Wyatts_Momma

So I had this huge long post typed out hit submit and I wasn't logged in...I hate when that happens...so here it goes again in a nutshell. Wyatt is nearing 7 months old (Dec 11), and I've been going back and forth with deciding on a raw diet, all stages food or keeping him on his puppy food which latel he seems to be enjoying more. I think it was the not eating for 36-48 hours that did it! (last meal was Wed around 6pmish, and had surgery thursday and didn't eat again until Friday afternoon/evening). Anyways...When I did the math I realized i'm paying close to $3 a lb of food!!!!! I could buy chicken NOT on sale for cheaper! Anyways, I went onto pet food advisor and looked at their 3,4, & 5 star foods and realized I could save .10-$2.00/lb on food if I switched him to all stages. I know some people have mentioned before its ok for them to be on all stages and not really necessary to be on puppy food. His food container is running low and he'll need food by Friday, but if I were to make a switch I'd like to do it early in the week so I can mix his current food in with the new food so his tummy doesn't get upset. I'm honestly tired of paying close to $45 for a 14 lb of food that lasts 2.5-3 weeks...if I'm lucky! I actually found out, I could get him on a better quality food for a little more money a bag but its a bigger bag. To me, right there I would say do the switch! He already steals Penny's nasty senior food and doesn't have issues...If I went a raw route, how much would I need to feed him a day? he weighs 49 lbs (as of this past Thursday). I'd assume he'd top out around 70-80 lbs.

Thank you for any and all thoughts, suggestions, tips. etc etc etc!!!!

Ril-Mas

Of course, I'd say switch to raw if you're comfortable with the idea. I'm so glad I switched. That's not to say I love every aspect of raw feeding, but I'm loving the results I'm seeing with my dogs. Just yesterday I got my first bulk shipment of chicken and turkey. I ordered 40lb of chicken legs and 30lb of turkey necks. The chicken was no problem to seperate, but the turkey necks... ugh... not looking forward to that again! But, I'll do it if the dogs enjoy the necks. I'm saving money by buying in bulk so it's really worth it in the end.

As for how much to feed Wyatt, you'd feed him 2-3% of his ideal body weight. So, if you're thinking he'll top out at about 70-80lb, that would be anywhere from 1.4lb - 1.6lb of food daily give or take. I'm currently feeding Logan roughly 1.5lb a day and he's looking pretty good.

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Ril-Mas

I do have to say too that one other thing I love about feeding raw is not only do you control what you're feeding them, but you're also able to give them so much variety. Eating the same kibble day after day, week after week,... it must get so terribly boring! I know I'd hate eating the same thing day in and day out.

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af_wx_wife

Right now, I can't get hub to agree to a raw diet so mine are on kibble. They both get Blue Buffalo with Murphy being on a grain free. I'm considering switching Pheona over to a grain free as well (she's had no problems on her current) so then I have them at least on the same pages (pretty much). They both also get a little canned food mixed in. And I'm going to grab some plain yogurt for them when I run out tomorrow. Just to give them a little change in between. Good luck with your decision.

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Wyatts_Momma

Does it matter about how much bone/meat are on the piece of chicken(or whatever protein he'd be on at that point)? How much is one chicken quarter roughly? would it matter if he got like a thigh in the am and 2 legs at night? not sure how much that stuff weighs!

Thanks Mandy!

Ril-Mas

In the beginning you can't really worry about the exact percentages because it takes time for all of the "ingredients" for this diet. By ingredients I mean meat, bones, and organ meat. We start out simple with just chicken for a week or so, then we add a 2nd protein, and so on until we get at least 4 proteins in. Then we add the organ meats. The organ meats are much richer than the rest which is why we save it for last.

In the end you'll want to feed approx 80% meat, 10% bone, and 10% organ meat. To calculate the bone, here's a link that might help you: Chicken - Meat & Bone Ratio

Logan had some pretty bad sensitive tummy issues so I took his transition very slowly Maybe to slowly, but I really wanted to make sure I didn't make his problem worst. He handled it very well. Here's what I did for him.

Week 1: One skinless whole chicken leg for AM and one skinless whole chicken leg for PM.

Week 2: One skinless whole chicken leg for AM and one whole chicken leg with skin for PM.

Week 3: One whole chicken leg for AM and one for PM, both with skin.

Week 4: One whole chicken leg for AM and one for PM, both with skin and approx 3-4oz of beef in the PM.

After week 4 I gradully added more and more beef until he was able to have a whole chicken leg in the morning and a boneless meal of beef in the evening.

Once he was ok with that I started adding in turkey (using the same 3-4oz sched as beef) and then the following week I added in pork (frozen for at least 3 weeks in the same gradual amounts). The week before last I began adding in chicken liver. This week he'll get a little bit of beef liver. Also, this morning he had his first turkey neck.

I've handled the transition a bit differently for Abby with the advice that Kari so generously gave me. Abby's had no tummy issues and Kari explained to me that puppies generally handle this type of transition much better than older dogs.

So for her, this is her third week of raw (I think) and she's already getting whole chicken legs with skin, she's already had liver with her chicken legs, and last week we also started giving her beef.

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Wyatts_Momma

Again, you're a lifesaver! I'll have to see how much chicken legs are this week at the store. Do you give Logan or Abby any supplements, fish oil, coconut oil? Or would that come later or not necessary? Remember reading a post of someone who does kibble and raw. In YOUR opinion is that good to do or should you do one or the other? Do you only do chicken legs or do you add a thigh in there? Approx. how long does it take them to eat meal typically? I talked to my dad about feeding raw and he's worried Wyatt will become "vicious" and be on the "attack". He said something about once he tastes blood he will hunt us down... I laughed. Wasn't it you that posted a while back that your father wouldn't feed raw and you didn't know what to do?


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kielbasavw

I'm feeding stella totw puppy high prarie, I get the 30lb bag for $52 tax included, comes out to 1.73 a lb. She is doing really well on it bag says she should be getting 3cups per day as of right now

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dawnybabe

Adding in A thigh is no biggy just make sure you watch them chew it.. Leg are better as there bigger and needs to be chewed up. Its normally takes Rex 3-5 mins to eat a chicken leg or turkey neck... Pork ribs or lamb takes him longer as the bones are more hard to eat not as soft as chicken.

Supplements i've been feeding Rex Raw since May and Rex is on 5-6 proteins well i'll say 5 as fish his tummy doesnt handle well so i give him 2 Fish Oil Capsules daily & 1 Vit E.. Was giving coconut oil to but was to much so cut it out for abit but now i give him coconut oil again just a little bit not as much as before.

I wouldn't personally feed Raw & Kibble but some do.



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Ril-Mas

Yeah, my father wasn't to sure about it when I tried switching Abby. Logan was easy to switch since he's my dog, but Abby's technically theirs so I couldn't switch her without their blessing. Eventually he gave in, but now it's my job to feed her. It's no big deal though since I feed them at the same time. It doesn't take either of them very long to eat. With chicken legs I'd say no more than 5 minutes and that's probably a stretch. Logan took about 6 or 7 minutes to eat his first turkey neck yesterday.

It's kind of funny though. In all the reasons why I'm told by random people not to feed raw, the whole blood thirsty thing doesn't really come up. I find it kind of funny though. There wouldn't be so many people supporting this diet if their pets were running crazy trying to attack them. LOL I know mine are still cuddly mush bugs and they've both gotten the taste of blood.

I personally don't like the idea of doing half kibble and half raw. With Logan it would be hard to do since he has issues eating kibble. I also think that doing half and half is kind of defeating the purpose. To me, I personally feel that raw is the healthier choice. I've seen great improvements with Logan so it just wouldn't make sense to me to go back to half kibble when he had such problems on it. They both digest at different rates too which I feel is just asking for an upset tummy. Some people do it with no problems though so it's really your decision and what you feel comfortable with doing.

As for feeding an extra thigh with the leg, if you can find packages of whole legs like I get that probably won't be necessary. The legs in the packs that I get are pretty big (usually 8-12oz or larger) so when Logan was getting a leg for morning and night I was usually able to pair up a couple which made up his daily requirement. Abby's eating less so it's much easier to pair hers up. Logan now only gets one bone in meal a day for breakfast.

It is best to feed larger pieces because it more or less forces them to learn how to chew. Is Wyatt a good chewer when it comes to bones/treats? If he's an inhaler, I'd start out with a larger piece. You may need to hold it at first just until you can see him chewing. I was worried mine would try to swallow it whole, but they are very thorough chewers.

If you're not going to feed fish you would need to supplement with fish oil, but I believe that's it unless something else comes up. Right now I'm giving Logan a little bit of coconut oil, but just started last week after I noticed he has what looks like a yeast infection in his nails. He's getting about 1/4-1/2 tsp for now. Eventually I may end up supplementing with the fish oil and vitamin E. I haven't tried them with raw fish yet so I'm not sure how that will go.

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