Tips on Raw Feeding

Hi Just wondered if you all got some tips on raw feeding?
Whats good to give your dog and what is not so good etc.

How often do the dog need to be raw fed compared to a dog feeding from normal dry dogfood?

Anything that could be of use.
Thank you!

At first when they leave home for their new Mummies and Daddies they need 4 small meals a day, then gradually knock it down to 3, then I still give mine 2. They have their main meal in the morning and a smaller one at night, when they come in from their walk early afternoon I give them a bone and a banana or carrot, mine used to love apple and melon as well, they have also eaten pumpkin and peaches as well when they were little. I tend to feed oxheart, chicken wings and mince mixed with pureed veg in the morning along with a sprinkling of dried seaweed and their vits. then in the evening they have tinned fish or tripe or neck of lamb with either cottage cheese or bio yogurt and also some pureed veg. If you have a look here http://www.landywoods.co.uk/ you will get an idea of the sort of food you can order and if you e mail them they will let you have the times they deliver in your area. I tend to use my local butcher a lot as he makes his own pet mince, so worth asking around at your local butchers as well.
I think we all feed slightly differently to each other, it is really down to what conclusions you come to after doing your research and joining a raw feeding site such as http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/BritBarf/

Well said June. We all seem to do things slightly differently. I only feed once a day, in the evening, although Tai has 2 chicken wings after his morning walk if I have any in stock. Plus he gets a teaspoonful of cod liver oil on his din dins. I feed a whole raw egg crushed up shell and all once a week or so, pureed veg every day, and he gets any table scraps. He is a guzzle guts and will eat anything and everything - he is very partial to salad and lettuce in particular !

I don't feed any dairy at all, although he might have the odd bit of cheese gone hard. I will feed him a raw meaty bone about 3 times a week on average.

Kazen : it's all commonsense really - I judge if I am doing things right by what comes out t'other end. You are aiming for small, well formed stools (not cow pats aka kibble-fed dogs) that are easy to pick up without leave any mess behind. If the stools are dry and crumbly, you are feeding too much bone, too loose you are feeding too much muscle meat and/or pureed veg.

Ah yes, the poos, the are the biggest (or rather the smallest ) bonus. Just soooo easy to clean them out or pick up after them when you are out. Like Nikki says you can judge exactly whether you are feeding too much or too little, if they need more bone, if they need less bone, just by their poos. No more nasty smelly cow pats, no more horrible 'doggy smell' no more bad breath or brown teeth. I am not saying mine don't smell, they do but it the cow muck they have rolled in, or the river they have been running in and out of, normal smells in other words.

Thank you for the very helpful tips! Good one about the poos!

As im not sure yet when I might get a Utonagan (or any other pup).

I might try converting our GSD over to raw feed, is there any problems in this? She is only on dry dog food atm. I suppose if i go slowly and start to give bones and slowly take the dry dog food away and go into more raw meet and bones? Or because she is used to her current diet, is it maybe better to just let her continue with what shes used too?

It is very easy to convert a dry food fed dog onto raw, not so much the other way round though. Does she have bones at the moment?? If so she will be at least used to some sort of raw meat taste. You could get a whole ox heart from your butchers and ask him to chop it into eight piecesfreeze the pieces, and then give her a defrosted piece every day, chicken wings and chicken legs are also easy to feed, just give her a wing or leg and see what she makes of it. Just make sure they are raw though as the bones are very bendy and crunchy when raw but if they are cooked they are brittle (which is why you are always told not to feed chicken bones). It is a real nail biter at the beginning I know because it goes against everything you have ever been told, but trust us raw feeders, we have all been there and know the feeling well, but our dogs have not only survived but are thriving If your dog has always been kibble fed it can sometimes be difficult for them to recognise 'real' food, a bit like if you have always eaten cornflakes and are suddenly given a Sunday roast!! Ask around your local butchers to see if one does pet mince and get her some of that, I puree left over veggies, mix with a tin of tomatos and give a desertspoonful of that with half a pound of pet mince. Go by eye, the accepted amount of food is 2-3% of bodyweight, but some dogs need more, some less, the poos and the dogs condition will tell you, if she looks a bit porky and has runny poos, cut your food quantities down, if the poos are very small and hard and she looks a bit skinny increase them. Join http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/BritBarf/ there is a wealth of information on there and they will answer all your questions in far more depth than I ever could, also, take a look at http://www.landywoods.co.uk/barf_diets.html you can order from them.

I tried strider (gsd) on the raw diet and he didn`t do too well on it. Diarrhea galore. german shepherds can have sensitive tummies. would love to know how your one is getting on.
Ciara

Raw feeding is better for dogs with sensitive tummies from what I can gather from the Britbarf forum, there may be a meat that he is sensitive to though, I recommend you join the Britbarf forum and ask the questions there, people on there have been raw feeding for 40 odd years or more, here is a link

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/BritBarf/

KaZen was a potential puppy owner, but got fed up of waiting and got another GSD I think!!!!

i find it easier to feed raw too, and the dogs obviously enjoy it oh and the ferrets lol

Hey

No I am all for the raw diet aswell but I tried everything with him and I gave him time on it but to no avail. I had him on hussie nuts before and he was never consistent in the number 2 department until I put him on the royal canine german shepherd and he is very consistent with that. I loved him being on the raw diet but it just didn`t suit him. But I will be feeding the raw diet to the utonagan all right.

Ciara xx