My Personal Story. . .
If you had told me two years ago I'd soon be feeding my puggle raw, butchering and portioning all kinds of different animal body parts, I would have said you were crazy. Sometimes when I'm elbow deep in lbs of raw beef heart, or hand off a raw chicken foot to Lola or Ronny, I still can't believe I'm doing this.
It all started a few years ago, when my puggle Lola was diagnosed with chronic colitis at the young age of 2. Canine colitis is inflammation of the colon, sometimes caused by bacteria. Lola would have these "episodes" of not eating (nausea), then having pain (contorting her body a lot to try and get comfortable and crying), and her stool would be bloody and jelly like. These episodes would usually last 6 or 7 hours and she would get them regularly once or twice a week. When she was really bad she would have to go to the vet for pain meds and Metronidazole (Antibiotic used for colitis).
I hated seeing her suffer so much, and I tried so many things to try and help make it better. I had always fed some of the considered "higher quality" dog foods like Innova (before P&G bought Natura), Wellness, California Natural (before P&G bought Natura), Canidae, Taste of the Wild (before some of Diamond's recalls), Nature's Variety, etc. I rotated them to see if I could find one that could help. I tried other brands like Nature's Balance, Pinnacle, Pets Promise, even tried Hills Rx I/D food canned and dry. Tried supplements like fish oil, and probiotics, pet enzyeme powders, cat furball lube (vet's recommendation), adding more fiber to her diet, none of which seemed to make a difference.
I was on a dog forum one day, venting my frustrations, when one of the other
members suggested trying a raw diet. I had heard of it before, but was unsure of it and thought it was an "out there" concept. Curious and somewhat desperate not to see my puggle in pain anymore, I decided to look into it. I ended up researching it for a couple months, I went to raw feeding informational sites and forums
and read everything I could on it. After researching it well, and being so frustrated for 3 years of trying things and getting no improvement with her heath issue, I finally found the courage to try feeding raw.
The experienced raw feeders on the raw forums and facebook were a god sent, they helped me through my transition phase, gave me support and advice when I needed it, I'm not sure I would have been so successful had I not had them to help guide me.
The switch to a raw diet wasn't an instant "miracle" cure, it took some time on the diet before she really started to improve, so I'm glad I found the patience to keep feeding it, even when I wasn't seeing results at first, or had a set back like an episode after not having one for a while. Slowly over the first year (about 6-8 months) on the Prey Model Raw diet Lola's colitis episodes started reducing in time from 6 hours to 4 hours, to 2 hours, to 1 hour, to 35 min, at the same time she started having them less often, only once a week, then only once every couple weeks, to once a month, etc., till she stopped having them completely and was back to her old healthy self again, pain free.
I put my other dog Ronny on the diet too about a month after I started her on it. Beyond Lola's colitis clearing up, both dogs now have very shiny and soft fur, less odor, whiter teeth (no vet dentals needed), healthier gums, lost extra weight and maintain a healthier weight better, more muscle mass, better blood work (higher RBC count, and lower liver enzymes), cleaner ears (no more ear infections), and they seem to have good energy, but aren't as hyperactive.
A lot of these health improvements/benefits can be pretty common for dogs fed raw diets properly over kibble, even considered "higher" quality kibble. (No offense to kibble feeders, we all do the best we can for our dogs).
Benefits of feeding Raw
http://www.pawsapplause.com/blog/12-benefits-feeding-raw-pet-food/
http://preymodelraw.com/benefits-of-pmr/
Another Puggle raw feeding story
http://pugglesnprose.blogspot.com/2008/03/raw-diet.html
