Feeding new dog raw page

[lorichka6]

I've just gone through a bunch of the posts about feeding dogs raw food and have a few questions. This is my first dog ever so sorry about my ignorance and what may sound like stupid questions...

1. A lot of talk of cooked bones break, raw don't - what *should* the dog be doing with the bone? Do they eat them? Or do they just gnaw on them? If I gave Otis a chicken quarter what should be left in the bowl? Nothing?

2. I can't afford high quality meat for him... do I need to be careful of the additives (salt solutions) in chicken (what I anticipate giving him the most because it is the least expensive besides organ meat). Same general question for eggs - are the regular old store bought ones ok?

3. Is there a transition period? He is one - just got him from a kill shelter - he is pretty skinny. Who knows what he has been eating for first year of his life. He was having some GI issues so the vet said to put him on cooked chicken and rice for 3 days. Today is day 3. Can I just switch?

Thanks for any help

[Mud Flinger]

Don't feed him cooked bones as they get brittle and he could choke. Make any diet changes slowly (over a couple days) so as to not shock his GI track. Have his GI issue resolved yet? Maybe 3 days isn't long enough to settle him out. I would not feed him raw CW meat as it may have harmful bacteria - which leaves only grass fed pastured meat (expensive). I feed my dogs a high quality lamb and rice dry food and supliment with whatever we are eating. Also, remember chocolate is poison for dogs and dark chocolate is even more so. Enjoy your new best friend!

[kcult]

I waited for my wife to go on vacation around the 4th and I immediately switched her pom to chicken wings. I wasn't concerned about the meat being brought down by angels, so I went to the local grocer and bought the bulk bag of wings for 69 cents a pound.

Her dog was on seizure medication, so I stopped that, too. He dog was scratching furiously, too. Did all of that stop immediately? No, but over time her skin got better and she's had only one seizure (she still had them even while on medication). It took about two weeks for the scratching to subside.

Her dog is 8 or 9 years old and has been eating dry dog food the entire time and was always hungry, even though she was fed twice per day. Now, she is fed one wing in the afternoon (and she eats bones and all) and she is satisfied. Now, she will perk up when she sees one of us eating, but she's not constantly begging for food like before.

As far as shocking her system, there have only been two episodes that she has thrown anything up, and it wasn't even chunks, just a bit of liquid. One of those times was when she did get a bit of my daughter's KFC.

I was a bit reckless with the switch, but I had been talking about it for months and decided to go for it.

[Lily Marie]

Since he's having GI issues, you need to switch slowly.

Since you are very new to this, you may want to suppliment the raw food with a high quality kibble or canned. It has balanced vitamins and such. If you do raw food wrong - you can hurt the dog. Later, when you're in the swing of things, you can stop the canned/kibble if you want.

I would try and avoid meats with salt solutions and such - but regular grocery store meat is fine.
They need organ meats, bones and muscle meat in these proportions.

80% muscle
10% organ
10% bone

It doesn't need to be exact like that every day - but keep it around that in a general sense and you should be ok.

You feed between 1% - 3% of your dog's weight a day.
If you have a small dog, it's 3%
If it's a medium sized dog it's 2%
If it's a Large dog (great dane ect) it's 1%

This is just an estimate. If your dog is especially active or lazy, you will need to adjust.

The bones should be given raw. Do not give them bones like femurs or any weight bearing bones(of mammals). They are too hard and can fracture teeth. The knuckle bones are the best for chewing. They will eat the softer parts and it will clean the tarter from their teeth. They don't need them every day. I only give them 1-2 times a week, if that. It depends on how dirty your dog's teeth are.

Raw chicken bones will all be eaten - don't worry about those.

I feed 1x a day - not multiple meals and my dogs are fine with it. It may take a couple of days for the dog to get used to less meals - but don't worry, he's NOT starving. lol

If your dog is fat, knock off a few pounds from the estimate - you don't want to feed the extra fat - just what their natural body should weigh.


Please continue to do your research on feeding dogs a raw diet. Look up dog forums where people feed raw and such - not just this site. This site does not specalize in dogs or their diets. Just because someone may know how to feed themselves in a primal manner, does not mean they know how to properly feed a dog.

[davem]

I waited for my wife to go on vacation around the 4th and I immediately switched her pom to chicken wings. I wasn't concerned about the meat being brought down by angels, so I went to the local grocer and bought the bulk bag of wings for 69 cents a pound.

Boom goes the dynamite. Chicken wings are almost perfect for dogs, as the entire wing has a good ratio of meat, skin/fat and bone for the dog. Chicken backs do as well.

I went whole hog, because when we got our pup from the rescue she had giardia. Giardia resolved relatively quickly due to the increase in stomach acids. I would feed the pup anything I'm willing to eat, and since I'm a recovering redneck, that's a lot of stuff.

She'll get raw shrimp when I'm cooking it. I'll buy a chicken for her from time to time and feed it over a couple days. Pork, plus pork bones. Pig feet and pig neck bones are a good doggie treat.

With bones, if they aren't long bones, I'll give them raw. She eats them completely, the bowl should be empty. You should also expect a little raise in aggression for a little bit during feeding. It's high value food and may cause a little defending. That should resolve quickly.

Expect her coat to be crazy shiny as well.

Oh with eggs, I feed them raw, whole, including the shell. I just crush it all up and put it in the kibble, of which we feed her grain free because it's easy, and I'm a little lazy, and my better half thinks dogs need to eat that or they'll get sick. I'll also feed a processed greens mash and yogurt from time to time.

Be careful with beef, as some dogs are sensitive to it, and lamb is a common gateway to feeding beef, because lamb is milder. With my dog we went from lamb to veal to beef over the course of her second or third month eating raw. Previous she was strictly turkey, duck, chicken, with whole bones, innards, skin and fat. I will say again though, the chicken is a perfect food for dogs, it gives everything they need in the ratios that are optimal for them.

You can just switch, just don't parade it in front of your vet, a lot of them like to sell prescription food, and raw food cuts into those profits. My vet said she'd be dead within a year. She's 1.5 years into it.

[HillsideGina]

I've been raw feeding for 9 years. Dogs can eat raw bone. At first your dog may not know what the heck to do. Supervise and coax him to grab the meaty bone. What type of meaty bones also depends on your dog's size, the size and health of his teeth, jaw and gums. I agree that chicken is the ideal meat for raw feeding dogs. Cheap, well-digested, good meat-to-bone ratio. I feed beef too but not that much - it is richer meat. I give my dachshund the bone out of a tbone steak, and similar bones - he eats the entire thing but if is too thick he may leave the t portion as it is too hard for him.

Don't leave uneaten bones out. Throw them away. The longer a raw bone is left out the harder it gets.

For recreational gnawing, which is a very healthy activity for any dog, use the large beef bones. But again, let the dog gnaw on a piece for a few days then throw it away.

Don't forget to feed organ meat, especially liver. But introduce liver a tiny bit at a time since it is very rich. Feed eggs also. Mine doesn't like raw egg, so I lightly scramble his. No he is not spoiled, what makes you think that? LOL.

[Hilary]

Hm... anyone else want to drop in and comment here?
12 Things Your Dog Should Never*Eat - Dr Weil's Daily Health Tips - Natural Health Information
(You'll see I've already had a go.)

[Uncephalized]

I feed my dog nothing but chicken and the occasional ground beef and eggs, everything raw. I get it from Costco. When I am not feeling lazy, I get whole roaster chickens and butcher them myself. This is the most ideal model since it approximates eating a whole prey animal over several days (he eats ~1lb per day), and he gets the giblets as well for vitamins and trace minerals. When I am being lazy he gets freezer packs of chicken thighs or wings since all I need to do is dump them on the ground for him.

Speaking of, I would recommend doing that if you have an outside area you can feed him in. Dogs don't give a damn if their food comes out of a bowl or not, and it saves a lot of cleanup. Good luck with the transition!

[lorichka6]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I have found some other more dog focused forums and read over those too. We started tonight with a raw egg (just gave it to him - he didn't know what to do with it until he picked it up out of the large bowl I had put it in and dropped it on the floor).

Tomorrow I'm going to try chicken quarters Outside

Everyone else I've talked to about this thinks I'm nuts - but I figure we already know he'll be "fine" on dry food - so why not see if just maybe he can be "good" on raw food!

[davem]

Oh, oh, which quarters? If your dog is young, avoid feeding the chicken long bones as the bone can be too much. The leg quarter has a poor bone to meat and fat ratio as well and shouldn't be used exclusively, unless served over the course of feeding a whole chicken.

Doing it once, no worries, but wings are much more preferable, and fine even for smaller/younger dogs.