Everyone who feeds kibble or a mix of kibble and other foods is saying something along the lines of "well, whatever you guys want to do". Everyone who feeds raw only is saying something along the lines of "it's BETTER! It's NATURAL! You're a HORRIBLE person for abusing your poor dog/cat by giving them kibble!"

OK, I'm exaggerating. But only a little. Like I said, I've been dealing with people who feed raw (and try to get ME to do it) for the last 8 years or so.

One person said:

I mean, look -- If you've got an outdoor cat, odds are Kitty's hunting and eating birds, rodents and other uncooked meats. Most people understand that this is normal and natural.

My recently-deceased dog, when he was 15, excavated and ate a nest of baby bunnies. Then vomited them all over the carpet. Sure, normal and natural, except that I had to clean it up. I nearly barfed myself (and I'm used to dealing with this sort of thing). I didn't think "normal and natural". I thought "oh god, toxoplasmosis!"

Flea and tick infestations are normal and natural for an animal in the wild too. So do we just leave the fleas and ticks on the cats/dogs? (and before you say anything about putting chemicals on the animal, let me just say that since my last cat died I haven't had a problem with fleas in the house AT ALL--I have a theory that they come in on the dog, and stay on the cat--so I haven't had to treat for fleas in YEARS. My youngest dog has never been treated or had a preventive of any type for fleas.) How about worm infestations or heartworm? Normal and natural, yeah...

Someone else commented about how s/he fed switched his/her pit bull mix to raw and the dog was healthy and young-looking right up until his death at 11 years. Anecdotally (and all we have here is anecdotes), 11 years old is not very impressive, even for a heavy dog like a pit bull--unless it died in an accident. If it was a natural death, than ANECDOTALLY I'd say kibble is WAYYYY better. My first dog lived to be 16 (in a breed that breeders say averages 14 years old). My second (same breed) lived to be 17 years old. My two current dogs (same breed, one a rescue, one from a breeder) are 11 and 4, respectively. All ate/eat high-quality kibble, usually with a bit of yogurt or cottage cheese or whatever on top. And they get table scraps, and sometimes even (gasp) raw bones!

And lastly, someone else asked "Would you eat kibble every day?"

Well, yeah, I would--if it gave me all my nutrition and a controlled amount of calories, and tasted good, I'd LOVE to have my food preparation time cut down by just eating a cup or two of people-kibble. With the option to occasionally vary my diet. Which is EXACTLY what I do for my dogs.

Good point.

And to the poster just before "manatee"--how much more anecdotal evidence do you need that feeding raw food DOESN'T "work"--or doesn't seem to improve much of anything for the majority of pets?

My kibble fed-dogs:

#1--from a breeder--lived to 16--died of old age

#2--got as a rescue at 7 yrs--lived to 17--died of old age--high-level Agility titles. Never ailed a thing, was doing stairs even until the last few months of his life.

#3--got as a rescue at 2 yrs--11 years old, and going strong. High-level Agility and Flyball titles. Rally and Obedience titles. Very healthy except for slab fractures on 2 rear top carnassials(from chewing hard bones!) which required removing the teeth, and a slightly arthritic shoulder (from an injury when a puppy before I got him)

#4--from a breeder--4 years old, exceptional Agility/Flyball/Herding dog with great speed and glowing health.

Manatee is correct. What many of us object to is NOT the feeding of raw food, but the VERY aggressive pushing of that diet by its evangelists. I've been on the receiving end of too much of that not to push back at this point.

I understand the defensiveness of the non-RAW side - why take any effort and expense to care for your pet when you can just shovel your dog dried by-products and fillers out of a bag for pennies a day? It just depends on how you feel about your dog: if your pet is not really a member of your family - if your pet is just another burden in your busy life - if your pet is just a mere animal - then feed it anything you want.

Raw food evangelists ALWAYS say something insulting and condescending like the above. How DARE you accuse us of not caring about our dogs? My dogs are not only my buddies and members of my family--they also compete, variously, in Agility, Flyball, Obedience and Herding. It is my responsibility to keep them in top condition for this. My choice is high-quality kibble with human-grade ingredients--Innova, as a matter of fact. My dogs have lived long, healthy, productive lives, and have never been "mangy" as you say yours was.

If, however, you do care about your animal and you bother to do any research and still feed your pet the crap they sell at the store, then you are a special person indeed!

NEWS FLASH! You don't have to feed your dog grocery store kibble. There are a multitude of EXCELLENT kibbles that use HUMAN GRADE ingredients and are nutritionally complete.

I am totally disgusted, though not surprised, by the comments of the raw food evangelists. They parrot the same line, more and more aggressively, and expect the rest of us to take THEIR anecdotal evidence over our own.

the cheeks and jaw! He looks like he has acromegaly!