Carnivorous

My dog is a carnivore. His digestive system was designed to eat raw meat and raw bones and nothing else. Buzz gets sick if he is given processed dog food. He can consume sticks and vegetables and other whole food items without them causing stomach upset or diarrhea, but they come out his rear in the same condition they entered his mouth, so they clearly don’t nourish him, all he gets out of them is the joy of chewing.

The thing is, the only meat in the house is Buzz’s food. In fact, as I learn more about the dairy industry the human food in the house has become increasingly vegan. To me the connections between being good and careful with pets is extending outward to animals that are typically considered legitimate sources of human nutrition. And finding a way of eating that works so beautifully for my dog has made me realize that perhaps I can feel better if I change how I eat.

To anyone interested in making informed food choices for themselves, I cannot recommend the podcast “Food for Thought” by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau highly enough. The author is incredibly straightforward and kind—not just to the animals she is trying to protect, but also to any of her listeners that may still be eating meat and dairy.

Vegan eats for the human:

(Parsnip-Scallion pancakes + Chana Masala = yum!)

In contrast, here's Buzz with his dinner of two pig ribs.


Buzz appreciates my understanding of his carnivorous ways. “Thank you, lady”


Notice the strange, completely flat way he splays out when he eats.


The funniest thing anyone ever asked after hearing that Buzz only eats raw meat was "Yeah, raw meat, but you cook it first, right?" Ummmm....no.


Months on raw: 6
Ear infections: 0 (Amazing!!!)
Trips to the vet: 0
Choking problems: 0
Pooping Problems: 1 (after he ate all that birthday cake)

Raw feeding a dog takes a little bit of work. Most of it is at the front end of the switch, learning about what to feed in what proportion and how much of it. I was lucky when I started Buzz because I had Bruno, Vinnie, and Gino’s Capofamiglia and the Canadian Who Won’t Give Me Piper, to answer my questions and offer reassurance. I may put together a post on raw feeding information resources. We’ll see…

Buzz at the Kennel

I can't always take Buzz with me when I travel, so sometimes he goes to the kennel. He goes to a really nice place out in the country and the people there always remember him and smile and give him cuddles.

Last week was the first time that I had to kennel Buzz since switching him to raw food. Getting all of his meals ready was quite a task! The kennel owners weren't going to be able to supervise him in the same way that I do, so I didn't feel comfortable giving them any bones to feed him. Buzz has yet to have a choking problem of any kind, but why tempt fate?

Anyway, I bought some premade raw that contained ground bones and organ meat. Buzz ate the premade patties as his dinner. His breakfasts consisted of muscle meat as usual, but I diced them up into very small pieces rather than leaving them whole.

I had to bag everything and label it with instructions and feeding times. It was quite the process!


Buzz volunteered to help. He even somehow draped this tea towel over his back. It made me think of the Big Bad Wolf putting on Red Riding Hood's Grandmother's clothes...Buzz trying to pass himself off as the sous-chef when really he just wants to eat all the food!


Buzz did really well at the kennel--as usual, the little champ--and the owner said "Buzz you eat better than I do!" I will post the dog portions of my trip soon!

Adventures in Raw Feeding

Raw feeding is like linear regression. When you first learn what it is and someone tries to tell you how to do it, it seems very complicated. And, for the first bit in reading about it, you feel like all you are learning is that there are vast amounts of information you don’t quite understand and will certainly never be able to use. Then, you learn that there are different schools of thought and that these camps have been known to duke it out on the regular with each other and with non-believers; this makes you want to hit things with your fists and your head. Then, you try it and discover that it really isn’t all that tricky. Then, you learn that the whole thing is pretty robust and absorbs errors and that people just quibble about the details and philosophy because that is there wont.

Or, that’s my thinking on the subject at the moment. Maybe I’ll become a raw ideologue next week and start to rant about different feeding models. Yeah…probably not.

Enough blabbity-blabbing more updatey-updating!

Buzz had his first raw meal today and he did awesome! He knew it was food and he chewed it thoroughly. It’s been about eight hours since his meal and his tummy seems totally calm and normal. Yay Buzz!

Buzz has to sit and say please before he gets his food.


Dinner is served!


He stood for the entire meal. This amused me greatly because he was standing in really awkward positions.


He ate every last morsel!



So far so good with Buzz’s new diet!

"I think you are forgetting something"

"I think you are forgetting something", originally uploaded by r0ssie.

No breakfast for Buzz as he starts raw feeding today and I want

(a) to have hunger on my side when I hand him some strange looking food--we are starting with a chicken leg quarter

(b) to have his kibble be mostly out of his system before he puts chicken down the hatch; It takes a dog about 12 hours to digest kibble, meat is much quicker, feeding meat right after kibble can lead to trouble when the meat can't clear out because of a kibble log-jam.

Guess who has another ear infection?

That’s right…Buzz. Grrrr. He is not a big fan of having the medicine put in his ear, either. He walks around like this for several hours afterwards:
“You broke my ear!”


That’s right, his ear freakin’ pouts!


I have been flirting with switching Buzz to a raw diet for a few months now since he’s never had ideal poop on kibble and I have tried several super premium foods and also just let him mature out of puppyhood as my vet suggested…all to no real good. His shit stinks and it is way too squishy. **yuck** The poo of raw-fed dogs is less than half the size of kibble-fed dogs and is said to be “neat and light.” Ooooo…I’ll take it!

Anyway, this new ear infection is the final straw. I think his slight food allergies just keep his immune system impaired enough that he has no resistance to these things.

So, on the 15th, Buzz is going raw! I’m researching it all now and getting myself very confused but I have found some awesome mentors online and hope to make some local connections so that I can figure it out and get my boy 100% healthy and on the best food possible.

In other news, Buzz has started lifting his leg to pee!

I've noticed over the last few months that Buzz has been marking more as we walk, but lifting his leg is a whole ‘nother realm of fanciness!

He started after our huge snowstorm when there were foot-high snowbanks along the sidewalks, but he’s still doing it sometimes now that the snow has melted!

"I'm a real boy!”