So the other day, I realized we were almost out of dog food, again..
I grow weary of spending so much money on dog food, and what do I get for it? Although I buy good quality holistic and organic dog food, I still can't even pronounce most of the ingredients on there and although I keep switching foods for my allergy prone dog, she is still having health issues.
This brought me to the whole raw diet thing again that I visited a couple years ago with our first dog, but decided not to do it due to an idea that it was too complicated to deal with, the whole "oh it's gross and it's raw meat" thing and just feeling like it was too much effort. I know right? Too much effort, maybe as humans we've become too comfortable and too lazy to deal with making our own foods, hence all the convenient and prepared foods, so why would we want to do that for our own pets?
It got me to thinking again about making our own homemade dog food. I've read books about making your own kibble, but even this honestly seems incredibly daunting and time consuming. I rarely cook anymore for myself and my family, so what makes me think I can stick to cooking for our dogs? It made me realize how lazy I have truly been, how I stopped cooking for my family and how the microwave meals and quick prep meals have become second nature. This is NOT how I want to be. I want to get back into cooking again, every meal. So I figured while I'm changing my whole lifestyle for my family, why not do it for the dogs too?
Lesson #1 Knowledge is POWER
And apparently, everyone has it nowadays. I went on youtube for "homemade dog food" and you know what I got?! Well, you don't want to know all of what I found, *shudders* but for the most part I found that almost everyone is making their own videos, writing their own recipes, and creating their own diets for their dogs. In this economy, people want the best for their pets, and a lot of people have figured out that home cooking and diy dog food is the best option.
Now I'm going to take a moment to point out that not every diet for dogs is a good diet, or healthy, or balanced, etc..
But everyone makes their own decisions for their pets. I'm not saying that MY choice in diet is the best (even though I may feel that way) but for me, through my endless hours of painstaking evidence and scientific research, I'm saying what I've decided to do, alongside with my husband's thumbs up, is what is best for our dogs.
The hardest part was finding "accurate and scientific" information, which is hard to come across but I finally found it. I will post a listing of good solid links to the diet which we have chosen if you choose you may want to look into it.
Finding websites with good, solid information regarding a raw diet is good compared to a website that states "raw meat is good for dawgs cause dat's what dawgs need for strong muscle to beat other dawgs" So yea, and I quote that from a real "cool guy."
Anyways, I repeat myself.. Research Raw! Not every site is going to have accurate information.
Lesson #2: Play nice with the Raw Community
Ok, I know that sounds weird, but finding forums to join with other enthusiast who are feeding their dogs the same diet is a good idea, a really good one.
Here's why...
They know more than you!
These people have been feeding their dogs a raw diet longer than you, they do know more than you. They are the experts.
They can help you in time of need and are an amazing resource.
When your dog is transitioning from kibble to raw food, you're gonna want a shoulder to cry on when you feel like you don't know what you're doing, have questions about meat, or are just upset about the cannonbutt your dog is soldiering on with. (cannonbutt is a term for that horrible diarrhea some dogs get when transitioning)
You need your meat, and they know where to get it from!
Sounds odd again I know, but when feeding raw you have to get creative, unless you don't mind spending a lot of money on meat. There are co-ops to join, meat companies to order from, and online listings to help you get started with the meat you need for your dog's diet. These seasoned veterans of the raw diet world know how to get it, where it comes from, know the best deals in your area, will go in on an order with you so everyone can save you money, and can tell you which vendors to avoid.
Lesson #3 Get your gameplan on
When I finally figured out that the raw diet, to be more specific the PMR or Prey Model Raw diet, is what we wanted to do, I did my homework, read up on how to transition the dogs, and started a plan. When switching over to raw, you have to have a plan. There is a very specific process and timeline to introduce meats and certain proteins to make the switch over as smooth as possible for your dog. I want our switch to raw to be as uneventful as possible and I had a lot of questions.
Here are the steps I've done to ensure success.
1. Research!
I did all the homework ahead of time, knowing what to feed, when to feed, how to do it, etc..
2. Joined the forums, made friends, shared my gameplan with them, and got ready
I found lots of lovely people in the same bandwagon as me, made some introductions, asked a lot of questions, got educated, and then I told them my plan, got their input, and got ready to jump forward with the plan.
3. We made sure we had things ready.
We fasted the girls for a day to ensure their GI tracts were ready for the new raw food.
We got the chicken we needed for the first couple weeks. Chicken is the best starting protein due to it's ease into the system.
We have a chest freezer already, so I didn't need to get one of those.
4. We waited..
Now the girls are fasted and it's time to start their Journey to Raw! In my next blog entry I'll post about their first meals and how the journey is going so far.
For now though...LINKS to good websites..
Prey Model Raw
Dog Food Forum Raw, Lots of good people here :D
I'm sure I could post more, but for now I think those have enough reading to last someone all day honestly.
Thanks for reading, and I hope that you'll stay with us on our Journey to Raw
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