Well, I had been thinking of changing to raw in the future. First I want to read several books before I do any change. Thing is, my wife is not too happy with the idea. My Chatito has beautiful skin/coat, very active, extremely healthy, although his stool consistency is not the best (I'm still waiting for a few more weeks to see if he fully adapts to the Blue Buffalo Lamb and Rice formula). My wife told me, if ain't broken, why fix it? I guess she has a point. I still want to do my full research to see if it is a better alternative for Chato and myself. Those of you that have your fur kids on raw, is it ok if I am still feeding kibble to give a recreational bone w/some meat maybe 1x per week? I am a pit guru (BBQ), and I have cookouts every weekend. I would like for Chato to be entertained while we are all outthere munching on our steaks.
Raw
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A recreational bone shouldn't be a problem for a kibble-fed dog - I know a number of people who give them about once a week or so. You'll want to keep tabs on the amount of meat and marrow (if you're giving a marrow bone), as these can cause digestive upset, especially when the dog is first getting used to them. Also, watch how he chews - some dogs are very aggressive and can damage their teeth on hard bones. Of course, as I'm sure you know, never ever feed cooked bones.
If you do decide to make the switch to raw, I highly recommend Carina MacDonald's book, Raw Dog Food: Make it Easy for You and Your Dog.
If you do decide to make the switch to raw, I highly recommend Carina MacDonald's book, Raw Dog Food: Make it Easy for You and Your Dog.
Finally decided to take the plunge to switch to raw. Just a lil more work, but well worth it. He loves it. Like natural instinct, he grabbed the chicken wing and started crunching away. It's funny because if I pet him while he's eating, he will put the entire wing in his mouth, I take a few steps back, then he brings it back down and keeps munching. Like him telling me: "Stay away from my food". :lol: I am giving chato 1 1/2 wings 3x per day. Is this good enough? I need to put a lil weight on him, I can see all his ribs. No spine though. Hopefully he gets more outta the raw diet than the kibble. 
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Try & resist the urge to over feed to get weight on him..The weight will come on in time. When we rescued Tia, she was barely 40 lbs and was 9 mos...She ended up weighing 65, so just be patient. Believe me, it's better that you see a bit of ribs on Chato..Healthier too in the long run
Cool, thanx again. Another question for the raw feeders. At first, Chato was chewing his wings, but now, it seems he chews just enough to gobble it whole. I've been after him when he goes potty, and his stool has never been better. Extremely compact, and solid. Question is, should I ground the wings, or is this fine what he is doing? Or should I chop them up into pieces? Thanx again.
My dogs never chew wings - just three crunches and a gulp. :smile: Dogs don't have many digestive enzymes in their saliva, so chewing isn't as important for them as it is for humans - most of their digestion occurs in the stomach. So long as he's able to swallow the wings easily, it shouldn't be a problem if he doesn't chew them.
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So glad to hear that he's doing well on raw! You'll want to make sure to add in a few of the more meaty RMB's, like chicken drumsticks and thighs every once in a while as well. I tend to go in a rotation that would make sense for the entire animal - neck and organs, wing, wing, back, breast, breast, thigh, thigh, drumstick, drumstick. That way you know that it's balanced over time.
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