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I am currently feeding my dog CORE kibble but want to switch her to Raw frozen (commercial) alternative--due to MAJOR allergies. Which brand do you think is better to try first-- Primal Pet Foods vs Nature's Variety vs Bravo? And which flavor--beef, lamb, fish etc? I know what you die hearts will say --"just feed them RAW meat-- well I have a pretty big dog --she will eat me straight to the poor house.

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have you looked at barf? bigdogpetfoods.com/products/barf-8 – peter May 25 2012 at 11:51
What are your dog's symptoms? (Behavioral and physical.) – Marie May 25 2012 at 15:24

9 Answers

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If you want to go "straight to the poor house" I'd recommend feeding commercially produced, otherwise search for a Raw feeders co-op in your neighborhood.

There are many of us on PaleoHacks who feed our dogs either a BARF or Prey Model Raw diet. I'd recommend Googling both and reading as much as you can. Even though people say it is expensive to feed raw, it can be done for less than kibble, if you spend a little time to get connected with other raw feeders, hunters, and local butchers. My costs average $.79/lb for 80% free range/grass fed/frozen meats, sardines + Salmon Oil+ Green Tripe, plus he never needs his teeth cleaned.

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It's too expensive to feed my dog a raw "brand". Most of the time, those have a bunch of vegetables and crap mixed in there, which dogs don't need anyway (they can't digest cellulose--any vegetables or leafy greens have to be cooked in order to mimic partial digestion by prey).

Pick up a pack of chicken hearts, some turkey necks and a couple of beef neckbones and you're good to go. Change it up with kidney, tripe, beef heart, and other cuts of offal for nutritional variety.

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Yup. Much cheaper to just buy meat. – syrahna Dec 14 2011 at 16:06
Especially for a German Shepherd! When 1 lb. tube of "raw" meat (pre-blended) from the pet store costs $6.99, vs $2 total for a variety of meats from the store, guess which one I'm buying? lol – Nemesis Dec 14 2011 at 16:53
I would rather buy the pre-made raw "brands" even though its more expensive. To me its worth it. It leaves more time for me to prepare my made from scratch paleo food for people. – Senneth Dec 14 2011 at 21:35
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Senneth, it actually takes me less time as I don't have to go to one of those fru-fru dog stores. I shop for my guy when I shop for me. There is no time or gas expense either. – Marie Dec 15 2011 at 4:33
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Yeah, for me it's "dump meat into bowl, give to dog". Dogs don't need 6 kinds of meat and pureed squash and spinach, apples and nuts. Raw dog food is a way to make big $$ off of pet owners who don't trust their own judgement thanks to the b.s. from veterinarians about feeding dogs raw. – Nemesis Dec 15 2011 at 12:07
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We have a medium sized dog. We feed him meat scraps and healthy fats. The healthy fats cut down on his appetite dramatically compared to commercial dog foods. Cheaper in the long-run!

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I feed my little shihtzu/terrier mix a brand of kibble called orijen from canada that is really high quality and he does great on it. It is pretty damn expensive tho and with a bigger dog I would never be able to afford it. When we got him from the shelter he was 2 and had been in very poor health (one third his now healthy weight and full of parasites)and was on a shelter diet of chaucer foods got donated. We stared him on natures variety wilderness and alternated between the raw food a and kibble. If you are worried about cost with a bigger dog then their raw food is probably going to wrong up being to expensive. We couldn't keep it up and he barely weighs twenty pounds. But there are a lot of decent primal cobbles out there now. I would def look into some of the other stuff mentioned on here tho. I'm going to now!

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I was looking into Orijen too--the fish one. THought the raw frozen was more pure ? Not as processed?? – TrynAgain Dec 14 2011 at 15:42
The orijen is I think as little processed as a kibble can be and it comes sealed with no air in the bag. it's also the most expensive I think we might go back to natures variety to save a little $. Probably still cheaper than the raw frozen food for a bigger dog – Mlkrone Dec 14 2011 at 18:21
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Just an FYI -We tried Primal Pet foods with our dogs. One (a dingo mix) was fine and ended up eating the whole lot (2 giant tubes of beef/liver/ground bones). The other one (our lab) ended up with food poisoning so bad that she had to hospitalized. Haven't tried the other brands. Going to try Stella's next.

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OUCH! I am sorry Senneth – TrynAgain Dec 14 2011 at 17:21
I found myself wondering if our more wild breed dog was set up better to handle that sort of food. – Senneth Dec 14 2011 at 18:15
How old were the lab and the dingo mix when you switched to raw Senneth? – wickedween May 11 2012 at 1:01
Both dogs are 11 years old. The dingo mix has been on raw-style food since she was about 5 years old. Now she is 11 and super healthy! The lab mix was never really on raw food -so that could explain why adding raw meat to her kibble (she has been on grain free bison for only a year or so), made her so sick. She recently underwent chemo for lymphoma. (The difference in feed -is because one dog is mine and the other is really my husbands). – Senneth May 11 2012 at 15:47
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Check out Canidae grain free, soy free, filler free salmon dry food for dogs.

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If you can't feed them raw food (nothing can beat that, it's paleo for dogs), Evo is a good brand. Get the turkey or beef, they both have very low carbs from fruits and veggies, grain-free, soy-free. The cat brand is good, too.

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As several people said, they don't need the veggies in most commercial brands. Nature's Variety is 95% meat, and it's worked great for us. I picked it because of the ratio. However, when I had bigger dogs, I did shop for them and just feed whole raw food. My dog now is only 10 pounds so it's not that expensive and simpler for travel.

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Which dog breed you have...

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