Raw food VS Premium dry food

First post on this site so hopefully I can get some insight into some other peoples feeding habits rather than what my local vet/dog trainer suggests. I know everyone has different opinions none is right or wrong its just whats working for you so please I ask the same -I would never critise what you are feed/doing etc with your animal so please respect me the same way -we are all here for the same thing we <3 our pets and want whats best for them and looking for some help.

My Nala is 6 months old and when I first got her (aged 8 weeks & the runt of the litter) she would barely get through 1/2 her daily feed of Natures Choice Premium dry food. Tried mixing raw egg, tuna, pumpkin, kangaroo meat etc through it and she would slowly start eating more as the dry food was stuck to the wet food.

I then tried a new one -Holistic Select which she ate and loved -I was very determined at this stage to have her on a dry food only diet. She was going through her reccomended daily feed amount. I went back to the same store to buy it and was told oh no you cant have her on that its for lrg breed dogs you will be giving her to much glucosamene try their "other brand" Eagle Farm which I did and she seemed to Enjoy it - I had started to introduce a 90gr tin on tuna in oil as she seems to have dry skin when I was brushing her.... However about 2 weeks ago she has stopped eating ALL together basically picking out the tuna/sardine pieces and thats it not touching her dry food.

She now seems to only want "raw food". My dog trainer suggested Vets All Natural http://www.vetsallnatural.com.au/ which I have got a few sample bags (roughage based) which I have given her with raw meat -kangaroo mince, chicken necks, chicken mince, chunks of steak (cubed) and she seems to LOVE it.

He has a general rule suggests and only uses a "raw food diet" as it can stop alot of issues with cancer, pancrititis and arthritis (has anyone found this?) and that it takes less enzymines for the body to break down...

However I dont want to keep changing her diet or make her believe she is in control at meal times by dictating what she will eat.

My dog trainer suggested as a tip to keep her stimulated rather than chewing which is a habit that has also happened in the last month to sprinkle a handful of dry food/treats throughout the backyard while im at work during the day so she has to use her senses to find it -she is eating the dry food this way.

I want to stick to one or the other.

Run down of her -she is 6 months weighs approx 15kg and is about 40cm tall. She was desexed last week and also had a "lump/growth/tumor" the size of a pea removed from her front leg which I found and grew within 48hrs. Im waiting on the results of this from the vet... they wanted it completly removed due to it showing "weird cells" they are saying its more likely to be begnin than cancerous. my fingers and toes are crossed it is a once off thing.

Hear from you all soon

Nalas mum -Amy

Hi & welcome.

Whatever you feed your dog is totally your decision, nobody else's not even your vet/breeder/local pet store etc.

I feed raw (as do several of the members here) and would thoroughly recommend it as long as you do the research & feed a good balanced blend of meat/bones/offal (organ meat). If you're interested, I can give you several links for information.

Commercial food, I would always recommend getting the best you can afford (one with as little grain & other fillers as possible), and steer clear of a totally wet food diet - wet is almost 80% water in some cases & as well as being bad for their teeth, it takes a larger volume of food to gain the correct nutrients.

P.S. Good luck with the biopsy - hopefully it's just benign!

The dry food Im using are classed as some of the top ones in Australia and are expensive. But she is just being fussy.

The vets all Natural http://www.vetsallnatural.com.au/
is a base that goes with raw food to "replicate" what a dog would eat in the wild.

She has never had canned food from the time I have had her (8 weeks of age).

I had never even given her a bone until yesterday when I gave her chicken necks!

As there are so many different opinions/ pros/cons that are out there for all types of feed I was going around in circles. I have seen the posts on the different types of raw food my problem will be more space to store it in my freezer. At the moment im sticking to mince/necks etc as its small storage. I will add kangaroo tails etc as treats when I can get them fresh for her...

Just more wondering if I should stick it out with the dry or continue on with the VERY new raw diet of vets all natural (2 days in) as she is eating.

im just not wanting to constantly chop and change...

Im hoping for benign as well im just very lucky I have pet insurance!
She is way to adorable and a huge part of my life to be going anywhere, I cant bare to see her in pain!

Thanks for your advice!

I also feed raw to my 2 and have done since Harv was a pup. Chance can't have dry food as it makes him really ill and he'd lose all his weight again.

I'd never feed anything else now but I agree with caryll fed the highest quality you can afford

I will say I don give pre made raw foods I do prey model raw which is essentially giving the whole animal as it is.

I'm feeding Murph Advance (advancepet.com.au) and he loves it. As far as dry foods go it is tops (Aust made) and I'm really happy with how Murph is growing.

He also gets bones of all shapes and sizes on the weekends.

I feed my dogs Pedigree Maxi dry food, And they can eat ever time of the day..

They never are to tin or to fat... and it's fills them up and never are hungery.
and there sine and in a good shape, sometime people think that i'm training with them.
But they train them self with walking en running and playing .. Plus my good food.. i try i lot of food fore my dogs and I use it fore 4 years even the Puppy dry food maxi..

here's a tip : they always say feed you pup up to 6 months and then go to Adult ( short that time in 5 months (ore when she eat a lot and it's go no ware, they are staffy and they need more to crow like a normal dog. So with 6 months they will need more proteins than a normal puppy..

the first year they will grow up, and after that 1 year they will go in size.

sorry about my bad English

Hi and welcome to the forum from Rocky and me.

We do have several members here who do feed raw. Sorry I cannot advize as only feed dry kibble.

I'm sure you will find the help you need.

I'd recommend raw! I feed my Saffy raw.

She's 13 weeks atm and she's growing lovely.

What made me switch to raw basically was four things:

1) It's basically proven that dogs on a raw diet, live longer, have more energy, have less health problems and possibly less behavioural problems.

2) Saffy is a bit of a fuss pot, so I can easily switch up het meals to make it more interesting

3) I've never known a dog to run to the nearest cornfield to eat it's dinner. And most kibble contains extorniate amounts of corn/grains. To a dog, some brands would be like eating Mcdonalds everyday.

4) What the actual 'protein' source is made from in kibble. Google : rendering plant dog food

I'm very happy with raw. It's not as messy or as hard work as people think. Saffy is happy, which makes me happy.

Other than that, I would try and go for a kibble like Applaws or Fish4dogs.

Good luck :-)