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What won’t I feed?
Mostly, I’ve fed about anything that used to have eyes, but there’s
a couple of things that I won’t feed. Larger turkey bones don’t
seem to get digested very well – I have found large-ish bone peices
in the dogs’ poop. Perhaps because turkeys are grown so huge so fast,
the bones are more brittle. Lamb is very rich, and a couple of times I’ve
fed it and at least one dog will act like it has a sore tummy, and will
throw up later – on the rug at 2 am, naturally. Right after making
that pre-vomiting noise that gets every human in earshot wide awake and
at full battle station alert. Oh, and large deer bones. Those suckers
are HARD and my dogs break them into scary sharp peices.
So, what percentage of bone is in a typical prey animal?
Rabbits are 8%-12% bone, depending on breed, age, and sex. An elephant
is about 25% bone. Deer and elk are about half that – but even a
wolf does’t eat the big bones of a deer. So, it would appear that
many people feed much more bone than would ever be found naturally –
and many experts recommend lots more. Is this OK? Nobody seems to know
– certainly there are people who have raised litters of pups on a
diet of 20%-40% bone content, and claim to have marvelously healthy dogs,
etc. There are also people – like me – who wonder if there is
actually some undiscovered downside...it sure would be nice to see a well
constructed longitudinal study on the benefits and detriments, if any,
of raw feeding.
What about treats?
Personally I don’t think treats just for the sake of stuffing something
into a hungry-looking dog’s face are necessary. They’re great
manipulators, dogs are! But many people use training treats, which need
to be small, soft, and won’t go rotten on a hot summer afternoon
in your treat pouch. Hotdogs, plain popcorn, cheese, dehydrated, baked,
or boiled meat, nuts, lunch meat, fruit or vegetable pieces...there are
plenty of good commercial treats too. Sprinkling garlic powder on treats
makes them extremely tasty to some dogs – especially if you need
a very high value training treat. Cooper goes nuts for some Dog-awful
bright pink treats they sell at one of my training places. They are probably
soaked in propylene glycol and FDA red #37, but a little junk food once
in a while won’t hurt...
What about hunting?
Go for it, if you can be sure the wild game is parasite free where you
live. And of course if you hunt legally and ethically. We took a .22 out
once to try bagging a rabbit. Well, bunnies are very fast and clever,
and we missed a whole bunch of times. Then we got worried about missing
and merely wounding it, which would just be cruel, so I still buy pre-killed,
prepared bunnies. Most of the ones sold by rabbit breeders for dogs come
skinned, with heads, feet, gastrointestinal tract removed, though there
are folks who sell them whole, with or without fur.
I’m confused about vegetables....
You’re not alone! Dr Tom Lonsdale (Raw Meaty Bones) consulted with
several wolf experts, and dismisses the notion that wild canids eat the
stomach contents of prey as pure myth. He holds that fruit and vegetables
are unnecessary, though probably not harmful. Even Dr. Billinghurst (BARF
diet) has stated that they are not essential, though by feeding them the
dogs receives a greater range and variety of nutrients that may be beneficial.
Then there are people who put a great deal of thought into figuring out
which vegetables are best, what proportion of this and that greens to
feed...I say do what works for you and your dog. Like many, I feed them
several times a week in gloperized form. Some feed them with every meal,
some just once a week...some folks feed green tripe in place of veggies...I’ll
reiterate – there are clearly more than one “right” way
to feed a dog!
...And I’m really confused about supplements...
Oh, don’t get me started on supplements! I actually did a chart of
what various dog nutritional experts recommended. The amounts and types
varied so wildly it’s ridiculous. I am talking from a recommended
daily dose of C from zero (Lonsdale) to 6,000-7,500mg per 100lb dog (Schultze),
and just about everything in between. It’s pretty much the same for
every supplement; and then throw into the mix various types and it gets
even more confusing. I came to a few conclusions:
- If all the experts are right, are any of them wrong? Or are they all
right? Well, they can’t be...so they must be all wrong....or maybe
it depends on your dog. Or the time of year. Or..oh wait. That’s
not a conclusion.
- Much of this hype is spread by the supplement industry, which is so
full of junk science and unfounded claims as to be as murky as Texas
tea. People buy into this because often “miracle cures” are
promised, and so and so on the Internet (who is often selling something)
has amazing testimonials to offer.
- There’s a great deal of variability in supplement quality. At
least one independent company has tested many of them, and findings
often show inexpensive brands contain exactly what they claim to contain,
and expensive ones don’t. Plus there can actually be harmful substances
(like lead!) in the bases. This is a largely unregulated industry,and
one really has to be a smart consumer. If you pay the small fee, you
can look at hundreds of supplement tests here: http://www.consumerlab.com
- For the purpose of the book, I did two things: Encouraged people to
do their own research, and averaged out the expert-recommended amounts,
just to give readers a starting point, should they wish to supplement.
There are certainly supplements and “nutraceuticals” like
glucosamine that are valuable for certain conditions and certain dogs.
However, if the experts cannot agree, I’m certainly not going to
give recommendations! Do your own research, for sure.
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