Though dogs and wolves are the same species, dogs are technically a sub-species. A sub species that evolved eating our refuse, scavenging carcasses and latrine areas.
If the raw folks REALLY want to get back to basics - to the food that dogs evolved on, they would take them to the local dump. That's what dogs evolved eating.
Instead raw folks use pristine cuts of meat (in the wild, dogs eat the diseased, dying or very young prey, rife with worms), etc.... the real wild diet includes DUNG, hair, hide, antlers, developing eggs, rotten fruit, entire digestive tracts of large prey animals or the ENTIRE small prey animal, beaks, feathers, feet... they eat MAYBE once or twice a week. Real wild dogs and wolves do not have their hips checked. They have worms of all kinds. Intestinal, heart, et al. They are not expected to exceed 5 years, if they are lucky.
We have created a sub-species far removed from the wolf and I do not think there is any way to really feed dogs what they evolved eating. And feeding them like wolves is not necessarily in their best interests either. Wolves have a short life-span and not necessarily the best health.
Dog food companies have done tons of research to find out what the minimum requirements are. Again, I have not seen any long-term studies done on raw diets or any comparing them to commercial diets. Instead there are a ton of different raw schools of thought - as well as there are a ton of different commercial dog food recipes.
The lifespan and general health of wild dogs doesn't impress me as something to strive for. I want my dog worm-free and to live a long life. Certainly dogs nowadays greatly outlive their predecessors.
The folks that bash kibble ironically bash some of the "bad fillers" when, in reality, that's exactly what a dog would be eating in the wild - from feet to beaks to hair and feathers - and scavenging the dead, diseased and dying animals... so perhaps what goes into kibble *IS* closer to what dogs evolved eating than an "organic, grass-fed raw diet".....
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