r/rawpetfood

Hi all,

My cat recently suffered a UTI which has been a pain to treat. We believe it was stress-induced and has since relapsed following multiple antibiotic courses. She has had bloodwork and imaging which have all come back normal, so we're dealing with a stubborn infection.

She is otherwise healthy and has been raw fed her entire life. She used to eat exclusively homemade raw (chicken), occasionally getting fish and lamb. More recently, I've started her on complete commercial raw rabbit mince in the mornings, and she gets her regular homemade raw in the evenings with raw fish 1-2x per week. She is supplemented daily with psyllium husk, taurine, fish oil, probiotics and other beneficial additions. She drinks plenty of water, her stool has always been regular and solid.

After a 10 day course of an oral antibiotic and, following failure of that to eradicate the infection, an injection antibiotic also failed to completely eradicate the infection (residual bacteria remained in urine), the vet is now recommending I stop the raw and feed a urinary care kibble. I looked at the ingredients in this and was horrified. I asked the vet what specifically about this food would be helping my cat with this UTI and she just said 'its good for the bladder'. I cannot imaging giving my cat kibble, when she is currently chewing through meat and offal, enjoying her meals and keeping her stimulated.

Since the onset of this UTI, I have been religiously giving my cat 100% pure D-mannose (1/4 teaspoon 4x a day) and two cystease tablets daily. These have obviously failed to help eradicate the infection alongside the antibiotics, but I am continuing to give them in the hope they may be helping even in the slightest. We are due to repeat the urine culture and start a different antibiotic next week.

I currently am stuck between listening to the vet regarding the urinary diet as a last resort, or sticking to what my gut is telling me and giving the food that she is used to eating and is high quality, despite feeling guilty now that I may be harming my cat. How can dry food possibly fix a urinary issue? I read that the main ingredient that governs it a 'urinary diet is 'Dl Methionine', which is sold separately as a paste and can be given without having to totally change her diet (its called methigel - anyone have any experience with this?). Apart from that, none of the other ingredients in this urinary food seem to have any affiliation with bladder health. She has no urinary stones, no sediment, nothing showed up on imaging aside from the infection.

Please does anyone have anything reassuring to tell me about my approach, or whether I'm doing something totally wrong here? Should I really be changing my cats diet to a urinary care diet?

Hi! My grandparents just adopted a new dog and are very interested in feeding her raw, or the healthiest diet that’s accessible to them.

They’ve always fed cheaper grocery store kibble and have noticed their dogs have had health issues and allergies. They think feeding a healthier diet will help prevent a lot of these issues with their new dog, and they know I feed my pets raw and even my senior dog is in great shape.

They are in their 80s and my grandma in particular has been having some medical concerns and has an early dementia diagnosis. They do not have a lot of money. I know they can’t afford to feed the brands I feed my pets.

I’m also not sure if they’d be able to do homemade and make it balanced themselves. I’m really interested in finding a good meal completer that they could mix in to gently cooked ground meat, or some other affordable and easy option for them to feed their dog fresh food. Is this realistic?

Hello! I recently adopted a puppy and would like to transition him to a raw diet. I previously fed DIY raw with the guidance of a nutritionist, this required a lot of freezer space and I had space for a separate freezer in my last apartment. I now only have space for a fridge with a small freezer.

Tldr; I have minimal freezer space, want to transition a puppy to raw. Is there a solution? Any good premade raws for puppies?

Thank you!

I finally got my puppy home yesterday, and her breeder fed her a mix of a specific kibble and mush vaisto ice blue. When I got her home, I switched to mush vaisto light purple because of availability close to me (and because you guys said it would be eaiser to feed premade raw compared to homemade when I asked about feeding requirements for puppies a few weeks ago). There's no signs that she struggled with the change. I'll do about 70/30 raw/kibble until the kibble bag is empty, but I'm wondering if I should stick to that specific raw brand and type throughout puppyhood, or if it would be alright to change between brands as long as they're balanced for puppies?

The kibble industry is very much "no variation, change is bad," which is obviously not right, but how much variation is good, and can there be too much? To me, it seems that varying brands and proteins will make the puppy's gut more robust and healthier, but how often should I rotate proteins and/or brands? She's a standard poodle, so she's got a fair bit of growing left.

I'm also curious what the difference between raw for active/working dogs and puppies is, as I've seen some brands have premade marked for both puppies and active adult dogs. It would obviously depend on the brand, but since she'll probably be growing until she's past one year old, and most places recommend sticking to puppy food until then, would it be possible to add active adult dog food into the rotation when she's getting close to the one year mark?

(I'll post a photo of her in the comments because I might be biased, but she's an unfairly cute puppy)

My terrier‘s bilous vomiting syndrome has had a bad flare up.

Basically she was dewormed and then a day later had an accident that meant she was on painkillers which were quite harsh on her stomach.

She now needs several very small meals over a 24 period as her very sensitive stomach recovers. That means feeding every 4 hours. Which works fine for us and our work schedule.

However, we have a busy day coming up and it means we will be out of the house (and away from the fridge!!! 😭) for 12 hours.

In the past we’ve tried just giving a handful of dried chicken hearts or a cow ear to chew on. But I’m worried with the bile issue it might not be gentle enough on her stomach.

How do other‘s handle this?

Also, as a crazy pet parent I will absolutely stay at home if I have to as her stomach recovers, I’m just checking if there are some hacks out there I’m unaware of. 🫶🐾

I have three cats, they all eat Viva. I also buy meaty bones and chicken necks from Hare Today, and they all love the rabbit from there. But recently I bought the chicken pieces from Hare Today, and only one of my cats will eat it! None of them have any issues with store-bought chicken, they actually will appear from nowhere just to have a little niblet of thigh or breast when I'm preparing it. But the chicken from Hare Today? My two girls are suspicious of it. The boy has no problem with it, he goes around to eat everyone's abandoned chicken scraps. But I find it so strange that my chicken-loving cat won't even touch the chicken from Hare Today. It doesn't smell bad, it smells like regular chicken! She'll eat the chicken necks and duck necks from Hare Today, but these pieces… I wonder if it's because chicken from the store has been more processed and "cleaned", and she's just used to that?

We’ve been feeding our lab this food for a few days now, his first stools were and still are solid. However, they are yellow, almost gold, in color and have the consistency of sand. They break apart as they hit the ground. I’m assuming there’s too much bone in this formula.

He is eating pumpkin-salmon. He can only have salmon (potentially other fish protein). Anyone had experience with this and any brand recommendations in the same price range? 20lb is $130

Background: He has severe allergies, we think they are environmental as well as food-related. Salmon is a safe protein for him as his stools are solid on a salmon kibble. We did elimination diet. We just switched to raw. He has always struggled with yeast overgrowth and skin flare ups even with his special shampoo and cytopoint injection.

EDIT: thanks y’all (especially the kinder of you), ended up ordering a viva raw sample pack. had my girl on a 50/50 blue ridge beef/wet food diet but was hearing some bad things about BRB. i decided to go with viva & their smaller prey protein (turkey, chicken, duck, rabbit) because it’s a complete diet (don’t need to worry about wet food supplementation) and something doesn’t sit right with me about feeding my cat beef & pork (you don’t see wildcats taking down pigs and cows, lol)!

hey! just wanted somebody to point me in the right direction for research regarding the superiority of raw diets for cats. sorta torn at the moment and can only find studies that are neutral/against it. help me out!😸

Hey guys! I am new to this sub. I wanted to get on to ask some questions about my family's dogs who have newly (about 1 month) been receiving a gently cooked diet instead of kibbles. They are 14 year old, 60 lb black labs and they currently eat this once a day:
-12 oz ground chicken (raw weight)
-4 oz wild salmon (canned, technically cooked weight)
-1oz beef liver (raw weight)
-1.5 oz broccoli
-1.5 oz red bell pepper
-3/4 tsp salt

I got this recipe from a site that our vet actually gave us called BalanceIt for those who do want to make real food, and I also reference some of Dr. Karen Becker's recipes.

BONES: I have started giving them some of the bone BROTH that I make, but I am still trying to convince ppl that they should have bones, especially because one of the dogs has a fractured canine.

I have noticed one thing since we changed them over:
-Healthier looking tongues

However, I have not seen improvement in:
-Loss of coordination in hind legs, happening for a while in one dog who is on meds, and just started in the other. I've been trying to just let them rest in the case of IVDD or arthritis, but I'm wondering if there could be something else to it. Maybe neurology?

-Terrible breath persisting

-Excessive licking of both the carpet and their paws. It's my understanding that this can be a yeast issue with the gut sometimes, but I'm not sure. I thought about giving them some sauerkraut for probiotics, but I worry about stuff like histamines.

-Panting at rest. I've heard this can mean they are just hungry?

What are you guys' thoughts on this? I'm seriously questioning the fact that my parents are being told by the vet that these things are "normal" or "just part of getting older", given how many healthy dogs I have seen at their age. Is there anything we should consider, even outside of diet?

Thanks in advance for anyone who leaves a reply.

Hello everyone,
Do you by any chance, feed your pup or pups yeast free food or a yeast free diet? If so, can you please kindly tell me what you feed them or if anyone knows of any brands that have one. Thanks so much in advance and I look forward to your responses!

I’m pleased that my kitten, Nora, is a chewer and enjoys the chew sticks I give her(especially silver vine sticks), but I haven’t tried giving her a raw chicken neck yet. I found a store that has a butcher section that sells them(it’s oddly difficult to find chicken necks at stores around here, even at the meat or butcher counters).

My biggest question is, how do you give them to cats indoors without it making a mess? Do you put down a towel or have a specific area to give it to them? Dogs I know you can have them eat it outside, but I can’t really do that with my cat for various reasons(like the fact she wouldn’t care what food is in front of her while outside).

I’ve been using Smalls for almost 2 years but I’m looking at other options right now mainly to try and save money. I know Smalls isn’t raw, it’s cooked, but I still feel like my cats have been healthier on it than any canned (or kibble of course). I’m nervous about switching from cooked to raw because my older cat has a sensitive stomach and my younger one can be a bit picky. They also have always done amazingly on Smalls when it comes to coat health and scentless poops (anytime I’ve given canned as a treat or backup their poops get bad lol). Are there any solid cooked fresh options that might be cheaper? Can anyone ease my worries about raw for a cat with a sensitive stomach? She also has been hacking up massive hairballs lately and I’m trying to figure out how to manage that.

My cats are both girls, both about 10lbs, 2yrs and 5yrs, I aim to feed 180-200cal each per day (vet approved). Smalls packets are about 90% of their diet then they get a tiny bit of Dr Elsey’s kibble and various treats (the younger one would kill me in my sleep if she didn’t get some dry food, I was using Ziwi Peak and Vital Essentials but that became too expensive). I am currently spending about $185/month on Smalls and about $30/month on kibble/treats.

From my research on this sub, BJ’s Raw looks to be possibly the cheapest raw option for my situation, but I saw someone mention that the 80/10/10 formula is not truly complete. It’s also a combined protein formula so they wouldn’t have variety. I don’t want to have to cycle through a bunch of different options to find one that works because I know that will upset my sensitive girl.

I am in the US but possibly moving cities very soon so a local pet store is not really an option right now. I’d like to find something with good shipping standards. Unfortunately it’s not feasible for me to make my own food at this time. Thanks for your help!

There is always a lot of confusion on what to feed and what not to feed to dogs and cats! I sell clean treats for dogs and cats and I get overwhelmed too when I feed my cats. As a mother I want to always give them the best, I wont name the brand here but I used a very famous brands raw food diet for both my cats, and when one cat fell extremely sick, I immeditely felt guilty. He anyway has a very low immunity and bronchitis which is treated now but can be triggered anytime, so I am always very mindful but when doctor told me what was wrong and what might have caused, I was in shock. The doc told me that he got gastrointestinal infection because of the food he might have eaten, and as soon as i told them he moved to the raw diet, doc told me that its very common for cats who have been eating the raw diet to get such issues and believe even if its common, you dont want to see your pets suffering from it. he was on a drip and a on a liquid diet for more than 24 hours, he lost 2 kgs in 2 days. the doc also told me that the raw food chain in the uae is still not mature and needs a lot of improvement interms of transparency and nutrition value. The thing is that the cat's food is even more critical when it comes to curating it, they need all essential minerals/ vitamins/ taurine and what not to get the exact right thing and feeding them raw without that can cause catastropic results. its better to go with the regular vet food that you get in the clinics for your pets. they are widely tested in a lot of animals to create a product like this unlike the local brands who claim that they know everything. While creating products to sell for dogs and cats, I kept all of this in mind and made sure that I am going to sell only what is the best for the pets. I sell treats, not food and they are all dehydrated chicken jerkies, sardines, anchovies, chicken liver powder. One thing is common and that is they are all sinlge ingredient, so everyone know what they are feeding their dogs and cats. My cats go gaga over them and even though the food I give them are all mass brand product formulated by vets, but atleast my training time with my cats are all enriching including the right treats. Those 5 AED treats people feed to their cats and dogs are literal garbage. Imagine the raw material they use to create a bag full of treats for 5 AED. Invest in the right training treat for them.

I might be overthinking but yesterday both of my dogs’ poo was extremely dehydrated and crumbly, to the point that it looked more like bread crumbs when coming out. Today though, one of them pooped normally so I am not too concerned, but still, is there something I should be doing about it? They eat prepackaged raw food (very budget version but I try to variate the brands), which I add vegetables, fruits etc to, they drink normal quantities of water, and the food doesn’t look bony whatsoever.

Got my badge of honor today as I permanently banned from ⁠r/DogFood⁠.
Someone posted asking for advice about their 13.5 yo dog. He is currently eating a gently cooked diet and doing well on it. I left a comment suggesting they just stick to what is working for their senior dog.
Immediately the replies came in - “NO! SWITCH TO PURINA! WSAVA ONLY!”
At 13.5 years old, I think just give him what he enjoys at that age honestly. Just annoying to think that poor dog might be changed to eating that processed crap instead of fresh meat and veg.
I’ve always had my suspicions that the two main dog subs have paid mods working for nestle. There’s a mod on the /Dog subreddit who is weirdly always pushing Purina. Every single nutrition query is replied with feed Purina Pro Plan…