# Raw Feeders



## m.e. (Feb 28, 2006)

After dealing with the cats' urinary tract issues for months now, we've decided to transition them to a more natural (aka raw) diet. I was wondering if anyone else fed a raw diet for your dogs/cats/ferrets/other pets, and if you could share your experiences and resource recommendations.

I found a few sites that were instrumental in helping me make the decision to feed raw to the cats:

http://www.catnutrition.org/
http://www.catinfo.org/
http://www.felinefuture.com/
http://www.serve.com/BatonRouge/nutr.htm - tons goodinformation

I haven't read any books on raw feeding, but I would love to, if only to provide solid evidence to my vet that what I'm doing isn't foolish or dangerous :rollseyes:


P.S. For those not 'in the know', *B.A.R.F.* = *B*ones *A*nd *R*aw *F*ood/*B*iologically *A*ppropriate *R*aw *F*ood, and *R.M.B.* = *R*aw *M*eaty *B*ones


----------



## hummer (Feb 28, 2006)

My hats off to you for trying this. Thank goodness my senior citizen kitty has not had any problems (other than her bad balance which has cost her 2 teeth including one of her canines!). With her being 20 years old, she eats Iams Senior which is for 7+ year olds.

I see this as something you either completly do this or you stick with regular cat food and traditional medicine. I have seen this type of feeding before and looked into but I have alot going on without having to prepare Hobbes' food for her, and my dog would get jealous so he would want it too!

I am sorry for your kitty's UTI's and I hope this relieves her problems.


----------



## zarzamora (Feb 28, 2006)

I feed my 6.5 year old bordercollie mix a RAW diet. It took me a while to get over my fear of bones, but she is doing wonderfully, and really does seem healthier. Better energy level, better weight, GORGEOUS Teeth, plus she really seems to enjoy the process of meal time now. 

I lost my 16 year old sheltie to cancer, and the more I read about commercial pet foods causing cancers, the more I wanted to go raw. 

It's great here in Mexico, because all the meat is organic. No chemicals to worry about either. 

I have two cats, one transitioned onto Raw with no problems, he saw the dog doing it, and wouldn't be left out. The other wants nothing to do it. She wants her food kibbled darn it! Are you having any trouble getting your kittie onto the Raw diet. 

My buns are raw fed too, LOL.

See?






Moxie enjoying a RMB.


----------



## SunnieBunnie Rabbitry (Mar 1, 2006)

My dogs are RAW fed... http://www.sunniebunnierabbitry.com/Kajsa.html (Note: there are pictures at the very bottom of the link of my dogs eating there that most here will not feel comfortable with -scroll at your own risk)

My dogs have been on this diet since August and I will never, ever go back to kibble... Snip-it from my website:



> All our dogs are now fed a Biologically Appropriate Raw Food Diet. Basically, they eat all types of Raw Meat & Bones. Since switching from kibble, I have noticed a great improvement in health in ALL the dogs...
> 
> Kita has gone from an overweight 105 pounds to a healthy, muscular 80 pounds. She no longer licks & chews the bottom of her feet, and her coat is now healthy and shiny with no more flakes & dry, itchy skin. She also no longer has "dog" breath and has beautiful, clean, WHITE teeth. Her cronic ear infections have also stopped.
> 
> ...


 
The vet insisted that Cashew needed a dental cleaning, which was going to cost me $450.00... Now I'm glad I never took him in for it, after 2 weeks of Raw, his teeth improved 75%. Now, you'd never guess his teeth were ever as bad as they were.

BTW, depending on your location, there are some meat coop groups which buy in bulk and you get real savings than having to shop the grocery stores... Like here, there's the SoCalBARF group where 40#'s of Chicken Leg Quarters only costs you $23.50 on average. Check the Yahoo Groups to see what's near you.

I only have good experiences with this diet :colors:I'm hooked and do advocate it where I can .

As for educational links I've bookmarked these as being helpful in MY decision to switch: 

http://www.touchmoon.com/dotters/raw/links.html

http://www.rawmeatybones.com/diet/ExpDiet.html

http://www.rawdogranch.com/index.html (Nice Pro's & Con's list & How To's)


----------



## m.e. (Mar 1, 2006)

Great to see other raw feeders :colorsthanks for the links SunnieBunnie!) It's also great to hear about the success that others have had with this diet. Out of curiosity, are your veterinarians largely supportive of this, or not? Our vet really is wonderful, but I think I have some convincing to do before he accepts that this is a healthy and natural way to feed our cats.

Over the past year, we've had quite a fewurinary issues with the cats (one mother and her two daughters), which the vet has classified as FLUTD. In addition to addressing potential sources of stress, atour last visit the vet recommended weswitch the catsto aprescription dry food. I've never been a fan of dry food anyway, my cats exclusively eat high-quality canned food. And yet, even though we're feeding what many of my cat-owning friends would consider an "ideal" diet, we're still having problems. I think we've just got three cats for whom commercial food isn't going to cut it.

The upside is, thecats are young (between 1 and 2 years old), and they've eaten raw food in the past (as a supplement to their regular diet) with great success. In fact, the kittens were weaned on raw and canned food, so I don't think the transition will be too difficult. I've toyed around with the idea of raw food in the past, but ultimately was too lazy to ever impliment it. But I'm feeling quite confident about it now, and I'm definitely not going to miss the canned food breath or stinky litterbox...deposits 

Like I said, I've decided to follow the basic raw diet that Anne lays out on her website, catnutrition.org.

The only problem with it, is that I don't own a meat grinder. Obviously, the foundation of raw feeding is meat _with bones_. To purchase a meat grinder that could also handle bones would be a significant investment, something that is definitely out of my league at the moment.

I was, however, able to find an excellent source of *whole* ground chicken! By tomorrow I will have ten pounds of ground chicken and two pounds of chicken hearts (for the added taurine) delivered to my doorstep.

_Hare Today is a small family run farm. We strive for a healthy environment for all our animals without the use of hormones or antibiotics. I believe that a healthy animal raised with plenty of pasture space (rotational grazing) as well as good management techniques does not require all the "preventative measures" found in most feed lot practices. Fresh air, plenty of sunshine and room to roam is by far the best way to raise livestock. The chicken, turkey, pheasant, duck, salmon are USDA inspected ALL NATURAL.

* **_*WARNING** may be sensitive to people here, like Sunnie said, please scroll with caution: http://www.hare-today.com/


----------



## naturestee (Mar 1, 2006)

I've never used this system, but I have seen a pet store that buys meat for this in bulk to sell in the store. I've never looked to see exactly what they had, but they have a big chest freezer labeled as "Raw Meaty Bones Diet" or something like that.

It's a shame I live too far from it now. I really liked that petstore as it had great stuff like Oxbow, no live animals except fish, and I've seen Humane Society adoption days there.


----------



## SunnieBunnie Rabbitry (Mar 1, 2006)

m.e., I'm not sure if you've researched this or not, but the best way to switch to raw is cold turkey (excuse the pun ). The reason being that Raw meat& bones digest at a quicker rate than commercial food, therefore it would cause a bit of an uproar in the kitties tummies to have 2 types of food digesting at 2 different stages.

Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about a grinder...yes, even thoughANY raw fed diet is healthier than commercial, including ground... I've personally seen better results with whole raw fed items such as Whole chicken, Eggs, Pork Picnic shoulders, Beef Heart, *eh hum* rabbit. The chewing on chunks of meat and ripping pieces off is what cleans/flosses and strengthens teeth. If you're worried about them getting enough bone & calcium in their diet, ground would work a couple times a week as well as eggs (with shell for calcium).

Oh yes, another point about feeding larger portions over ground (I know it's this way for dogs, I'm only guessing it's the same for cats too)... Digestion needs to be initiated, meaning something needs to trigger the digestive fluids before the food reaches it's stomach. Feeding larger portions does just this, as the dog/cat needs to firstgnaw off a piece to consume. The smell of the food along with the gnawing gets the stomach ready for the food to enter. With ground food, they just swallow it down with no real stomach preparations and hence, may cause some digestive issues down the line.

My vet isn't thrilled that I've switched to raw - I was buying a weight loss diet dry food from them for my then obese dog ($40 for 30 pounds that would only last 2 weeks!!! and that was just for 1 dog!). I just advised my vet that it is MY responsibility to care for my dogs in the best way I possibly could, and that after researching the raw diet - found that to be the best & healthiest for them. She doesn't agree, but she doesn't totally condemn me either.She's seeing (or not seeing rather) great improvement in my dogs health since the switch. Now, I only take them in for their regular vaccinations and that's it! :shock: No more chronic ear infections, no more chewed feet, no more dry/flaky skin, no more bad teeth or bad breath, no more asthma attacks, no more thyroid problems, so therefore no more weight problems. :bunnydance:Life is good! :bunnydance:


----------



## zarzamora (Mar 1, 2006)

It is important to remember that most vetrinary schools only require their graduates to take 3 hours of animal nutrition, thats one, three hour a week course, one semester, to cover the nutritional needs of ALL animals. IMO, that just is not adequate. Proper diet is VITAL to the health and wellbeing of any living creature. Most vets just don't have enough information. Worse still, because they don't have enough information, they just believe what the Hills/Science Diet rep tells them about their line of "prescription diets" which IMO is a lot of hooey. Hills is one of the worst brands of pet food on the market. Full of low quality proteins and grains, fillers, animal byproducts and chemicals. No wonder the instances of cancers in pets is at an all time high. I have come to these conclusions following 9 years as Registered Veterinary Technician, and a stint in Vet school myself. Just because your vet thinks it's weird, doesn't mean it's bad. And not all vets will tell you RAW is wrong. I have found a wonderful veterinarian who advocates natural diets, doesn't over vaccinate her clients, or any of that un-necessary hog wash most unsuspecting pet owners get saddled with that ultimately reduces that lifespan of their companion. Don't give up! The good ones are out there!!


----------



## m.e. (Mar 2, 2006)

*zarzamora* - You're absolutely right! And that's why I don't necessarily fault my vet for reacting the way he does. I see this as a teaching moment 

*
SunnieBunnie Rabbitry wrote: *


> m.e., I'm not sure if you've researched this or not, but the best way to switch to raw is cold turkey (excuse the pun ). The reason being that Raw meat& bones digest at a quicker rate than commercial food, therefore it would cause a bit of an uproar in the kitties tummies to have 2 types of food digesting at 2 different stages.


 
You know, I hadn't heard that, but it makes a lot of sense. The meat should be here tomorrow, so hopefully we'll get started this weekend 





> Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about a grinder...yes, even though ANY raw fed diet is healthier than commercial, including ground... I've personally seen better results with whole raw fed items such as Whole chicken, Eggs, Pork Picnic shoulders, Beef Heart, *eh hum* rabbit. The chewing on chunks of meat and ripping pieces off is what cleans/flosses and strengthens teeth. If you're worried about them getting enough bone & calcium in their diet, ground would work a couple times a week as well as eggs (with shell for calcium).




The only reason I do this, is that cats don't react well to drastic changes in food texture. A cat that has been eating finely ground canned food all their lives may not even know what to do with a raw meaty bone! The food will definitely have chunks in it, to encourage chewing, and they'll get supplemental chicken necks for the purpose of cleaning their teeth. I think we'll just have to work up to larger and larger chunks of meat.


----------



## KatsMeowTree (Mar 2, 2006)

Try doing a search for "Hare Today Gone Tomorrow" I sell to there sometimes and they seem to do reasonably well. I know they have a website but I don't know what it is.

Kat


----------



## m.e. (Mar 3, 2006)

Well that's pretty cool, 'cause I just bought my first shipment of ground chicken from them . Should be arriving today :bunnydance:

(I linked to the site a couple posts ago)


----------



## KatsMeowTree (Mar 3, 2006)

Wow! That is pretty awesome that you guys buy from there. I really didn't know what their new address is I just email them and we arrange a sale. I've never sold anything but rabbit to them but I'm sure it's all just as maticulate.

Kat


----------



## Garden Flowers Rabbitry (Mar 4, 2006)

I'm just wondering.......with raw meat, wouldn't there be a chance of parasites in the meat?


----------



## SunnieBunnie Rabbitry (Mar 4, 2006)

*Garden Flowers Rabbitry wrote: *


> I'm just wondering.......with raw meat, wouldn't there be a chance of parasites in the meat?


 Not any more chance than the meatwe eat. Most parasites live in the intestinal tract, not in the actual meat itself.

As far as bacteria goes, animals have the natural capabilities of eating even the foulest bacteria ridden meat (Carrion for instance) with no ill effect. Thier digestive systems are made to process those types of meat without making them sick. That's what makes them so much different from us. It's amazing what an animal's body can do.

Edit: :shock:That doesn't mean I'm going to feed my animals Carrion though ... Fresh meat has better qualities and nutrients, so that's what I feed.


----------



## m.e. (Mar 4, 2006)

Yeah, I don't worry much about the cats, though for the humans' sake I am _vigilant_ about handling raw chicken.

The meat came today. I thawed five pounds of the whole ground chicken, and left the other five pounds frozen (I also thawed a half a bag of chicken hearts, about two pounds). I chunked the hearts, and mixed them in with the meat, water, eggs, cod liver oil, and supplements. The batchcame out tonearly 7 pounds total, which divided into 3/4 pound increments (1/4 pound per day, per cat) gave us over a week of food. Not bad, though I realize I'll need to get more meat pretty soon.

There was a little bit left over, so I tried serving it to the cats. *sniff*sniff* walk away...come back *sniff*sniff*...*lick* Scully actually ate some, and Miko chewed a little piece of heart. Admittedly, they weren't very hungry, so I expect more enthusiasm tomorrow morning


----------



## Garden Flowers Rabbitry (Mar 4, 2006)

Agreed...but even though some animals aren't affected by bacterias and parasites because their systems can handle it,,lots of animals and humans can't handle it. for example, if an animals immune system is lowered, and they carry/digest bacterias or parasites,,,that can kill them.


----------



## SunnieBunnie Rabbitry (Mar 4, 2006)

*Garden Flowers Rabbitry wrote: *


> Agreed...but even though some animals aren't affected by bacterias and parasites because their systems can handle it,,lots of animals and humans can't handle it. for example, if an animals immune system is lowered, and they carry/digest bacterias or parasites,,,that can kill them.


 
It depends on the situation. Most animals CAN handle it, and after the initial switch, their immune system along with their overall health begin to strengthen and improve (I've seen this firsthand in my own dogs, 2 of which were constantly in and out of the vet for various health reasons). I have yet to learn of an animal dying from bacteria in raw food... but then again, I've only been researching and studying this diet for a little over a year.

A raw food diet is easier on the digestive tract than all of the by-products,additives, and fillers that are in commercial food... hence the reason most people see drastic improvement in their animals after switching to raw. Less Crap In, Less Crap Out.


----------



## Garden Flowers Rabbitry (Mar 4, 2006)

I understand and and agree with the rationalization about food without additives, chemicals etc being healthier. I'm not knocking the diet ,,people find out what's best for their pets and that's the way to go. I have short tailed opossums and a hedgehog on holistic diets and they do very well.


----------



## SunnieBunnie Rabbitry (Mar 4, 2006)

*m.e. wrote: *


> The meat came today. I thawed five pounds of the whole ground chicken, and left the other five pounds frozen (I also thawed a half a bag of chicken hearts, about two pounds). I chunked the hearts, and mixed them in with the meat, water, eggs, cod liver oil, and supplements. The batchcame out tonearly 7 pounds total, which divided into 3/4 pound increments (1/4 pound per day, per cat) gave us over a week of food. Not bad, though I realize I'll need to get more meat pretty soon.
> 
> There was a little bit left over, so I tried serving it to the cats. *sniff*sniff* walk away...come back *sniff*sniff*...*lick* Scully actually ate some, and Miko chewed a little piece of heart. Admittedly, they weren't very hungry, so I expect more enthusiasm tomorrow morning


 Not bad m.e., sounds like a nice introduction of what's to come. I'm sure they'll be more enthusiastic tomorrow.

I chose to fast my dogs for a day and a half before going raw, but that was my choice... I wanted to give them some extra time to get the kibble out of their system before putting the good stuff in. It worked well for us. My puppy, however, I did not fast when we switched her - a growing puppy needs their food.

With my troublesome trio, I go through about 190 pounds a month (I'm so grateful for the coop). Even at that poundage, It's still MUCH cheaper than kibble.


----------



## maherwoman (Mar 4, 2006)

*We have a Hobbes, too! 

hummer wrote: *


> My hats off to you for trying this. Thank goodness my senior citizen kitty has not had any problems (other than her bad balance which has cost her 2 teeth including one of her canines!). With her being 20 years old, she eats Iams Senior which is for 7+ year olds.
> 
> I see this as something you either completly do this or you stick with regular cat food and traditional medicine. I have seen this type of feeding before and looked into but I have alot going on without having to prepare Hobbes' food for her, and my dog would get jealous so he would want it too!
> 
> I am sorry for your kitty's UTI's and I hope this relieves her problems.


----------



## m.e. (Mar 7, 2006)

Well, the cats are eating the raw food, albeit somewhat begrudgingly (_where is our canned food?! :tantrum:_) They haven't quite gotten the hang of chewing the chunks, they seem to prefer the ground food, but we're getting there


----------



## SunnieBunnie Rabbitry (Mar 7, 2006)




----------



## m.e. (Mar 14, 2006)

Well, it's beennearly two weeks since the start of our raw food 'experiment'. And I ampleased to report that it is a success! :bunnydance:

The cats are eating their food, and not just that, but they're actuallyexcited for meals  Only one of the cats will eat hearts, though, soI've added extra taurine to supplement. They do love the meaty bonesthat I've begun introducing this week, so that's good.

Oh, and we haven't had _any_ stinky litterbox issues since we switched over. That alone is reason to celebrate :jumpforjoy:


----------



## SunnieBunnie Rabbitry (Mar 14, 2006)

*m.e. wrote:*


> Oh, and we haven't had_any_ stinky litterbox issues since we switched over. That aloneis reason to celebrate :jumpforjoy:


Awesome! I can relate to the feeling of not having a stinkymess...lol... I've got 3 dogs - 2 of which are LARGE... Yet our yarddoes not smell "doggy"...lol.

Congrats on your progress!


----------



## m.e. (May 6, 2006)

Well, it's been over two months now, so I thought I'd give a progress report:

Since transitioning to raw, the cats have never looked healthier.Their coats are softer andshinier, and while they'velost some weight, the vet said they are in _ideal_ condition andwe should keep doing what we're doing 

Stinky litterbox? No more! I'm truly shocked :shock: Because the catsare actually utilizing most of what they take in, their poos aresmaller, less frequent, and completely odorless :bunnydance:

Our new boy, PJ, has made the switch from 9 Lives yuck) to raw injust two weeks, and while he's still not sure what to do with thosechunks of chicken (_You mean you want me to *chew* them?




)_, he really seems tolike his new food. The one thing throwing a wrench in the whole processis that he's used to free-feeding, and doesn't seem to grasp that if hedoesn't eat his food it gets taken away! *sigh* Silly boy...

We still don't have a grinder, so we continue to order our whole groundchicken from Hare Today, and I like that we can support small farms bybuying our the rest of the food, like chicken meat and eggs, locally:thumbup


----------



## SunnieBunnie Rabbitry (May 6, 2006)

I'm so glad to hear everyone is happy and doing fantastic! 

That's the thing about switching to RAW though... it's one of those"gotta see it to believe it" things. Everyone is just fed somuch bologna from the commercial pet food industry that the mere ideaof going "al'natural" seems so questionable.

I'mhappy to hearyou made the switch for the betterof your pets and that you're seeing all the great improvements firsthand. Isn't it a great feeling to know your animals arehealthy and in the best condition they've ever seen!

~Sunshine


----------



## m.e. (Apr 22, 2007)

:bump

Thought this would be a useful resource in light of the ongoing recalls.

I've been feeding my four cats a raw food diet for well over a yearnow. The benefits I've seen since the switch have been so worth it: 

- they've all slimmed down and are at their ideal weights. 

- they are always alert, active and playful, with energy to spare. 

- their fur is shiny and incredibly soft.

- their skin is so healthy that they give off little dander and even my cat-allergic friends can enjoy them without a problem.

- their teeth are clean and their breath doesn't smell (neither does the litterbox ) 

- they haven't had a single bladder issue since making the diet change.

And best of all? They *love* their food. And I feel verycomfortable knowing where it came from and what happened to it before Iserve it to them.

In the beginning, in order to transition them from canned food to rawfood, I bought ground meat/bones/organs and mixed it into batches. ThenI bought a grinder and made it all myself. Now that they've gotten thehang of eating the raw meat, I serve them 'whole prey' style: chickenwings, thighs, etc. along with organ meats. They eat the meat_and_ the bones, which gives them those pearly whites 

It's very easy and not at all expensive. I know some people aresqueemish about handling raw meat, but sanitary practices are not thatdifficult to maintain. The cats eat behind a gate in our kitchen,containing the mess and allowing for easy clean-up. Many people whohave raw-fed dogs feed them in the backyard or garage.

If you're worried about the 'ethics' of feeding raw, consider the factthat you can excercise a greater level of control over the source ofyour pets' food. It's a lot easier to buy a humanely-raised chickenfrom a market than it is to find a pet food manufacturer with a'humane' label.  I buy thecats' chicken from local farmers and butchers:thumbup

Hope this helps!


----------



## JadeIcing (Apr 22, 2007)

Very intresting. Not sure I could do that without getting sick.


----------



## Krissa (Apr 22, 2007)

I did some research on the raw diet and came tothe conclusion not to use it on my dog. I'm sorry but eventually youare going to run into some nasty bacteria in uncooked meat and havesome really sick animals on your hands. Also the bones, for dogs atleast, have been shown to ruin the enamel on their teeth. The tarter isgone but their teeth are ruined by the the hard surface.

Domestic pets do not have the ability to avoid bacterial problems, theyare not wild animals that are exposed to small amountsof thecontaminates each day. Even wild animals are known to succum to badmeat. Wild cats and wolves normally eat freshly killed meat which doesnot have the levels of bacteria that will harm them. As the animalages, the chance they could die due to the bacteria. Domestics caneasily be taken out by Salamanella. I read several books for andagainst the raw diet and decided it was a big no.

Yes, human meat can be contaminated, but thats why we cook it. My vetreccomendednot to attempt the raw food diet. I'm consideringswitching to table scraps, now that I am eating healthy, and talking tomy vet about that.


----------



## m.e. (Apr 22, 2007)

*Krissa wrote:*


> *Domestic pets do not have the ability to avoid bacterialproblems*, they are not wild animals that are exposed to smallamountsof the contaminates each day.



That is a generalization, and is simplynot true. _Most_ healthy animals will not succumb to any harmfulbacteria. Some will. Then again, some animals will succumb to a dietwith grains or one that's been contaminated. There is NO risk-freesolution :dunno

By the way, salmonella has been found in commercial foods as well.

Carnivores have a higher acidic level in their bodies than omni's do,it's a by-product of an all-meat diet. Which means that bacteria has amuch harder time surviving in the gut of a carnivore, a gut which isalso significantly shorter than an omni's, meaning there is little timefor a bacterial overgrowth to develop. Dogs are not humans. Cats arenot humans. They cannot be compared nutritionally or pathogenically.

My vet doesn't support a raw diet either. Fine by me, because frankly,most vets have an appalling lack of nutritional training and what theydo have is often sponsored by pet food manufacturers. The AmericanCollege of Veterinary Nutrition? Has a grant from Purina :whatevah

I really respect that you've researched this and have come to adifferent conclusion. I don't think raw is right for all. For mostmaybe , but not all. But please don't make broad sweeping statementsthat cannot be supported by the evidence. It's not conducive to abalanced discussion.


----------



## Michaela (Apr 23, 2007)

Very interesting....onder:

I think this would really be good for my cat Moppet, I don't know ifhe'd eat it though. He won't eat canned food, has to be out of apouch:rollseyes...somehow he knows the difference.:?

But we'd never do it, my mum wouldn't want to prepare it for him (he'sher cat), and I can't touch raw meat, even looking at it makes me sick.


----------



## jil101ca (Apr 23, 2007)

I've done some research on this a while ago andalthough it sounds good I'm far to lazy to take the time. I have verylittle time for me and I'm not giving it to the dog and cat.My dog eats kibble and does great but my cat can not have dry food, heeats canned meat.I changed him over to wet food over a yearago because he had alot of urinary trouble and it broke our heart tosee him suffer in such a way. He has been trouble free nowforthat timeand has saved me over $3000 in vet bills in 1 year.There are some really informative web sites out there about this diet.


----------



## naturestee (Apr 23, 2007)

There are some pre-made raw diets availabletoo. I've seen them sold in a few pet stores, and you canorder them online.

Eve refuses to chew food unless it's dry. If it's wet food ormeat and it can't be licked up and swallowed, she won't touchit. She'll get really upset about not being able to eat it,especially if it's a piece of chicken or venison, but she won't chewit. So... no raw here.

Krissa, as long as raw food is handled properly it's not likely tocause bacterial issues. The biggest problems are usuallyfound in restaurants where the hygiene isn't what it should be, plusground meats are more likely to be contaminated because of the extraprocessing and larger surface-to-volume ration. That's whyburgers have to be cooked at least medium-well now. But eventhere, problems are rare. Raw ground beef sandwiches arepopular in this area, especially at holidays, and nobody even in mygrandparent's memory ever got sick from it.


----------



## Krissa (Apr 23, 2007)

I'm just saying, you can never be sure how thebutcher handled the raw meat, I have no problem with feeding the meat,I just cook it first. I never eat meat any way but well done myself -just too many chances. Also you may not know your animal has an illnessat the time of eating the bad meat, and they may get sick.

I know you all love your babies, and are taking all the percautions.I'm jst adding my opinion to the mix. I am really enjoying reading thisdiscussion.


----------

