I am in the process of changing my Klan over to raw meat, bones and such and I just have a question about feeding offal.

I have always been told not to feed raw offal (liver, kidney etc) not sure why but have made sure that I cook it first. Previously I cooked a stew type meal, different types of meat, beef, chicken, lamb etc whatever I can get, brown rice or pasta and mixed veges. Often I would include liver, heart or kidney in the mix. They also get a cup of optimal dry food for their night feed and for breaky ... milk and eggs and a bone.

Is it safe to feed liver, kidney etc raw??

Opinions differ - however, as bacteria in raw food is one possibility as to why Wal got sick, I'd err on the side of caution and cook it.

While ppl who are into raw will say that you would be able to see hydatid cysts, others say you can't be sure to see them, and to me that seems right, some of them might be so tiny that they are between your cuts and then you wouldn't see them, I think.

I used to believe in raw feeding, but I don't now. To me, the basic concept of raw feeding depends on a trade-off (that it might have bugs in it) because you believe that, as long as they don't catch anything from it, they'll be healthier. I no longer regard that as a trade-off I'm prepared to make. And personally, I no longer believe that they'll be healthier because of raw food.

It's based on what I regard as a myth - that wild dogs and wolves are super-healthy and have access to a perfect diet in the wild. In my view, all they 'need' in the wild is a good enough diet to live long enough to reproduce and they often make do on very inadequate diets, like many wild animals. Most of them die much younger than I expect my companion dogs to, as well, due to factors unrelated to food. And conditions such as arthritis and HD have apparently been seen in wolves.

I really like a feeding expert called Monica Segal who has really good stuff on balancing the diet, and advises ppl on both raw and cooked food - her website is www.monicasegal.com . James O'Heare also has a book about fresh feeding, looking at studies on it's effects.

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/
Did you know that you can search for nutritional analysis of foods here? Which allows you to compare nutrient amounts in the same food cooked and raw. And once you know how much of a nutrient the dog needs, you can work out how much of a partic ingredient they need to meet their requirements.