Why I Feed a Raw Natural Diet to My Dogs

Years back when I lived on the Northern Coast of California, my two Newfoundland dogs slowly became covered in hot spots. The vet insisted that it was from a flea infestation. I washed every slip cover, curtain and fabric that could be thrown in the washer, used an environmentally safe white powder throughout the house on the carpeting and bathed my dogs outside with a neem based shampoo. But the hot spots just got worse. When I called the vet he still insisted that I must have fleas. I did not believe that. If there were fleas in my home or on my dogs, they were invisible as I was not getting biten, not were the cats.

I had heard of a woman by the name of Wendy Volhard who helped dogs and their owners with health issues that seemed unsolvable. I called her in tears about Emma Big Dog and Cubby. She explained to me that the food they were getting was just too alkaline. Canned or dry dog food is cooked which takes away all the essential amino acids and other nutrients that dogs need to maintain balanced health. The situation had been exacerbated by moving so close to the ocean in the heavy salt air in a place where molds and mildew were an issue. She gave me a list of things to buy to add to their very expensive dog kibble. She felt my concern when she listed raw beef as one of the ingredients and reassured me that she had been feeding it to her dogs for years and it was perfectly fine.

When I prepared this new concoction for the dogs, I watched them gobble it down as if they had never eaten a solid meal before in their lives. Still unsure about them eating raw meat I watched over them to see if there was any reaction. Within 24 hours there was a reaction – they stopped itching. The house became peaceful as the two of them slept and played with out one shake of the head or scratch on the bac or without a head whipping around to go after a painful itchy spot on the back. It was quiet.

I was hooked. I had to know everything and from that point on became a full time student of raw diet and holistic healing methods. To this day I follow the diet plan laid out in Wendy Volhard’s book, The Holsitic Guide for Healthy Dog. If you do not own it already, I suggest purchasing one as soon as possible.

Creating a balanced raw diet from scratch involves preparation and planning. It may not be for everyone due to time constraints. Though some people find it too expensive, I have, over the years, found ways to find the ingredients for less money – for example keeping a freezer chest for either sale meats or buying whole cows. I now buy two whole culled dairy cows each year and the price of meat per pound is $3.00. My dogs, cats and I all utilize this meat for our meals. I also buy my grains in bulk and use a grain flaker to roll them.

In Wendy’s book she gives the formula she gave to me that day of balancing kibble with raw ingredients. You can find this information on pages 14 – 15 of her book.

Another quick and easy method of feeding a raw, balanced diet is the dehydrated versions of Wendy Volhard’s diet – NDF and NDF2.