[Ellie May]

Just out of curiosity, why don't you feed prey model raw if you don't trust dog food companies and like raw?

We'll just say that I am talking about a normal, healthy Yorkie here because Ellie is an oddball. For one small dog, I like homecooked mostly because I don't like any other choice. I won't do raw and I don't trust any dog food companies entirely (even more so than I don't trust people food companies), so what's left? While all food (dog and people food) is really scary at times, I am more confident with people food than dog food. I look at the lists of things that are in our food and think dog food has to be much worse... And for those who have the time and money, if homecooking you can go to farm stands, buy meat locally, etc. (would also be true for prey model).

There are many things that should be considered though (cost, time, storage, travelling, boarding, how many dogs and what sizes, etc.).
If I had a large dog or 3 or 4 small dogs, I would not homecook. It's just too much.
Also, the most important thing. The recipe has to be balanced preferably by a vet nutritionist. I would not feed a diet long-term that has not been. It's also pretty difficult to meet puppies' needs with this diet.

Kibble, canned, and pre-made raw I'll lump into one. I don't trust the companies. It's really that simple. It is my personal preference to not feed an entirely dry diet. It doesn't make sense to me (just my way of thinking). The canneries seem to always be in question, etc. The smaller, "holistic" companies can't put as much into QC as larger companies can. But hey, if I had a big dog or a bunch of little ones, kibble here we come!!! Unless there was a medical issue involved though, I would not withhold small amounts of people food. I'd give just enough to not throw off the balance of the kibble most likely.

Raw, I think dogs can do great on this (like all other diets). There are health benefits (like clean teeth). There are also things that are perceived as benefits like not much poop. Some may not agree that that is a good thing. The big thing now is the enzymes that it provides. But, I have an extremely reliable source that says the pancreas supplies 70x the enzymes needed to digest food (I think it is). So unless the pancreas is compromised, your dog(s) shouldn't need these. You don't really have to supplement with raw, but have to feed certain % of each thing (muscle, organ). I'm not sure who came up with this system, but??? If dogs are doing well on it, great. It just appears that we aren't using nutritional information based on solid science. Did a PhD come up with this (or maybe MS)? Was it peer reviewed? And if prey model is supposed to model a wolf's diet, does that mean wolves eat certain % of certain things? See, I just think that while this diet may have promise, there are some areas that are very sketchy to say the least. The same can be said about homecooked, but I like to follow AAFCO (or at least NRC) guidelines for that, so I don't feel like there is any risk with balancing if done correctly.