 Barked: Tue Jun 12, '07 12:52pm PST |
 | |  | | Another thread just reminded me of something important to go here -- keep an eye on your dog while he or she eats. Take mental notes (or write it down) of how your dog handles different things, and what meal items seem to be working and which don't. This is especially important at first, when things that will become second nature to you are still new and maybe hard to "read".
For those of us who get fairly comfortable with bone crunching fairly fast, it does get easy to wander off when the dogs are eating and not pay full attention. For some raw feeders, this is going to mean that they won't notice when they're overfeeding and the dog is "squirreling" away meat for later, or if they're obviously taking a small item to quickly and need larger meats to tackle. For people with multiple dogs who eat together, it is important to watch closely, especially at first, so that you can be sure each dog is eating their share and any one isn't letting another dog "help". Keeping a close watch will help you if you do run into problems with your newly adopted diet, or help you if there is a health concern that's actually more of a coincidence than something caused by food.
Seems like common sense, I know, but I thought I'd mention it. On the other hand, there is a very important piece of advice for the VERY new raw feeders, and that's: Keep calm and don't hover or make a fuss while your dog is eating. I think a lot of dogs who seem to be resistant to eating raw at first, and/or regurgitate meals soon after eating them are actually responding to their owner's stress more than the food itself. Many new raw feeders are really edgy at mealtime because of the bone-eating thing. I know I was! It's really easy to hang too close to an eating dog, practically in the dog's mouth trying to see that the bones are chewed. The result? A lot of dogs will gulp even faster so that they can get out of the uncomfortable situation. Some dogs will gulp down impossibly huge peices just so that they can go elsewhere, regurgitate, and finish in peace. This is a TOTALLY natural doggie thing to do, but alarms new raw feeders. The best way to avoid this is to keep calm, and give your dog it's space. There is a balance between watching closely and watching too close.
A "nervous tummy" and throwing up and leaving meals after eating them can also be due to owner stress. It is part of a dog's instinct to look to pack leaders for cues on what it safe and what's not. You are your dog's pack leader (or should be), so when you're clearly questioning the safety of meals even though you're trying to be outwardly positive, your dog can see right thru the act. It is natural for them to stay away from things they have deemed might be unsafe, and if that means having to "get rid of it" after it's already been eaten because of signals they receive, then so be it. |  |  | |  |
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