A raw deal

River waits patiently for her supper.

I get asked a lot about why/how we feed our dogs-- how we came to that decision, how we knew what to do, where we get what we feed, and just why go to the trouble.

It's true. Raw feeding is not simple-- although it is a very stripped down, basic way to feed. I mean that unless you have a lot of money to toss around (and if that's the case, let's be friends!!), you don't just go to the store, buy a bag, and dump it into their bowls. And even buying premade raw requires safe food handling practices, washing their bowls after every meal, and planning ahead since the stores that carry those premade formula's aren't open 24hours a day like your neighborhood one-stop-shop.

And once you've made the decision to feed raw, there are countless permutations to wade through.

Yes, there are premade formulas. If you decide to do these, you still have to find out what is available to you locally or that can be shipped. There are formulas that are "complete and balanced" and others that are a base formula to which you add your own supplements. There are formulas that may include various proteins or single proteins. And then you may want to find out where these proteins are sourced from, what THEY are fed, what their living (and dying) conditions are like if that is something that's important to you-- and if it's something that you can afford (I'm sad to say we have not yet found all humanely sourced meats that we can afford yet).

Heart, kidneys, tongue, sweetbreads.

And then you can also go the route of DIY. At this point, you have to learn how much of what you need to feed. How much bone, how much fat, how much organ meat, how much muscle meat... and you have to find sources for those things. For many people, chicken livers are about all the organ meats that are available. If that's the case, how do you make up what's missing? Where can you get affordable kidney, sweetbreads, pancreas, etc. And the same questions of sourcing apply here.

And then there's the question of grinding or not grinding. There are benefits to both.

There's storage space, packaging and portioning.

That River dog. She is so patient!

There's a lot to think about. And it's not for everyone. It's not for every dog, and it's not for every household. Our choices have changed over the years, as the dogs' needs have changed, as our finances have gone up and down, as our sources and knowledge have changed, and I'll details a lot of these changes and the research we did throughout the coming posts, particularly for those of you who are interested in learning more about it.

And that is the beauty of it all. You have control. You make choices. You aren't bound by what's in the bag. And as much as you wish you could just feed kibble sometimes, you are hooked on that control.

And seeing the results in our pups... I am glad for every minute of this. It's a learning curve, a journey. So far, it's been good for us.