The one where I talk about dog food and why it's okay to not be one of the hip, cool kids.
Raw, raw-ah-ah-ah
Raw, raw, raw-ma-ma
Raw, raw, ooh-la-la
Let's talk some dog food
Do a Google search for "what should I feed my dog" or, "best dog food [insert year here]" and I guarantee you, nine out of ten hits are going to involve raw feeding. What's raw feeding? Exactly what it sounds like. You feed your dog raw meat. How much and what kind depends on the method you choose. Prey model feeding aims to mimic the diet of canine ancestors by eliminating any kind of plant products and focusing on meat, bones, and organs. The BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Foods) model is similar, but includes some fruits and vegetables. Either way, it's the hot thing to do. And I've been on the bandwagon, shouting its praises for about 7 years. But the times, they are a'changing. Why? What happened? Well, a couple of things. First, earlier in the summer, we took a trip and boarded our dogs for an extended period of time. I was going to need to provide enough meals that there was no way I could reasonably use raw meat. At least, not without causing some serious headaches for the caretakers. Yes, I could supply meals that were frozen, but someone would have to remember to take food out of the freezer early enough for it to thaw (because one of my dogs can't tolerate anything frozen). They're not getting paid enough to deal with that kind of malarkey. Heck, neither am I, but that's beside the point. In any case, I had to go with a couple of alternative products, which ended up being a mix of outrageously expensive freeze-dried and air-dried foods. And let me just say that the cost of their food for 10 days was almost as much as the cost to board them. Yeah, the wallet took a giant hit there.
Second, as you are maybe aware, we decided to add a third mouth to feed. When we started to have discussions about our next dog, I said that size was a factor for me. I was convinced that raw feeding was the way to go, and said that I could afford to feed a third smaller dog but that there was no way I could afford to feed a big dog. I did some rough math and it was going to cost me somewhere between $400–$500 a month, and that just seemed insane. Could I do it cheaper? Maybe. Some blog posts seemed to suggest that if I struck up a relationship with my local butcher, I could get access to some scraps or cuts that would be easier on my wallet. Great news! The downside, though, is that I would have to calculate the ratio for bones and organs on my own. That might sound easy, but it's not. You don't just plop a chicken back in a bowl and throw some liver on top. You have to do math. The bone needs to be at "x" percent, and the organ needs to be at "y" percent. And heart isn't an organ, it's a muscle, so it gets counted as meat. I mean, it's so much more complicated than anything I was interested in dealing with.
So when we committed to getting our Weizsla puppy, I was worried. I didn't know what I was going to do or how I was going to feed it. It's complicated enough to feed an adult dog raw food, but making sure a puppy—particularly a large-boned puppy—would get enough nutrients to ensure proper growth seemed like a daunting task. And as I mentioned before, commercially prepared raw diets are insanely expensive for small dogs. Using one for a large breed dog was just out of the question.
And then I had a real come-to-Jesus moment. I'd been focused on this feeding method because it's what everyone told me was the best. But was it? I started thinking back and noticed some red flags I had chosen to ignore because I'd bought into the hype. Like how after we got back from our trip, we had to take Omar to the vet for a ruptured anal gland. Like how he always, and I mean always, had eye boogers. Like how he stinks. Like a dirty, stinky, sweaty camel.
But most importantly, I cannot ever remember a time when he had a normal poop. Never. And poop is the biggest way you can tell how a dog is doing. Poop that's small and hard could be a sign of dehydration. Poop that's too soft and sticky can be an indication of intestinal distress. Omar's poop has always been on the soft and sticky side. He's been tested for intestinal parasites and has been given the all clear, so I started to wonder if it might be his food that was the issue. Maybe he had a bad romance with raw meat.
Interestingly enough, an online search turned up some people who were just like me—avid proponents of raw feeding but whose dogs just weren't thriving on it. For whatever reason, some dogs, apparently, just don't digest raw meat very well. Just like some humans can't tolerate certain foods. Who knew? Huh. OK. So now what? Do we make the switch to the word that shall not be mentioned? Yes. Yes, we do. Because, ultimately, it's my responsibility to care for these wonderful creatures and it's my duty to give them a food that works for their bodies, not one that all the hip kids thinks is cool. Kibble. We were going to start feeding kibble. I did a ton of Googling, read a number of reviews—from trusted websites and from consumers—and studied ingredients. I wasn't interested in anything with potatoes, lentils, peas, chickpeas, or pea protein. It's amazing how difficult it is to find a decent, affordable food with limited, healthy ingredients. But I managed to find a couple.
Open Farms Grass-Fed Beef and Ancient Grains claims to be loaded with 100% grass-fed beef raised without hormones or antibiotics. It includes healthy grains like steel-cut oats, brown rice, quinoa, and chia seeds. Superfoods pumpkin, coconut oil, and turmeric round out the formula. If you enter the lot number found on the bag into a field on the company's website, you'll get a list showing you exactly where each ingredient used in that bag came from. They're also committed to being good to the planet and have a climate change strategy. Maybe it's just smart marketing on their part, but I've bought into it. We've been feeding this for a couple of weeks and I can honestly say that I think it's working better for Omar. He has very little eye discharge now (some is normal for Boston Terriers since their eyes protrude from their skull) and he's filled out a little. But most importantly, his poop looks like actual poop for the first time in his life. I'm impressed enough that I've committed to using their puppy food for Pike and I've started taking steps to see if I can switch Bisou over to it. Stay tuned. If you're a dog owner, you know that you can't limit yourself to one food brand. Open Farms has a few proteins and a few formulas that are all interchangeable, so you can switch from one to another without needing to do a slow transition—which is great—but especially now with supply chain issues, you have to have a backup food or two. There's nothing worse than finding out that your food is out of stock everywhere or that's it's been discontinued. In the days ahead, we'll be slowly introducing and testing two dehydrated foods: The Honest Kitchen Food Clusters Whole Grain Beef and Oat Recipe and Canisource Grand Cru Red Meat. I'm cautiously optimistic about them, but we'll see. So there you have it. The story of a former dog food-snob who decided to stop listening to the voices shrieking about how kibble and corn and wheat and by-products were killing dogs and decided to listen to her dogs instead. The dog lover who has now vowed to not let perfect be the enemy of the good. And it feels okay. Better than okay. Peace out until next time!
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