Raw meat and bones dog food

Molly, my Black Lab, has been on her raw meat, bones, and veggie diet for a week now and is doing quite well with it.  I've even noticed that her coat is softer.

This was a long time coming!  I began hearing about this some months back.  At first I assumed it was a fad type thing that would die down.

Even though I read books on the subject and scoured the internet for information, I would never have tried it based on that alone.  No, I needed to know someone personally who was using this diet and be able to see the quality in their dogs.  Lois, over at From Lois' Hands, has two Labrador Retrievers.  Both of these dogs have won numerous awards in Agility competitions.  Obviously, they are quite healthy.

Last Sunday was Day One!  The closer to that day I came, the more anxiety I felt!  I cut up two meaty chicken necks, placed them in Molly's bowl and said, "Here, Lois says this is gonna be good for you."

Now Molly didn't care what Lois thought.  She is a voracious eater and rarely, if ever, turns down anything to eat.  In seconds, she had eaten the chopped up chicken necks and then looked up at me as if to say, "Is this all I get?"

I didn't want to overdo it the first meal.  So that's all she got.  That evening, she got about a fourth of a raw chicken, including bones, a mixture of chopped raw vegetables (broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower), along with a dash of ground alfalfa and kelp.

I'm still learning and in time I'll get smarter about preparing things ahead of time so that at meal time I just plop her food into her bowl and won't have to deal with her "would you just hurry up and feed me instead of standing there playing with my food" looks.

If you are interested, here are two books I found to be very helpful.  Both are quick reads.

Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats by Kymythy Schultze with forwards by two veterinarians and Raw Dog Food, make it easy for you and your dog by Carina Beth MacDonald.

I buy my meat from a grass fed meat farmer so I am less concerned about salmonella and other yucky stuff being in the raw meat than if it came from one of the large slaughter houses half way across the country.