Doing It Naturally

By Linda Monroe

(Following is more interchange on the Internet regarding natural feeding. Questions to Linda in italics).

I notice you DO cook it (meat) for your family -- I guess I feel that my dogs deserve the same protection from bacteria that cooking provides.

I don't cook meat to protect us from bacteria, I cook it so that our flat, vegetarian, grain crushing teeth can chew it. Cooking makes it tender. Have you ever tried to eat a piece of raw chicken or even cut it off the bone? Try deboning a raw chicken wing if you want an exercise in futility.

My point in the other post was that I had bacterial infections "before" going to a raw natural diet. I want to see if by feeding closer to the wild if it will give them a natural immunity to all this and an overall healthier immune system. I am not the only breeder by far to have infections in bitches or litters, (or studs) just one of the few who say so publicly.

I also have a problem with equating our dogs to wolves and other wild canines -- their digestive tracts have undergone just as much alteration through years of selective breeding as every other trait.

Some have probably. I know people who select their stock based on who did well on a certain type of food. Soon we won't be asking what the bloodlines are, but what foodline they are. I doubt seriously that the digestive tracts have changed much in the last 40 years since the invention of kibble.

I have serious doubts as to whether a pack of Mastiffs, Pomeranians, or most other domestic breeds would be able to establish a successful wild population.

Probably not since most of the prey have been killed or driven off and at least I for one, select for as little prey drive as possible. I never said our dogs were wild, only that they are built internally the same as wild dogs, short digestive tract, large canine teeth for ripping and tearing, and the ability to eat raw meat, crush bone, and thrive.

How many of us humans could survive in the wild on our own? Doesn't mean we can't eat fresh salads, raw fruits and veggies just because we are now "domesticated."

I have often recommended all-natural diets for clients with dogs with food allergies, etc., and have had great success when clients have been willing to take the trouble, but for the sake of health and safety, I recommend that ALL MEATS be cooked and that there not be any bones. You would do at least as much for the health of your two-legged family.

If someone doesn't want to feed raw, that is fine by me. I feel that a cooked diet is the next best thing, IMHO (in my humble opinion). But where in a cooked diet without bones do you get the calcium to offset all the phosphorus in the meat? If I only had one or two dogs, I probably would just feed them whatever we happen to be having, just emphasize the meat, and make it raw. But that's just me.