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Posted by PHDrTobin on March 07, 2003 at 10:45:57:

In Reply to: Possible switch from raw to cooked - please help us!! posted by Melanie2 on March 05, 2003 at 21:07:10:

:We have a dog who at age 5 was diagnosed with arthritis. Prior to locating a holistic vet, she was given rymidal which caused extreme diarhea and then prednisolone which was awful also. Then we found holistic vet and with regular chiropractic adjustments and accupunture, dog is well. She'll always have arthritis, but we haven't had to cart her around in a stretcher for quite some time! Anyway, when we found holistic vet, one of her recommendations was raw diet. So we put our two dogs and four cats on raw frozen diet. One of the cats has had pancreatitis twice now and the other dog had it very extreme last November. Vet recommeded that those two come off the raw diet. Try to get three other cats to eat raw when they can smell canned cat food that the other cat is eating! Bottom line: all 4 cats back to regular cat food and much happier. Here is the problem: everyone's bloodwork is NEVER right when on raw food. In addition, sometimes you get a certain feeling about something, and we feel that raw is just not right for us anymore. Seems like there is always a problem... This last dog, the one with arthritis, is the only one eating raw and I want to switch her back to holistic canned. The problem is her stomach - it's about as weak as they come. I tried boiled chicken and rice for three days and we're talking diarhea all over the house. Can anyone suggest how to switch her back? I'll take it as gradual as it needs to be; but I need specific instructions, not vague generalizations. I am concerned about feeding raw and cooked in the same day and how long can you let diarhea continue before you're in serious trouble, etc. etc. Please help!

While I still think that raw meat is better for dogs and cats than cooked, the animals have to agree. You need to listen to what they are telling you. I don't know what raw frozen pet food you were giving, but I generally recommend meat from the butcher, the same as you would eat yourself. Of course, you don't need the same cuts. Organ meats and ground beef, chicken and turkey are fine. Animals with pancreatitis should get very little fat. If you want to switch from raw to cooked, add a very small amount of the cooked meat to the normal amount of raw food. At the next meal, add a little more cooked, and reduce the raw slightly. At each meal, increase the amount of cooked meat and reduce the amount of raw meat, until it is all cooked. This also works for going from cooked to raw, if you should want to try raw again.

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