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This is a dedicated place for all of your questions and answers about Raw Diets. There are also some really cool groups like "Raw Fed" on the topic you can join. This forum is for people who already know they like the raw diet or sincerely want to learn more. Please remember that you are receiving advice from peers and not professionals. If you have specific health-related questions about your dog's diet, please contact your vet!
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Jarexx
1030681 |
 | | Barked: Tue Nov 3, '09 12:28pm PST | |  | |  | | Hello all, so I took the dogs (My shepherd, and my new boxer puppy) to a new Vet that came highly regarded. She seems to be very good, and is even open to the Raw diet as long as supplemts are included. My Shepherd weighs about 70 lbs, and has for years. it always seemed like he was a bit underweight, but his weight has always stayed right there.
When he was on kibble, there was kibble available to him at all times, so he ate as much as he wanted. Still stayed at about 70 lbs. Now that he is on Raw, he eats once a day, and about 3 % of his body wieght. The Vet says he could REALLY use about 4 - 5 lbs of muscle mass. She suggested that since he is on Raw, and he loves it, to give him more. Now Jarexx, since switching to Raw will eat as much as you put in front of him. I swear if I put a whole cow in front of him he won't stop till its gone. LOL.
So can i really feed my 70 lb dog like 5 lbs or more at meal time? And if thats what it takes to gain the muscle mass, will he lose it if I go back down to the 3% after he gains the weight? I can not afford to feed him that much on a permanent daily basis. When i feed him the 3%, he seems content. He will eat more if I put it down, but if I don't he is content until the next day.
I can increase the meals for a bit if that is ok to do, but I just don't think I could do it on an ongoing basis.
The vet says I am in a unique position, because since the dog loves raw so much, giving him more to gain the weight needed is not a challenge since he will eat it. But is feeding a full grown dog 10% or more of his body weight a healthy thing to do? |  |  | |  |
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Moose
My master is- good and smart- (up movie) |
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Chloe
Clearance Puppy - The best of them- all. |
| | Barked: Tue Nov 3, '09 12:36pm PST | | | | | | I don't see why you would have to feed him 5lb a day when you should be feeding him about 2.88 lbs? Maybe increase it to let's say 4% which would be 3.84 pounds a day, so it's 1 whole pound more. That should increase his weight a bit..
But I do think that yes when you take him off this he will again loose the weight be gained.
I think he's good at 70lb and if he's been 70lbs for all his life maybe try gaining just 1 or 2 pounds instead..
If this is a new vet (i think you said that) She doesn't know what Jarexx does best on and Maybe cause she said it try gaining a pound but if it's too hard for you don't maybe the every few days give him the whole 3-4 lbs and after that only 2 lbs? | | | | |
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Chloe
Clearance Puppy - The best of them- all. |
| | Barked: Tue Nov 3, '09 1:04pm PST | | | | | | Mmm oops, Sorry, My numbers are all wrong! 1 second ahah
Okay same thing but fixed!
I don't see why you would have to feed him 5lb a day when you should be feeding him about 1.50 lbs(2%)? Maybe increase it to let's say 4% which would be 3lbs a day, so it's 1.5 whole pound more. That should increase his weight a bit..
But I do think that yes when you take him off this he will again loose the weight be gained.
I think he's good at 70lb and if he's been 70lbs for all his life maybe try gaining just 1 or 2 pounds instead..
If this is a new vet (i think you said that) She doesn't know what Jarexx does best on and Maybe cause she said it try gaining a pound but if it's too hard for you don't maybe the every few days give him the whole 3-4 lbs and after that only 2 lbs? | | | | |
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Jarexx
1030681 |
| | Barked: Tue Nov 3, '09 1:09pm PST | | | | | | Moose, by supplements, yes, she was just referring to probiotics and Omega-3. So she was very happy to hear that we have that covered.
Chloe, The Vet was not basing her opinion only on his weight, she pointed out that his back down near his tail lacks muscle definition and his hip bones stick out, so she really feels he could do with some muscle mass, not just weight gain.
Appreciate the responses.
So this gorge/fast thing. How does it work?They eat a lot one day, and little to none the next? Do you do that every other day? Not sure how much Jarexx would like that, he LOVES his meals everyday, lol. But I open to giving it a shot, but I would like to learn more about it. So any more details on it, or links you can point me to is appreciated. Jarexx has been on RAW now for over 3 months and LOVES it.  | | | | |
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Meridian
Proud to be a- kitchen wolf!!! |
| | Barked: Tue Nov 3, '09 1:09pm PST | | | | | | A healthy raw-fed dog tends to look a bit different than a "healthy" commerically-produced fed dog does, so be aware of that. They're leaner and a lot of times more "cut" looking when they're properly exercised than their kibble-fed counterparts.
Honestly, if he's maintained 70 pounds for "years" and he's got a clean bill of health, I don't know why you'd want to encourage him to be heavier. Many dogs -- Shepherds included -- are TOTALLY FINE if they're on the "wiry" side. As long as he's active and happy and doesn't have to "try" too hard to maintain that 70 pounds (or start rapidly losing it) I wouldn't try to change a thing about him.
What sort of would concern me is if you had to feed him 5 pounds of food a day to maintain a "normal" weight! That's an awfully lot of food for an 8 year old shepherd unless he's a working dog who's out "on the job" every day or something. A five pound meal every once in a while as part of a gorge-fast style of feeding is also another situation.
I'm sure your vet is just trying to help you reach what she thinks is "optimal" conditioning, but I don't know that trying to put 5 pounds on an otherwise healthy dog is the best use of resources.
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Jarexx
1030681 |
| | Barked: Tue Nov 3, '09 1:19pm PST | | | | | | The vet didn't state 5lbs of food, just that increasing the amount to add some muscle mass would be good. He has maintained his weight over his life, but as far as a clean bill of health, well I am finding I have had some horrible vets so I don't know how healthy he is. I changed to Raw because of horrible skin conditions and chronic ear infections that my local vets could never help with. And I find out yesterday for the FIRST TIME, that he has a heart murmur. No vet has ever told me that. So I think I have been going to some baddddddd vets.
For the most part, Jarexx is great weight wise, but I do see what she means when she points out his hip bones and lack of muscle mass. He is not a working dog. He gets decent excercise. And in the end, trying to add a but of muscle mass for him won't be a bad thing, so I am looking for the best way to go about it. But there was never a specific amount talked about how much he should be fed. I just know that I currenbtly feed him aabout 3% of his body weight on a daily basis, so really looking for how much to add to bump him up a bit. | | | | |
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