Kellie we are so glad that you're enjoying the raw diet. A lot of dogs don't like raw at first, and turn their noses up at it the first few times. They really don't know what to make of a chunk of raw meat in their bowl.

After all, if you humans had been fed a diet of sweet steady junk food all your life, what would you do when someone fed you something healthy and nutritious? Commercial dog food tastes like candy. . . it's the only way that companies can disguise what's in it and get us dogs to eat their slop!

It's great when pawrents give the raw diet another shot. Chances are, most dogs will go for it after a few times, and once they taste how good it is, they'll never want anything else.

As far as salmonella goes, there are two schools of thought on it. Raw diet advocates claim that dogs don't get salmonella, or at least aren't as susceptible to it as humans. But many oncologists don't like the raw diet for dogs with cancer, because they believe that with a weakened immune system, dogs with cancer are more likely to get sick from any bacteria on it.

My pawrents took a leap of faith and wanted to see if I could stay healthy on a raw diet. Well, I sure have, so they continue feeding it to me and I couldn't be happier.

When I eat chicken, Mom pretty much just tosses it in my bowl. She minimizes the risk of contamination by only buying organic or natural meats. If she does buy conventional meat, which happens a lot when you travel like I do, she buys Tyson brand. Apparently they have the highest standards out of chicken processers in the US. At least that's what Mom heard in a Raw food class she took.

Hope I answered your question, Crystal!

My people just found a number of books by Kymythy Schultze.

• They read Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats
  and swear by it.
• She now has a specific edition on Natural Nutrition for Cats
  .
• And a new The Natural Nutrition No-Cook Book for you and your pets.

Our own experience has been that yes, most vets dismiss anything holistic, and if you even mention the raw diet, they flip out. Even younger ones, like my 30-something year old surgeon at UC Davis, says that he understands that there are reported benefits to the diet, but that he can't endorse it, because he believes that "dogs with compromised immune systems" (there goes that phrase again), shouldn't be exposed to risks like getting sick from bacteria on meat.

Truth is, vets aren't getting educated on diet and nutrition in school, because their schools are usually taking money from pet food manufacturers like Hill's.

In my own situation, when I was a puppy, I used to have seizures. After my Mom did some research and learned what was really in pet food, she switched my diet to raw, and guess what; my seizures stopped! I never took any drugs for them or anything, it was all because I stopped eating "food" from a bag.

With my cancer situation, Mom has added various supplements, and I still eat mostly raw. We believe that the cancer has not been as aggressive as it could have, because I started out with a very strong immune system. Thank dog.

So don't give up on learning about the raw and home cooked diet. Kymythy Schultze's book is a great place to start. Look for BARF support groups online too. And you might want to consult an acupuncturist or oncologist with a holistic medicine background. They are out there, you just have to look for them. Good luck!

Allira,

You're exactly right! All of the benefits you mention about the raw food diet are so true! Your diet sounds awesome, and the variety is perfect. Tell your Mom "good job!"

Since I went on the raw diet, I've never had to get my teeth cleaned at the vet, and my Mom just learned that dogs on the BARF diet don't have anal sac problems, which explains why I've never ever had this issue either, and why Didji stopped scooting.

Tell your Mum that freezing the foods doesn't kill the bacteria, but just makes any that's there, dormant. Bacteria isn't a huge risk for us, like it is for humans. Like your Mom says, our stomachs are built of iron!

It's a lot neater to eat raw meats when they're frozen, that's for sure! But I would be concerned that the frozen bones might have a small risk of not breaking down properly and splintering when we eat them. When my Mom took a BARF class, the teacher said that although he couldn't find anything documented that said that feeding frozen bones is risky, he said it makes him feel better to feed his dogs defrosted bones, and recommended that the students in his class did too.

I did start to loose weight when I went on the raw diet. At one point, I lost too much, and Mom thought maybe she was doing something wrong. So she upped the amount of cottage cheese she fed me, and I put that weight right back on! Now, after some trial and error, she knows how much fatty foods I need to say svelte, but not skinny.

I'm so glad that there's dogs like you out there in the world, showing vets that the raw diet is the right diet. Thanks for telling us about your experience with it!

Love,

Jerry