From the Free SitStay Newsletter

There was a ton of email about my raw food article and it’s still coming in! I urge you to read the books in the SitStay.com library and to see the SitStay Discussion Boards Raw Diet, they are a wonderful resource.

I have removed brand names from the questions. I wish I could list them without getting a letter from an attorney with a company that likes to make money even at the risk of a dog’s health. We can educate without pointing fingers. Hope that’s okay with you guys. See The Whole Dog Journal for a tiny bit of finger pointing by omission, I love that magazine.

If your dog is having illness troubles, see your holistic vet. Many ills, including allergy symptoms, hot spots, ugly or dry coat, overweight, skinny, smelly breath, and gas, are caused by bad food or lack of good nutrition but it could be something that is not related to the food. Be cautious of the vet who wants to write a prescription or likes surgery for everything. Use your good judgment. I often argue with my own doctor when I have the need to ask an opinion, “Just tell me what you think the problem is, Doc. I’ll do some research and let you know what I want to do about it.” Same thing for my dogs. Illnesses can occur because of genetics, food related, or something else. Good nutrition will see a dog through an illness better than a bad food. I caution you, talk to your trusted vet. That said; remember that many vets are not educated in nutrition. Ask them where they studied and how long they studied. Make them tell you what they know or find a new vet. Many vets get a bit of nutritional “education” from the commercial dog food companies in an afternoon session at school and ongoing “education” once they start practicing. Taking advice on food from a doctor who doesn’t know anything about nutrition is like believing a marketing campaign telling you that fast food is not only fun, it’s good for you every day in supersized quantities and that the picture on the dog food bag looks like good food so that must be what’s in there. It’s not always right.

Please let me start this by saying I am a person of Nature. I trust Nature. I look at natural, simple foods grown without hormones, antibiotics, and chemicals and I see a good diet. (I am not opposed to feeding myself chocolate, bread, coffee, and other things that are probably not particularly good for me but I am not my beloved dog whom I want to live healthy and as long as possible.) I am not a veterinarian. I am not a certified or licensed nutritionist. My words and experience are only that, it’s my opinion. These things have worked for me and my dogs and thousands of SitStay customer’s dogs. You must read, read, read and talk to and listen to other people who feed raw food, home cooked food, or good commercial dog food to determine what is best for you and your dog. Thousands of SitStay customers have turned their dogs healthy by following experts and my suggestions. This does not mean that your dog will fare the same, although I’m nearly willing to bet they’ll do better eating my way than on some of the dog foods on the market. I am a common sense and practical type when it comes to my dogs and their food. After that, I am a free spirit and the dogs love it!

Nature created the dog with a brain and eyes that search for food. Nature put food on the Earth for the dog. Things that move are the most interesting prey for dogs; typically agreed, these are food for dogs. Whole rabbits, birds, poultry, mice, squirrels, fish, earthworms, grubs, and any other animal that can’t out run a predator. Dogs are scavengers, too, they love finding stuff just sitting around waiting for them to eat it or roll in it. Dogs will eat whatever they find, usually. If you take a look at the cycle of Nature, you can easily determine what your dog should eat during the year if he follows Nature’s path. Grain is available at harvest season and it puts fat on the dog for a cold winter outdoors. If your dog is an inside dog, you may not want to feed much grain or at all without a lot of extra exercise. Meat is available all year around. Veggies, fruits, and grasses in spring, summer, and fall.

Dogs don’t have opposable thumbs and I’ve never seen a dog grind flour or preserve food in a bin for later. A manufacturer decided at some point that we know better than Nature and started making cooked dog food; out of the same things that have made us fat and ill: basically cereal laced food. (Would you feed your kids cereal and some meat twice a day for the rest of their life and call it a nutritious diet?)

What is dog food made of? Spilled grain that couldn’t be put into the human food chain and would have to be thrown away and no profit? Dead, dying, down, or diseased meat that couldn’t be put into the human food chain and would have to be thrown away and no profit? Oh my gosh! No profit! Do you mean it’s a marketing thing? We’re feeding commercial foods because television and pretty pictures on a bag told us that if we really loved our dogs we’d give them this twice a day? How can this be! (Don’t feel bad, everybody including me got suckered into feeding bad food for a while.)

I am not opposed to cooked foods or kibbles or canned foods. If I was, you wouldn’t see them in my Store. There are commercial foods that are better than others, you have a choice. See The Whole Dog Journal for a list of companies who will not only talk about where their food is made but also won’t talk about what’s in it. Those are the companies you can feel better about, the ones who won’t hide from you.

I like mostly raw food for my dogs; they sometimes get a cookie or a little of this, little of that. They do best on a raw diet. When I say “raw” I mean uncooked. Whole chicken, turkey, birds with bones, beef with bones, whole fish with bones, lamb with bones, rabbit with bones, organ meats, tripe, the whole animal. And veggies and fruits. It’s natural, simple food. Nature approves because Nature grows it. Dogs are equipped and are mostly willing to eat anything including grain, flour and sugar. That doesn’t mean it’s good for them…just like us.

My life has been filled with all breeds of dogs and mutts. I love them all and feed them all the same things. There are some experts who say that some breeds do better on specialized diets of natural foods. I will not disagree.

So that said: Let’s get started answering a few emails.

My vet says I have to feed grain to my dogs. They are not doing well on this food she’s recommended, though. One dog is hungry all the time, has bad gas, and is fat. I’m not feeding him very much and he’s still fat? What can I do?
Ah, yes, grain. I like to listen to and follow Nature’s example because I think Nature is smart about things, especially food. Grain is available only at harvest time, autumn, just before winter. Winters are cold, fat keeps us warm. Dogs don’t gather grain so why should we think they would naturally eat it all year long? My dogs don’t get grain except in an occasional biscuit. Keep your dog trim even in winter. He’ll be happier.

My dog is allergic to meat, my vet said so.
Dogs allergic to meat. Hmm, that sounds incredulous, doesn’t it? Some experts tell us that it’s true. I won’t argue with it, I will say that I’ve had a lot of dogs and never, ever has one of my dogs shown allergy symptoms to meat of any kind. There was a short period of time that I was feeding the dogs a poor grade kibble (yes, it could be a high profile food you see on TV), and allergy symptoms galore! I stopped that food and no more problems. Maybe it was the mold in the food and not the meat?

I feed my dog (SNIP poor grade high profile kibble) for large breed over weight dogs. I also give her raw veggies (salad minus the onions & tomatoes). She get a vitamin E pill daily along with her chondrotian. At times she get a little chop meat. She was operated on for athritis in her elbows before I got her. The only problem she has is her elbows still. No bad breath and has the best coat even though she sheds. We love her and expect her to live a long life.
Lack of nutrition can cause excessive shedding. If you don’t want to change to a better food, you might add Salmon Oil to the diet. And maybe a shedding supplement.

Do you make your own raw food from individual ingredients, or use a premade product? I'd like as much info as you'd care to share. Thanks,
Both. My dogs eat raw bones, meat, veggies, and fruit that I buy. Veggies and fruit are blended together to the texture of baby food so the dogs could use all the nutrition, it looks like predigested food you might find in an animal’s stomach. If you give a dog a large piece of carrot, you can expect to see that same piece in the stool later. Before you start feeding your dog, educate yourself a bit. Read some books; see the SitStay Discussion Board Raw Diet. About 7 years ago, I pushed for and helped design Nature’s Variety raw food. They are a wonderful company. The Nature’s Variety raw food is great, our dogs get it frequently.

My problem is elderly dogs have chronic loose stools. She cannot chew dry kibble very well-because she barely has teeth so I have found a semi-moist dog food in a roll you slice. (Edited this question, it was good question and a long one.)
Loose stools can be caused by many things: too much grain, too much green stuff, bad food, bacteria, no bones in the diet, stress, parasites, etc. Some dogs may be too sick to eat raw food right now; they may need home cooked foods until they are well. A little pumpkin can firm a stool and too much will loosen it. There’s nothing wrong with good, simple, healthy, cooked food as long as you know what’s in the food and where it comes from. Learn to read labels, a search online will show you how. You have two little dogs; it wouldn’t cost you anything to share your own good food with them. Some dogs are too sick to eat raw, they need home cooked foods. Loose stools can be caused by illness not related to food; you’ll want to check with your vet to make sure what’s going on with your little ones.

Where would I get more info about the raw food diet you use? My Terv girl is 20 lb overweight since her lifesaving surgery that included spaying 2 years ago. She currently gets only 2 cup of food a day of this food (SNIP brand name). One of them - the Aussie - adopted from some friends about a year-and-a-half-ago - is always ravenous. My friends just didn't have time for him so I took him in at 10 years of age - they drove him up from Texas (to MA) over a weekend. He has awful gas - and the ravenous appetite - like he hasn't been fed in weeks - they said he has always been that way (even as an only dog). He is overweight (the vet called him chubby), yet I only feed him about 3.5 cups of kibble a day (he is a big boned Aussie at current 66 lbs). The vet recommended the (SNIP brand name) - for dogs with allergies. After the first serving - only one small poot that night!! Could be that has been his problem all along - we'll see. I am hesitant about (SNIP brand name) - I always thought of them as not quite supermarket brand, but still an average pet store brand...
Sometimes not eating enough can cause weight gain, even in people. An adult dog will eat 2% of it’s good body weight of simple raw foods daily. A puppy will eat 10% of its body weight daily. Those percentages do not translate to commercial foods. Many dogs are hungry or will refuse to eat when their daily diet is commercial food (we’re talking about the bad brands here.) The body has an engine that has to have fuel to work properly. I remember in my early 20s when I wanted to lose 5 pounds, I cut my food and calories down to nearly nothing. I did lose the 5 after several weeks of hunger but the minute I added food back, the pounds came right back on. The body doesn’t like to be deprived of fuel and will store fat for the next “famine”. Feed the dog enough nutritious food and get plenty of exercise. It’s so important that the food we do feed our dogs be highly nutritious, not just for but especially for those little guys.

love this months newsletter. I too feed raw, switched last year in feb. My little puppy girl couldnt handle the kibble no matter what I fed. Love your story. I knew it was about your dogs as the story kept going. I was lucky that I have a friend who has been feeding raw for years and she was able to help me get going. Once again thanks for sharing with us.
Read, read, read and talk to people who feed raw food or a good home cooked diet. Like I said, a great commercial food is okay and many dogs do fine with them, it’s just not the ideal food for dogs in my opinion. And raw bones are important.

Simply put, if you can feed yourself and your children in a healthy manner, you can feed your dog, you just do it without cooking the food.

If Nature intended for dogs to eat cooked foods, they’d have pockets for their matches.

Dog Training Tips
by Darcie Krueger
President, SitStay.com
Copyright 2007-2008