Cookie Is Transitioning Herself To Raw

I always liked the idea of feeding my dogs raw while I was petrified to try at the same time. It's been one of those things I'd like to do if I ever worked up the chops for it.

To have my cake and eat it too, I was experimenting with freeze-dried raw (you know, raw diet for sissies ...) combined with home-cooked.


As it were, Cookie is helping me with the agony of the decision.

With a prey drive as strong as hers, from the start she would catch little critters, mice mostly. I remember her first catch. She knew how to catch it but had no idea what to do with it once she had it. Tried playing with it, carried it around a bunch and when she decided to eat it, she swallowed it whole.

It came back out shortly after.

The next time she decided to eat one, she figured she'd chew it some. Voila, it stayed down! Since then, she's been embellishing her diet with the occasional freshly caught snack.

(Note: the mice around here are truly wild ones, with no human population to speak of, so no rodenticides. People who worry about rodents get a cat)
I accepted these raw snacks. Other than the first time when she ate it without chewing, Cookie never got sick from eating a mouse.


When we were discussing Cookie's diet with our new vet, when she found out I also give Cookie eggs, the vet recommended feeding them raw.

After a lot of thought I decided to give that a try.

Cookie really likes that and it hasn't caused any upsets.

The other day she found remnants of a rabbit carcass in the woods. It seemed to have been mostly bones of front legs. It was on top of the snow, so we could tell that it hasn't been there very long.

At first Cookie mostly carried it around and dropped it when asked. But I could see she really wanted to eat it.

After some internal turmoil, I decided to let her have at it.

Was I worried? You bet. But the bones were quite fresh, quite small and she was chewing them quite well. Plus humans are the only animal that takes something away from another who already has it in their mouth. And since this is technically perfectly eatable, why do it?

Cookie munched them down and no upset followed.

I think she's trying to tell me something. And I think that sometimes one just should let nature take over. When I was prepping their beef for slow cooking yesterday, I gave away a little bit of it raw.

No upset followed.

Perhaps Cookie will make a raw feeder out of me yet.


Related articles:
"Natural" With Regard To Dog Nutrition (Part I): What Does It Mean And Does It Matter?
The Whole Food Philosophy: The Nutrients, And The Mojo
The Whole Food Philosophy And The Tale Of A Giant Sugar Beet
A Rant About Breast Milk And Dog Nutrition
Trying To Make "Bone Meal" From A Wild Duck 

Comments

  1. BOL...I had the same issues with TIno - he'd eat anything he caught. He also lived in the wild for many months, so that was his nourishment...I didn't feel right depriving him of it, so I just let him have it.

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    1. Yeah, exactly. It's not right taking that away, is it? Does make me think about taking the lead and switching her to raw all together, though.

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  2. Our dogs will kill anything that finds their way into their yard and any small animal that isn't fast enough. During the summer, we rescue a lot of birds and rabbits from our pack.

    Welcome to raw!

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    1. Cookie is the first of our dogs with such a prey drive. It's a new experience for us and I think one should take a hint, right?

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  3. Tynan had a similar prey drive but it didn't occur to me until reading this that he was meant to eat raw. It's a good thing my vet recommended a raw diet when we were struggling through Tynan's first cancer treatment. Tynan loved his raw dog food but since we're in the city, I couldn't let him keep he dirty, diseased rats, mice, oppussoms, occasional birds and squirrels he caught.

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    1. Yeah, in the city it's different; most of what they can find is dangerous. Out here, it's all true nature and whatever is alive is healthy.

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