Nutrition & Feeding

All the dogs at Northernsoul follow a RawFab diet, Raw Food and Bones. They eat as nature intended them to eat, as close to the diet their close relatives, the wolf and the wild dog, would eat. They eat chicken wings, carcasses etc.. fresh vegetables and fruit. If you are interested in the diet my dogs follow, you may like to check out the Raw Recruits website on the links page. My personal experiences with commercial dog foods has led me to find this better and healthier way of feeding my tribe. When Jake was a very young dog he was weaned and raised on a commercial kibble, he was completely nurotic, hyperactive and stressed out. He couldn't calm down and lay still - everything was a big deal for him. He was not a very pleasant little dog to live with, bless him. Then we found Anna Carr and the Newleaf mailing list (the forerunner of Raw Recruits), Anna guided me on the route to ultimate health and nutrition for my four legged family. Together with Anna's wisdom, the book "Give Your Dog a Bone" by the Austrialian vet Ian Billinghurst and my friends at Newleaf, the dogs and I took our first faltering steps towards a new era. The first chicken wings were fed, I stood back and cringed - you all know the horror stories about bones - the dogs went mad! They loved it, the wings were wolved down in no time, and the motions passed the next day were noticably smaller and less pungent! The difference and improvement in Jake were noticable almost immediately. Within 48hrs of going *raw*, Jake was a much happier little dog, nowhere near as hyper and stressed out as he had been. We were due to go on holiday that weekend, and Anna suggested that I should take it carefully converting to raw, as we wouldn't want any upset tummies in someone elses house! Everything went fine, until one day I ran out of chicken wings. As we were in the middle of nowhere, and it was late in the evening I opened the bag of kibble I had taken along. After they had all given me the "you don't love us anymore" look they started eating. Within 2hrs Jake was completely nurotic and horrible. I had to stay up with him that night - he was a high as a kite! :-( The next day the motions were noticably larger and very smelly. That was it - I was straight to the butchers, and the kibble went in the bin! We were completely raw from then on. After a few weeks the dogs started to go through a *detox*, where all the addititives from the commercial foods are eventually purged from the dogs system by the good diet they are following now. Basically it's the same as a drug addict - going through cold turkey - though maybe this should be called *cold chicken?* :-) Jake detoxed quite badly, runny eyes - pus coming out, itchy skin - but then it cleared up and they all glowed with health! Jake still suffers with tear stains and I have been told it is hereditary, Mmmmm well maybe it is and maybe it isn't, but one thing I do know, all Jake's offspring that have been completely weaned and raised on raw haven't ever suffered with tear staining. Food for thought hey? Maybe your dogs tear staining isn't from it's relatives - it your dogs way of trying to expell a few poisons from its body - starts you thinking, doesn't it..................? If you would like to see the diet my dogs follow, click here:Diet Sheet and Instructions