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Inadvertent promotion for raw feeding

Basenji Feeding
  • If ever there was a video that did more to promote feeding your dog high quality kibble, if not raw, here's one…

    I guess it's from a Discovery Channel program about how stuff is made:

    How Pet Food Is Made

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqp4Rm1LuBo

    Some highlights:

    "It's the stuff of sophisticated nutritional science…"

    "Wanna bet some dogs and cats eat healthier than their owners?"

    "... but the basic ingredients that factories grind up to make dog and cat food are generally similar. First, CORN KERNELS."

    "As the continuous stream of shaped mixture exits the die, a spinning knife cuts it into pieces."

    "Once the pieces exit the dryer, they enter a revolving drum where they're sprayed with fat and flavoring. The fat is designed to add food energy, while the flavoring gives the bland pieces an appetizing odor and taste."

    … Something seems to be missing from this kibble (rated at 2 stars on dogfoodanalysis.com, FWIW). That is... where's the meat?? I guess it's sprayed on or something?

  • Heh, I come from a culinary tradition where fish heads, chicken heads, and chicken feet are considered fit for human consumption (I've eaten my share of the first, but never developed a taste for the latter two). But the point is taken – the definition of "meat" contained in dog food is also highly dubious!

    So again... where's the meat? ;)

  • Im so glad I feed my dogs a raw diet, I know exactly what they are getting!

  • I use either high quality grain-free kibble or Raw for Kananga. Usually 1 meal of each, per day.

    I would never give him anything of lesser quality. Makes me happy knowing he very well may live to be a bit older by having quality meals. :)

  • I also give my girls high quality dry food, and raw veggies and meats, but it makes me wonder sometimes how come when we were little, our family dogs basically ate what we did, leftover of course, and managed long, healthy lives…....

  • 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!

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    Basenji Feeding
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    we still have "butchers" here in Australia. these are usually local shops, that sell meat. After they have cut up the large sides of beef, they are left with some bones. The bones you are after are the breast bone, which is usually discarded as waste, but is good for dogs. Get them to cut the bone (which is about 1 metre (about 1 yard) long), into the size that is good (mine are cut into chunks about 7.5cm (about 3 inches)) or whatever size you want. The cutting is done on a bandsaw so no effort on their behalf. The advantage is that there is no debris left for the motor mower to fling at your windows, or for insects to settle on. Even at the supermarkets there are some to be had, but find out from the meat section when they get deliveries. You will pay more at the supermarkets, but you should not pay more than necessary.
  • Raw food

    Basenji Feeding
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    We switched our 2 boys to raw from kibble about 6 months ago. The switch came because we were simply exhausted from walking them 3 times a day because they had loose stool (we don't have fenced in yard, so we need to walk them to go to the bathroom). Our vet recommended more fiber in their diet to help with loose stool. This intuitively just didn't resonate with us. Basenji are one of the most ancient breeds of dog… why on earth would more fiber be a solution to their problem (I know the theoretical why, but logically it was counter-intuitive)? We read many sources or literature on the raw diet and thought this would be a good switch for them. Again, they are an ancient breed so moving toward raw foods seemed appropriate and logical. It took that about a month for them to get really accustomed to eating raw chicken quarters, rabbit halves or pork shoulders but now they have no problem gulping their meal right down, bone and all (for those of you who don't feed raw, gulping is a normal behavior and bone is an essential part of the diet). Their digestion issues have vanished and we've even seen marked improvement in their destructive behavior. Two super happy boys now, two super happy Basenji owners!!
  • Raw bones

    Basenji Feeding
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    Gizmo is loving his raw bone from the butchers experience. He has had 2 so far. The rib bone goes down nicely, and I have not seen it break into any sharp shards at all. But I still take it away once it is down to a small enough size so that he has the whole thing in his mouth and is chewing at it with is head up high. I don't want him to get too over excited and try to swallow it. Today I was going to mix it up by giving him a rawhide bone instead…he just sniffed it and looked at me as if saying "Where is the good stuff!?!" :D
  • Raw diet

    Basenji Feeding
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    KanangaK
    @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.
  • Feeding?

    Basenji Feeding
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    I've noticed that dogs, including Basenjis, eat more and get chubby if they were abandoned and lived in the streets for a while, especially when they were young pups. One of my Basenjis and one of my rescues have cast iron stomachs, they aren't picky eaters, and they love food! One of my Basenjis doesn't eat a lot and I often hand feed her so I know she is getting enough nutrients.
  • Raw meat diet

    Basenji Feeding
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    tanzaT
    @mauigirl: I spent quite some time at Carol Webb's when I was going around meeting breeders and we talked about feeding and giving raw meat. One thing I remember her saying is that it's important to not feed raw meat and dry kibble in the same meal because they get digested at different rates. In the future I will probably try giving Zip a handful of raw meals a week and see how she does. I'm not sure how I'd make that transition though. Right now she's doing fine on Innova. She is correct about the kibble and the raw meat..