Guess you gotta understand nutrition properly, and feed complete if not sure, good job your dogs got you

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You never own a cat unless the cat owns you!

Yeah you do have to understand nutrition and what you're doing but it's not hard once you've done the research and get into it. I spent hours researching before I started feeding raw and I still spend a few hours a week expanding my knowledge.

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Sounds like youve got your head screwed on,
i admire your responsibility to research it properly, and not doin it just for the sake of e new trend,
personally, i give my cats dry food, and fresh steamed fish twice a week.

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You never own a cat unless the cat owns you!

dont you have to freeze some meat first and then defrost it b4 you can feed it to them??

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ANGEL

Not really, that's what I was told when I first started asking questions about it but it's actually "fresher the better".

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Both my cats and dogs prefer chicken above all else . I grind up fresh whole chickens with organs for them and then feed them meaty bones as well. They also eat rabbit, lamb, beef and occasionally fish. Their poo is always perfect but can get slightly more loose stools after fish.

carol has been looking into it, I think she might start them on it gradually.
its better for them than all these foods with colourants and additives and all that crap.

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This is true, Tess, the not beloved border collie () used to have tripe at one point then she didn't eat the dry food anymore so now she doesn't have the tripe at all, well occasionally if one of the others is sick she might get their tripe but thats all.

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Alan,
How much do you know about Neosporosis, from what i have read it's fatal & has similar symptom to CJD (mad cows disease)
Freezing the fresh meat first helps to kill any parasite which can cause Neosporosis, & then obviously thawing it again to feed to the dogs as raw meet, is what i have always understood to be the safest way of feeding raw.
Personally i would not take the risk of feeding fresh without it being either cooked (my preferred) or frozen first.

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Neosporosis can be fatal as can other parasites. Neospora is a single cell protozoan parasite that invades the nervous system and many other tissues including organs, muscle and skin.

Neospora infection is directly linked to feeding raw meat and results in progessive limb paralysis, as more and more of the nervous system is affected by invading parasites the symptoms progress from the brain down the spine and to vital organs and muscles which can leave the dog blind and paralised within days.

However Neospora can be passed to pups from a bitch in the womb proving that immunity is possible. There is also suggestion that antiprotozoal treatment is effective in combating Neospora.

You're right that freezing kills Neospora and I do freeze most of the meat I feed as it's not practical to feed fresh all the time. The risk of Neospora is highest in beef. But in all honesty I would feed fresh everyday if it was possible.

Another arguement is that a dogs immunity is heightened when feeding raw and the risk of infections is further reduced if you provide a well balanced raw diet.

Neospora is one of the many risks of feeding raw which is why you must do your research before feeding raw and be aware of all the risks and what symptoms to look out for. You have to remember there are thousands of raw feeders that have never ever had a problem, most cases of parasite infection are from people giving small amounts of raw meat to dogs primarily fed on commercial dog food.

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