The last day our dogs ate kibble was June 9, 2007.  For some time I had been exploring the idea of making the switch, and had recently tried a couple of different premium foods.  For years I fed Iams mini chunks or Eukanuba.  I had no problems to speak of, except for the lack of appetite of the boys at many times and of certain of the girls when traveling.  What prompted me to finally make the switch was the loss of Kimi-Willow in April in the midst of the major dog-food recalls.  It is quite possible that there was no link between her kidney failure and melamine or other dog-food contamination, but I will also never be sure that there wasn’t a connection.

I did not gradually introduce raw ingredients to my dogs: I switched cold-turkey (pun intended).  The first week I did feed them a mix of ingredients which included cooked rice.  The next weekend I took some time reading through the archives of  http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfeeding and I became convinced that dogs do not need cereal.

The dogs are fed by weight, and I measure each portion with a small kitchen scale.  They are getting around 2-3% of their body weight each per day.   I feed one large meal in the evening, just as I did before.  But now the dogs are more satisfied.

I have quickly become a true believer in feeding carnivores like the meat-eaters they are.  The difference in their attitudes about food and meal time is amazing to behold.  New coats are coming in shiny, teeth are sparkling white.  We have had no incidences of dogs passing bacteria to us through licking or through their waste in spite of annecdotes I had heard or read.  And speaking of waste, that has been dramatically reduced in both volume and smell.

I detailed my early progress via blog entries, and will continue with updates from time-to-time.

Update September 2008: 15 months in.  I am now feeding almost exclusively chicken for the meat protein, with addition of vegetables and cottage cheese.

See “What’s for dinner?” on my blog.