Straight answers to the questions we hear every day.
Raw feeding attracts a lot of fear and a lot of folklore. Here is what twenty-plus years at the counter has shown us — and where the real cautions are.
Raw pet food carries the same bacteria as the chicken in your fridge. Dogs and cats have short, acidic digestive tracts built for it. The real risk is to the humans in the kitchen — wash hands, bowls and surfaces, and thaw in the fridge, not on the counter. Freeze-dried and HPP-treated brands exist if anyone in the house is immunocompromised.
Cooking makes bone brittle. Raw bone is pliable and digestible; it's the source of calcium in the diet. Feed raw meaty bones sized larger than the mouth, supervise, and never feed weight-bearing bones from large animals to aggressive chewers. We'll match the bone to the dog.
Most veterinary nutrition curricula are sponsored by kibble manufacturers, and vets rightly worry about badly-balanced homemade diets. A complete commercial raw food solves the balance problem. Many vets in the Palm Beaches now refer clients to us; we're happy to talk to yours.
Frozen raw runs roughly $5–8/lb, so a 50 lb dog costs about $150–250 a month. Owners usually offset it against fewer dentals, fewer ear and skin visits, and fewer prescriptions. Mixing raw with a quality freeze-dried or lightly-cooked food is a common middle path.
Cats imprint on texture and smell, so a hard switch often fails. Crumble freeze-dried raw over current food, then move to a spoon of thawed raw beside it, then in it. Two to six weeks is normal. Never fast a cat; hepatic lipidosis is a real danger if they stop eating.
They digest at different speeds and the starch in kibble raises stomach pH. Many pets handle a mix fine, but if you see loose stool, feed kibble in the morning and raw at night rather than together.
Expect small, chalky stools, occasional mucus, maybe a soft day or two as the gut re-populates. Add a spoon of pumpkin and keep the protein boring for the first two weeks. Anything beyond a few days of true diarrhea, call us.
Stool changes in days. Breath and teeth within two to three weeks. Coat, skin and energy take 6–8 weeks as the body rebuilds. Chronic ear and yeast issues can take longer — the yeast has to starve.