Hey, Bill. We’ve been reading a lot about raw food diet for our dog. Do you see any benefit to switching from more conventional foods to a raw diet?
Bill McQuade and his dog, Purdy.
Bill says: A raw diet is absolutely the best thing you can feed your dog or cat!
Let me phrase it differently. A raw diet absolutely provides the best nutrition for your dog or cat. I also believe adding raw bones for your pets to gnaw on is an excellent way of keeping teeth free of tarter and gums healthy.
I am not going to make a believer out of someone that only buys prepackaged processed foods for themselves, but if you shop the healthier outside aisle of the grocery store and eat mostly fresh vegetables, fruits, meats etc then you should try feeding raw frozen diets to your pets or at least supplement your pets diet with raw food. Last year the growth in raw sales was 275%.
We’ve seen the benefits of switching to a raw diet first hand.
My wife’s Shih-Tzu eats absolutely nothing but raw. He had (we were told) allergies, and moist eczema for the first eight years of his life. We fed him the best dry diet we knew of. Visits to the vet were frequent and expensive. Steroid shots relieved the itching temporarily. By eight years old, he was suffering so much we contemplated putting him to sleep. Ear infections, moist eczema, so much irritation he could not sleep and his joints obviously were hurting him. He would start scratching at his ears and could not stop and would exhibit seizure like behavior. We had just started carrying raw frozen diets and made the decision to feed and treat him with nothing but raw unprocessed food and treats to see if it would give him some relief. Within three months he was a new dog. He is now sixteen years old and has spring in is step, obnoxious and spoiled.
All three of our dogs get raw diet. We have seen tremendous health improvement in pets either fed exclusively raw or supplemented with raw diets. We have had a number of customers with dogs that had cancer (lymphoma in particular) and came in to ask about nutrition and on our recommendation started feeding raw.
One dog was so advanced the dog had stopped eating, had terrible diarrhea and his owner just wanted to try something to make her last days comfortable. He was amazed to see the tumors reduce in size in just a few weeks time, the stools firmed up and she relished the raw diet. She was old, and she did pass away, but her quality of life had been vastly improved.
Another customers dog had been diagnosed and given a “few weeks to a few months” to live and lived another three years. In both cases the dogs tumors shrank noticeably.
A recent study published in Cancer Research magazine has shown a low carbohydrate-high protein diet may reduce the risk of cancer and even slow the growth of tumors. “This shows that something as simple as a change in diet can have an impact on cancer risk,” said lead researcher Gerald Krystal, Ph.D., a distinguished scientist at the British Columbia Cancer Research Centre. Frozen and freeze dried raw diets for pets are quality protein, low carbohydrate diets. The Whole Pet carries Bravo, Stella & Chewies, Primal, Vital Essentials, Instinct and soon CA raw. We are believers.
Purdy’s answer: I will eat most anything, good or bad for me, but I love my Bravo Balance Raw diet. Bill also gives me a raw chicken back and other raw bones to chew on twice a week. He always makes me go outside to chew them. That’s okay but I wonder why he won’t let me lay on the couch and enjoy my bone. People can be weird.
If you have a question for Bill, email it to bill(at)luvhappytails.com.
Bill McQuade is the owner of The Whole Pet, located at 2423 N. College Ave. in Fayetteville. The Whole Pet specializes in nutrition for cats and dogs and offers a wide variety of quality diets in raw frozen, cans and kibble. The store also offers affordable, unique and high quality pet supplies and accessories. Bill is a professional dog handler, and has worked in the pet care business since 1972.
