# Feeding Raw food!?



## Pandabear96

So for the last week or so I've been feeding raw for a little over a week now because of allergies. Panda's allergies cleared up on the duck formula of primal, and now I'm trying the chicken to rule that out allergy wise. I bought some chicken necks and he LOVES them. Panda is a healthy 15 lbs, he's big but definitely not fat. And he's very very active, always exercising. So as the websites say, for an active dog to maintain weight feed 3% of their diet to start. So he eats 4 nuggets in the morning, 1 chicken neck for supper and 2 nuggets at bedtime. I'm alternating proteins, and once I rule them out I plan to do 1 week per protein and get through all of them. I add a little pure pumpkin sometimes to help with the transition over since he's been on kibble for the past year. 

What do you feed your dogs? What benefits have you noticed since they've been on raw or how are they doing if they've always been on raw? 

Any tips on making it cheaper or any different raw meaty bones that you guys get at the butcher? 

What do you feed as treats? 
I feed freeze dried duck, and max and ruffy's organic vegan treats (since Panda has allergies) there's only about 5-7 ingredients and they're all organic and grain free! 

Tips for the new raw feeder??


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## Naturelover

No tips to share as of yet. Considering switching to it and have tried some on Archer. He does chew his paws a lot even though he has otherwise done well on the Acana kibbles. He just doesn't enjoy eating them unfortunately, even when I switch types. So I feel he may benefit from a dietary switch but I may also need to rule out certain proteins. Some types of raw he ate right away, and others he wouldn't eat or refused when offered it for a second meal. So far the only thing that has had any enduring popularity is the nature's variety stuff, maybe because it is "Gateway Raw" since it is nugget shaped. 

I gave him a raw boar rib the other day. Since it is not weight-bearing it is meant to be fully consumable (except maybe the last bit when it gets small). He really loved it! He also likes chicken necks but eats them almost whole sometimes. I feel the boar ribs provide more of an interest for chewing and teeth cleaning.


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## davetgabby

how much raw are you going to eventually feed him?


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## Pandabear96

What do you mean how much am I going to eventually feed him?


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## davetgabby

what amount of commercial raw (Primal) and how much true raw.?


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## Pandabear96

I'm open to anything honestly, I have a lot to learn about feeding raw. I'm aiming for half and half, but I may consider doing all homemade raw if I learned enough about it and made sure it was balanced! What do you feed?


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## davetgabby

if you add more than 25 percent of your dogs calories with raw food to a commercial "complete and balanced" diet, you should consult with a nutritionist to make sure it remains balanced and complete. Here are some tips on why. Sabine has done numerous plans for members here. All done online, and dog specific after you fill out a questionnaire. Worth every penny.

Doing it right Jean Dodds

The biggest concern with homemade diets is that, unless properly formulated and followed, the diet may not be nutritionally balanced. For this reason, I strongly advise that you obtain your recipe from a reputable source, such as a book published by a holistic or holistically minded veterinarian, board-certified veterinary nutritionist, or canine/feline nutritionist where the recipes have been tested and verified as nutritionally balanced. If you are able, you can also consult with a reputable animal nutritionist to design the diet.

When preparing a homemade diet for your dog or cat, it's essential to stick to the ingredients listed. Substituting ingredients can result in a diet that is no longer nutritionally balanced. Also, be sure to add all vitamin/mineral and any other supplements as directed; these supplements are essential to ensuring that the diet is properly balanced

Dr. Becker

First, many homemade and prey-model diets and a few commercially available raw food diets are unbalanced. This means pets have been brought to veterinarians, including me, with nutritional imbalances that could and should have been avoided. These animals are deficient in antioxidants, or the correct amounts of trace minerals and vitamins, or the right fatty acid balance for appropriate and balanced skeletal growth, and organ and immune health.

Usually, these well-intentioned owners don't correlate their pet's medical issues with nutritional deficiencies, but their vets do. And many veterinarians develop very strong opinions against all homemade and raw diets because of these cases. There are many well-meaning people who feed unbalanced diets out of ignorance and, in some cases, stubbornness.

I've had several clients tell me they don't care that the analysis of their pet's current diet - let's say, chicken wings and burgers - demonstrates deficiencies in certain critical nutrients. They believe that "This is the diet I've fed for X number of years and my dog is doing fine, so there's no need to change it."

Dr. Becker ..." #13 Dead last on the list and the worst thing you can feed your pet is an unbalanced, homemade diet - raw or cooked. I'm seeing an increasing number of misguided pet owners in my practice who think they're doing the right thing by serving their pet, say, a chicken breast and some veggies and calling it a day.

Yes, the food is homemade, but it's nutritionally unbalanced. Pets being fed this way are showing up at my clinic with endocrine abnormalities, skeletal issues and organ degeneration as a result of deficiencies in calcium, trace minerals and omega fatty acids.

Catherine Lane http://www.thepossiblecanine.com/la...k-myths-and-misperceptions-about-home-feeding


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## Deacon Blues

I fed my GSD a homemade raw diet for years, and to do it correctly, as Dave says, involves a fair amount of work gathering and organizing the ingredients necessary to provide balanced nutrition.

When I got my Havanese I knew I wanted to feed raw but chose to go with a prepared diet so I could get consistency and not have to worry if I had too little or too much protein, etc. There are a lot of options, but I chose Darwin's because of the quality of the ingredients. They also deliver automatically straight to your doorstep anywhere in the U.S. I feed 100% and do not mix with kibble or anything else. It costs about $26 a month to feed my Havanese a professionally developed raw diet and it's worked out so far for us; my dog is in good health, has not had medical issues of any kind, teeth are clean, breath is fresh, and coat is lustrous.

Others here have had success with other brands and they'll weigh in; I like the fact Darwin's arrives automatically.


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## davetgabby

Deacon Blues said:


> I fed my GSD a homemade raw diet for years, and to do it correctly, as Dave says, involves a fair amount of work gathering and organizing the ingredients necessary to provide balanced nutrition.
> 
> When I got my Havanese I knew I wanted to feed raw but chose to go with a prepared diet so I could get consistency and not have to worry if I had too little or too much protein, etc. There are a lot of options, but I chose Darwin's because of the quality of the ingredients. They also deliver automatically straight to your doorstep anywhere in the U.S. I feed 100% and do not mix with kibble or anything else. It costs about $26 a month to feed my Havanese a professionally developed raw diet and it's worked out so far for us; my dog is in good health, has not had medical issues of any kind, teeth are clean, breath is fresh, and coat is lustrous.
> 
> Others here have had success with other brands and they'll weigh in; I like the fact Darwin's arrives automatically.


good stuff.


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## Pandabear96

Does anybody know any cheaper Canadian brands? Primal is double the price of darwins! I'd love to order Darwins but do they ship to canada??


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## Molly120213

Darwins does not ship to Canada.


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## davetgabby

nope, or I'd be using them. give up your Tim Hortons lol


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## 31818

Deacon Blues said:


> It costs about $26 a month


I'm confused! The Darwin website says to figure about $2.50 per day. How do you do it for $.85 per day?

gracias, su amigo, Ricky Ricardo


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## davetgabby

250 a day is a steal. Primal freeze-dried would be twice that. Esp in Canada. :frusty:


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## Pandabear96

I have a couple weeks worth left of the primal! I now have both my pups on it. I really want to make my own raw, and have been researching all day and looking at different recipes. I still have lots to do to learn how to feed it. Does anyone have any tips or books I can buy? Websites to look at? I know I need a meat grinder, and food processor (for the veggies). And I want to make about 1 months worth for 2 dogs and store it in the freezer. I plan to feed bones and stuff too. I know the meaty bones can make up 10-30% of a diet. And organ meats should be 10%, the rest should be muscle meat correct? How much fruits and veggies? Also I know I need an oil for omega 3s and so on. I want to alternate between coconut oil, flax seed oil and salmon or another type of fish oil. I heard kelp and alfalfa meal are a good source of vitamins and I should add an enzyme supplement specifically for dogs right? 

Any tips or examples of your guys meal plans would be great!! I'm also definitely alternation meat, anything from beef, chicken, duck, lamb, fish, venison, bison, anything I can find really to get him a good variety. 

I know it's a lot of hard work, and it had to be done right and be balanced, I'm willing to commit the time and effort to do so. 

I also may start by buying a commercial raw diet, but just 100% meat, then adding the veggies and supplements and vitamins myself, to get comfortable. 

Going to go watch more videos and read more articles now!!


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## davetgabby

if you want a BALANCED recipe I would only recommend two people . 
monica segal http://www.monicasegal.com/optimal-nutrition.html

Dr. Pitcairn http://www.drpitcairn.com/foods/

Like the article says there are a lot of recipes on the web that are not good. And like it also mentions, you have to follow them EXACTLY. 
The problem with these even is that they are not customized for YOUR dogs. My preference is a nutritionist that you can consult with online like Sabine or another great one (even from Ontario is Catherine Lane . ) 
Don't do it yourself. It's not that simple . you just can't use any type of meats.


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## davetgabby

from Sabines site, The Dog Food Project...

Mixing different dog food brands will improve my dog's diet 

This misconception seems to originate from dog owners unconsciously feeling guilty about the type of food they feed, or those following their own ideas for "improving" their dog's diet without doing any research.

Every brand of dog food follows a specific formulation and nutritional philosophy, developed by the manufacturer. All products are formulated to supply a balanced amount of nutrients in a ration of a certain size (remember kibble size and density vary from brand to brand), based on the body weight of the dog. When mixing different kibbles, instead of getting "the best of both", your dog isn't going to eat enough of either one to get the full benefit of a particular nutritional system designed and researched by a manufacturer. Last but not least, if digestive upset occurs, it's going to take so much longer to figure out what exactly caused it, compared to just eliminating either the commercial food or whatever extras were fed recently. If you want to offer more variety, stick to one line of food of the same brand at a time and rotate between brands every few months. Supplementing the dry food with fresh, unprocessed foods like vegetables, fruit, yogurt, meat or a bit of canned food is also safe and healthy
It is also not beneficial at all to feed every protein source you can get your hands on “just because you can”. Stick with the more common ones like chicken, turkey, lamb, beef and fish and avoid the more exotic types. In case dogs develop food allergies, they will need to be switched to food ingredients they have never been exposed to before in life. The more different sources you have previously fed, the more difficult it will be for you to come up with a good feeding plan in such a situation. So make sure you always read ingredient labels before buying food and treats, and keep the "exotic" meats in reserve should you need them one day


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## Deacon Blues

Ricky Ricardo said:


> How do you do it for $.85 per day?


Ricky, I wanted to answer your question but not hijack this thread. I answered over here.


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## LoveMyHava

*Lots of fuss for nothing!*

I did tons of research and finally decided to go for a raw diet... but then my dog wouldn't eat it! I thought that was pretty funny--she prefers her kibble over duck meat and bones. Oh well... :wink2:


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