Raw beginners?

I was reading in a woman's mag about the campaign to encourage more people to change over to veggie eating. I think the concept is called Flexitarianism, encouraging people who can't bear to give up their bacon sarnies and roast diners to consider baby steps to changing their habits. Paul McCartney's Meat free Mondays is an example of this concept.
What do you think are the easiest ways for pet owners to move to a more 'natural' diet without going the whole hog?
What's your handy hints for moving up scale to a better quality food without totally losing the convenience and the reassuring feeding instructions on the pack! Are any of you considering the leap so we can follow your progress?

Housekeeping and first burning issue

I am a huge believer in free speech and I want this blog to be lively, but there are some things I want to stop it becoming - hence I quite brutally edited two posters a couple of blogs ago and both people posting deserve a fuller explanation.

I want this to be interesting, I don't want it to be somewhere where PR people in the petfood industry upload generic press releases about their food.
This needs to be like a conversation.

What Jonathan at Darlings said was very interesting but it didn't specifically address the points we were trying to debate.

Once we let one pet food manufacturer talk at great length off topic I will be defenceless to stop another company that wants to post a press release as we'll have precedent.

Claire M's post was a different kettle of fish! I love the fact that Claire was showing us a website that is obviously very interesting and I've let that stay. What I have removed is specific negative comments taken from that website about specific brands. The website in question is American and I guess they have their own libel laws, over here things are slightly different. Not stopping anyone from looking at that website, just saying they are obviously in the business of making claims about huge companies and they have their insurances in place, but I don't want to be repeating them here without seeing the evidence - plus then we'd need to give the manufacturer's the right to reply - and then doing this blog becomes a full time job and I don't have time to publish a magazine! And we'd move away from the title of the blog and become "What shouldn't I feed my dog!"

I want us to have frank and open discussions about petfood but we need to steer clear of libel to preserve our ability to debate.

Claire M asks why we were fearless in talking about bad breeding in pedigree dogs - why not name names in petfood?

The answer is simple, we have never named specific breeders and accused them of being bad - unless they've already been prosecuted. We have stimulated debate generally on that important topic with a view to there being a general improvement in standards and better education on the subject generally.

That is our wish for this subject, too!

Now back to the debate - lets take one subject at a time!

• Why should we be trying to replicate the prey diet? Why feed dogs as if they are wild animals now they don't do nearly so much exercise? Hasn't the dog evolved over its substantial time with man to share and possibly favour our food? 

Can a dog have too much fish?

I'm cross posting this from our Think Tank blog...

My Lab cross loves white fish cooked with rice or pasta and has it every night for tea. She is a faddy eater at the best of times and doesn't like her food all at the same time. She has a complete meal with either chicken or beef at lunch, and although she eats the meat, she sometimes leaves the meal. She seems healthy enough but I am worried that fish every day could do some harm (too much of a good thing).
Joan Hardaker, by email

comments so far...

Crazy Dog Blog said...

As long as she's getting some variety then fish every day shouldn't be a problem. It would actually be good for her, fish oil is very good for the coat. If she's eating the meat happily then have you thought about switching her over to a completely raw diet? It's not as expensive or as time consuming as a lot of people seem to think it is!

Christine Bailey said...

Vets often suggest white fish and rice short-term for a bad tum, or eg after surgery, but I wouldn't think just this would constitute a balanced diet long-term - it's probably short of calcium at the least. But if she's so keen on fish why not try her on a feed that is just fish and rice - but with added ingredients to make it a complete meal? Naturediet do a fish recipe, so do Wainwrights - Pets at Home own brand - the can, not the flat pack which, I found out to my annoyance, also contains chicken! She might also like a fish-based dry feed - there are several around - Orijen is very good, Burns do one which I think contains rice, and there are several 'salmon and rice" or "salmon and potato" varieties on the shop shelves.

Claire M said...

I think you would have to feed "oily" fish for your dog to receive beneficial oils (as in humans)?

Am I going to be hitting a raw nerve?

I've really enjoyed writing our petfood trends article due out in the Feb issue, sorry if I didn't get back to everyone I was hoping to include - I found I completely ran out of space and could have written a great deal more!
I've decided we'll be doing another feature next time!
Do you have strong view on the following? (I'm suspecting yes!)
Please tell me what dogs you own, what you currently feed and your responses to the following! Or if you are a petfood professional - please introduce yourself - don't be shy!

• Can you get really good results on a top-notch prepared food as opposed to a cheap one - or do you believe you have to feed raw? (Anyone got any data or anecdotes to back their hunches up? Any dogs living long and healthy lives on a particular regime?)
• Can dogs digest carbs? Why not? And if yes, what are the best carbs and why? Why do we have carbs in dog food?
  
• Should we really be trying to feed the dogs as if they were wild animals now they don't do nearly so much exercise these days? How much protein is ideal? Why? Can you have too much?
  
• And is the prey diet really the one to replicate? Haven't our pet dogs evolved? After all they've been living alongside us for some say 120,000 years and sharing our cooked food for much of that time?
• Don't we want longevity for our pets not a short life of high energy, fighting for survival and the right to reproduce? Are some people just a little bit in love with the romance of the wild dog philosophy rather than the wild dog reality?
  

Can you help me?

I'm writing an article for the February issue of Dogs Today on feeding trends and I'd love to talk to some people who are happy with their feeding regime. I'd love to hear from the following types of pet owners who feel confident that they way they feed their dogs is the best possible:


* A radical raw food feeder

* Someone who wants to be as natural as possible but still feeds carbs and prepared foods

* A dry food feeder

* Someone who uses cans

* A wet food feeder - pouches or sachets etc

* Someone who feels they have conquered allergy problems via diet

Anyone else with an interesting angle on doggie diets!

My email address is beverley@dogstodaymagazine.co.uk or you can leave a comment here!

I'll be asking other questions here shortly - so please keep checking and if you have a diet-related question to ask, please do email me! beverley@dogstodaymagazine.co.uk

Thank you!
Beverley
Editor