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Joining the ranks with Raw

gamefanz

Well-known member
Well we are biting the bullet and starting the Raw food. We tried the Taste of
the wild but Toby still has gas and stinky poo. He loved the food though and was
excited to eat his meals. I figured we have tried most of the top brands of dog food
while we had our Pekingese but not the Raw so why not give it a try with a new dog.
I've always been the kind of person people hate in the dog food store because I am always
searching for new and better food. I spent a long time in the store yesterday trying to make
up my mind.
I bought Instinct Raw Rabbit:
http://www.naturesvariety.com/InstinctRaw/dog/rabbit
They said it would be easier on the stomach to get used to. We are starting out
slow to switch over. He had a bite of it last night. He ate it right up then
continued on eating his kibble. I hope to have him completely on it by next
week.
We will be searching for knuckle bones this weekend. We have a femur but they
said its harder than the knuckle bone.
I am trying not to think of what all is in this food and bones. Its really
gross when you are not one that tries things. My dad would be so ashamed of his
daughter LOL Just talking about it in the store, I kept saying ewwwwwww!
I need to ask our vet about giving salmon oil in the food before we do it but I do
want to add that in.
Anyway, I really hope he does better on this stuff. I just want a happy dog
with no stinkies!
Becky
 
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One thing I might suggest is that you add a good multi-vitamin supplement along with a good Omegas supplement that includes Omega-3. Sophie had a lot of UTIs as a puppy on raw, until we added the vitamins. Might the be vit. B in her supplement, we don't know, but something is working, as she hasn't had a UTI since adding the supplement.

Just in case your dog has any problems with the Nature's Variety, which appears to have quite a lot of ingredients, we feed our Sophie a pre-mixed raw diet from Oma's Pride http://www.omaspride.com/index.php that has worked very well. Sophie scratches too much from any kibble or frozen raw mix with potatoes (white or sweet) in it, as well as grains in them, or raw mixes that have too many ingredients for me to figure out just what she's allergic to. This one works for us so far, and keeping our fingers crossed.
 
Should be an improvement for you...

It was for us but not all dogs the same. I do give Gracie some fish oil or flax oil with hers. Has helped keep things moving along!! He he!! Opposite of what used to happen! Have not had the UTI problem but gonna keep eye on that.
 
I've been feeding raw for several years now and it's been great! I had tummy issues with Jake for years before trying raw and we are hooked. I also give an oil supplement. Silly....there's nothing gross in there ;) I love that when I read the ingredients on the bag....I know what all of the words are and can prounounce them :)
 
Sadly I just walked out of the vet and she said NO Raw until 9 months! She said
because of the salmonella and young dogs. She also said NO raw bones.
I have to go with her on this because she is our vet. I would think that if
something were to happen she would say I told you so.
She is a very nice lady who took care of us and our Peke when we were at our
very worst.
I don't know where to turn now for food. I guess go to Natural Balance which is
what we had our Peke on.
I know this is not good for Toby and the next food we buy we will be sticking
with for a LONG time.
I know this goes against most of what all of you do, and I am the dog owner but
I have to work closely with the vet and to do something that she said is not
good until 9 months may put a strain on our visits.
I guess I should have waited until after our appointment today to make the
choice of food. Good thing is Toby has only had a few bites of the Raw so he
will gladly go back to kibble. I guess we can throw in wet food even though I
don't want to.
Becky
 
Every vet is different... my vet says NO to anything other then bagged dog food. She even said feeding COOKED hamburger was bad and Raw eggs were a MAJOR No No to her... but my dogs eat raw eggs, cooked eggs, raw meat, cooked meat, a lots of other things my vet says NO to. Each and EVERY vet I have talked to seems to have a different opinion on what to feed and what not to feed.
 
I agree....vets seem to just resist raw food anyway...

I think this is especially true in the USA. Maybe you do need to weight but Gracie probably would have never had colitis so much if we had switched her before 10 months. But waiting is not so bad...
 
Thanks for the understanding and advice. I'm now "getting" that everyone has a different opinion on Raw. I am so dang frustrated! I am exhausted from trying to do the right thing. We decided that since he's been on Taste of the wild for a bit we will keep him on it and just change flavors to the Sierra mountain (lamb). Hopefully that will work out.
We actually went back into the vets office just to get more understanding from the vet and she see's us frustrated but insists that it is not good for him until 9 months. She said we can give him greek yogurt for a probiotic for now to help him out some. We can also give him a little salmon oil but warns it may make his stools a little loose. So we bought some of that.
At 9 months though I want to change him to Raw and stick with it to see how he does on it because I could see just how excited he was to eat it. He was doing circles around me today with it.
I am done thinking about this subject for awhile. Time to play with Toby.
Becky
 
This is a case when you have to do your own research.... just like vaccinations.... and make up your own mind based on what you are comfortable with. Many breeders wean their puppies from the dam right onto Raw food with no problems at all.
 
Most vets do not support raw....one day they will, but not yet :( i started Micah on raw right away at 14 weeks and he did totally fine on it. I love my vet, but my vet isn't always right. We have an equal relationship where he listens to my concerns and input. Most vets weren't aware of what SM was.....if I continued to treat my dog for ear infections we would never have gotten the SM diagnosis that I pushed for testing on.

But you know......it's your decision. If you choose to wait to change him, it's all good. I had tummy issues with Jake and fed Ca Natural. If it were to happen again, I would look at Wellness Core. Have you considered Honest Kitchen? It's a step between raw and kibble. A super good food!! That might be an option.
 
I'm glad that my vet is not crossing this off the list completely just not until he is 9 months, so she must be ok with the Raw just not as a puppy. We have agreed to keep him on the taste of the wild for awhile to see if anything changes and then we will re-visit this subject again later. We do have a sample of Honest kitchen and if we cannot work out Taste of the Wild I might ask the vet about this option.
If he was older I don't think I would have any hesitation on changing his food even though the vet may not like it but I guess with him being a puppy I am unsure.
Thank you all for the advice and support on this subject, I'm sorry it didn't pan out but I have learned a lot from all the reading on Raw and I don't think I am as scared as I was before about RAW in general.
Becky
 
In the meantime you can cook the raw food you did buy, and mix it in with his kibble. Baked or pan fried is fine, it will not ruin the nutritional value of the food.

Storing in a frost-free freezer long term is not a good idea, there are slight temperature variations (to keep frost from building up), and it will degrade the quality of the food. So I would finish off what you have, and see how you feel in a few months.
 
Sadly I just walked out of the vet and she said NO Raw until 9 months! She said because of the salmonella and young dogs.

My vet does not act thrilled about our dog being fed raw, but they also sell a special diets line of some major national brand; it is nothing a normal dog could eat anyway. There is an article on their bulletin board in the waiting room, published by the same brand they sell, warning of the salmonella dangers, etc. Who knows what kind of perks the kibble rep might give them, like pharma reps give doctors... maybe nothing, but it makes me wonder.

Sophie's breeder had her litter on raw when I bought Sophie at 15 weeks of age. I assume they were weaned to raw. I have read on raw feeding internet groups that a dog is less likely to get salmonella because their intestines are far shorter than humans', so the bacteria has less chance to develop and flourish. I've also read that a meat would have to be badly contaminated before it causes problems with a dog. I'm no expert, but it makes sense to me. I was quite leery and freaked out at first, over the idea of feeding a dog raw meat. Once I did my research, I felt much better about it. The brand I feed Sophie has not had a recall yet and I don't give it much thought. Dogs eat much worse stuff they find outdoors and in the dirt.

Soushiruiuma's suggestion of cooking the raw you have is a great idea and may be the best of both worlds right now. Lots of people cook for their dogs. Large batches frozen into smaller portions or those plastic ice cube trays may be the ticket.

At the end of the day, you'll have to decide what is best for you and your dog. Many dogs thrive on kibble (all our previous dogs did) while others find relief on raw (like our current dog) or home cooked . It's all good.
 
Hello all. We started feeding Chloe raw diet this morning (+ a bit last night). She is absolutely loving it, and its not hard to guess why since what we bought for her are all real, non-processed stuff from Raw Essentials. They look very much like any other meat we have in the fridge/freezer, though better as they are all organic! In fact she is now licking her empty bowl as I type this. Good stuff!
 
We returned it last night before dinner so we could get more Taste of the wild. Thank goodness they are a great store who will take this stuff back. We bought knuckle bones a few hrs before the vet appointment at another store and they refused the take those back even with a receipt. We won't be going there again! I hope our neighbor is willing to try them for their Akita because if not we will have to trash them.
Becky



In the meantime you can cook the raw food you did buy, and mix it in with his kibble. Baked or pan fried is fine, it will not ruin the nutritional value of the food.

Storing in a frost-free freezer long term is not a good idea, there are slight temperature variations (to keep frost from building up), and it will degrade the quality of the food. So I would finish off what you have, and see how you feel in a few months.
 
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