dog at vet

[Hannah4181 260]

When i switched to raw feeding about 3 years ago i had a chat with my vet about it . . . . he's South African and a dental expert, very well respected and i trust him 100%. His advice was simply, there is no need to feed raw with the amount of nutritionally sound complete foods on the market. Being a dental expert he also went on to explain how many chipped and broken teeth he see's, all caused by bones . . . granted they are normally cooked/raw knuckle bones . . .which i don't feed anyway. He didn't advice me against it at all, just told me the pro's and cons.

 

I had my 6 year old bitch in about a month ago, and he hadn't seen her since i switched to the raw diet . . 3 years. He always does a full body examination whilst he makes a big fuss of her, as she adores him. He lifted her gums and checked her mouth/teeth, then looked up at his screen again, and back at her teeth . . . . he then stood up and shook my hand and told me he retracted his initial concerns . . . . went on to say he was shocked by the quality of her teeth and if he didn't know the dog, would age her at 18 mth/ 2 years, going by her teeth alone. Also stated that the dog was in excellent general health. Before i left he took photos of her teeth to use in one of his dental seminars!

[craigyboy 1,274]

get another vet mate,any vet that says feeding bones is bad for a dog is talking out there arse and shouldnt be in the job,ffs its what theyre designed to eat,the only bones you should stay away from are cooked ones and raw weight bearing bones from big beasts as they are hard as feck and will chip teeth

[inan 841]

My own vet, who I consider to be pretty good, also doesn't like the idea of feeding raw carcases etc, but she also admitted that she's never come across a gut obstruction caused by bones, tennis balls, lumps of wood, stones.yes, but never bones.

 

If your'e worried, put your rabbits through a mincer, bones and all: that's what I do for young pups. That way the bones are too small to cause a problem. Vet's aren't nutritionists and most of them are wary of feeding raw as they have no experience of it: they've been hood winked by the science speak of the dog food companies like so many of us used to be.

P, I've been feeding raw for 4 years now, mostly rabbit with the heads and feet on, frozen for 3 weeks, never had a problem ,but the dogs can get a bit bound up if I don't vary the menu.Inan coughed up a fur ball the other day rather like an owl pellet, no doubt an accumulation of head and foot fur.

One positive from raw is the small amount of crap that has to be picked up ,compared to the mountains of poo that complete foods end up as.

Edited September 6, 2010 by inan

[Guest chook]

Vets know nothing about feeding - if you can get one that does know their stuff

on neutrition (sp) then you will be bleeding lucky, vets are paid a percentage by the food companys

to premote there food - they also go on the food companys neutrition courses.

 

Ive not met a vet yet - that thinks raw is great for dogs.

[sandymere 8,263]

It's all a balence of risks, I feed rabbit and butchers waste raw with bones but do so in the knowledge that there is a small risk of problems. The vet will advise against in part as they see the problems rather than the ones that do well, also if they recomend it and then a dog has a problem they will be held to blame by the owner.