Skip to content

Thoughts about feeding a raw diet?

Basenji Feeding
  • Yeh, feeding a BARD diet is all about getting the balance right but not at every meal. Thats one of the things that lets the comercial stuff down; they make every meal balanced. But so long as it is balanced over the weeks, you've got no problem.

    I think it is worth the extra time preparing the raw diet just to have a healthy dog.

    With a BARF diet you know what he's eating!

  • I just don't know about the raw diet. The thing about raw is that yes dogs did eat raw in the wild but it was fresh kill and eaten fairly soon. Not killed, then processed and handled in a factory, packaged and shipped around in a truck.

  • With a BARF diet you know what he's eating!


    just don't know about the raw diet. The thing about raw is that yes dogs >>did eat raw in the wild but it was fresh kill and eaten fairly soon. Not killed, >>then processed and handled in a factory, packaged and shipped around in >>a truck.


    Right. AND you really DON'T know what he's getting. I mean, look at the problems with the feed recently. The tainted product from China was in pig food, fish food…God knows what else. So, if you are buying meat or even growing your own but buying the feed, you still can't be sure of what you're feeding. If you are buying the meat,as you said, you're not buying fresh.

    And feeding raw to Basenjis here is not going to be the same as their natural diet in Africa anyway.

    I don't know. . . It's an idea I toyed with, but I think I'll stick with kibble.
    {besides, I can store the kibble in a bin in my garage. I don't have room to keep raw meats fresh for three dogs and still have room in the fridge/freezer--and time to prepare -- foods for my family of eight! LOL}

  • I have fed my raw and still give them chicken wings and necks… and yes sometimes they swallow the entire thing... ggg... When Jamari was a 3 month old, I gave him a chicken wing and he darn near swallowed the entire thing whole...yikes... while he was fine... it was an adventure when he pooped the first time!!!! Part of wing came out as it went in!!!! But I do give mine veggies, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, egg, yogart, cottage cheese, so they get a lot of different stuff at different times....

  • So you feed raw meats, but other foods are processed or cooked{yogurt, cottage cheese, etc} ?

    Do you feed any kibble? Or just raw meats, veggies, and dairy?

  • No I feed kibble, I used to use Canidae senior but have recently change to EVO that has no grains. Because I am feeding at home all seniors, I am using the new EVO low fat that is meat and fruit…. The raw meat I will use once or twice a week instead of the kibble, and the other stuff I will add to the kibble, different stuff, different days... and yes the other stuff is processed like the yogurt and cottage cheese... the veggies I do both raw (cause they like them) and steamed also.... I do not do many carrots due to the high sugar content..

  • I have also fed raw but it is the prep work that gets to me. If I could go and premake a month's worth of food so all I had to do was pull a bag out of the freezer every day I would do it. I am just not organized enough to get to that point. One big advantage feeding raw has over kibble, is variety. Since when you feed raw you vary your meats and vegetables you also decrease the bioaccumulation if one of those things is contaminated. When you feed kibble your pet will bioaccumulate more of the contaminant over a shorter period of time because it is all they are eating.

  • @lvoss:

    I have also fed raw but it is the prep work that gets to me. If I could go and premake a month's worth of food so all I had to do was pull a bag out of the freezer every day I would do it. I am just not organized enough to get to that point. One big advantage feeding raw has over kibble, is variety. Since when you feed raw you vary your meats and vegetables you also decrease the bioaccumulation if one of those things is contaminated. When you feed kibble your pet will bioaccumulate more of the contaminant over a shorter period of time because it is all they are eating.

    Bioaccumulate….hmmm....that must be what has happened on my butt! :rolleyes:

  • @Quercus:

    Bioaccumulate….hmmm....that must be what has happened on my butt! :rolleyes:

    Hey, that explains it!!! ggg… and not only my butt, but my "gut" too!

  • LOL! Me too…both rhyming body parts. Thanks for the laugh, Andrea...I was reading it and didn't "get it" at first...I'm reading your prior posts in this thread looking for "butt"...then I re-read it and literally laughed out loud!!

Suggested Topics

  • Raw Food Diet??!?!

    Basenji Feeding 27 Sept 2012, 20:35
    0 Votes
    26 Posts
    25k Views
    Ok, just had to add some more. Had a friend over yesterday (our first thanksgiving turkey, then Thursday again!) and she saw Hershey 12.8 years old and she mentioned how alert he was. Coat and eyes were clear and shiney! I was really excited to hear this as I read this about others' dogs in different forums etc. So, anyone thinking about it, it is not a fad…..it works and they all love it!
  • 0 Votes
    4 Posts
    3k Views
    every time I hear things like that about raw feeding I ask myself the same questions.. what about Prime rib? what about steak served rare?. what about carpaccio, steak tartare, sushi,. and all kinds of meat and vegetables we eat raw..and like you mention. what about everyday handling of meat by.. uh everyone?
  • 0 Votes
    7 Posts
    2k Views
    I once bought a book, 'The Food Dogs Die For' - after page 1 I stopped reading it was very revealing about manufactured feeds - a bit too much for me!
  • Raw diet

    Basenji Feeding 5 Feb 2010, 16:23
    0 Votes
    23 Posts
    9k Views
    @nkjvcjs: I'm not at home, so I can't remember what we switched to, but I think it is the same thing. It comes in 4lb bags, and has a pheasant variety that the dogs are nuts for. -Nicole Yea, must be the same one. I picked up a 4lbs bag of the chicken formula and pheasant formula.
  • Raw Diet Extras.

    Basenji Feeding 6 May 2008, 14:46
    0 Votes
    16 Posts
    5k Views
    @JazzysMom: Well, yeah, but….. my concern is this: the meat that the wild dogs eat comes straight from the source, and it is a prey source that is natural to their environment -- no bacterial build-up in a dirty butcher shop or barn, you KNOW that they are eating only natural foods and no additives, or fillers {wild animals don't eat hay, oats, etc} that are perfectly matched to their dietary needs, and no dog has as its natural prey domestic cattle and chickens. Raw feeding has always intrigued me, but I'm not ready to make that leap yet. I have been thinking more and more, as I pass our local butcher shop each week, that I am leaning toward occasional treats of raw.....but am just too nervous to jump on in. May wind up being a raw feeder yet, though. :-) I think I will most likely start supplementing Roo's EVO Diet when he is completely switched over, with some Raw vegetables. Since Miranda and I are on the South Beach Diet anyway, we have a lot of fresh veges around so it just makes sense to give what I can to our pets. I do not know about anyone else, but the walks and time I now spend with my Basenji Roo, and my Boston Terrier Bonzo, have really impacted all of our life's in a healthy way. Last week I lost 6 lbs just doing our daily walk and the South Beach. Bonzo has lost the few lbs she needed to and is eating less and differently since we started the walks. Roo is achieving good muscular development and growth and is not Rolly Polly. I really think paying attention to Diet and exercise is really good for all involved. Jason
  • Raw feeding

    Basenji Feeding 10 Mar 2008, 20:29
    0 Votes
    1 Posts
    2k Views
    No one has replied