Wow~ Thanks for posting this, Piston! I've been thinking about switching to raw for a long while. At least for my dog. c: This answers a ton of questions I had about it too! I can't wait to read more from you. ^_^

Awesome to hear~ :D If you have any other questions/concerns on it feel free to ask me. c: I switched my dog when she was eight months old and I've switched three cats so far (two being a friend's) and another friend's dog. XD

Haha awesome! The only problem I would have is having my parents keep up with it while I'm at college. XD But I'm definitely going to talk with them about it. C: What about young puppies? How would you start them out? Cause my next dog will certainly be started on raw someday. xD

Yeah parents can be a little hard to convince sometimes. XD But I've successfully showed my mom how to feed Roo raw when I left her there for a weekend. Mom thought it was gross but otherwise things went fine.

Puppies can be started on raw as soon as a part of their weaning process. Basically the earlier you start raw the better for the dog. XD That way the detox is much less and the health benefits start from an early age. So with weaning pups you'd probably have the most success using a food processor to grind their meals at first (similar to how mom would regurgitate the food for them) and then slowly start to introduce them to boneless meats. After that you can introduce large but malleable bones (like the bones in chicken breasts) to get them used to chewing that way. And it's all easy peasy from there! Aaand if the prospective puppy's already on kibble, just skip the food processor step. c:

My friend's dog was pretty young when we switched her. Maybe... four months? Something like that. And she took to it fine. She just had some problems with gulping since she was a food inhaler before. XD

Haha yeah. xD Getting them to keep up with it would be hard. But since we'd probably only do it for my dog, they might actually try. Our other two dogs are pugs and I'm not sure how well they'd be able to get at the meet with their really mushy faces. xD But who knows?

Thanks so much for that info! :D My friend would probably love to hear about it and it's an awesome tip to remember when I get my next puppy sometime down the road. C: He/she will definitely be started out right! Haha.

My biggest advice on that is just letting them in on the health benefits and such. That your dog will be shedding less, etc, etc. My grandparents are actually surprisingly forward on it because I've raved about it so much. They probably won't switch, but I'm sure they'd have no problem keeping up with my dog for me if I needed them to. c: And don't discount those squished-faced pups! It might take a little more work for them to figure out how to chew properly.

No problem! If I ever get another dog I plan to do the same. :D

That's pretty cool! I would love to not have to feed my cats cat food anymore.

It's definitely a bonus! XD Like I mentioned in the FAQ (I know it's superlong, ha) cats tend to be a little harder to switch than dogs. But that all depends on the cat. Indoor-outdoor cats are often easier because they're already killing/eating things like mice and birds. Our cat, for example, was a stray before the rescue found him, so he took to a raw diet like a fish to water.

My momma cat was a stray too, she wouldn't eat anything besides dry cat food so I have a feeling she had not been a stray for long. She will eat canned tuna so maybe I can slowly mix the raw with tuna over time

-nodnod- They don't know Lou's history but I take it he was a stray for a while. Tuna can be a good way to switch them, just watch the salt content. That was actually one of the biggest tips I read when researching how to switch our cat. They said some tuna or other fish juice can get cats to at least taste the meat, which is often all it takes. XD Switching to canned food and then adding little hunks of meat is also a really good option. Then you can phase out the canned food and phase in the meat bits.

Thanks a lot!

What is my constant companion is misery? What should I feed it? ;)

Pure, raw grief and angst. But you just have to make sure not to ever, ever add any hope. Hope causes your misery to go into anaphylactic shock and it can quickly die. D:

Is listening to Linkin Park a cause or a symptom? ;)

Both.
Also a very good source of fiber for your misery! :D

What if my companion animal still sometimes piddles in the house but is /really/ cute?

At that point you have no choice but to just love her.
Forever and ever.
<3

Even when, if you hold out your fist and say "fist bump", she puts her paw on it?

Or if you nose her throat she gets super excited and play bows?

Forever and ever, you say?

Yes.

Forever.






And ever.
:I