Philip <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I can confirm what  Ginny, Brenda, Hanni and others have said re: dogs not
requiring vegetables.  Why some companies include vegetables in dog foods
they claim to be  biologically appropriate I don't know. 

I'm not nearly as expert on dogs  as the aforementioned people are, but I
assume the biggest difficulty with  trying to feed dogs biologically
appropriate raw food (BARF) would be trying  to give them the same proportion
of organs they would eat in the wild.  Perhaps supplements like fish oil,
which Ginny suggested, could help offset  insufficient organ foods as well as
poor diet of the prey animals? Even if  you can't easily get a variety of
organs, a raw meat diet would still be far  superior to kibble.

I had come across the claim that wolves and wild dogs  eat the contents of
the rumen (second stomach) of grazing animals. Thanks to  Ginny I now know
that is a falsehood. It apparently is spread by vegetarians,  vegans and
others who want people to think that dogs are omnivores rather  than
carnivores. There is a refutation of it here:

Myth: WOLVES INGEST  THE STOMACH CONTENTS OF THEIR  PREY,
http://rawfed.com/myths/stomachcontents.html

I had looked into  the diet of wild dogs for a friend and found info that
matches what Ginny et  al said about wolves. Like wolves, African wild dogs
do not eat vegetables in  any significant quantity...

African Wild Dogs feed  on:
bushbuck
dulker
eland
elephants 
gazelle
hares
impala  antelope (the favorite prey)
kudu
nyala
ostriches
rhinos
rodents  
scrubhare
warthogs
water bugs
wildebeest
zebras
and other  small animals

Sources:

African Wild  Dog
http://www.whozoo.org/Intro98/michaelg/michgree.htm

Wild Dogs:  Lowveld Wild Dogs  Project
http://www.mluri.sari.ac.uk/wilddogs/wddiet.htm

African Wild  Dog: Habitat &  Diet
http://www.123spot.com/AnimalDirectory/africanwilddogs2.htm

Third  Kruger Park Wild Dog Photographic  Survey
http://www.parks-sa.co.za/conservation/scientific_services/ss_wild_dog_surve
y.html



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It is important to remember that raw meat alone  will not give dogs the  
proper calcium to magnesium ratio, they need  to chew on edible bones. 
 
Robyn