I have started doing some research into raw feeding. There are so many different products available to order online. If you are in the Uk what do you feed? Living in a house of vegetarians it is going to have to be preprepared food if I switch. Also does anyone use freeze dried raw as opposed to frozen?
I really like Naturaw for completes because of their organic ingredients and biodegradable packaging. I feed a variety of veg, eggs and fish as well. I do a lot of DIY but I appreciate as vegetarians you probably dont want to go down that route - for me part of my motivation for feeding raw is wanting to know exactly what he's eating and ideally this is grass fed, free range or wild, locally sourced meat.
Hi Ruth thanks for replying. I looked at their website.They seem to be saying to feed 750g to a 30 kg dog. Do you then add vegetables to the meat? Some other companies also have veg mixed in with the meat. Do you add any other supplements?
I tend to feed 500g of Naturaw plus an egg or a sardine plus veg, kefir and a few training treats. He's 29kg and this seems to keep him at a stable weight. There's a bit of trial and error involved and I don't feed the same brand all the time. If I get Nutriment, which already contains veg, I feed a 1.4kg Chubb over 2 days and go easy on the extras, it seems to all work out ok in the end. He has a meaty bone 2 or 3 times a week withboneless meaty chunks, tripe and offal too.
Nutriment is fab and prefectly balanced so I don't add anything to this as is could upset the balance. Unfortunatley, I can't afford to feed 8 dogs on Nutriment all the time, so I mainly feed DAF. This is balanced in terms of not having to mess around with bone, offal and meat, but does need extras (veggies/fruits etc) adding.
Thank you for that. Think that is more like what I am looking for.I only have one to feed! My question now is how come the protein content of these raw foods is less than kibble? I happened to meet a Tv dog behaviourist/ nutritionist whilst dog walking who I may engage to help with some training. We talked a bit about food and he said to look at what Toby was eating and I would be surprised how little protein was in the food. It is higher than these raw foods. The raw food seems to be over 50% water and kibble over 50% carbs. Is it therefore the carbs that are the problem? Do dogs not need carbs for energy?
As far as I'm aware dogs use fat and protein for energy. They can use carbs but most raw feeders believe this is not optimal and possibly why dogs are suffering more and more with chronic diseases and obesity. The protein content is not actually that high in raw food ( around 15 percent in the ones I usually buy) because of the high moisture content - the behaviour problems associated with high protein kibble don't seem to be an issue with raw fed dogs. Mine certainly seems less hyper but I think this is as much to do with the calming effect of sitting chewing a nice bone as it is any nutritional change. Changes in the microbiome are thought to have effects on behaviour too so maybe the tripe and kefir have helped.
I recently switched my soon to be 11 month old to Honest Kitchen Beef for morning and eves meals and Stella and Chewy Beef/Salmon Frozen patty for lunch. Her stools are 100% better now. She had issues with constant mushy stools.
I need to speak to the vet and his oncologist again. Both are reluctant for me to feed him raw as he is immunocompromised at the moment(He has had Campylobacter and Giardia in the last month) I need to ask how long this goes on for. He is on a hydrolysed duck kibble which seems to have sorted his stools out so I won’t be switching immediately but want to in the near future. Thanks for your input.
A happy gut with a good microbiome is less susceptible to nasties. Keeping fingers crossed for your boy x
Poor dog. It must be so difficult to know what to do for the best. If he's doing ok on kibble then I'd be inclined to stay with that or maybe a good quality wet food until his immune system is working again.
Thank you. He goes back to the specialist tomorrow for follow up scans. Seeing him jumping the waves and swimming in Cornwall last week you would never know.
It is very difficult. So many factors affecting his stomach. However he is now off all meds now so if scans are clear tomorrow we can move forward.
Bought a small freezer and just found out Nutriment are only about 8 miles away so I can collect. Off to shop as it’s too wet to work!
Great news! I hope he likes it. Another brand to try is the new Paleo Plus range from Paleo ridge. It's a true complete, meets FEDIAF guidelines and has organic free range ingredients and compostable packaging ( I burn it on our woodburner).
Chicken based hasn’t been very successful but I half expected that from other research. Came out looking much the same it went in( sorry too much detail!) He was also scratching a lot more. Giving him a couple of days then will try another base. Do you think Turkey would have the same effect? I had managed to get his stools perfect on the duck hydrolysed food but not the scratching so that is the obvious next one to try.
Turkey seems to be ok? Poos as they should be on raw. My only problem is he is scratching/biting himself more than on his hydrolysed kibble(but hadn't stopped completely) The plan is to give him 10 days and then try the duck. We had a nice visit to Nutriment on Monday and Toby was won over by a guy with “little fishes”
