# DRY food only = NOT good for proper health



## Blue_Nose_Bella (Jan 16, 2011)

Well all the RAW feeders are one up on us kibble feeders when it comes to feeding a biologically appropriate diet. Dry kibble whether it is premium or grocery store brand lacks moisture and can do damage over time to a dogs kidneys as well as cause significant organ stress. They say a dog who eats a dry only diet is always in a mild state of dehydration. Dry foods on average contain about 12% moisture. That's down from the 70-80% contained in RAW, canned food, and dehydrated raw with water added.

Here is a great link to the info I posted. This article makes a WHOLE lot of sense to me so I wanted to share with everyone. 

*Protein, dry food, and disease*
Pets Protein Dry Food and Disease


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## ames (Jun 6, 2010)

hmmm well I may have to add something. When I give him wet his belly does not agree, and beef, duck, or anything else gives him a badddd belly. The only thing he does well with is chicken. Which makes me sad cause I dont want him to develop allergies and what not being on the same food. and now I am dehydrating him! ugh lol I can't win!


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## carson1391 (Apr 5, 2011)

Thats right, Another +1 for us raw feeders, ill add that to my arguments that i get in at work about me feeding my vicious bloodthirsty parasidic pitbulls raw meat!


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## KMdogs (Apr 22, 2011)

I disagree, i have always fed high protein quality kibble dog food and have never had any issues medically, appearance or in any other way. I feed Orijen with my current dogs and will never switch to a different kibble again unless for some reason Champion some how ruins the quality of Orijen.. I get asked all the time if i feed raw based on how my dogs look and condition.

Also, with RAW i have never met one person to feed 100% raw throughout the life of their dog without the use of either A. Feeding Kibble as 1/2 meal or occasionally and B. Heavy use of supplements for vitamins, etc.

All dogs i have owned have lived long (at least 12 years old) with zero affects feeding kibble and high protein (despite what those say that are against high protein diets)


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## Mach0 (Mar 28, 2010)

Add water to the food lol. But IMHO, there are studies for pros and cons for almost EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING.


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## KMdogs (Apr 22, 2011)

Mach0 said:


> Add water to the food lol. But IMHO, there are studies for pros and cons for almost EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING.


Exactly, everyone has an opinion. Some make sense and are valid, others not so much. :rofl:


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## Mach0 (Mar 28, 2010)

KMdogs said:


> Exactly, everyone has an opinion. Some make sense and are valid, others not so much. :rofl:


:roll: I take my dogs nutrition seriously and they are doing well.


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## angelbaby (Feb 4, 2010)

I have always fed high protein food , and up until this past month had my dogs on orijen since loki was a baby. if you offer adequate water for them they will drink if thirsty , we also add moist stuff to there food every couple of days to once a day depending on which dog and that could include yogurt, cottage cheese, broth ect so Im never worried about my dogs being dehydrated. This reason alone would not give just reason for someone to switch to raw over kibble although I have heard good results about raw feeding this wouldnt be the reason I would switch for.


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## Mach0 (Mar 28, 2010)

Raw is great but you gotta do it the right way. I'm actually planning on getting my hunting license for food for us and the dogs lol.


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## Blue_Nose_Bella (Jan 16, 2011)

KMdogs said:


> I disagree, i have always fed high protein quality kibble dog food and have never had any issues medically, appearance or in any other way. I feed Orijen with my current dogs and will never switch to a different kibble again unless for some reason Champion some how ruins the quality of Orijen.. I get asked all the time if i feed raw based on how my dogs look and condition.
> 
> Also, with RAW i have never met one person to feed 100% raw throughout the life of their dog without the use of either A. Feeding Kibble as 1/2 meal or occasionally and B. Heavy use of supplements for vitamins, etc.
> 
> All dogs i have owned have lived long (at least 12 years old) with zero affects feeding kibble and high protein (despite what those say that are against high protein diets)


Did you read the link I provided? The vet, Dr. Becker says that she is all for high protein diets and that dogs shouldn't eat grains or eat at least limited grains. What she is saying is that all dogs need a biologically appropriate diet because the moisture content in dry kibble isn't enough for them to flourish. A biologically appropriate food has a moisture content of 70% which a dog would get in the wild eating rabbits and rodents amongst other things. Dogs need variety in there diets to get what they need. I mean, I like variety in my diet....don't you?


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## Indie (Sep 29, 2010)

I just put Indie on raw.. but before I had started adding water to her kibble to help her digest it. (TOTW)


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## Blue_Nose_Bella (Jan 16, 2011)

I didn't post the info to tell you to switch to RAW....heck I feed kibble but I add canned food, water, yogurt, flax seed oil and some other supplements. I also feed some premade raw using the NV medallions. I'm not knocking kibble.....I'm just sharing some information I thought was interesting.


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## Blue_Nose_Bella (Jan 16, 2011)

Mach0 said:


> Add water to the food lol. But IMHO, there are studies for pros and cons for almost EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING.


You are a clown! LOL! Yes, DUH add water to grain free foods...... However, I am all for variety in my girls diet so she gets canned and raw in the mix


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## ames (Jun 6, 2010)

Mach0 said:


> Add water to the food lol. But IMHO, there are studies for pros and cons for almost EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING.


hahaha totally true!!



Blue_Nose_Bella said:


> I didn't post the info to tell you to switch to RAW....heck I feed kibble but I add canned food, water, yogurt, flax seed oil and some other supplements. I also feed some premade raw using the NV medallions. I'm not knocking kibble.....I'm just sharing some information I thought was interesting.


thanks for sharing, always interested in what studies are saying. Didn't take it as you telling me what to do, for what its worth.


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## Blue_Nose_Bella (Jan 16, 2011)

ames said:


> thanks for sharing, always interested in what studies are saying. Didn't take it as you telling me what to do, for what its worth.


No worries  I enjoyed the read and it made sense to me.....but I am very open minded  And yes, there are pros and cons for everything....however, sometimes the pros out weigh the cons depending how you look at things :roll:


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## KMdogs (Apr 22, 2011)

I love raw in theory however until i start seeing people do 100% raw living healthy long lives, i have opinion on it. As i said in my OP, i've never met a person feed 100% raw throughout a dogs life without adding something in the mix.

Sorry if i seemed like i was attacking the article or people feeding raw, im not. However in my opinion there are not enough long term results to truly say raw is the best thing for a dog.

Yes i did read it, i was more or less talking about than many myths and fact of high protein as a separation from the article.


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## 9361 (Jun 25, 2009)

I have to say.... I have had many dogs over my life since childhood. They all ate regular kibble, whether it be Ol Roy or Purina dog chow. And besides one who died of unrelated health problems at age 6... almost all of them lived to be well over 12 years old. I think my last two oldest dogs lived to be 14 or 15. They were mutt's, and they lived off Purina dog chow. 

But of course... knowing what I know now... Helena doesn't eat that stuff...  But I also take this study with a grain of salt.

Maybe all the scraps she gets keeps her hydrated.


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## Blue_Nose_Bella (Jan 16, 2011)

KMdogs said:


> I love raw in theory however until i start seeing people do 100% raw living healthy long lives, i have opinion on it. As i said in my OP, i've never met a person feed 100% raw throughout a dogs life without adding something in the mix.
> 
> Sorry if i seemed like i was attacking the article or people feeding raw, im not. However in my opinion there are not enough long term results to truly say raw is the best thing for a dog.
> 
> Yes i did read it, i was more or less talking about than many myths and fact of high protein as a separation from the article.


It's all good KM  I love the whole RAW theory thing to but I agree with you when you say that most people I have met don't feed all raw without supplementing at some point. Personally, I don't like the idea of throwing my dog a chicken leg amongst other things. I know it's not as simple as that. I also don't have time to make my dinner half the time so for me to prepare a raw meal twice a day just can't happen. However, I do give a variety of foods to my dogs incuding fresh raw fruit and veggies. She loves carrots, spinach, zuchinni, apples, bananas etc. I like her to have a variety of things in her diet. Not just a bowl of dry boring kibble with water in it


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## Blue_Nose_Bella (Jan 16, 2011)

Shes Got Heart said:


> I have to say.... I have had many dogs over my life since childhood. They all ate regular kibble, whether it be Ol Roy or Purina dog chow. And besides one who died of unrelated health problems at age 6... almost all of them lived to be well over 12 years old. I think my last two oldest dogs lived to be 14 or 15. They were mutt's, and they lived off Purina dog chow.
> 
> But of course... knowing what I know now... Helena doesn't eat that stuff...  But I also take this study with a grain of salt.
> 
> Maybe all the scraps she gets keeps her hydrated.


SGH, I hear what your saying.....I grew up with GSD K9 dogs all my life with my grandfather being a police officer there was always a big male dog around. Most of our dogs back then 35 years ago ate Purina dog chow and also lived to be 12 to 14 years old, hardly went to the vet, and were never fixed. Now a days there is the Cancer epidemic that is now higher than ever amongst our beloved animals. Studies that I have read indicate that over vaccinating as well as pesticide and chemicals used on our dog for fleas and ticks have alot to do with animals dying young these days. I have never bought into the whole flea and tick preventitive craze. I know some people have no choice to use it but I would rather go to a natural alternative than ever put that stuff on my dog. I can honestly say my animals have never had a flea....but they also aren't yard or kennel dogs. All the dogs I have owned were all house dogs. I live in the city and stay out of the woods so I don't worry about the little buggers  Oh, and table scraps are great in your dogs dish. Back then that was a big favor we did for our animals was give'em some cooked meat and veggies  I take things with a grain of salt to a point to when I read studies, but the majority makes sense to me in some studies if you think of it.


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## pitbullmamanatl (Jun 1, 2010)

Blue_Nose_Bella said:


> It's all good KM  I love the whole RAW theory thing to but I agree with you when you say that most people I have met don't feed all raw without supplementing at some point. Personally, I don't like the idea of throwing my dog a chicken leg amongst other things. I know it's not as simple as that. I also don't have time to make my dinner half the time so for me to prepare a raw meal twice a day just can't happen. However, I do give a variety of foods to my dogs incuding fresh raw fruit and veggies. She loves carrots, spinach, zuchinni, apples, bananas etc. I like her to have a variety of things in her diet. Not just a bowl of dry boring kibble with water in it


Unless you are pureeing the fruits and veggies then they aren't doing her any good. She can't access the nutrients unless they are pureed.


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## Lex's Guardian (Aug 8, 2009)

What about chopping up raw chicken & combining with the dry? do you guys think that'd be enough moisture or should I throw some canned in as well?


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## Blue_Nose_Bella (Jan 16, 2011)

pitbullmamanatl said:


> Unless you are pureeing the fruits and veggies then they aren't doing her any good. She can't access the nutrients unless they are pureed.


Yup! They are pureed  I've been doing my homework


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## Blue_Nose_Bella (Jan 16, 2011)

Lex's Guardian said:


> What about chopping up raw chicken & combining with the dry? do you guys think that'd be enough moisture or should I throw some canned in as well?


Some people don't advocate feeding both raw and kibble together because they digest differently. I do know some people that feed that way and there dogs do fine. I've actually done it before with an ACD I had. I feed BB in the morning with canned mixed in along with her flax oil and supplements.


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## Lex's Guardian (Aug 8, 2009)

Blue_Nose_Bella said:


> Some people don't advocate feeding both raw and kibble together because they digest differently. I do know some people that feed that way and there dogs do fine. I've actually done it before with an ACD I had. I feed BB in the morning with canned mixed in along with her flax oil and supplements.


So far I've just been feeding dry... I just wonder the difference between mixing canned w/dry & mixing raw w/dry?

I've read a little about it but never really looked into it because i didn't realize there are health risks with only feeding dry until now.


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## Blue_Nose_Bella (Jan 16, 2011)

Lex's Guardian said:


> So far I've just been feeding dry... I just wonder the difference between mixing canned w/dry & mixing raw w/dry?
> 
> I've read a little about it but never really looked into it because i didn't realize there are health risks with only feeding dry until now.


Well, raw is raw and canned is processed but still holds 70-80% moisture. There is a part in the video where she says if you don't feed raw only than you are actually better off feeding a good quality canned food because that would be more biologically appropriate than dry kibble.


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## pitbullmamanatl (Jun 1, 2010)

Lex's Guardian said:


> What about chopping up raw chicken & combining with the dry? do you guys think that'd be enough moisture or should I throw some canned in as well?


Ah, I say choose one or the other. I'm not a fan of mixing kibble and RAW but if you are going to do it then do
40% kibble
40% RAW
15% Roughage 
5% Misc (yogurt, ACV, supplements)


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## Blue_Nose_Bella (Jan 16, 2011)

pitbullmamanatl said:


> Ah, I say choose one or the other. I'm not a fan of mixing kibble and RAW but if you are going to do it then do
> 40% kibble
> 40% RAW
> 15% Roughage
> 5% Misc (yogurt, ACV, supplements)


Lauren, do you find that people who feed raw and kibble together have no issues? I always hear and have read on food bags that grain free diets can supplement a raw fed diet. They do digest differently though and I assume that could cause issues?


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