Those who raw feed, what benefits did you see?

[CorvusCorax]

I used to grow kefir but you can get it in the eastern European bit of large supermarkets.

 

[Odyssey]

Be prepared to feed just plain green tripe a fair bit at least at first. Not every dog suits 80/10/10 and especially initially its a lot for them to adapt to, tripe is easy on their digestive systems. I fed a couple of weeks just tripe initially but I know lots of folk don't and manage fine.
I don't supplement as such, smart barf seems to get good reviews. Mine get odd bits of fruit and veg now and again, I make sure they get oily fish meals, and sometimes add in mussels but that's about it

That's interesting as I was looking at Nature's Way frozen tripe in Jolleys yesterday, and wondering if it would suit my dog as he has "sensitive" digestion! He's fine on lamb and fish kibbles, but not so good on chicken and beef. I've never tried pork. I was thinking of trying it as an addition to kibble to boost his nutrition, as I can't afford to feed wholly raw, unfortunately.

 

[maisie06]

As above really, thinking of changing my dog from kibble to raw.

Hes never really been interested in his kibble and I've finally got some space in my freezer for raw!

What % of body weight do you feed also?

Any hits/tips?

My Cocker doesn't tolerate rice so I use a combination of a RAW feed in the morning and a high qulaitygrain free kibble in the evening, this goes for my springer as well The springer has a ridiculous metabolisim and won't hold weight well on less than 1kg raw a day over 8% of his bodyweight , it works out too expensive for a full raw diet, Both dogs work during the shooting season and although true raw feeders will be horrified this regime works for us. Plus when I go away we can go straight kibble/forthglade with no issues. Both dogs have bags of stamina and are solid muscle.

 

[sbloom]

That's interesting as I was looking at Nature's Way frozen tripe in Jolleys yesterday, and wondering if it would suit my dog as he has "sensitive" digestion! He's fine on lamb and fish kibbles, but not so good on chicken and beef. I've never tried pork. I was thinking of trying it as an addition to kibble to boost his nutrition, as I can't afford to feed wholly raw, unfortunately.

Knowing how many different foods our dog was intolerant/allergic to, I would say you may need to try several different types of raw, tripe does seem to suit a lot and is the closest to a complete food (though it doesn't of course have bone content, though some have it added) in raw feeding. I'm not sure pork is really supposed to be fed to dogs?

Raw food is WAY cheaper for us, ignore the pet shop stocked brands and ask around locally about frozen deliveries, we're feeding a 12 stone dog so it makes a lot of difference. We pay well under £1/lb and have to feed only 2lb a day plus 3-6 chicken wings. We get through a (very expensive but literally the only one that he can have) 25kg sack of kibble about every 5 months, he has breakfast maybe 3 days a week on average, one egg in each. It would be much cheaper to feed him on exclusively raw.

 

[Roxylola]

That's interesting as I was looking at Nature's Way frozen tripe in Jolleys yesterday, and wondering if it would suit my dog as he has "sensitive" digestion! He's fine on lamb and fish kibbles, but not so good on chicken and beef. I've never tried pork. I was thinking of trying it as an addition to kibble to boost his nutrition, as I can't afford to feed wholly raw, unfortunately.

My spaniel was never fabulous on kibble, she doesn't tolerate rice well at all. Raw isn't as cheap as cheap kibble but if you're getting mid range upwards it's not necessarily that much different

 

[[139672]]

My large toy poodle (he’s 14 inches high) has Nature’s Menu chicken or lamb nuggets AM and chicken or beef freeflow mince with one fruit and veg nugget PM. Costs about £12 a month. I also buy bones from farm shop butchers. They cost about 80-90p each and I also buy bags of lamb or venison ribs. They cost about £2.50 for a rack of ribs that you can rip apart.

 

[BallyRoanBaubles]

When I was working out how much it would cost the difference in price was minimal really for my 26kg dog!

 

[druid]

I feed a mix of raw and dry (grain inclusive). No benefits really for me - their behaviour, energy, coats and waste are the same on 100% good quality dry and 100% raw. Raw is cheap/free as I mince vension and other game and all our surplus cockerels which is why I feed it. I make kefir - only because I use goat milk from the farm down the road, it's cheap to buy Kefir n the shop so wouldn't bother making my if I didn't specifically want goat's kefir.

 

[BallyRoanBaubles]

When feeding raw do you use a mix of proteins? Ie some days lamb some days chicken?

 

[Karran]

I do. There's supposed to be a reason for it, but I do it on the reasoning that as much as I love chicken chow mein, i'd be bloody bored if that's all I had to eat 24/7!

 

[BallyRoanBaubles]

I do. There's supposed to be a reason for it, but I do it on the reasoning that as much as I love chicken chow mein, i'd be bloody bored if that's all I had to eat 24/7!

haha fair enough! I'm off to the shop to stock up again tonight so will get some variation!

 

[[153312]]

For those with multiple large dogs is it really expensive? This thread has made me feel I ought to do some research; we've got three dogs, one 15kg but still growing, one 25kg and one 26. The 25kg bitch has no end of tum issues as she had parvo as a puppy, so the idea of no more biohazard behinds is really appealing, but not if it's prohibitively expensive.

 

[Roxylola]

When feeding raw do you use a mix of proteins? Ie some days lamb some days chicken?

Yes, because apparently feeding the same thing all the time can increase the chances of them developing sensitivities to it. I feed a mix of 4 usually. If you've just started the advice is generally to get them going on one thing then add another over about a week or two then another - that way if you get a reaction you know what it's from.
I generally get meats mixed with tripe so that's two proteins in one pack

 

[planete]

For those with multiple large dogs is it really expensive? This thread has made me feel I ought to do some research; we've got three dogs, one 15kg but still growing, one 25kg and one 26. The 25kg bitch has no end of tum issues as she had parvo as a puppy, so the idea of no more biohazard behinds is really appealing, but not if it's prohibitively expensive.

I found it a lot more expensive (we have four dogs, three are around 23kg plus a terrier). To obtain good quality raw without buying 50 kg at a time worked out to be a lot more than a decent dry food. I have nearly halved my bills and the dogs are still looking great with no health problems. I did a lot of research into dog nutrition and specific dry foods before changing over. Recent research has shown that dogs digest a good proportion of carbs well and my dogs' insides function much better with some roughage in their diet so I decided to ignore whatever did not apply to them and I feed them what suits them. Perfect poop and not too much of it plus healthy dogs for years now.

 

[skinnydipper]

When feeding raw do you use a mix of proteins? Ie some days lamb some days chicken?

Proteins differ in the minerals and amino acids they provide, for instance lamb and rabbit have relatively low levels of taurine compared to chicken.

I feed a variety of proteins (raw complete) to try to achieve a balance over time.

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

Less poo! I hate seeing piles of orange coloured Mr Whippy, the dog clearly isn’t processing/using the food it’s getting.

For me, the main thing is being able to see exactly what the dog is getting, although unless you trace the abattoir/history of the meat, you’ll never know if it has antibiotics etc in it. I like the company I use, they deliver whole bunnies, for example and use the entire animal simply minced up.

 

[palo1]

Cost wise I find raw at it's most convenient (i.e packs of 80/10/10 minced and packaged for me ) is the same per month as the kind of 'good' kibble I was feeding but that also includes all treats (sprats), bones etc and I find it actually far more convenient as I just get 1 month of food at a time. I do use some of the more simple/basic raw minces/bones too as I like adding in a bit more veg! My lad is 17kg in weight but runs lean and eats far more than his weight might suggest. He is free running/outdoors for about 3 hours a day and is a busy dog physically.

 

[Nudibranch]

Cost wise if you need large quantities it's worth picking up a small freezer - chest or under counter. I have one in the tack shed. You can get them secondhand for pennies. That way I can store enough to get free delivery, although we are very lucky in that a raw shop has opened locally and their Durham Animal stuff is actually cheaper than buying it direct so I can pick up one or a hundred.

 

[Thistle]

My Cocker doesn't tolerate rice so I use a combination of a RAW feed in the morning and a high qulaitygrain free kibble in the evening, this goes for my springer as well The springer has a ridiculous metabolisim and won't hold weight well on less than 1kg raw a day over 8% of his bodyweight , it works out too expensive for a full raw diet, Both dogs work during the shooting season and although true raw feeders will be horrified this regime works for us. Plus when I go away we can go straight kibble/forthglade with no issues. Both dogs have bags of stamina and are solid muscle.

I do similar, 5 dogs, 4 of cold pressed kibble (better and easier to digest than normal kibble) for breakfast as usually too busy/can't stomach (me) raw first thing, then they have raw for tea, prodograw is good quality and easy and clean to use if just starting out. The old dog is special needs and has to have a special diet.

 

[Thistle]

When feeding raw do you use a mix of proteins? Ie some days lamb some days chicken?

Yes you should feed 5 different proteins over the week

 

[Thistle]

haha fair enough! I'm off to the shop to stock up again tonight so will get some variation!

When starting out introduce each new protein one at a time for 5 days before adding a new one, to see if there are any ill effects/allergies, itching etc

So for ep, tripe 5 days, no prob, add chicken so feed mix of 2 for 5 days, add 3rd protein, eg lamb, mix of 3 for 5 days etc etc. Hopefully no problems with any then you're free to add and subtract at will. Don't gey too hung up on getting everything right every day, just aim for it to balance over a week or so.

 

[skinnydipper]

If anyone reading this thread is thinking of trying a raw diet for allergy control/elimination diet then be aware that if you are feeding raw complete or commercially prepared 80/10/10 it is important check that the food is single protein, including the bone.