Raw Experts - some advice please.

MurphysMinder

MurphysMinder

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I'm sure there used to be a sticky, but can't find it now. To keep it brief, I feed my girls raw (chicken wings, turkey legs, etc) 2 or 3 days a week and kibble the rest, they do really well on this regime. I currently have one of Evie's pups staying with me for a week, when his owner told me he was fed totally raw and was that okay with me when he was with me I said fine. Well he arrived last week, and he is very overweight :eek:. She told me he weighs 45kg, and she had asked the vet if his weight was okay when he went in last month for castration and the vet said he was fine. I know I like my dogs to be on the lean side (they both weight around 30 kg), but this dog has no waist and you cannot feel his ribs. His diet is as follows;
He has a boneless shoulder of pork (around 1.5 kg) and .75 kg of pork spare ribs over 2 days, i.e. half of this each day, and he also has either an egg, a bonio or a whole sardine at the other end of the day. I have reduced his quantities drastically but don't think I will shift much weight in a week, particularly as it is so hot so can't exercise too much. His owner is working from a book called "Works Wonders", by Tom Lonsdale, I have looked through this and it is quite vague but it does seem that he doesn't advocate any other supplements, fibre etc, although he does suggest a variety of meat!
So basically, my question is, does this diet sound healtyh to you, or should I be suggesting to her that she changes it or adds something.
Sorry for the essay, pork ribs to anyone who gets to the end.:D
 
Im no expert BUttttttttttttt......

I prefer to feed much more variety then that, although i do know several dogs fed solely on tripe/chicken and they do very very well on it.. Having said that i guess it is just the same as those who feed the same kibble year in year out- same protein source etc.
Pork is a fatty meat though so he is probably getting more calories per gram than he sould if it were chicken etc.

What do you guess he should weigh? 35-40kg's? then he should be getting 700-800g a day until he reaches that weight, upping it a tiny bit to stabilise his weight, reducing it a bit if exercise is restricted etc. Difficult tho when folk think their fat dog is a picture of health!!
 
Thanks for the link Blanche.
Lexie, I think he would look far better around 40 kg yes, and I have reduced his food quite a bit. Apart from anything else it must be costing her a fortune, its all bought from Morrissons, and I reckon probably works out around £30 a week! My issue was really with it being pork, as you say its quite a fatty meat, and the joints have a thick layer of fat on which is also fed to him (or should I say was). I've only got him for a week so I'm not going to make much difference, plus she would probably freak out if he looked a lot thinner, so am really looking for ways to suggest to her she changes the diet a bit, apparently chicken doesn't suit him which is a shame as it would be a lot lower fat I'm sure.
 
I feed mine pork ribs when I want to put a bit more weight on!

It sounds like an awful lot of food, mine at 24kg have no more than 500g a day so even allowing for him being over 40kg it shouldn't be more than 1kg a day. And of such a fatty meat... even just switching some of it for bone-in chicken would help, I think.

I'd be taking the fat off and making crackling for myself, personally. :p
 
Technically, the dog is getting within the deemed appropriate range of 2-3% of bodyweight per day. However.....there is no mention of level of exercise!

Personally, I would not subject the dog to a drastic change for the sake of one week, given that in all likelihood the owner will revert to the 'norm' upon her return. Rather, I would up the exercise, cut down the meat content and trim it of most of the fat and bulk up the diet by adding pulped raw fruit and veg. I would suggest to the owner that they need to balance the diet better by the inclusion of fruit and vet (not strictly necessary, but low cal!) and/or suggest lower fat alternative protein sources eg. beef, venison, TRIMMED lamb and duck, fish etc. Also, suggest upping his exercise!
 
Exactly blackcob, it seems a lot of food to me too. As I said I am trimming all the fat off and have reduced the portion size but I am more concerned to get his owner to see this is the right thing to do, I fear she will look at his mum and sister and think I am starving them. :rolleyes: Exercise wise he is not having a huge amount with me, I was hoping to give him lots of running with the girls but his manners aren't very good, he bowls them over and pins them. Evie flatly refuses to have anything to do with him, and Freya is a little nervous of him so won't run. So he just has road work and a little ball throwing as it is too hot to do much. At home he has 2 good walks a day, and does run with her other dogs, but compared with my 2 he seems quite a lazy dog. He was always the most laid back in the litter, not sure if you will remember him blackcob, he is called Quincey.
Anyhow,you have all confirmed my thoughts that pork isn't the best for his figure, I like the idea of fruit and veg, so will suggest all these to his owner, and hope she takes notice.
 
I wouldnt be happy with mine getting all that pork. They get pigs trotters as an occasional treat but I'm very keen on them eating lots of different things. I get basic minces from DAF and MVM and lots and lots of freebies from local butchers etc.I dont spend £30 a week on food for me :D

Mine are both 15kgs and get a minimum of 500gms a day up to 1200gms a day, which is way more than the recommended amount BUT mine work hard. They walk for a couple of hours a day, can do 5 hours on weekends, I take them swimming, they go racing and generally burn through calories like no ones business! It doesnt help that they are whippets and very lean generally and seem to have a ridiculously fast metabolism! I adjust the amount they get fed to what "work" they do. If its a quiet day they get the minimum, if they race they get the maximum. Mine can gain or lose weight over night, and most people consider them skinny, whereas I consider them perfect weight wise.

Its exercise that causes them to lose or gain weight, but in this weather its hard. I'm getting up at 5.30am to run mine for a couple of hours before I go to work. Today we did a nearly 2 hours, most of it hill walking and they put up a deer twice and had probably half a mile of flat out sprinting and came home shattered. So they've had 1000gms today of mince and bones, mainly frozen to help with the heat :D Could you up the exercise at all?
 
Cross posted with you Frankiecob. Yes, I am definitely going to suggest she exercises him more, as he is now castrated she really is going to have to sort this or he will be like an elephant. I agree re not spending £30 a week on food for myself, although I think I may be syphoning off the odd shoulder of pork this week. :p
 
Deleted my post as made no sense (TIRED!)


... long story short. My dog eats very little for her size, way under recommendations for raw and looks and behaves great! Lots of exercise but sleeps like a log.
 
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MurphysMinder said:
I agree re not spending £30 a week on food for myself, although I think I may be syphoning off the odd shoulder of pork this week. :p
Click to expand...

There are days when I'm serving up venison or lamb etc while waiting for my toast to pop up when I wonder how strict they mean to be when they say not for human consumption :D I buy a chicken some weeks with the intention the dogs will get legs/wings/bony bits etc and me the rest, it hasnt happened yet :D Good job I adore them and get more from then than I ever give to them! :D
 
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