Raw diet

[ajcooksey]

I am seriously considering putting Turner and by association Willow on a raw diet. Due to Turner's allergies I am terrified to put him on another food and his current one is only ok. He is still chewing his paws and has minor almost hot spots that we are catching before they become a sore. With his allergies I am looking for a way to feed him with the least amount of additives as possible.

He does well on venison and salmon as well as sweet potato. We are considering feeding him either salmon or venison with sweet potatoes. My question is about quantity. I want to know what the conversion would be and how we transition from their current food onto a raw diet. Also what supplements would we have to add so that they are getting all the nutrition that they need. Anyone who feeds raw or has any information or resources I would really appreciate any feedback on how we can get him transitioned over. I would really love to do anything to keep this look off of his face. This is from his overnight stay at the emergency vet when he had the hotspot from h*** from the last time he had a food with grains.

 

[DAWNMERIE]

Poor boy Turner That's Myra's face when her allergies kick in. I am really far from any type of expert and I'm sure the experts or the more experienced will chime in, but my reading tells me that the proteins are digested differently when it comes to raw vs kibble. So if you were feeding a kibble with a main protein of chicken, doesn't necessarily mean that he would have an issue with raw chicken. The kibble has been processed and had numerous things added to it that that could be an issue. Myra, I think has an issue with the texture of raw so I've had some coaxing to do, but she did pretty good. She did not take to the raw at first, I had to sear her food to get her started. I'm still not full raw and since her season has ending it's more kibble but I think this year I would really like to go full raw and feel a bit more confident, so it's more reading and learning and understanding for us also. Are you on FB? If so, I've been learning a ton through one group called holistic newfoundland dog.

 

[jane]

I went raw 6 years ago. My bichon used to chew her front paws non stop. Once I went raw she never touched them again. My landseer got hot spots all the time. Once I went raw they stopped.
If you want to learn more you should join https://www.facebook.com/groups/311004038985386/ The Holistic Newfoundland Dog. There are very knowledgeable people on there.

 

[shellyk]

We switched to raw recently. Another resource other than the good ones already given is at yahoo groups- raw feeding. We also found it much easier & cheaper to buy through a raw Co-op than trying to source the food ourselves. The Co-op we use has raw meat, raw ground meat both from regular and organic sources, cheaper prices of commercially packaged raw mixes and commercially packaged raw/freeze dried foods. They also offer lots of supplements like salmon oil, kelp, Australian Green lipped muscle.

We did have to buy a freezer dedicated to the dogs. Our two 95 pound dogs eat about 2 1/2 pounds each of meat per day. We have finally gotten into a rhythm of how much to order, how to thaw just what we need for the week.

Two other items we have found really valuable are a kitchen scale and heavy duty poultry scissors. Sharp knives make it easier to cut up the meat too. It's really easy to overfeed without the scale. Our dogs love the raw meat so much they will sit at their bowls hoping for more. They lick their bowls and each others looking for any lost tidbits. At first a few times I gave them more thinking they were still hungry :roflmao: That's where the scale comes in handy. Now I know they got what they should have gotten and they are just begging!

This is getting too long so I won't even go into how much less poop there is! With two big dogs that is just wonderful:heart:

 

[Brandie&Maggie]

I second joining the FB group mentioned above. I believe you need to be invited, so if you want to PM me your FB info I'd be happy to invite you (lots of people here would do that!).

Also, pick up the book on raw feeding by Kymythy Shultz. (She's actually the owner of that FB group). It's a great place to get started on the basic info...a huge help!

Just FYI, if you do salmon, it needs to be cooked. If you don't want to do totally raw yet (like my husband), you can do canned salmon and sweet potato. That is exactly what we feed Maggie every day! (We also add raw eggs now, and she gets the occasional raw meat treat - turkey or chicken necks mostly). Again, PM or email me if you want more details.

 

[Puppypeoplenj]

Just FYI, if you do salmon, it needs to be cooked.

I'm not sure that that's true. If the concern is the parasites in salmon from the pacific coast, that's alleviated if you freeze the salmon solid for 3-4 weeks, and if you choose not to freeze, the risk is fairly low of your dog getting sick. Having said that, I wouldn't feed salmon to my dog without freezing first.

 

[Tula]

I second joining the FB group mentioned above. I believe you need to be invited, so if you want to PM me your FB info I'd be happy to invite you (lots of people here would do that!).

Also, pick up the book on raw feeding by Kymythy Shultz. (She's actually the owner of that FB group). It's a great place to get started on the basic info...a huge help!

Just FYI, if you do salmon, it needs to be cooked. If you don't want to do totally raw yet (like my husband), you can do canned salmon and sweet potato. That is exactly what we feed Maggie every day! (We also add raw eggs now, and she gets the occasional raw meat treat - turkey or chicken necks mostly). Again, PM or email me if you want more details.

How much canned salmon do you feed and do you cook the sweet potatoes? Do you add other ingredients, or is this nutritionally complete?

Thanks! Kim

 

[WearingMidnight]

I had really great luck with raw when I did it. Unfortunately it just wasn't financially feasible to continue. Thankfully neither of my girls have allergies or skin issues so there wasn't too much concern.

When I fed raw I had my own freezer, and stocked up big time from local butchers, farmers and ethnic markets. I got some pretty good deals by buying in bulk. I didn't feed any vegetables, but introducing Holly to raw went pretty smoothly. We took it easy at first on the raw organs and worked up to the amount that she was supposed to have.

I supplemented with canned green tripe, fish oil and probiotics mixed together and frozen in her Kongs.

 

[ajcooksey]

Thank you all for your advice, I really think with some research we will find what is best for him. I honestly think if we cut all the additives out of his diet he will be a completely different dog. We may have eliminated the biggest intolerance which was grains but with his minor symptoms persisting I can't help but think this is the best option for him. Willow is one lucky girl that she gets to switch too bc of him. I know their current food would not fly with her if her brother was eating raw.

 

[Brandie&Maggie]

How much canned salmon do you feed and do you cook the sweet potatoes? Do you add other ingredients, or is this nutritionally complete?

Thanks! Kim

We follow the guidelines that Peter M. recommends (http://hannibalkennels.on.ca/documents/approved-food-list/) but substitute sweet potatoes instead of bread due to allergy. So we feed half a large can of pink salmon or a whole small can of red salmon per meal (2x per day).

I steam the sweet potatoes.

She also gets and whole raw egg with each meal.

We give the Complete vitamin mix (formerly Newf Warrior mix) from Natures Farmacy West.

We're 9 months in and Maggie is healthier than she has ever been.