What’s kind of interesting about that is Smalls has no gums. Maybe that’s playing a roll in your guy, like I see in my crew here.
Freeze dried should cover that angle, too. I hope he likes it!!
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This link (probably already in thread) was super helpful https://rawdogfoodcomplete.com/blogs/news/what-are-cooling-proteins-for-my-dog?srsltid=AfmBOopRsXUizLGR3OryPMobXIZk3hhyu_wwQmTMwbTXyOncIZ2kWGbL
The general consensus is the Golden is a firey boy and could use some cooling foods (even if not raw it’s worth a try). Still researching. I’d love to find a cost effective routine but all the math as to cost per cal or price per lb is making my head spin (especially the dehydrated foods that make X amount after being reconstituted).
ETA I keep forgetting to address the Pepcid. That is a great idea! How long can they be on it before we worry? The Golden has what we call “busy burps” (like baby pukes into his mouth but nothing comes out) which we want to try to resolve too. They are sometimes caused by him gulping water (an anxiety thing for him that we are working on and have special water bowls for) but sometimes they just happen. I think the Pepcid could help that too. Our lab mix has what I think is acid reflux (she will randomly cough/ gag throughout the day) so maybe another Pepcid use?
I wouldn’t worry much leaving them on it long term, if they improve on it and decline when tapered. But I usually don’t find that’s necessary…I treat my cats and dogs on an as needed basis. A couple weeks here and there, at times of stress (esp in the ones that get upset with change) or when they’re doing something weird from a gastric perspective.
And their ground proteins are excellent and such a variety! I actually prefer their ground sardines and herring to the canned varieties.
I’d be careful using Pepcid for more than 14 days. A study done in Tennessee showed that the effects of Pepcid diminished after two weeks.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jvim.14615
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Can you add raw toppers to your regular food? Even just that is an improvement.
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Because of the risk to public health, the AVMA and thus vets who abide by their professional association cannot recommend raw diets.
If you choose to pursue raw, I recommend finding a prepared food that is AAFCO.
If you are worried about holes in the diet, feed a good kibble and raw and all your bases should be covered. It doesn’t have to be so strictly black and white. My dogs eat scat and doG knows that detritus they find as part of their diet, too. 
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I don’t know why I’ve been reading this thread since I have no dogs or cats now.
I am curious though. Can you expound upon the public health issues associated with raw diets for pets or give a Link?
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They are afraid people won’t wash their hands or utensils and contract bacterial infections. It’s all about liability and trying to avoid Darwinism deaths…
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But apparently these people are allowed to handle and cook (or not) their own food?
Why not document a warning about handling raw food and separating human from pet utensils?
Honestly I can see some people really screwing it up, but it’s not the Vet’s fault if they do.
I’m to old for this helpless society. I suppose I should be grateful for that…
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There are warning labels on people foods! Also, it’s just easier to say no to raw than to deal with the masses coming up with their own unbalanced diets and trying to fix sick pets. I don’t think they teach much about nutrition at vet school.
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@jherold 100% agree with you there. Unfortunately so many people feed unbalanced raw or cooked diet. I recently overheard an elderly gentleman speaking with a vet proudly saying he feeds his dog rice and cooked beef. Thats it. I’m sure many, many vets hear this and typically try to steer people away, and I don’t blame them. Don’t get me wrong, feeding a balanced diet is not hard, but it takes some reading and knowledge to do so, you don’t just throw meat and other things at them and hope for the best. I was lucky and leaned on a lot of people who have been feeding this way for decades. They pointed me in the right direction and I read, read, read what I could before I started (books written by vets).
I speak with my vet from time to time and actually have my pups annual check up in a couple of weeks. I tend to do them every year in the winter, do her 4DX in the spring (usually just done by a tech unless I’m worried about something and want to see my vet) and drop off 2 fecals per year (spring and fall). I trust and love my vet, but don’t speak much on nutrition as I feel I have it covered. But I wouldn’t hesitate to bounce any ideas off of him if I needed it.
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Risk to public health?..boy that’s a leap. You think raw feeders are setting up their own abattoirs?
Have you ever read the AAFCO book on what is allowed in pet foods (and livestock feeds)?..in the AAFCO system feed is what animals eat, food is what humans eat.
Feed can contain euthanized animals or pesticide contaminated ingredients: food cannot. The whole nutritional requirements area of AAFCO is based on feed quality ingredients not food quality ingredients: in other words to “balance and support” an animal on feed, synthetic nutrients are added in a one size fits all paradigm. AAFCO does not recognize that a pet might utilize food better than feed.
Complete and balanced in the AAFCO system is a one size fits all approach…Nature intended animals and humans to be seasonal eaters: eating foods available when Nature produces them. Secondly AAFCO’s approach to complete and balanced began with livestock feed: these animals with the exception of horses have a short life span because we humans need these animals to grow quickly and be healthy enough for slaughter.
But as we all know, thankfully in this culture dogs and cats are not eaten.
If complete and balanced according to AAFCO is the gold standard, why are so many pets obese? Why do 50% of American dogs die of cancer? Why are there so many skin issues in dogs, why do so many dogs need dental cleanings/and oral surgeries? Why are so many pets’ kidneys being so stressed?
This! A friend of mine who is a vet said she got one hour of nutrition in vet school and it was conducted and sponsored by Purina.
Just as unfortunately so many people feed crappy, low quality kibble. Or feed their kids pizza multiple times per week, or a bucket of Colonel Saunders, etc.
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For sure! I was speaking of raw food here in particular. Totally agree with poor, low quality kibble and eating McDonalds, fast food etc. I have the same feelings about AAFCO.
I will never change back to a kibble diet, as I have been so happy with raw feeding. But I know not all dogs thrive on a raw diet. I have known a few, and their owners tried many different things to make it work, but they had to switch back to kibble for them to thrive.
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There is a good reason every new member in our performance dog club was advised what to feed dogs was not a topic that should be discussed, as the opinions and experiences behind them were so varied and dog owners so intense about them. 
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Eh. I’m supportive of raw and home cooked but an unbalanced version of either can be more dangerous than a low quality kibble. While the ingredients may be low quality it is still ensuring a dog or cat gets the minimum of required nutrition. Conversely, feeding ground beef and rice for an extended period of time or only boiled chicken breast will have very real nutritional gaps.
Raw or home cooked when balanced is definitely superior to a kibble product IMO when it is balanced. As I shared above, I’ve done both under the guidance of a canine nutritionist. It was eye opening what was necessary to ensure homecooked would be balanced and it was certainly more than just some ground beef and rice even though his recipe included both!
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Nutrition is just not well understood by the general public period. Human nutrition, pet nutrition, whatever.
Even “medical experts” like doctors and vets have glaring holes in their knowledge, because nutrition is such a huge topic that doesn’t get much time devoted to it in their education.
So between the risk of pathogen contamination to the home and the inability for the average person to craft a diet that meets nutritional needs, I understand why vets don’t promote raw diets.
With that said, I don’t understand why a lot of vets are vehemently opposed to it.
But then, I once got yelled at by a vet for feeding my horse the recommended serving of a ration balancer, because “30% protein is too much for a horse.” C’mon dude, you’re smarter than that.
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This is why I adore my vet. She listened to my concerns, she made excellent points about the risks with a fully raw diet and how tricky it was to do it right, and instead of telling me NOT to, she recommended I do a combination of good grain-free wet food and raw. I did that for a long time and my cats were/are sooooo healthy and spunky. I also give filtered water, maybe that’s been a factor in their health as well. I supplement with raw as much as possible and also give feeder mice as treats - they go bananas for the feeder mice. I love that it provides a whole-prey meal! 
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this is the real issue I think. A raw diet is NOT just tossing a chicken thigh at them and calling it a day. Obviously that’s not balanced at all, but there’s also the issue of bones and either cracking teeth (raw) or tearing up their insides (cooked).
I would expect anyone who understands and mitigates the risks of handling raw meat they buy from the store and cook, to do the same with a raw diet, AND I’d expect those who aren’t careful with a raw diet, to also not pay that much attention to their own raw meats
All this applies to horses too and I see it ALL the time - piecemealing together their own “healthy” diet (because ya know, soy is evil), and creating a very unbalanced and/or deficient diet
That’s the entire issue.
I think too many vets aren’t actually horse people, combined with the fact that nutrition taught in school is a tiny portion of schooling, and seems to focus on things like major deficiencies and toxicities and how the GI system works (give or take)
I KNOW in some places it’s still taught that horses need 10-11% protein, and they’re not even using NRC guidelines to showcase that nutrition in horses, JUST like nutrition in people and every other animal, is about gm and mg and mcg amounts, and the % is and end result of total calories, NOT the starting point
One can ignore the ingredients (to an extent, still has to be species-safe) and focus on the nutrient profile. Today, it’s not too difficult to find reputable sources of raw or part-raw diets, but you DO have to do some self-education to get to that point. That last part s really what’s missing as a whole. People don’t know how to properly feed themselves despite the information being readily and easily available today. Why should they know how to feed their animals? 
Over-fed and under-worked. Same with people.
This is where it really comes down to the ingredients, but also, there are far too many dogs (especially dogs, far less so with cats) who are way too weirdly bred without any attention to the quality of the breeding animals
Nobody’s giving their dogs appropriate chew things to help clean teeth either. IMHO, many dog health issues are as much man-made as diet-related
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It’s really not a substantial portion of schooling, that’s the problem.
Middle school life science touches on it a bit in most state curriculums, but that’s pretty much the only time it’s emphasized. High School health doesn’t do any more than the typical “food pyramid” type information that is woefully lacking. High school biology teaches the macromolecules and their relation to cells, but fails to paint a complete picture of how that directly relates to nutrition.
100% agree @Texarkana, it’s astonishing how little of actual life skills are taught in school as a whole
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