensure his/her microbiome is healthy. Dog owners will also share a lot of their microbiome with their dog, so as it's resilience builds up, so will yours.
My unpopular opinion is that the 80 10 10 or 70 10 10 concept is nonsense. My thinking on this is that wild canids would not always eat entire prey items, but would instead scavenge remains and when they captured prey focus on the most nutritious parts first. Then, when dogs starting living around humans ~40kya they were eating a lot of our leftovers, which we know dramatically increased the amount of bone in their diet.
I think 80 10 10 is fine, but not "natural" necessary or even optimal.
No idea what the optimal diet would be though! I think dogs are actually pretty flexible.
Hoping you have advice for the main issue i face. When i feed my cats things like raw chicken feet they latch onto it with their hands while the rip it apart. How do i deal with the potential bacteria spread from their little hands all covered in raw chicken walking on the furniture etc
Feed them in a room without carpet, such as the bathroom. Leave them in there for a little while. They will clean off their own paws. And remember, they dig around in their litter box, and then walk across your couch. :-)
I agree with all of them, especially the Zinc one. I have fed my little guy zinc supplements and every time I do he gets horrible diarrhea. I figured that was his body telling me it doesn't like them and they aren't needed,
About zinc, in my pet nutrition study I learned that grains have a negative affect on zinc. The NRC and other guidelines are based on commercial foods that sometimes do contain grains. So I think that maybe those numbers are higher than what we actually need in raw diets. What do you think?
Ahh, that's a great point! I'll have to look more into that one
I love your videos, they are so well made both visually and filled with information. I have a question about feeding my cat. I currently feed my cat wet food 4x day. I want to be able to replace one meal once in a while with a whole prey, like chicks, mice, and rabbits. How would you recommend I go about that? He's currently 1 yr old and has never had any raw food or a whole animal.
I agree 100 percent
So i wonder if using pumpkin seeds for deworming is the best to do or only use it when you need it? A raw diet keeps the immune system healthy in order to fight off parasites . So us feeding our pets. A raw diet should essentially be enough ? 🧐
I took this approach too.
Haven't started mine yet! We pick up our puppy in 3 days!! :DDDD my first dog. We will be going to raw but will be doing so via a transition. No idea what to expect but it will be interesting.
Good luck to you!
I've seen tons of raw feeders meal prepping for the next few weeks, usually using one container for one meal. Is it really safe to mix different raw meats together in one container without bacterial growth or cross contamination? Is there a study that can back this up?
Mariah, have you looked into the Bones and Co. raw patties? If so, how do you feel about them?
I’ve had a hard time finding reviews that aren’t from within the company, which makes me unsure if I want to try it for my pup.
Gender & neutering affect zinc levels in doggos
What do you think about adding chia seeds? Thank you!
how did you conclude zinc supplements are not necessary when they could be not bioavailable as a supplement? also wouldn't pureed nuts and seeds be in the digestive tracts of their prey?
I don't mean to say they're never necessary, I just don't think they should be as heavily supplemented as they are. And zinc picolinate in particular gives some pets gi issues. And yes, nuts, seeds, vegetables, and grasses will be some of the digestive contents of prey, but what really makes them beneficial is that they're basically fermenting. If I were to feed nuts or seeds, I'd ferment them for sure!
that's an idea. so i puree the seeds and leave out for 24 hours and it is fermented already? also do you have an opinion about saurkraut? seems like ppl add it to dog meals if it's minimal ingredients for the probiotic@@PawsofPrey
Hi so im looking into getting ferrets do you know if Raw paws ferret food is a good food? I want to homeade raw feed but its confusing and stressful and im trying ti see if they make good Raw food since it would be easier
Is EZ complete okay to feed with meats?
Your videos is so helpful 🐾🎯
I'm so glad!
Stop. Many humans can eat JUST beef, nothing else, for 10+ years and they're fine. I eat 80/20 ground beef with rice for 90% of my meals, and I'm an athlete. Nutrient balance is not a thing, as long as they get sufficient red meat. Red meat is a COMPLETE food. It contains all nutrients for both humans and dogs.
So can we add nuts/seeds on occasion just like tripe, eggs and red meat?
Absolutely!
I loved this video! Please do another! I really would like to feed my dog raw but she has tons of protein allergies, so i cant rotate proteins accept between pork muscle meat only, rabbit and chicken. Thats all my dog could eat, do u have any recommendations? Is that enough rotating meats???? Please help!
Have you actually seen a reaction in your dog when they eat other proteins, or are you basing this off an allergy test?
Just because your dog might not tolerate chicken or beef, or whatever in kibble form, does not mean they can't handle it in raw form. Avoid those proteins for now but after a few months on raw, I bet you'll be able to re-introduce those and Raw foreman your dog won't have any problems. Most allergy tests are worthless.
@@PawsofPrey i did do a allergy test, however she was having many symptoms before i did the test and thats why i did the test, she was itching, licking, coughing and having diarrhea like crazy from multiple food allergies. However she also does have possibly some environmental allergies or something.
@@nogames8982 thats good to know but i needed to know what i was working with instead of guessing so i did a test. There is nothing wrong with tests for allergies, however i do believe its possible for the allergies to be reduced after feeding raw for awhile.
Any advice on a picky eater? I am trying to switch my dog to raw but he isn't taking to it as well as I'd hoped! He didn't know what to do with a chicken foot haha. And sometimes he will eat raw grind and other times he doesn't!
I do have a picky eaters video here!
czcams.com/video/ed-nMQl_o6E/video.htmlsi=rlNN7ezGUrNnlGxS
czcams.com/video/eQtUq6l94Qg/video.htmlsi=9VF_YADvnxs73rKC
excellent!
How did you become a Canine Nutritionist?
I took a course, but to be honest, experience and personal research is what got me to where I am today.
@@PawsofPrey What was the course? Wanted to look into it as a possible career.
If your dog has kidney disease, raw meaty bones will not help. Use eggshells instead. Also, feed lots of green tripe. I don’t agree with Dr. Ian Billinghurst’s advice to feed 60% of your dog’s diet with raw meaty bones. Horrible advice! Listen to him with a grain of salt.
I fed one of my dogs 50% Romiti bone, 30%, mussel meat, 10% Oregon meat, I actually maybe bump that up to 15% now and then, and 10% bitchy. Did this for over 10 years. I started her on a raw diet at three years old and she live to 16 years old. Raw meaty bones are wonderful. I fed a lot of variety besides that, but that was my base that she got most of the time. I still do that sometimes. And remember, he's had decades and decades of experience with thousands of animals. How many people can actually say that? So I wouldn't just dismiss him. Or Tom Lonsdale.
@@nogames8982 For healthy dogs, it may be true. But not for dogs with diseases. It’s not a one size fits all solution for all dogs. I listen and trust Dr. Judy Morgan over Dr. Raw Meaty Bones.
@@onlyinparadise4613 you're right. It's not for every dog. But there are a lot of things that you don't do when you have a dog with kidney disease or liver disease or whatever disease. But you can't dismiss general information on Raw because you have a dog with a specific disorder. most people do not have dogs with specific disorders. If you do, then you change up what you're doing for your specific dog.
@@nogames8982 My dog eats raw and still has diseases. I don’t like how Dr. Raw Meaty Bones talks as if eating raw is the ultimate holy grail. It’s nauseating to listen to him speak on Pet Summits. Raw is definitely better than kibble but raw does not fix, prevent or eliminate diseases unfortunately. Raw “can” help though.
are you single?
To comment on the nuts and seeds thing. I would assume that nuts and seeds can be a good supplement if steps are taken to try and aid the absorption of the nutrition - like soaking and blending... Also would wild carnivores not eat some of the stomach and intestinal content of the pray animal, which might indeed be seeds and nuts whyfore we can assume with some degree of certainty that nutrient from nuts and seeds are absorbed?