[Naturella]

Hello, everyone!

I have a probably dumb question, but what is the worst thing that could happen to a dog if fed raw food? Any chance of salmonella or e.coli? Anything else? I want to give my 8-month Jack Russell-Rat Terrier mix some raw in addition to his kibble (RMBs, some recreational bones, and organ meat), but my boyfriend is worried he may get something from it…

[theBCnut]

Dogs with compromised immune systems can get bacterial infections from raw diets. And if a dog is greedy, it can glup too big a piece of bone. I like chicken necks for small dogs because the bones are already small and mostly cartilage anyway, but since they are all connected together, it encourages chewing. My JRT is used to raw and gnawing bones, so she can handle a pretty good sized chunk of turkey neck and even some ribs.

Most dogs have no problems. Their short digestive tract is designed to handle bacteria and their teeth are made for crunching on bones.

[Naturella]

Patty, thank you so much for the response! I think Bruno is pretty healthy and would love some raw in his diet. He has had some raw liver and today I gave him a tiny bit of ground chuck – he loved it! So yeah, I think I will just have to let my boyfriend get used to it, and see how well Bruno does on raw additives. 🙂

Question about storing, I should pre-portion it and freeze, and just thaw whatever I plan to use for the day, correct?

[Melissaandcrew]

I am new to the home made raw route so there may be a better method.. I buy in bulk thaw, portion it out and then freeze until needed. Right now I have way too much beef liver so its thawing to become treats.

[theBCnut]

I have some things that came in 3 or 5 pound chunks and that’s what I do. I thaw just enough to be able to portion it out, then refreeze. Each day I pull out what I need for the next day.

I’m in the same boat as Melissa. I just got 1/4 of a steer and nobody else wanted the liver so I got the whole thing. Some of it goes mixed in with raw meals, but some of it is going to be cooked into training treats.

[Naturella]

Thank you for the info, Melissa and Patty!

Now, I know there are specific websites where one can order raw dog food from, but is buying it from the local grocery store safe enough?

[theBCnut]

If you are giving less than 20% of the diet in raw food then buying from the grocery store is fine. If you are planning on giving more raw than 20% of the diet, then you have to start considering balancing all the nutrients.

[Naturella]

Wow, it has been a while since I have looked at this topic – never thanked Patty for the useful information, so thank you, Patty!

Well, I finally managed to somewhat comfort my now husband (in my avatar, we got married on Friday), who is usually worried about feeding Bruno (also in my avatar) raw, but today we had a first real venture into it with a piece of pork neck bone and meat. Bruno loved it, and seems quite alright on it. I have 2 more pieces and plan to give them in the next 2 weeks (once a week basically), and see how that goes, and if he continues to be fine, I will see if I can increase it to maybe 2 times a week to 3. I also plan to introduce recreational marrow bones (the small ones, due to fatty marrow) sometime soon and change them once every couple of weeks or so, not so sure about that yet.

But yes, first real all-raw meal was served today and liked a lot. We seem to be in good shape for the occasional raw! 🙂

[Sharon Buchanan]

Congrats all around to you, your husband and Bruno! Sounds like everyone’s going to be very happy.

[theBCnut]

Congratulations!!!

[Naturella]

Thank you, Sharon and Patty! 🙂

[InkedMarie]

Congrats on the marriage!

[Naturella]

Thank you, Marie!

P.S. I found an AMAZING pet food store (mostly for cats and dogs), 5 min away from home, and they sell raw – Blue Ridge Beef, which sounds pretty local for Georgia. I am beyond pumped! It seems very affordable – 3-4lbs frozen ground meat, organs, bones, tripe, and eggs for $5-something! I am in love with this place, let alone the super affordable natural raw and dehydrated chews! 🙂 🙂 🙂

[Dori]

Hi Aleksandra
What is the name of the store and where in Georgia is it. I live in Georgia and hope it’s someplace I can check out. Thanks.

[Naturella]

dchassett,

It is at 4200 Wade Green Rd., Kennesaw, GA 30144.

If you enter your zip code here: http://directory.dogfoodadvisor.com/location it will show you good pet food stores in your area. Where in GA do you live?

[Dori]

I live in Atlanta in the Vinings area of Cobb County. We moved here last June we were in Fulton County Buckhead for the previous 11 years. I’ll check and see what other stores are in my area that I might know about. I’m fortunate in that there are numerous small boutique pet stores around me. Best ones around me are The Whole Dog Market and another is Dogma but I love checking out ones that I don’t know about. Thanks for the tip.

[Naturella]

I see! Well, welcome to Cobb County, lol!

And yes, this little tool is so useful, I can’t believe I never clicked it before! It prompted me to a store 5 min from my apartment, that carries amazing brands and much more! I am one happy pet mommy!

[Dori]

I know, crazy, huh? I’ve been on this site for a couple of years and I never thought to check it out. Silly me. There’s a whole list of stores I didn’t even know existed so close by.

[Naturella]

Same here! And lucky me – the store with the most brands is the one 5 min away! I am in serious dog food heaven, I am considering adopting another pup just because I want to buy all the food in the store and my Bruno only eats 1 cup/day, and already has almost the whole year covered food-wise, maybe even more! 🙂

[Naturella]

But, maybe I should just get my friends with pups good food first before I adopt a new baby. We are really not in that position right now… So I will just spread the word of the store and if I come accross more coupons like some other ones I had, I will give them away. 🙂

[Dori]

Yep. Turning friends on to good start would be the way to go. I’ve got three dogs that only eat 1/4 cup each twice a day and I’m constantly looking and buying more food. I just got an order today of Dr Harvey’s Oracle Tripe and Victors Yukon Grain Free but sure enough I’ll be in Kennesaw buying more food. My husband, Jim, thinks I’ve become a bit obsessed at this point over dog food. He’s obviously right but my dogs have always been my babies. I just wish I gave some thought to feeding us as well as I feed them. They are nutritionally balanced. We are certainly not. Haha.

[Naturella]

Oh, my goodness, I absolutely feel the same way – I REALLY need to watch my nutrition and exercise as closely as I watch Bruno’s, so I can be around him and my husband and I’s future human and furry babies longer…

But yes, I have stocked up on Earthborn and Vets Choice Holistic Health Extension for DAYS – a total of 42 lbs of Earthborn (3 varieties @ 14 lbs each), and a total of 12 lbs of HHE (3 varieties @ 4 lbs each), so 54 lbs so far, and I want to now get Victor Ultra Pro (GF) and the Yucon Salmon GF, 15 lbs each – that will be a total of 84 lbs of food for $110 altogether (great coupons I got). I also plan to add raw ground, RMBs, and marrow bones for gnawing as well as dehydrated natural chews… I am a mess… I need to REALLY stop shopping for Bruno after I get the last of Victor, and raw… And watch those “Best by: ” labels!

But yes, if you ever want to come up to Kennesaw to go to that store, and would like to meet up (there is also a great park with dog off-leash areas really close by), you can let me know if you want. You can add me on Facebook, my name is Aleksandra Ninova. 🙂

[Dori]

Sounds like fun. Yep, you too are among the dog food obsessed. Nite.

[Dori]

Meant. Night.

[InkedMarie]

Aleksandra,
Put Blue Ridge Beef in the search for these forums….read the thread. It’s a product I would not feed but that is just me.

[InkedMarie]

This was posted this morning on a FB group I am on:

Anybody find out anymore info on Blue ridge beef products? The new (and only) coop that started delivering to my area sells their products, along with other non commercial raw products. I don’t feed much ground, but they have quail (at an oddly low price), and that would be another protein source I can add to my dogs current variety. Both of whom loved the quail I gave them last night.

I’ve read the info out there on the web (good and bad) and then emailed the owner Steve with my questions.

My email. . .

“Hi Steve, I’m sure you get this a lot but I would really appreciate if you could answer a few questions I had, and clear up some confusion.

I know that you own BRB as well as Lea way Inc./Lea way Farms, I’ve read from the Iredell county commissioner minutes on the Iredell county government website archives that Lea Way Inc., is in the business of animal removal from local area farms and recycles it for pet food for Grey hound racing tracks in FL. At least you were as of May 2006.
http://www.co.iredell.nc.us/Departments/Planning/minutes/April2006pbminutes.pdf
Page 6
”Lea-Way Company picks up deceased cattle from area farms and provides a means for sanitary disposal; the existing plant processes useable materials into pet food products”

http://www.co.iredell.nc.us/Commissioners/minutes/Regular/May_9_2006_regular_minutes.pdf
Page 4 notes from that meeting stated. . .
”Lea said since 1979, his company had helped to recycle dead animals, at no cost to the county or state.”

“Commissioner Robertson asked about the process — muscle tissue removed from
the carcass. Lea said this was correct, and the tissue was boxed, frozen, labeled, and shipped to the Greyhound Tracks in Florida as pet food.”

Are the Iredell county documents correct in their information or were they at the time they were written correct? Are BRB and Lea Way Inc. connected in any other way besides sharing a mailing address? Is Lea way Inc. still in the practice of collecting downed animals and recycling them for petfood products for greyhound racing? If not, what happens to all the muscle meat you process from the downed animals you pick up, if it’s not going into pet food products? Are you still greyhound breeding for racing?

If the information is correct, I’m curious why one company produces pet products/food from picked up dead animals, and why your other company BRB would have a different meat quality standard?

I would really appreciate some information, and I’m hoping you reply back and answer my questions directly and honestly.

Thanks for your time and possible rely”

His response:

“Steve Lea’s reply. . .

Hello Lola
I will try to give you a short direct answer?
This was an attempt by me 8 years ago to take material that is unusable for ANYTHING, and turn them into renewable fuels.
I see that now you have dug up the commissioners Minutes as well.
If you read them you will see it was tabled and then withdrawn,
None of this happened then and is not happening now, and has NOTHING to do with BRB, or the products in BRB…
There is no 3-4D in Any of our products..
The internet is full of old outdated information that is no longer the case.
Some people have spent allot of time digging up this old outdated information and attempting to link it to BRB
to attempt to destroy it
WHY????????
I have answered these questions hundred’s of times only to find my words turned around and misrepresented on chat sites
I WILL NO LONGER ADDRESS THIS ISSUE!!!!
If you choose to believe these internet bullies and not feed BRB we wish you and your pets the best.
If you choose to believe your own eyes and your pets health and feed BRB we thank you for your business and support
Steve.”

A response like that would cause me to cross them off my possible dog food list.

[Naturella]

Marie,

Wow. Thank you for the information! I was hoping this affordable, somewhat local raw would be a good choice, but I guess it may be a bit iffy… I may stick to grocery store raw – it should be at least fit for human consumption, so it will be good enough for Bruno.

[Dori]

OMG! That’s awful. Well, I would have researched it before I purchased. Yikes. And what an awful attitude from Steve (?). Hope the dogs that are eating that food are alright. I’ll stick to what I’ve been feeding.

[Dori]

Thanks Marie for getting this info out so quickly before Aleksandra purchased and fed to Bruno.

[losul]

Aleksandra.

There’s a thread on the forum here that talks about BRB.

/forums/topic/blue-ridge-beef/

BTW, congratulations!

[Naturella]

Thank you for the info and the congrats, losul! 🙂

[InkedMarie]

There may be nothing to the story but his attitude stinks. He may not want to answer but it’s what you do when you want customers.

[Dori]

Well said Marie. There the first to complain when business starts to go south and then wonder why? As if we don’t have a right to know these things.

[Sharon Buchanan]

Interesting, Marie. I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains in NC and our local mom and pop pet store sells BRB. It was the first time I’d seen it so I asked the owner of the shop if he knew anything about where their meat comes from, grass fed, non-GMO… He got defensive. It was bizarre and I couldn’t figure out why. I didn’t buy any, as a matter of fact, I didn’t buy anything and probably won’t ever. A little research on BRB let me to the same articles addressed in your FB post. Now, I wonder what connection or relationship the owner of that shop has with BRB.

[InkedMarie]

Sharon,
very interesting and not in a good way. Defensive? yep, that makes me wonder. I probably wouldn’t shop there either.

[Author]

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