My decision to go raw

I have been in a constant quest towards improving the quality of care I provide to my animals ever since I first started owning them. I didn't make a real push towards pursuing more natural nutrition for my dogs until about three years ago when it was brought to my attention that certain commercial dog food brands were not the nutritional powerhouses they advertised themselves to be. I did some research and discovered (mostly through this site in the beginning) that the problem with these foods is largely in the excessive use of grains as sources for proteins and other nutrients, along with the preservatives used to give the kibble shelf life.

I have since learned that things such as vaccination protocols and spaying & neutering are also areas of pet care that can be approached from a more natural and healthier standpoint for our pets. But that is for another post.

After doing some research, I switched my dog at the time (a Jack Russell Terrier) over to a holistic, grain-free kibble (EVO). It had higher meat contents, no grains, and overall better quality ingredient content. I observed a change in the brightness of his coloring, his coat was softer, and he produced less stools which broke down quicker than he did on the previous diet he was on. He also had more energy.

I started looking into a raw diet when I joined an online training forum manned by a well-known dog trainer: Ed Frawley. After some online research, purchasing a couple of books, a few conversations with people who fed raw, and a gentle push from a friend I made the leap to raw feeding. I decided to change because I have come to the conclusion that feeding a species-appropriate diet (raw food) provides our dogs with the most readily available nutrients for them, as the nutrients are in their most natural sources. Keiko has been on a raw diet for two and a half weeks now which means the changes often noted when switching from kibble to raw are beginning to show. Previously, Keiko was on Innova Puppy - a high quality low grain (they also have no grain formulas) kibble with specific meat sources and no corn. Also, there are no byproducts!! I want to give things a few more days before I blog about them but a few visible changes have been noted to me by my family: her coat has an even healthier and shinier look to it without the "oily" feeling, her teeth are very clean (although she is a puppy so they shouldn't be very dirty anyway), and she is more excited about meal time than I have ever seen a dog be. This means that breakfast and dinner have become training sessions during which she gets a very high value reward.