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If you would like to tell others how the raw diet has helped your dog - send me the information in an email and we will add it to our site!  Feel free to send pictures as well and we'll do our best to add them too!

From Mary Schurr:

I began raw with my German Shepherd Dogs about 6.5 years ago.  At the time I had two older dogs Andy 11and Matti 9 and I had just gotten a new pup Remy.  While my dogs had always been “healthy” as they aged I began to have the host of old dog issues.  Bad skin ... bouts of colitis ... lameness and stiffness... and general lack of the bursting good health I wanted.  I began my search for answers in earnest when my new pup developed debilitating symptoms of colitis.  He had never ending loose stools..he could not keep weight on..and he hated to eat. I spent hours in the kitchen hand feeding him ... both of us crying (me in frustration and poor Rem in pain) .and I was terribly worried I would lose him at an early age.  I spent thousands at the Vet ....and we still had no real reason why he was like this.  The Vet diagnosed general colitis “that’s very common in GSD’s you know” and suggested a kibble diet I could only purchase through their office..and life long doses of steroids that would suppress the symptoms enough so he could eat.

Not satisfied I hit the Internet, a host of breeders I trusted, and a fantastic Holistic Vet.  To make a long story story short..my dogs were swapped to raw food ..and I have never looked back.  My beloved Andy left me at 13 1/3 ... Matti followed at 14 ½ , both were happy and healthy and were sick only at the very end of their long lives.  Rem is now 6.5..he is beautiful ... he is healthy ... and he is the love of my life.  He competes in the very highest level of Obedience. and has not been back to the Vet for anything more than yearly exams since he was a pup.  We have a new face in the house now ... Dani is 2..purchased from a breeder who starts her pups on raw.  She has never been sick ....she is beautiful ...and she has never so much as seen a kibble.  Her OFA’s came back Good at 2 years (H/E) and she competes in Flyball, Obedience and Schutzhund.  I believe raw food keeps my dogs happy and healthy and allows them to spend many more healthy years with me. 

Mary Remy (U-CD, Am/Can CDX, Bh ,AD, CGC, TC, HIC) Dani (Can CD, Bh,
CGC, TC , HIC)

From Laurie Kennedy:

Here's mine:

I have 2 purebred GSD's (a 2 and 7 yr. old) and a GSD mixture (6).  For a full year I researched and read everything I could re this diet.  I grow most of the vegetables we eat and try to eat a mostly "natural" diet myself so I was intrigued with the idea of the Barf diet and especially the testimonials regarding longer life.  So when the kibble (Innova) starting running low I made the switch.  Now bear in mind that for the past 3-4 years I had been supplementing the Innova with a veggie/lentil homemade mixture.  Also once a week they would receive canned jackeral or salmon.  So the switch was easy.  Replace the innova with raw chicken - and yes I did it gradually over a 2-3 week period.

The shedding is WAAAAYYYYYY down.  Their coats feel like silk and they SHINE!  Their coats are magnificent.  THe mix prior to his coming to me had been nearly starved to death during his first year.  His coat almost completely fell out during the first two weeks on BARF then when it came back in it was a slighter deeper color, wavy- it had never been wavy before and for the first time he had an undercoat - this is a dog that I had had on INNOVA for 4 years!  Still something had been missing in his diet - I was amazed.  But during the Barf introduction time with his coat falling out I nearly went back on kibble.  I thought the BARF was ruining him- but glad I didn't.  Also during the first month people who have been around my dogs for some time kept asking me who my "new" dogs were!   (Seriously!)

The amount of waste is WAAAAAY down.

Energy level is UUUPPPPP. 

Its cheaper ( I bought 100 lbs of chicken last week for $18) this will last me almost 3 months. I make my veggie/lentil mixture every 10 days and that costs about $3 per batch (its cheap because I grew the veegies and froze them myself).   So that is about $10 a month for 3 dogs averaging 70 lbs each.  I still also include canned slamon or mackeral once a week and also include plain yogurt now and then.  So for about $16 a month I'm feeding 3 big dogs.  At first the inconvenience is a nusiance but now I'm sold on this!  It takes about 2 1/2 hours to prepare the chicken for the freezer and it takes about 1 hr to make the veggie mix. 

They eat twice a day getting 2 chicken necks or a back, veggie mixture, supplements (fresh factors), and yogurt.  I also bake my own bread and allow them to have a 1/2 slice once a day.

I have not had a problems with bones which was my BIG concern.  But I also stand by and watch the dogs.  Also my dogs rarely ever graze on grass now that they are off kibble. 

Lastly, for experimental reasons I reintroduced Innova for a month in Sept.  Their coats decreased in silkiness and gloss, stool size and quantity increased a lot and they started grazing grass regularly.  They showed me what I needed to know and I have now completely eliminated the kibble and they are back on BARF and they gleam with health, health, health!

From Norma:

Hey Lauri!
It has been a whole year and some now that we started feeding raw.  We don't have any chronic conditions to reverse or maintain, just dogs that didn't like kibble. 

One dog had anal gland trouble twice while being fed kibble and the prescription fiber diet didn't help much.  This was the push over the line to feeding all raw instead of treats and a meal here and there. 

I didn't realize it at the time but my oldest dog had diarrhea a lot on kibble and I never knew why.  Sometimes he would vomit.  Every now and then he does this still but it is much less and the vet says he has some IB symptoms, not full blown disease just a weird belly. 

The vet has learned more about the diet since I switched and she recommends me not changing a thing.  We buy lots of pumpkin for those periods of high stress and diarrhea hits.  His diarrhea seems directly related to his stress level and not diet.  We could go back and identify times of high stress and diarrhea when we looked into it.  It just makes sense to keep the diet as high quality as possible.

I was changing kibble every 6 months or so just so they would eat. No problems there anymore!

Feel free to email me at info@rawdogranch.com if you have any questions!