need help in the raw food dept

hi everyone, i am new here and i do not have a cavalier, but i do have a yorkie. he is 15 months old and i just got him 2 months ago. i was searching for help about raw food and came across your website and it seems alot of people on here know quite a bit about the raw food, thats why i signed up, i really am trying to understand about feeding raw.
i was trying to feed him merrick dry food in the morning and natures variety prairie raw at night. he was doing good with it for about 2 weeks, his poops were small and firm.
then 3 days ago, he went to poop and his poop was covered in mucus. so i stopped after seeing this for 2 days straight and just gave him merrick dry and his poops are fine.
my question is can raw food do this to him?
thanks for any help you might have to give me, i really appreaiate it
elle

sorry to hear about your problem!!!! i am not an expert with this sort of thing and cant help you but im sure many more experienced owners on the site will be able to advise you.

Good luck :flwr:

I would never feed raw meat for fear of infections. I don't give bones either as small obnes can splinter and perforate the gut and a large marrow bone ruined my Izzy's canines, by shearing the enamal off.

Sorry, I know nothing about raw or bones, either. :flwr:

I was told by my Vets to never feed a Cavalier on raw meat, so I never have. They do occasionally get a bone but I bake it first and once they've licked all the marrow out it goes in the bin.

They get other things to clean their teeth, plus I do it myself. Sorry i can't help you.

Hi, I feed my Cavalier raw and he does really well on it.

I'd like to second the warning about bones - they can easily splinter in the GI tract and create a real emergency. The larger ones can damage the teeth but I know people who give both types without problems - but IMHO it's not worth the risk.

What type of raw are you feeding? You don't ever want to feed preground raw meat UNLESS it's a frozen dog food (i.e. don't feed ground up meat from the grocery). I like Bravo, FarMore, Primal, and Nature's Logic. FarMore is AAFCO approved, some Primal varieties are, and I know Bravo and Nature's variety were working towards it if they haven't attained it yet.

The meat should go straight from your freezer to your fridge to be thawed and then directly to the pet's bowl. Don't feed raw that's been in the fridge for more than 2 days. Don't thaw and refreeze. New bowl for each feeding.

Also, it's hard for some dogs to digest both raw and kibble. I personally wait 12 hours after feeding kibble to feed raw. Raw digests very quickly, maybe 2 hours thus preventing the nasty bacteria to build up. Kibble takes much longer to digest. If you feed raw and kibble very close, or in the same meal, the kibble will take a long time to digest and the raw will just sit there with the kibble and the nasty bacteria will build up.

As far as infections go, whole kennels of dogs were recently wiped out by a certain dog kibble that harbored a toxin. People must be careful in what they feed whether it be kibble or raw. That being said, you must be more careful with raw than kibble in your food preparation and handling.

Raw was the only thing that my dog has normal stool on. He had soft stool for 9+ years on kibble or wet food until I switched to raw. I would suggest making sure your kibble is well spaced from your raw feeding. I would think if he was fine for two weeks, the raw was unlikely to be the culprit.

Also - I talked to a Vet at Ohio State who is also an animal nutritionist and she said that dogs and cats should be able to handle raw meat if it is well handled. Too many people are lax with raw handling and that's why she and many other vets never recommend it. But if you are careful then it's a great diet. I've never seen a kibble be AAFCO approved without many vitamins and minerals added. Raw food, however, can be AAFCO approved with just a few ingredients. That should make you think!

Also - pregnant and lactating females as well as puppies need carbs in their diet just FYI.