cross breed puppy and raw food

Question
Hello, I have a Chihuahua shitzu puppy (Bear) who is 4 months old.  He has been diagnosed since very young with persistent earmites...they just won't go away.  He has strong dog smell as well and always seems to be scratching.  We only bathe him the recommended once per month with a small amount of mild shampoo, so I don't think that is the problem.  I'm leaning more towards food problems.  We've been feeding him the vet recommended Iams puppy food, but he didn't like it, so we recently purchased Natures Recipe kibble.  He likes that better, but I'm wanting to try him on a raw food diet, with minimal grains (no wheat) and some vegetables and fruits ( he LOVES frozen peas).  However, there is some strong opposition to raw food diets...and I'd sure appreciate some nutritional advice before going ahead with it!
Thanks so much.
Marsha

Answer
Hi Marsha,

There is a lot of controversy about many areas of dog nutrition and indeed, raw diets are one major issue. I could write a short novel here about the pros and cons, but the bottom line is this.

1) Raw food diets are often touted as panaceas for everything. This isn't correct. They need to be both correctly balanced and suited to the individual dog. Often they work very well, but other times a cooked diet is preferable. In any case, raw of cooked, a home made diet needs to be correctly balanced. I rarely if ever analyze one put together by a layperson that is.

2) Puppies have unique nutritional needs and making a mistake during the first year can result in more serious problems down the line. You need a good commercial product  to ensure proper growth nutrition.

I honestly would look into small dog premium foods for now and move to something like THK (The Honest Kitchen) at a year of age, after doing some more research and deciding if raw really is for you or not.

One food I like for your baby:

http://www.championpetfoods.com/acana/show-product.php?formulation=psb

If you cant locate this one, there are others! Lt me know how you make out.
And by all means check out THK. It's one of the very few independent raw food companies that gets my stamp of approval.

http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/index.shtml

I thikn you are wise to go slowly, ask questions, do your homework. I run a yahoogroup devoted to canine nutrition and you would be most welcome to join and ask questions  to your heart's content.
http://group.yahoo.com/groups/ThePossibleCanine-Nutrition

Let me know if this is helpful!
Best wishes, Catherine