Hi can anyone offer me advice on switching my 16 week old puppy onto a raw diet? I have been advised to switch her over for two reasons, she still poos every night and she is quite hyper and the trainer I work with thinks a raw diet would help with both. However, she said, due to the different way they are digested I would need to switch her straight over in one day and not gradually. This concerns me as when she switched kibble over a ten day period she had a bit of an upset tummy. So any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Hi Clarian, There are a few people on here who feed raw diets (Pippa and Oberon, to name a couple), so they'll be able to give you advice about switching. I feed mine one meal out of three as raw. There is no scientific evidence to say you can't feed both kibble and raw concurrently. It doesn't make sense to me that it should cause any side effects. So, they're digested differently? So what, does that mean that we can't feed carbohydrates and proteins at the same time? Bad luck, all kibble users! So, I would take that with a pinch of salt. The important thing when introducing raw is to introduce only one protein source at a time. So, you would start with, maybe, chicken. Expect some tummy trouble when you bring this in. After a few days, it should settle down so her poo is normal whenever she has chicken. Then, you'd introduce something else, maybe turkey or rabbit. Again, wait until the tummy settles down with this before bringing in a third, fourth etc. However.... I have to say that lots of raw feeders are quite militant about their beliefs that every dog should be fed raw. They use it as a "cure all". I can see the benefits to my dogs from the raw they do eat, and I would almost certainly feed an all-raw diet if I lived somewhere it was economically viable, but I don't. But, just because my dogs love the raw meat they do get, I wouldn't dare to say that it would cure behavioural issues. I can't think of any reason why switching to raw would stop her pooing at night time! If her bowel is full - of whatever - and she needs to go, then she'll go. She's still young. It sounds to me that she needs more opportunity to go earlier, or maybe the timing of meals needs assessing. How often are you feeding her and when is her last meal? Is she getting too much food, so has to vacate more frequently? Are you using low quality food that has more indigestible content (I don't mean carbohydrates, I mean things like ash)? My friend's dog that is from the same litter as mine poos a massive amount compared to my two, because she's on rubbish food. Are her stools firm or runny? Also, what are her sleeping arrangements? Is she in a crate? She will be less likely to go to the toilet in an area she sees as her "den", which at this age may still be quite a small area. If she's in too large an enclosure at night, she may have enough room to have a sleeping area and a toileting area. As for her being hyper, hey, she's a 16 week old Labrador! They're ALL hyper! What rationale has your trainer given that feeding raw will solve this? Yes, it will take her longer to eat her meal, and it will take a little more brain power, but we're talking a couple of minutes versus a few seconds. It's not enough to keep her occupied for a long time. As soon as she's finished, she'll be back into full, normal, puppy mode again. I'm certainly not wanting to put you off feeding a raw diet, but it's something that needs to be researched carefully to ensure it's the right solution for you and your dog. There are pros, and there are cons. These need to be weighed up. Feeding raw diets is great, if it suits you. But it is not a panacea.
Hi Clarian, I'm sorry, I don't have any real advice on how to switch although personally I'd be hesitant to do it in one day. I completely agree with what Fiona has said so don't have too much to add. However I really think some research into what will work for you and your puppy is worthwhile as everyone's opinions are so different. We feed a mix of raw and kibble and we had two vets in the same practice with completely different views on our choice! Good luck ☺
I switched Poppy to a raw diet at 16 weeks with no problems. As Fiona says, do it slowly, one different source of food at a time. You could start with swapping a kibble meal for a chicken wing or thigh, for instance. Don't be panicked if she gulps it and throws it back up and then chews it and swallows it again! I now feed one meal raw and one kibble per day; this is just for convenience sake. It works fine. Good luck with your switchover, if that's what you decide to do, let us know how it goes.
Thanks for starting this topic, it's something I've been interested in for a while. My girl is on high quality Kibble and it suits here really well but in the back of my mind I still want to feed her raw instead. My nan always raw feed her dogs, I can't ask her for advice as she's now 96 and can't really hold a reliable conversation any more unfortunately. I've just got one question, with kibble, it's measured out each meal, and I follow the manufacturers recommendations. Calling the nutritional advice line if I need help. How do I work out how much to raw feed each meal?
You'd do it in the same way as you do for kibble. There are rough guesstimates that you can find online, but you just look at the condition of your dog. The recommendations on the packets of kibble are often wildly off, and vary massively according to breed and individual dog, so you look at your dog when you're feeding a certain amount - if he's looking too podgy, you cut back. If he's looking too slim, you increase it. It's not really rocket science, you just need to keep your eyes open Just like we don't generally weigh out everything we eat ourselves, we get a feel for how much constitutes a meal. Once you have a baseline, you can adjust as you need.
Pilatelover hopefully this doesn't get me banned from the forum but we don't use the kibble guidelines. We feed Royal Canin Labrador Retriever Junior and supplement with mince beef/mince kangaroo/chicken necks/wings etc. and followed this from the breeder. She basically said that you start to get a feel for the amount of food that your dog needs and I honestly believe that is true. The way I worked it out in my mind (clearly no expert here) was that she could survive on kibble alone so I start with that as a base and reduce the kibble amount accordingly depending on what else she has been fed or going to be fed that day (this includes when you have a big training session and give lots of treats). If you don't reduce the kibble enough you will notice her starting to put on weight and vice versa. Anyway, that's just our method but I'm sure that there are plenty of others with much more experience that can give better advice! ☺
Oops, snowbunny sorry your post wasn't there when I wrote mine! Edit - but I'm relieved to see my comment was actually similar to yours!
"Great minds think alike" or "Fools seldom differ" ? If I fed my two according to the guidelines, they'd be the size of (remarkably small) hippos!
Thanks both, Mabel doesn't have the full amount according to the guidelines I don't think she needs it, she's on Arden Grange when I changed over from the cheap kibble the breeder fed her on, the Arden Grange nutritionist pretty much said the same. You'll get a feel for the condition of your dog. I've actually just reduced her kibble again as I'm using a lot of fresh fish as high value rewards. She loves a nice bit of trout . Luckily for me I can get it boneless with the skin left on. I'm also having her weighed weekly until she's off restricted exercise although to be fair that's just me being neurotic. . I never weigh myself I just eat everything in moderation, it's actually easy to apply the same rules to your own dog regarding diet.
Mine love fish. What am I saying, they're Labradors, they love everything! I give them a few whole raw sardines for their lunch sometimes and Shadow trembles with excitement when he sees the packet coming out
Thank you, I think this is how I will proceed.... it makes more sense to introduce the raw slowly and keep the kibble up. There are bags of frozen cubed raw meals called Nature's menu that I was recommended, but these (the puppy version) contain liver, chicken, salmon and rice, so I will think about this further down the line when she has got used to some raw.
Hi there and thank you for your valuable advice. We have changed timings and amounts of food given to see if it would have any affect on the amount of times Tilly poos, but so far she just seems to be a pup who goes ALOT!! The trainer advised a food that is frozen cubes of chicken, salmon, liver and rice as she felt it might be gentler on her digestive system and create less waste, (as no cereal) helping to cut down on the amount of times Tilly needs to evacuate. I, being new to having a puppy (we've always taken in older rescue dogs until now) am very open to advice, but thought it would be good to put feelers out about other people's experiences first, before making a big change to her diet. As for the calming...apparently the high protein content of some puppy kibble can affect some puppies behaviour and surprisingly a raw diet has a lower protein content than kibble, so she felt this change may help calm her.
I'd be interested to hear more about her hyper behaviour. I may be wrong, but I'm sure plenty of other puppy owners on here would say she's just displaying typical Lab boisterousness, which can be far above and beyond that of other breeds The pre-prepared raw diets are very convenient, so that takes out some of the stress of sourcing and preparing, but if you do go down that route, make sure you throw in the odd whole-meat meal, so her jaws and teeth get the benefit of the raw diet, too. It's something quite remarkable to watch a small puppy eat a whole chicken wing - I gave Willow her first when she was still a small pup, and she very quickly learnt to crunch it from one end to the other to break up all the bone and then swallow it in one go. It's a bit concerning at first, but you soon get used to it, and the expression on their faces when they're enjoying fresh meat is priceless. When you start, keep the bones large enough that she can't swallow them in one go, because she needs to crunch them up, otherwise she may just gulp it down in excitement, which can be a problem. Give her plenty of space, too, so that she doesn't feel threatened and like she has to rush. If she has a crate, it would be a perfect place to feed her the bones to start with. And, I'm sure you already know, but you should never feed weight-bearing bones from large mammals, as they're too hard for a dog's teeth and may cause damage. I do feed my two chunks of marrow bone now they are older (about an inch or so thick) but I supervise them closely to ensure they're only licking out the marrow and not trying to crunch the bone at all. I also know that I can take the bones off them with no problems once they're finished - in exchange for a piece of very smelly dehydrated tripe
What a lovely image I'm going to try that, I had ordered some sushi puppy treats. The delivery man arrived and I knew by Mabel's excitement it wasn't my new shoes in the box.
I think you are probably right...she settles brilliantly in her crate and we are all beginning to recognise the beginnings of her 'hyper' times, where she gets so over excited she jumps, nips, races, bumps into things and gets what someone on here called the 'zoomies' so we can pre empt them now and prevent the previous chaos! I will try introducing raw, but probably just chicken wings for now...see how she takes to them before going any further. Thank you for your advice with this it has been very useful in helping me come to a decision.
Hi, I haven't been on for awhile but reading your post thought I would mention Ann Ridyard who has explained raw quite well. Check out her website. Good luck with the change over
Harley is fed on Natures Menu and she loves it. As soon as I get it out she bounces between the kitchen and living room then sits so nicely, but slightly shaking until I tell her 'go ahead' which means she can eat. Harley had a very sensitive tummy when she was younger. We tried several different kibble and a few wet foods. Since being in the Natures Menu she has looked the healthiest she has ever been. I also give her the odd chicken thigh (she buries chicken wings for some reason!), lambs heart,Turkey necks or ribs to help with her teeth. She gets excited every time I go near her freezer as she knows I'm getting something for her
Our Bella also gets wild with excitement when her food is being prepared. SHe gets a frozen pre-prepared complete raw diet specifically for puppies. She also gets chicken wings, necks, turkey carcasses and other feathered bones that I can get from our butcher. Bella was never fond of her kibble and ate it with such lack of enthusiasm that after four weeks with us I switched her to raw over a week.
