The first time I ever heard of raw feeding I was around 18, my mum called to tell me that the allergy results were back for Barney, our 12-year-old westie, who had terrible eczema and skin issues his whole life. He would regularly have a sore, rumbling belly and refuse to eat his breakfast until mum poached some chicken to go on top.
The allergy test result showed he was allergic to pea protein, wheat and all other things often used as fillers in dog food. The vet had prescribed him a raw chicken diet, it was whole chicken, blended with pumpkin. Mum had cooked up all sorts for Barney, rice pudding, roast dinners, the lot, but this time I thought she had finally lost the plot! Raw chicken??? Surely that was a hygiene risk!
Now it’s not often I admit I’m wrong, but fast forward 2 months, Barney was fitter than ever, his skin issues had cleared up, his coat was glossy, and he was wolfing down his breakfast!
Last year my partner and I welcomed Lupo into our family – our Border Collie. As I’m sure most parents do, we had some set ideas on how we were going to bring him up, he wasn’t going to be allowed on the sofa (as I type this, Lupo is sitting on the sofa next to me) and we were going to feed him raw dog food. During his first vet visit to get his jabs, the vet enquired about what food I was feeding him, I told her that he was currently on what the breeder had been feeding, but I planned to switch him over to raw. Long story short, I walked out of the vet that day with a big bag of kibble, instructions to switch him to that immediately, and a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. As a new pet parent, I felt quite a lot of anxiety and pressure to make sure I provided the best for my boy, and I had been made to feel like I was doing the wrong thing by not feeding him kibble.
Several months later Lupo was becoming cheekier every day, fitting into our family just perfectly, he’d stopped eating his breakfast, he just grazed throughout the day, and I was noticing some build up of plaque on his teeth, he wasn’t even a year old. I’ll admit it often played on my mind, but I didn’t know how to fix it. I wanted to feed him a raw dog food diet, but I didn’t really know who to talk to about making the switch.
I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw the GM role advertised for Everything Dog, not only did I score my dream job, but also a chance to speak with the experts and truly understand the world of feeding raw dog food. We followed the team’s instructions to transition Lupo from him dry food onto a 100% raw food diet – starting with Pure Tripe and slowly adding other proteins, along with bones and raw or freeze-dried treats from the Everything Dog store. Boy, have we reaped the benefits!
The first thing I noticed was the poo – sorry for the detail, but when you work with dogs, really nothing grosses you out anymore. His poo has halved in size and it doesn’t stink! He doesn’t fart, he doesn’t smell ‘doggy’, its fantastic! His dental health is second to none, and he enjoys “natures toothbrush” aka beef neck bones as much as the next dog. We quite often get stopped in the street to ask, “What shampoo do you use?” “How do you get his fur so silky?”. The truth is that the only bathtub Lupo has ever been close to is the Lake or the Ocean for his morning swim. As for shampoo, the only reason his coat is in such good shape is due to the food, it certainly wasn’t that shiny before we made the switch.
If you are on the fence about raw feeding, or even a little bit curious, I’d love for you to come in store and have a yarn and grab a free sample. Our team have so much knowledge and such a range of experience, I’ve no doubt we can answer any questions you may have.