About Nature's Way Carolina Dogs

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Seymour, Tennessee, United States
Welcome to my site about my Naturally Reared Carolina Dogs! Carolina Dogs are a relatively new, rare breed recognized by the UKC, AKC-FSS & ARBA, and are quite possibly America's own indigenous wild dog. CDs make wonderful companions, athletes, hunters, and bedwarmers! Natural Rearing is the philosophy wherein we raise our dogs and puppies by following the 8 Laws of Health, employing Biologically Appropriate Raw Food and no toxic chemicals on, in or around our dogs. We have found this way of life fosters balance, health and longevity in our beloved companions. For our puppies, we welcome homes that have a very similar philosophy about dog rearing, or wish to learn. Check us out, follow us and share us in other places!!! YouTube@ Susan NaturesWayCarolina Dogs NaturesWayPets and FaceBook @ https://www.facebook.com/mycarolinadog on Twitter @https://twitter.com/NaturesWayCDs Thank you so much for visiting our site, feel free to leave us a comment or send us an email! susanlewelling@yahoo.com

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Where lies the Danger, Raw or Kibble?

Two things have happened to me in the past few days that encourages me to continue telling everyone I can about the benefits of raw feeding. I want to dispel the lies and mis-information out there, the scare-mongering that is going on. Yes, I am angry. I will calm down... but I will not change my mind. I just thank the Good Lord Above that my dogs are fed a raw diet and I don't have to worry if I am killing my pets with their own food. 


If you know anything about me and my dogs or have just read through all the posts and pages on this site, you will know WHY I began on my Raw Feeding and Natural Rearing journey. In the past 4 years I have informally educated myself, reading as much as I can (sometimes to the disgust of my husband). I have posted what I have learned on Face-Book and my website, I tell the girls in the checkout line at the grocery store and my family and friends, I have been known to hang out in the dog food aisle of the pet store reading ingredients and talking in a semi-whisper to myself (and my dog)(I don't want to get banned from the store)  about why that particular food is so nasty and yes, through my mutterings, I have even struck up conversations with perfect strangers to tell them about that food they are buying, but only if they ask or look confused. 


The first thing that happened is that I received a letter from the local University based Pet Assisted Therapy Program that I and my dog participate with. It seems they are following along with the Delta Society and are implementing a new policy banning all raw fed dogs from participating in their program. Cooter and I  have been volunteering in a nursing home and an elementary school for a year now and there have been NO reports of illness from my dog’s visits, nor have there been recalls on any of the meats I have been feeding him and I have not heard of problems with any other raw fed therapy dogs. This organization cites the Delta Society as well as peer-reviewed articles published in the Journal of the American VMA, Journal of Clinical Infectious Disease, and others, but do not provide the specific articles they took their information from although they do list a link to the Delta Society's policy. 

This letter cites the risk to immuno-compromised patients that a raw fed dog would pose.  I have 2 thoughts on this "risk".
 First off, if this risk is your argument what about the risk that kibble-fed dogs pose. It is widely known that there have many bacteria based pet food recalls in the past several years. More dogs are reported as dying from tainted kibble than raw fed dogs dying from their diets. 

 In addition to that, using the same argument, the Delta Society and others are saying that ANY therapy dogs are of such risk to immuno-compromised patients,  that no dogs should be visiting a medical facility to begin with. 


Secondly, my mother in law lived with us from the time she was diagnosed with cancer and throughout the following months of her chemotherapy and radiation treatments, all the way through, until her death(at my home). Her cancer was very advanced and the treatments were very hard on her. She lost from close to 200 pounds, down to less than 100 pounds. The whole time, my dogs lived in the house with us and were Raw Fed. I fed them in the kitchen or outside. I took normal sanitary measures of cleaning counters, utensils and floors. I never wiped the dogs off or bathed them after eating. They ate meat from the grocery store, wild game, and commercially prepared raw tripe grinds. They hung out in the living room with my MIL and laid on the couch beside her, putting their heads on her lap, they knew she was sick and needed comforting. They even licked her on the hands or kissed her cheek at times. The one thing that NEVER happened to my MIL was, she never got ANY type of infection, not even a stomach bug or a cold!!! And she was SEVERELY Immune Compromised AND in DIRECT contact with Raw Fed Dogs on a daily basis!!!! 

The other thing that happened to me this week was reading this article: http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/seven-dead-pets-in-five-days/#comment-13284
I think beyond reporting the deaths of these dogs, the point of this article is not to warn consumers away from any specific kibble or treat, but to warn everyone that we cannot necessarily trust the FDA to put our pets first when investigating (or not) and to remind us that ultimately, we as the pets owner, are responsible for truly thinking about what we are feeding our captive carnivores.



 I think many people think more about what brand of oil or gas they put in their vehicle than they do what quality of food they are forcing their pet to eat.....  
We must take more of a interest in what we feed our pets! We cannot depend on the FDA or AAFCO or any other "regulatory" agency to do it for us, to our satisfaction, not as long as there are loopholes that allow the use of diseased animals, euthanized pets (where did you think all those euthanized animals in the shelters and vet's offices go???) , and still wrapped expired meat  to be boiled down and made into the "meal" that is used in many pet foods and treats, not to mention the use of rancid cooking oil in pet foods.   


Everyone needs to investigate exactly where the "meat" found in their pet's food comes from, where it was raised and how, and where it was butchered and processed. What 'cuts' were actually used in the pet food? You should only use foods that use meat that is "human grade". Showing a thick, juicy steak or a fresh fish or a succulent chicken breast on the kibble bag does not count!!! There is no "Truth in Advertising" when it comes to pet foods and treats. It is time that ALL pet owners realize this and begin to actually care, before it is their beloved pet that develops chronic illnesses or worse, gets sick and dies. Give your pet AT LEAST as much thought as you do your vehicle!  Here is a list of links to more information about kibble v/s homemade feeding.... EDUCATE YOURSELF, for your Pet's sake! HELPFUL LINKS








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