Raw Diet - Six Months Later

I haven't really blogged much about Bernie's raw diet and I know some owners out there are curious about it. I also want to document my experience with it so far.

Two weeks worth of Bernie's food

My choice to switch to a raw diet was a personal one, motivated by Bernie almost dying after a bladder surgery to remove a sizable bladder stone comprised of stuff that came from struvite crystals. Switching any animal to a raw diet can be highly controversial, especially given there isn't a lot of research out there substantiating the diet, pros and cons. When prescription medications and kibbles failed me I had to turn to something controversial in hopes it would work to save my dog.


There are lots of ways to start feeding raw. Some people use something called "prey model" which consists of mostly whole cuts of meat or small animal carcasses (sometimes complete with fur/feathers) and very little vegetation.  Some people prefer the BARF diet.  Some people make up their own diet as a combination of both of these.  I opted for something more scientific and hired a canine nutritionist to formulate the diet for me since I don't know the nutritional requirements of canines.  I also didn't know the balance of vitamins needed to keep a urine acidic and to prevent it from forming crystals.  Thankfully, the nutritionist knew exactly what I needed and she had done special formulations before.

Bernie Raw Diet Progress

Yesterday my vets office called with the test results of Bernie's recent urinalysis. Everything was completely normal, no crystals, white blood cells, bacteria or red blood cells in the urine. Her pH is still 8.0 which is too alkaline but we're working on that. This is progress from her last urinalysis that still showed some crystals in the urine.

I did breathe a sign of relief that something worked for her issue. Earlier this year she had to have bladder surgery to remove a very large stone. She somehow went into sepsis after that and nearly died. It was a long way back to normal. After trying various foods to manage her urinary crystals I ended up going "whole hog" and having a raw diet formulated by a nutritionist.

Now we're in the routine of making her food every two weeks and she knows when her food is being made. She'll corgi splat in the middle of the kitchen while we make it for her. Might also have to do with me giving her the leftover apples, bananas, kale and blueberries that I don't need. Basil loves it too, especially carrots.

For now, Bernie will be the only one on a raw diet because of time constraints and the fact that Basil's little digestive system doesn't handle change very well AT ALL. Byron and Basil will likely move to Natures Variety food or something like that since I want to get him off of the now Proctor and Gamble owned Innova Evo.