Raw Pet Food

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

I have been thinking of switching my 7 month old to raw because he has some allergies and my vet just keeps pushing Medi-cal. Forget it...its way over priced and I have heard its not great food. Of course he is pushing it though, he sells it!

We have a raw foods wholesaler who lives in my building and will sell to me at cost, so no real reason not to try it other than the defrosting. How long does this take and how is it done?

What about for cats? One of my cats seems to have some allergies as well but once again the vets only answer is to feed him medi-cal.

Thanks!

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

I have been thinking of switching my 7 month old to raw because he has some allergies and my vet just keeps pushing Medi-cal. Forget it...its way over priced and I have heard its not great food. Of course he is pushing it though, he sells it!

Thanks!

hehe, ya not great is an understatment. it is one of the worst foods out there from the ratings page. wanna have some fun.. tell that to your vet and watch him try explain his way out of it.

Steve

[MitchM]

I don't think that vets should be selling food products in their practices. It gives a tacit endorsement, and I think it's a conflict of interest.
For me anyways, it takes away some of their credibility for feeding advice.
We feed our dog the prepared "dinner" raw diets, which comes mixed with vegetables, bone, muscle, and organ meat. Every now and then we will put some extra raw pumpkin for extra fibre.

Mitch

[Ryan]

Medi-Cal is one of the worst foods out there.

Acana has a whole line of kibble geared for dogs with allergies. I really like to show people the Salmon and Sweet Potatoe when I hear they have a dog allergic to other foods.

[Diana]

The best thing to do is just read the ingredients list. If it has any grain, rice, potato, or other carbo filler then it is no good for dogs/cats. I always laugh at pet food commercials when they say "contains natural whole grains" and a pretty picture of wheat floats across the screen and make it seem like its such a good thing. Someone is doing a great marketing job when they can make you believe its good for your pets to eat!

But that is true of fast food commercials too...

-Diana

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Diana

The best thing to do is just read the ingredients list. If it has any grain, rice, potato, or other carbo filler then it is no good for dogs/cats. I always laugh at pet food commercials when they say "contains natural whole grains" and a pretty picture of wheat floats across the screen and make it seem like its such a good thing. Someone is doing a great marketing job when they can make you believe its good for your pets to eat!

But that is true of fast food commercials too...

-Diana

not nessasarly true.. dogs do need some carbs, unlike cats. the issue is which sources they are using for carbs. potatos, whole veggies, fruit, ect = ok, grain, rice, yeast, ect = not ok. also you have to look at the type of meat, by-products = garbage and then the amount of meat compared to other things.

the biggest problem is big companies like nestle, dare, ect are buying up the dog food companies to they can use there byproducts from making other things as filler in dog and cat food, so they save money two ways.

I will stick with champion foods, small alberta company that makes orijen, arcana, and one other line they do everything in house from making the food to packaging, and they source quality local ingreadiants. family run, and they feed it to there own pets.. doesn't hurt that it is concidered one of the best dog foods out there also..

Steve

[RobynR]

Wow, thanks for all the feedback!!

I have a small update on our vet situation; Sophie, our Mini Schnauzer, went in for her annual exam on Tuesday. Our last vet left the clinic and moved to Victoria a few months ago.

Sophie is terrified of the vet since she got spayed last year and was shaking pretty badly. The first thing the new guy asked me when we go there (before I had even put her on the table) was; what do you feed her? That immediately got my back up. I told him, and he said we should be feeding MediCal; it would help her 'severe' anxiety and would be good for her teeth. - Are you kidding me?!!. I informed him that he was there to provide medical services for my animals and not to sell me dog food.

Apparently I also have a bad attitude about vaccinations, as I asked him to make sure that he was not about to give her the one she had a past reaction to and he got really offended and never actually gave her any vaccination. He said if I did not want his advice, we could take our animals elsewhere. So I took Sophie and walked out. The next morning I called and asked them for out pet's records.

I now have an appointment with a holistic vet, whom has had fantastic recommendations from several people in our community. He feeds raw and I'm really excited for our appointment next week.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by RobynR

Apparently I also have a bad attitude about vaccinations,

That's a whole 'nother thread

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

hehe, ya not great is an understatment. it is one of the worst foods out there from the ratings page. wanna have some fun.. tell that to your vet and watch him try explain his way out of it.

Steve

I'd love to but after the last visit, I am never going back. It has become very apparent that his solution to everything is either Medi-Cal or the pheromones he sells to calm cats/dogs down for around $100 each. My problem is not whether these products are useful or not but that he doesn't really do much thinking about the problem, just reverts back to food every time. Or when my cat had a blood shoot eye, he blamed the stress of a new dog and wanted me to buy these pheromones for $100...turned out the cat had some hair in his eye and once I removed it, his eye cleared up