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Newbie With Concerns

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!

  


Member Since
02/19/2013		 
 
Barked: Tue Feb 19, '13 11:15am PST 
We got our Boston Terrier 5 days ago. She is tiny, just barely 7 weeks old.
She was eating kibble at the breeders. They gave us a bag of it, so we fed kibble to her the first evening. The next day we did two meals of kibble and one of raw chicken breast, (skinless bone less) The next day it was the same. Yesterday we did two meals of kibble and one of raw chicken wings. She loves the raw chicken. So much so we thought she was going to swallow the whole chicken wing. We held it for her to get some meat off and she continued doing well. In the end we think she swallowed the bone pretty much whole, which scared me and my husband. Pretty much the only concern we have is her chocking. Shes such a tiny thing!
Now today she had some running poop with a tiny bit of stringy mucusy blood. This worries me too.
I love feeding her raw...but I am a nervous wreck. Is there a fear of chocking? Is chicken wings too small for her? Everyone thinks we are crazy, so I can't bounce ideas off of anyone.
Thanks!
Off to read some more on here!
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UCH Onyx TT

Do you even- lift?
 
 
Barked: Tue Feb 19, '13 1:59pm PST 
I wouldn't think chicken wings would be too small for a 7 week Boston, but if she's gulping down large pieces, you could try giving something a little bigger and more awkwardly shaped. If you can buy whole fryers, you could cut those into halves or quarters and see how she does with them.

Loose stools are normal with any change in diet. Bone does help firm up stools, so continue giving skinless, bone-in chicken until stools are looking normal. From there, gradually introduce one new protein at a time (beef, pork, lamb, ect.).

I would highly recommending reading through Chance's Beginner's Guide to Prey Model Raw. Fantastic source of information about feeding raw and how to switch. And of course feel free to ask lots of questions here.
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Member Since
02/19/2013		 
 
Barked: Tue Feb 19, '13 3:34pm PST 
Thanks for the response. Pretty much the only concern we have is the choking of a bone. Every where I read, "give bones that are larger than their head" But once they start chewing them won't they get smaller? I have a friend that has been raw feeding for 3 years with 2 dogs and has never has an issue with a dog chocking.
This is the only aspect I can't seem to get over. And here I thought it would have been all the raw meat handling. Lol
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Cookie

the chi-weenie		 
 
Barked: Tue Feb 19, '13 4:23pm PST 
If she can swallow a whole chicken wing bone.. then she must not be very small. maybe I have the wrong image in my head.

Anyways, I have a 8.5 lb dog who has been on raw for over a year now (yay).

Did you feed the wing with the skin on? Skin can cause loose stool if your not careful. It's very fatty.

You should be able to hear the dog 'crunch' the bone. As long as she is crunching it, that's all she needs to do. Remember, it's cooked bones which do not digest right and can cause serious internal injury when swallowed. Raw bones are digested by the stomach acid.

Dogs can choke on anything they put into their mouth. not just bones. If your small dog is choking, seek medical help, hold their back end up and give back blows just like you do with a baby.

I think it really helps to watch other dogs tackle bones when your feeling worried! just get on youtube and type in 'small dogs eating raw bones' or something.

Also, since the pup has been on kibble, you can try adding probiotics to aid the digestive tract.

Chicken necks are also a great starter bone for tiny dogs.
and lately I can find beef neck bone (sliced) which I find is awesome to give my small dog. The bones are like a puzzle getting all the meat off, and they are too big to crunch and swallow so they give your dog something to gnaw on.
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Member Since
02/02/2013		 
 
Barked: Tue Feb 19, '13 8:29pm PST 
The dog has as much a chance of choking on her chew toy than a bone, yet we continue to give the dog a chew toy that he ends up swallowing and taking to the vet for if he doesn't poop it out.

My point is - there's a human psychological factor involved here that will be alleviated by experience. Dogs have been crunching bone for eons, you just haven't seen your dog do too much of it yet. You'll probably experience your dog swallow a chunk of meat and bones that he didn't chew on enough... he would hack it up and make a big globby mess and then start chomping on it again and slurping the glob. That's quite a sight to see. Dogs are quite efficient with eating whole prey.

I would just quit the kibble and go straight on raw. Kibble with raw can cause stomach upset.
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Saya

I want to play!		 
 
Barked: Tue Feb 19, '13 8:39pm PST 
I feed Bella kibble am and raw pm she does fine..

I'd stick with bone in meals for a bit maybe add bit boneless with the bone in meal, but if the pup is new to raw the pup might not be ready for boneless yet.

Cornish game hens are small thing to give. You can give whole thing and take away once you think the pup ate enough..

I weigh big items before and then after I think my dog ate enough then subtract the after from before. should get amount the pup ate.

Or you could cut the Cornish hen in manageable size meals.

Like the Cornish hen leg quarters, back, and breast.

Try to keep the wings attached to the breasts that way the dog can't gulp it so easily.

Yeah taking the skin off when new can help the meal be more bland and once the pup is doing good on it you can slowly add some skin back on.

Be sure the chicken isn't enhanced by broth, sodium type brine as extra sodium can be issue for some dogs.

I hope things work out.
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