[BGBY]

Hi!

My Casey has skin issues. She's been fed kibble for 9 years. She has an unbelieveable stink to her, loses her hair in pretty much all seasons and the vet has drilled us that it is a flea allergy. I say food issues, mainly with kibble because it's laiden with artificial fillers such as corn, wheat and soy and is highly processed. :frown:

I started researching the RAW diet after continuously FRONTLINE'ing Casey but she still has the stink, flaky skin and massive hairloss.

If your dog had skin issues like my Casey does, I would like to see what others' dogs skin and coats looked like before starting the RAW Diet and after eating RAW.

Also, if you could, I would appreciate any info on your dogs before and after pics. Please tell me how your dog looked before starting RAW, symptoms if any and then tell me how they were after feeding RAW with any improvements and pics.

If you don't have pics, a testimonial will suffice.

 

[DaneMama]

How long have you had her on RAW?

Sounds like a food issue to me...would love to see before and after shots with your pooch to see the progress.

I don't have a canine testimonial, but we adopted a kitten about 2 months ago. She came to us barely weighing a pound. The girl that dropped her off at my work claimed to have gotten her from a woman passing the kittens out at a grocery store. The girl said that she fed the kitten nothing but processed cow's milk (the stuff that most people drink) for the week she had her. Talk about species inappropriate diet! Most of her top fur had fallen out...and she was super weak.

We have had her on RAW since we brought her home. It only took about a week for her fur to start filling in and the fur that grew back was a completely different color than the fur that fell out. Now she is full of life and a total handful. I'm sorry that we don't have any good before/after pictures of her. She really does look 100% better. My boss/vet just is in awe of what shape she is in. She always remarks at how full and soft her fur is.

Before...you can see how patchy her fur is...especially around her neck.

 

[DaneMama]

After...grey fur instead of black.

 

[DaneMama]

Here are some pictures that I just found online

This one is from someone who feeds a grain-free homemade diet (not a RAW diet of exclusively meat, bone, organs) but you can see the difference when grains alone are cut out...

natural homemade dog and cat food. Rocky's Testimonial - raw meat diet for pets.

 

[BGBY]

Thank you for posting danemama08!

Casey has had thin hair around the front too but not at the moment. This was taken last summer and she was just a mess.


Here is a pic from today.


We started on 9/19 or 9/20/09 so it's been under a week but side tracked a couple times that I know of by hubby. He wants to see pics of dogs with bad skin and coats before RAW and nice skin and coat after feeding RAW to see the results for himself. I am hoping people like you can help me convince him with pics and testimonials that RAW is the way to go because he doesn't believe it's healthy for a dog to eat RAW.

 

[DaneMama]

You shouldn't need to convince him. Just feed the dogs RAW...and let him see for himself after a few weeks of he improvement. What is there to lose? Your dogs coat and skin are already in horrible condition, with no further help from your vet...

Tell him to just give it a month. Guaranteed you will see results. It takes time for hair/fur to grow back. I know this because its been 2 months and now the kitten's fur looks normal...

 

[BGBY]

I know her skin looks horrible. :frown: I feel so bad that I didn't act sooner. I was buying into the flea crap but I don't believe it anymore because the FRONTLINE hasn't helped her skin or or bad smell.

I have also been feeding them RAW chicken regardless of what he says. I owe Casey more than just buying her a 15 dollar bag of dog food.

 

[jdatwood]

Ask him if he honestly thinks that dogs are meant to eat corn, rice, veggies, etc. He just needs to engage his brain here :wink:

Look at their teeth... they're designed for crushing bone and tearing up meat.... not eating frosted flakes and cocoa puffs (or kibble)

 

[DaneMama]

I know her skin looks horrible. :frown: I feel so bad that I didn't act sooner. I was buying into the flea crap but I don't believe it anymore because the FRONTLINE hasn't helped her skin or or bad smell.

I have also been feeding them RAW chicken regardless of what he says. I owe Casey more than just buying her a 15 dollar bag of dog food.

Don't feel bad. The majority of people feed their animals crap unknowingly (altho I do think that if you are going to own an animal, you should really do your research first into proper nutrition).

When you see a bag of dog food say that its a healthy, balanced diet, why would you think otherwise? Most dogs do "ok" on kibble based diets, but the majority of those dogs end up with all sorts of problems later down the road. I don't think that people realize that what they feed their dogs will eventually lead to health problems later in life, which also means expensive vet bills...

I know this is a bit off topic, but I was thinking about something the other day. It seems very funny to me that Hills Science Diet maintenance formula is fed to dogs over years...but a LOT of these dogs will develop kidney disease, liver disease, bad teeth, skin/coat issues. Then they are put on expensive Prescription diets specially formulated for all these specific ailments. Shouldn't a maintenance diet be nutritious enough that the majority of the animals stay healthy forever? I know that some animals genetics have a play in their health, but why are most of these animals getting sick later in life? Is Hills making the maintenence formulas so that dogs fail, so they can make more money from expensive Prescription diets?

 

[Unosmom]

great pics everyone, I was also trying to find some before and after raw pics online, but there isnt a whole lot, mostly people who are on raw diet.

 

[BGBY]

Unosmom, are you feeding RAW at the moment? How is your pup's skin and coat?

 

[BGBY]

Look what I found... A before and after pic of a pitbull with skin issues one week after being fed RAW.

Raw Fed Pits

I'm off to look for more. :biggrin: Gotta beef up the thread for hubby and others who are sceptical. Pun intended! :tongue:

Another RAW feeder saved their cat's life!

How I cured my cat's diarrhea and saved his life.

 

[Unosmom]

he eats half raw half kibble (acana provincial) right now, he's never had any major health issues, just allergies (contact, flea and he's allergic to yeast), but then again he's only 3.5, I wouldnt expect him to be unhealthy.
The only thing was that his previous owner fed him Iams and when I first got him he would vomit every night, I'd wake up in the middle of the night of him hacking up biles of clear vomit, it was pretty gross, I started reasearching foods more because shortly after that major recall occured, so I switched him to grain free food and he stopped vomiting.
Right now he's happy, healthy, energetic. Here are few pics, they will probably come out rather large:

 

[BGBY]

He sure is gorgeous!

I read that you shouldn't feed kibble and raw together because it takes longer for the kibble to pass through and if they eat RAW, it could rot the meat in the gut. Does he eat it at the same time or seperat occasions?

 

[Unosmom]

No, I usually feed kibble in the a.m and raw in the evening.

 

[rannmiller]

I don't really have any before and after pics unfortunately, my dog's problems solved by raw were more subtle than what could be captured on film I suppose. However, my 11 year old shepherd mix got started on raw and it pretty much saved her life. She was on SD prescription food for 8 years so she had random bouts of diarrhea and vomiting, could barely walk, shed constantly, and brown/yellow teeth that were just nasty.

After starting her on raw, her teeth are nice and white, she has so much energy she out-sprinted my mom on a walk and jumps around all excited whenever she sees her leash, LOVES to eat her meals (she used to be pretty blah about it before), her coat is nice and shiny and doesn't shed as much, her stools have finally firmed up after 8 years of soft/runny poo, and she hasn't had diarrhea or vomited since she started.

Tell THAT to your hubby about starting older dogs on raw! It takes her a little while longer than a young dog to get through it, but by golly she loves it and does so well on it I think she would fall apart if she had to go back to kibble again.

 

[BGBY]

Great post rannmiller! Thank you for sharing!

 

[rjc]

I'm sorry...

but I have neither the time nor the money to do this. More power to you all. My dog's happy with her Nutro Ultra

 

[rannmiller]

How can you say you don't have the money for raw but you do have the money for Nutro Ultra? That crap's expensive! Raw is easily cheaper than a $50+ bag of dog food and better for your dog too. The only extra time it takes is maybe cutting up liver once a week or dividing large packages of meat into smaller ones so they're easier to thaw out later on once a month. And I can pick the meat up while I'm at the grocery store shopping for my own food, hence saving me a useless trip to PetCo or Petsmart (or wherever you prefer to buy your Ultra, I know they also carry it at a couple of farm feed store type places too). So in that sense it's much more convenient and healthier for my dogs. Sounds like a lack of research and knowledge on your part more than anything else.

 

[BabyHusky]

maybe rjc works for nutro. 2 posts and both are about "go nutro" *shrug*