Has anyone read give your dog a bone,by Billinghurst?

I bought it yesterday,so far so good :D Altho his chapters on commercial food are a tad extreme,altho i'm all for raw feeding,i still feed a small amount of dry food occasionally,Eaglepack holistic.

the majority of my dogs food is raw meaty bones,offal muscle meat etc...But after reading some of his stuff,it is  beginning to put me off of feeding any commercial food at all!

I would like to hear your reviews and general views on his book :)

Agree that some of his views are a bit extreme.  I read "Grow Your Pups With Bones" straight after GYDAB and found that some of his opinions had changed - cannot remember what now but I think it might have been to do with grain.  I loved the bit about protein levels and how you could get the same levels from something like a lump of coal and shoe leather

<But after reading some of his stuff,it is  beginning to put me off of feeding any commercial food at all!>

Rose, this is the whole point of the book!

Billinghurst is convinced that commercial food is at the root of many canine diseases (a sentiment I happen to share) so therefore he is totally against the feeding of any form of commercial diet.

We both read the book about 7 or 8 years ago and the contents made so much sense that we were 'converted' overnight.

Even though we now have issues with some of Billinghurst's theories and follow our own form of raw diet, we will always be grateful for his book and the opportunity it gave us to 'think outside the box.
Raw-feeding is quite main-stream now, but 8 years ago it was a revelation to read about this strange 'new' diet and how we could feed it to our own dogs.

If it had not been for 'Give Your Dog A Bone', we would probably still be feeding a commercial diet.

Snomaes

I agree that many,many diseases are caused by feeding dogs purely dry commercial foods. I guess deep down i do agree with everything he says.But the way he comes accross is that all cooked and commercial foods will kill your dog,in other words all the dogs fed on cooked and dry food should be dead.Does that make any sense :p

I am vehemently against feeding a dog solely on commercial dry food and nothing else,this way of feeding is bound to catch up in some negative way or the other.

I cant say too much on a "public" forum,but my sister travels to the U.S once a month,suffice to say i am now feeding my dogs a dry food containing NO grain,it is made from pure meat,organ,fruits and veg,it is designed to be fed along side a raw diet and is the next best thing to raw imho :)

I still feed mostly raw and a little commercial on the side :)

Here's the ingredients for the above food:

Turkey
Chicken
Turkey Meal
Chicken Meal
Potatoes
Herring Meal
Chicken Fat
Natural Flavors
Egg
Calcium Carbonate
Garlic
Apples
Carrots
Tomatoes
Cottage Cheese
Alfalfa Sprouts
Dried Chicory Root
Taurine
Lecithin
Rosemary Extract
Vitamins/Minerals
Viable Naturally Occurring Microorganisms

I omitted the specific vitamins and minerals,but you get the general idea. I wonder what Billinghurst would think of this food?

<I wonder what Billinghurst would think of this food?>

Not a lot!  What you need to understand is that it is not only the ingredients that matter, but the way they are rendered and cooked, ie 'processed'.

Also, many of the benefits of feeding raw are in the action of chewing and eating the bone, which is also vitally important for a dogs periodontal health.
If you really want to read a book that will increase your knowledge about raw feeding, try reading 'Raw meaty Bones' by Tom Lonsdale. This book will explain why so many diseases that are accepted as 'normal' are in fact caused by feeding an incorrect diet. It is quite heavy going but very informative.

Obviously not all dogs fed on a commercial diet will become sick or die and I have never read any statement by Billinghurst that says this. What he does say however, is that dogs fed on a species appropriate diet will have better health and less disease than commercially fed dogs. This you can either agree or disagree with as there is no research to back it either way!

To feed as you are is obviously a good compromise and we actually feed a good quality commercial to our puppies, as we do not know which ones will continue to be fed on raw and we don't want them to become 'addicted' to raw and have problems in being fed commercial in their new homes.

Snomaes

Hi Snomaes.I have been feeding a predominately raw diet to all of my dogs for around 20 years :)

These are the first dogs EVER that i have fed commercial food to.A couple of them dont eat enough variety,veg,organ meat etc. Hence the commercial food,if it wasnt for them i wouldnt feed it at all!
Raw bones make up most of my dogs diet,around 60%,i have never taken a dog in for a dental,they also have had all their teeth when they passed away,all at a very old age.I have never had a dog die of a "disease"!!

I think one of the biggest cause of disease in commercial fed dogs is lack of "enzymes" dry food is literally dead food :( It does have it's place in some feeding regime's tho. Raw/uncooked food is chock full of enzymes and minerals etc. Even tho these are added "back" into dry food after the cooking process,they will never compare to the real thing.

What he does say however, is that dogs fed on a species appropriate diet will have better health and less disease than commercially fed dogs

About 10 years ago i had a rottie,i had to move from a large house at the beach to a small flat,so i couldnt take him with me,my friends who had a female rott took him in,he was 5 years old and was fed raw since puppy hood,was weaned onto it.Anyway my friends didnt like the idea of raw,they decided to feed him a commercial dry food.Long story short,he  died 2 years later of cancer :(  I contribute this solely because he was fed a commercial food and nothing else,no fresh food at all,maybe a few cooked tablescraps every now and then but that was it,nowhere near enough to make a difference!! In the 5 years i had him he only saw the vet for his yearly checks.So,yes i definately think commercial food causes these terrible diseases that our modern dogs are afflicted with :(

Anyway's i had no intention of making this thread into a barf V commercial debate.Just wanted to share/vent :)

I read his book. I'm still feeding Burns & tripe. I dabbled with barf but it wasn't right for us.

I thought it was an interesting viewpoint, if a little extreme. I find the whole raw feeding "barf" thing a little evangilistic for my liking. Joined a few groups and it seemed that folk were more interested in the dogs diets than the dogs themselves.

I read much of what he published on the web before his views became a money spinner ;)  He makes a convincing argument for what is undeniably a natural and healthy diet albeit a bit fiddley to prepare and awkward to purchase/store in bulk for many people.  Since he explains in such detail the negative affects of feeding "processed" foods then those swayed to his ideas and *able to commit to them* are understandably aghast at how anyone supplied with his info could want to feed any other way!
Personally it's not practical for me and so I do my best to feed a quality complete diet with occasionally minced raw meats, tripe, chicken wings etc.  Not an ideal case scenario with the "complete" enthusiasts either as this allegedly knocks the balance!  (but so too would all the table scraps they'd get regardless :) )
Ideally my entire household would only be fed fresh, healthy home prepared foods free of any preserving, colouring or flavouring additives but, being honest, I compromise on both when shopping :(  What I NEVER do is choose food based on price - so hopefully although not perfect, my 2 & 4 legged family get a good diet even if not the optimum healthy one that nutritionists would go for.    Teri :)