Sandie1 wrote: ↑18 Feb 2022, 15:21
Thank you to everyone, it has eased my mind. Iris is fed on raw food which I think perhaps keeps them more slender. I know minis do vary somewhat in size and weight, my last girl was small too but a bit of a yo-yo dieter! I had to keep adjusting her food to keep her ideal as she soon tipped over onto the "plumper" side, but she was fed on kibble.
Talking of which, my vet gave me a bit of a telling off last time Iris was there, a few weeks ago. He said "everyone thinks raw food is so wonderful and it's not". He told me about a lurcher which he had to euthanise due to a build-up of bone in the bowel (or intestine, I can't remember which). I think he wants me to stop feeding raw
Personally I had found more positives than negatives for BARF. But he did scare me a bit. It's not that easy to find good independent vets, so I don't really want to start looking for another vet just because I disagree with him, he's been my vet for nearly 30 years.
Re the raw feeding, I would just try to avoid discussing it with the vet if you are happy with their service in other respects. Of course there will be the occasional dog that may suffer a blockage due to too much bone in a meal / diet but there are likely to be far more incidents of blockages due to dogs eating socks, cloths, stones or other indigestible items and I know personally of a dog that was euthanised due to a chunk of a “greenie” dental chew becoming stuck in his oesophagus and the surgeon was unable to remove and yet these are sold through or recommended by vet surgeries.
If you are feeding prepared raw meals from a reputable company it is unlikely that there is any risk of a blockage from bone. You can usually tell if the bone content is too high as it will make the poo very dry and crumbly and, if that does happen, just feed a few boneless meals. If you are giving Iris raw meaty bones to chew them just monitor her to be sure she is not biting off chunks of it.
There are vets who are very positive about raw feeding and, of course both from a hygiene and a nutrition perspective, anyone who does raw feed needs to do so responsibly. It would be more helpful if vets could advise those who do want to raw feed their dogs how to do so safely rather than scaremongering but unfortunately too many vets are not trained in nutrition and come from veterinary establishments sponsored by pet food companies who want to sell their products through the surgery. As most raw food for dogs companies are relatively small scale, they don’t have the financial clout of the big brand multinational kibble companies.
There is a link here to the Raw Feeding Veterinary Society website which has some interesting information regarding the myths and confusion around feeding a raw diet to dogs, but I have no concerns re bone blockage with our dogs and have never had an issue with raw feeding them over the past 15 years now.
https://rfvs.info/rfvs-position-statement-2021/
Theres a lot of overweight dogs out there and you begin to think thats the norm. She looks fine. Sorry for blurry photo he wouldnt keep still 
