Raw Diet Anyone?

[nnkgirl]

Does anyone here have their dog or cat on the raw food diet? Just curious. TIA!

[greenbunny]

Rico'sAlice does, here are a couple items I found in a search. I know there are more, but they don't seem to be coming up.

http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23946&highlight=raw

http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showpost.php?p=925771&postcount=20

[EJH]

Our current dog is raw fed, as was our german shepherd.

[Hello Kitty]

We used to, but now rotate raw items in periodically. Do you have specific questions? If not there are quite a few posts (greenbunny linked to some, but I also know there are more) on basic 'how tos'.

[nnkgirl]

Well after doing a lot of research I'm thinking of switching my dog and my cats over. Did you switch them cold turkey or was it a gradual switch? Also do you guys use supplements or no?
Thanks!!

[Hello Kitty]

Well our puppy wouldn't eat any kibble :rolleyes:, so I guess it was cold turkey. We started offering her patty (50/50 ground meat/fruit & veg) as a replacement in the AM. Then at night she got chicken or other bone-in meat. There was absolutely no hesitation to eat on her part, so we just fed her raw going forward.

Yes, we added supplements to make sure she was getting a well rounded diet. Check out the book 'Grow your pups with bones' for recipes of sorts and info on the nutrients your pets need - not only from supplements, but to make sure you're feeding them the right nutrients from food. To her patty mixture, we added a healthy dose of oil - either cod liver, fish, or flax seed oil. We also added seameal (http://solidgoldhealth.com/products/showproduct.php?id=36&code=591) to the patty. Last, she also got a multivitamin (half IIRC).

Ultimately we stopped doing raw because we just didn't have enough time and we switched her to super-premium kibble that had the same ingredients as her patty (obviously no bones in there though). We still get her raw bones from time to time - if chicken is on sale, or we get wild game, etc... HTH!

[EJH]

Lucy has been on a raw diet since she was an itty bitty creature...we rescued her at 5 weeks.

When we got Bear, our shepherd, he was 5 years old, had hots spots all over him, a nasty coat etc b/c he was allergic to the food he was getting. With the raw diet the hot spots went away, he had a gorgeous, healthy coat. We started him on raw as soon as he was ours.

Great, healthy teeth in both of them too.

[nnkgirl]

I have to be honest I am a little bit nervous about it, I mean I've gradually started giving her raw and in only a few days I see a great change. But I just need to know, do you guys just hand your dog a chicken breast bones and all and just let them go to town?? Bones are ok?

[Hello Kitty]

[Raw] bones are the best part! That's what gets her teeth clean and provides nutrients. What kind of breed/size do you have?

We fed chicken legs (ETA - a leg quarter, not just a leg), primarily, and we'd use a hatchet to chop them into ~4 pieces or so. She'd do the rest of the work. She's now 57 lbs (but still pretty small for a doberman), and we still chop them up for her, but she's probably spoiled and lazy, thanks to us.

And I have to say - bone poops :o are the best. Not sure if you have a yard to clean up, but I would go back to raw just for that.

[nnkgirl]

She's about 72lbs, a Shepherd/Lab mix I think (we adopted her). Alrighty then, I'll go for the whole caboodle tonight then :D

And I have to say - bone poops are the best
Dare I ask why:eek: ? At least I'll be prepared though! We live in a condo but I walk her and therefore clean up after her....perhaps I'll put FH on that duty from now on :p

[greenbunny]

The more nutrition your pet gets from the food, the less waste material they pass. Cats and dogs on raw pass a very small amount of feces compared to kibble-fed animals. It also smells a lot less fragrant (I wouldn't go so far as to say it smells good, but you get it.)

[Hello Kitty]

Oh, since I'm the one who has to clean up the yard periodically, I noticed that the bone poops pretty much disappear within a few days, along with what Greenbunny said. Either that or they turn white and are very easy to pick up.

[EJH]

Bear was a 140lb german shepherd. He got a chicken leg quarter every day and would eat it like it was nothing.

Same with Lucy. She has one heck of a strong jaw for a 35lb mutt. :) She definitely prefers the legs over the leg quarters though, so that's what we do for her most of the time.

It's also vital to incorporate organ meats/gizzards once a week at least.

The poops basically disintegrate, it's fantastic!!

[nnkgirl]

So last night I gave Nalla her first RMB and you would have thought it was Xmas morning :D She LOVED it!!!

One more question, do you guys give supplements like alfalfa or kelp? I read that it's a good idea but wasn't sure. TIA!

[Hello Kitty]

I actually found Kelp powder in my cabinet over the weekend. I don't remember using it, and only a little bit was gone from the bottle, so I guess we must've incorporated it into our patty mixture at some point. Seeing that it naturally adds iodine to a diet, I would assume it would be good to add.

So glad she's liking the bones.