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The Raw Diet
Elizabeth, Dr. Susan Wynn did a survey study of dogs on a raw diet, and found some medical anomalies that appear to be normal in this population. Antech, the nationwide veterinary diagnostics laboratory, has info on this on their website, and I suspect it will set your friend's mind at ease and educate her vet:
"Antech Diagnostics recently determined the basic clinical laboratory parameters of 227 healthy adult dogs of varying ages and breed types being fed raw food diets for at least 9 months. From this group, 87 dogs were fed the classical BARF diet, 46 dogs were fed Volhard's NDF diet, and the remaining 94 dogs were fed other types of custom or commercial raw diets.
"There were 69 dog breeds represented, including 233 purebreds, 16 crossbreds, 1 mixed breed and 6 of unknown breed type. Dogs from all breed groups were represented. Most of the dogs were neutered males (73) or spayed females (85); and the remainder was divided equally between intact males and females. The mean age of the group was 5.67 =B1 3.52 years (mean =B1 SD); and the mean length of time fed a raw food diet was 2.84 =B1 2.54 years. The data from this group of dogs were compared to the same laboratory parameters measured at Antech Diagnostics from 75 healthy adult dogs fed a commercial cereal-based kibbled diet. Statistical comparisons of results for the raw and cereal-based diets found them to be essentially the same with the following notable exceptions:
*Higher packed cell volume (hematocrit) in all raw diet fed groups (range of 51.0 =B1 6.6 - 53.5 =B1 5.6 %) versus cereal-based kibble (47.6 =B1 6.1 %).
*Higher blood urea nitrogen (BUN) in all raw diet fed groups (range of 18.8 =B1 6.9 - 22.0 =B1 8.7 mg/dL) versus cereal-based kibble (15.5 =B1 4.7 mg/dL).
*Higher serum creatinine in the Volhard raw diet group only (1.20 =B1 0.34 mg/dL) versus cereal based kibble (1.07 =B1 0.28 mg/dL).
"While a more detailed analysis has yet to be completed, these results indicate that dogs fed raw meats (natural carnivores) have higher red blood cell and blood urea nitrogen levels than dogs fed cereal-based food (obligate omnivores). Thus, the normal reference values for dogs fed raw food diets should probably be revised."
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More info on feeding raw
"Give Your Dog A Bone"
You can get it for $20 plus $4 shipping from:Sylvia Hammarstrom
5179 Blank Rd.
Sebastopol, CA 95473
707-795-9785 home
707-795-7070 work
707-795-4869 fax
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