What next?

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!

Joey

Joey Bruno

Barked: Mon Oct 8, '12 10:11am PST


	It has been a week now since my dogs have transitioned to raw food and so far so good. Thanks to this forum's tips I switched my bully to leg quarters from drumsticks, which is slowing him down and making me feel better about his chewing. For the past few days I have been feeding them their appropriate weight of leg quarters and two days ago I introduced chicken liver and they tolerated it well. When I took them on a walk yesterday I noticed their stools looked pretty much the same (soft but formed/what I would consider normal amount for both sizes). Does this mean I should continue on with he chicken quarters for awhile or go ahead and cut down to 10% bone? I was also wondering what would be the best protein to feed next? The main reason for me switching is their constant scratching/allergies. Will 2 weeks be enough time to see if this diet will help improve this? I will likely stick with raw either way because they love it so much, but want to figure out the cause of their allergies for sure. Thanks!

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Maxwell

I'm triple- superior MAD- now!

Barked: Mon Oct 8, '12 1:42pm PST


	Cutting back on bone is the last step. Try another protein next. Pork or turkey is often suggested but whatever is on sale is the way I buy meat. I gave Max a less meaty cut of chicken and added an ounce of the new meat to it the first day, 2 ounces the next. Taking the skin off the chicken you have been giving takes away about an ounce of food, one way to start out. I ended the transition period by feeding half something really bony like a chicken back and half the new protein. Once half a meal of new stuff is fine move to the next protein. Max didn't need a transition after he had tried about 5 proteins, some dogs never need one and some dogs might need to be retransitioned if they haven't had a protein for a few months. All about knowing your dog! Some people have good success feeding smaller whole meals of new stuff. Max eats ~10 ounces a day. If I did that I might feed him an 8 ounce thigh in the morning and 2 ounces of pork at night and the next day feed a 5 ounce drumstick in the morning and 5 ounces of pork at night. Since your two have done so well you might try this but take off the skin on the chicken for the first couple meals and weigh the meals as too much fat and too much food are likely causes of upset. Sometimes allergic symptoms linger and sometimes they go away fast. Max is allergic to sardines and the day after I stopped feeding them his ears were nearly clear. They had been completely blocked up and would get gooed up in less than a day after cleaning. It is bizarre but some dogs seem to react to the feed of the animals. A soy fed chicken could be okay but a corn fed one cause trouble. One hopes your dogs aren't allergic to chicken so changing brands is one way to check for allergies. Weird. Check the label of the chicken, why sodium phosphate injections cause itchiness is beyond me but it has been known to do so. Any meat you buy should have less than 100 mg sodium per serving.

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Joey

Joey Bruno

Barked: Tue Oct 9, '12 2:00pm PST


	Thanks! They have a good deal on pork shoulder ($1.19/lb) so I will try that this week slowly. My large dog needs 18 oz day for 2 % so I should probably stock up on that. I think a lot of their skin issues comes from outside so I am hoping it will get better this winter. Can I ask where most people get their organ meat excluding liver. I have been able to find plenty of liver but not much else. I was going to hit up some ethnic food markets this weekend. Thanks!

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Maxwell

I'm triple- superior MAD- now!

Barked: Tue Oct 9, '12 4:41pm PST


	Before I had a freezer and could buy boxes of organ mix I did get all Max's organs from Mexican markets. He only got pork, beef and chicken liver and beef and pork kidney until I got the freezer. Max's very first whole prey with all the organs was whole raw sardines, remember whole small fish are great additions to the diet.