My lovely ex-wife, Lisa, looked at our dog’s food bowl today and said “It’s like feeding him McDonald’s every day.” Ouch – how do they know right where to kick you? I kid, I love you Lis.

She was half joking, but she’s right. No processed food for me, but for him Purina is cool? Probably not fair.

I just watched this video and became inspired. I remember my brother telling me that he fed his Rhodesian Ridgeback raw, whole chickens so I reached out to him about making the transition. Is it safe?

“Yes, but do it slowly over several weeks. Start with just a little bit mixed into his current food. Change the ratio every few days until 100% raw. Think 90% kibble, 10% raw at first. Then 80/20, 70/30, 60/40, etc.”

I figured a bit more research was in order before I take this step. He’s a dog, but he’s family. I wouldn’t want him to get sick at the expense of my curious, mad scientist mind.

From sciencebasedmedicine.org:

It is now generally agreed that the ancestor of the modern dog is the wolf…[the] process of domestication where our ancestors removed the ‘wildness’ from the wolf, involved thousands of years of selective breeding

I’ll buy that. My pit bull is 100 pounds and would likely kick it with a pack of wolves.

In this process, our ancestors produced hundreds of ‘different looking wolves’…our ancestors made only two basic changes to the wolf. They changed the wolf’s appearance and they changed its mind. What they did not change, was the basic internal workings or physiology of the wolf

I see where they are going, and I like it.

As a result, the basic workings or physiology of modern dogs is no different or very little different to their ancestor the wolf…The basic environment which the modern dog requires in terms of food and exercise is exactly the same as it was (and still is) for the wolf.

So I should feed my dog deer? They’re getting there.

Raw bones with meat are a major part of their diet… They eat offal such as liver and heart. They eat raw eggs. They eat decaying material…They eat a wide variety of foodstuffs. Insects, bark, soil, birds – complete with their tiny bones and feathers – whatever. Every meal they eat is totally raw. Not one skerrick of it is cooked. Ever. They eat vegetables including herbs, from the gut of their prey. This vegetable material is raw, totally crushed and partly digested. They eat feces.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

A wolf’s diet contain almost no grains… For a wolf – not one single meal consists of dry dog food. They don’t eat canned dog food either.

Looks like I’ll be making yet another change. Not to worry. I’ll be moving slowly.

Kap