Yes there is without a doubt benefits to raw (Sibe listed many of which I've witnessed with raw fed dogs - including my own), although I wouldn't argue that some dogs do quite well and live fairly healthy lives on some of the poorest quality foods, but I've seen HUGE differences between raw fed and kibble fed dogs -but it really all depends on the dog, too.
I feed a combo diet, it works well for my budget, my dogs' health, well being, and our satisfaction(although, if I had more time, convenience and could stretch my budget a bit more than I already have, I'd feed raw %100 of the time)
%50 of my younger dogs (1 yr old, 45 lbs) diet is a commercial %100 organic, fresh premade raw of whole animal carcass including meat, bones and organs. Absolutely no fillers or any additives. Produced here in Canada, and its definitely one of the best commercial raw products you can get here. Yes its pretty pricey, but I get a great discount on it so I take advantage of being able to feed it for a much lower cost. My dogs have both done great on it, and with 9 different proteins readily available to conveniently feed I can't complain much. I do also feed prey model raw when its convenient, atleast a few meals per week. This consists of approximately %25 of Thumper's diet, I get some stuff from grocery stores, or there is a farm here in Alberta run by a couple who produce their own custom raw doog food, anything from fresh ground products, to prey model and I order some stuff from them occasionally to have on hand. Since Thumper eats quite a bit more than Cash, and is a pretty highly active dog, there's just no way I can feed him raw %100 of the time, and its just not always convenient for me, so somedays he gets kibble -higher quality kibbles to my standard anyway, and this would make up approximately the other %25 of his diet.
Cash is older now, 6.5 and isn't a big eater, so i've been able to take him off kibble completely, and he's now on %100 raw. Even though he did fine when he was on partial kibble, partial raw diet, what a difference it made when he went on %100 raw, which is about %75 premade, and %25 PMR. In my opinion there was absolutely nothing wrong with him then, but since he's been on just raw for about a month or so now, I've begin to notice some changes, he has even more energy, he doesn't have even the slightest gunk in his eyes, his poops are even smaller then they were before, and his breath and teeth have gotten much better..he seems like he's getting younger, not older! lol and he really didn't eat that much kibble at all.
Thumper is in excellent health and feeding him a small portion of kibble occasionally hasn't seem to have much effect on him, but he's still very young - BUT, I do notice a significant difference in the stools - The stools are always a bit bigger, a bit smellier and a bit looser after he eats kibble compared to a raw meal - but I can live with that for now until I'm able to feed him %100 raw as well. Since we do travel quite often though, I will always keep kibble on hand because sometimes raw, premade or not just isn't really convenient at all so I definitely don't feel too guilty about giving a good quality kibble now and then. I have a few brands I like and have stuck to over the years with Cash, and now Thumper (Nature's Variety Instinct, Acana, Timberwolf, Fromm, NOW!).
