hey flower, here's a before/after raw food story for ya.

[MisterMagoo]

http://www.bulldogbreeds.com/discuss/viewtopic.php?t=27589

Sooo.... it's been about four months that Sirius has been eating raw, and it has made a WORLD of difference. For those of you who don't know, I adopted him in August and he was DEATHLY skinny. I figured I'd get some good kibble in him and we'd be good to go. Fast forward to six months later and I've fed him four different high end kibbles and he has LOST two pounds!! Confused I had blood work, thyroid test, ACTH test, fecal, urinalysis, you name it we had it! There was nothing physically wrong with him, in fact he was quite healthy, he just apparently has a monstrously fast metabolism, he was eating up to eleven cups a day of kibble!

I switched him to raw as a last resort and it has done the trick. He has gained about 20 lbs and continues to gain! hello1 He also used to have thrush in his mouth and when he licked his sensitive belly would give himself staph infections there. Both of those problems have completely gone away with no other intervention. His dandruff (highly noticeable on his black fur Rolling Eyes ) has decreased dramatically. I just can't say enough good about this diet, nor can I thank the people who've helped me get Sirius going on it enough. So here, take a look!

[Butterbean]

Good stuff Magoo.   And that is a gorgeous dog!

[Lord Humungous]

Raw really is great. My dog was ready to have his teeth cleaned at 17 months and I put him on raw because of Flowers advice. You wouldnt believe how nice and white his teeth have become by eating the raw green tripe. Ive read on a few sites that the stomach enzymes in the tripe help to break down the plaque on dogs teeth. That, and nawing on soup bones have made them nice an shiny white again. Plus his breath smells better and his paws no longer smell like Fritos 

[MisterMagoo]

if i can wangle the price and logistics of it (aside from my fear that i'm too dumb to do it right!), i'm definitely liking the idea of going raw for mine.

[Butterbean]

Raw really is great. My dog was ready to have his teeth cleaned at 17 months and I put him on raw because of Flowers advice. You wouldnt believe how nice and white his teeth have become by eating the raw green tripe. Ive read on a few sites that the stomach enzymes in the tripe help to break down the plaque on dogs teeth. That, and nawing on soup bones have made them nice an shiny white again. Plus his breath smells better and his paws no longer smell like Fritos 

Lord H, how long did it take before Oscar's body got used to eating raw? 

[~flower~]

He looks like Emmett!    


  Yeah, it really doesn't matter what you feed, any old food will do

[chafed_nut_sack420]

I've been giving my dog raw food for about 2 years, it took a long time (1 year) to see the difference but it does help. It may not make a dif in every dog but it sure as hell helped my poor guy out.

Great improvements!

[TrapsMcLats]

my pups are on an all raw diet, its amazing what it can do for them.

[Lord Humungous]

Lord H, how long did it take before Oscar's body got used to eating raw? 

about 45 seconds

Honestly he went right to it. As a pup he would scarf his food in about 30 seconds since he had 8 litter mates. When he was about 8 months he finally slowed down when he realized no one was going to take his food (other than me anyway). He started to become very picky. When I put him on his first batch of beef and bone he took right to it an loved it. His coat got even better when I added some salmon oil on top of it, hes teeth were nice in a few weeks and his poop was better in 12 hours or so. He still gets some kibble from time to time but its only when Im out of raw or when we have a dog sitter since most people wont touch the tripe .
I buy it in 2lb containers and he gets about 1/3 pound every day and sometimes I mix in a little kibble if hes still hungry along with some fish oil pills- 4 for him and 4 for me!

[chafed_nut_sack420]

The one thing I'm curious about is, has your dogs stool changed? My dogs stool is typically darker and comes out a lot softer and not really pebbly like when he ate generic canned/dry food. It's a lot smaller too, he doesnt shit out huge logs anymore. I asked the vet about it and she said he looks great so everything should be fine, how's your dogs?

sorry, didn't think Id ever be discussing shit on the boards.

[Butterbean]

The one thing I'm curious about is, has your dogs stool changed? My dogs stool is typically darker and comes out a lot softer and not really pebbly like when he ate generic canned/dry food. It's a lot smaller too, he doesnt shit out huge logs anymore. I asked the vet about it and she said he looks great so everything should be fine, how's your dogs?

sorry, didn't think Id ever be discussing shit on the boards.

THis is what I meant in my question to Lord H.  Occasionally we have given raw bones and both dogs puke and have diarrhea later.  I'm wondering how long this may go on if we ever switch to raw (but I don't know if I can touch some of the stuff).

Flower told me to only give them the bones for a little while and then take them away etc give them, take them, etc so they don't eat the whole thing at once and they should at least get used to those.