Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I know the risks and concerns, but I cannot argue with what is in front of my eyes. It has changed my dogs. My senior dog has the energy of a dog half his age, and his joints have improved tremendously. I believe I will have him longer now.
I am not buying grocery meat, I am buying naturally raised meat.
Your dog is actually a wolf, Canis Lupus Familiaris.
If you feed your dog appropriately, then your dog might be interested in eating. And as a bonus, be much healthier. My dogs eat a raw prey model style diet. They dance for their food everyday, and they have many benefits: white teeth, no bad breath, no doggie odor, less shedding, less "hyper" energy, no health issues like allergies, itchy skin, ear infections, etc.
Hi Again,
So I jumped in and switched to raw. I am feeding human grade from supermarket (until I find a butcher in my area) and sticking to chicken for the first two weeks. I have given my shepherd thigh, leg, breast, feet, gizzards, heart and today when I checked on her poop, there was some undigested white chicken leg part, the white part sort of cartilaginous at the end of the bone (near where a human would hold the leg to eat it). She was also straining and had very nasty diarrhea today. It is been about five days since the change and she had some nice and some runny waste but not diarrhea. Anyone thinks this is normal? She seems OK otherwise and has taken to the raw rather easy.
Thanks for any help!
My boy has actually pooped out an entire, undigested chicken bone in the past, and he was fine. It's not supposed to happen, but it does occasionally! As far as the diarrhea, many dogs take at least 2 weeks to get used to eating a new food, especially when it's done cold turkey. If you switch kibbles cold turkey, there is a good chance the dog would poop for quite some time before getting accustomed to it! Mine still gets diarrhea occasionally when we switch protein sources. Just wait until you start the lamb!
As for the diarrhea... are you feeding the skin, too? The high fat content will cause that. I always trim the excess skin off for that reason, my dogs just can't handle that much fat.
Watch the bone content. You want to attain 80% meat, 10% bone, 10% organ. I do that by feeding meat only in the morning, meat & bone in the evening. When the poop looks to chalky, I'll feed meat only at the next 2 meals.
OK so I will give it some more time to adjust. I guess she is doing OK all things considered. Yes, I do give her the skin. I will remove most of it and hope it helps.
I am glad I am doing this anyhow, I don't want to support commercial food any longer.
OK so I will give it some more time to adjust. I guess she is doing OK all things considered. Yes, I do give her the skin. I will remove most of it and hope it helps.
I am glad I am doing this anyhow, I don't want to support commercial food any longer.
Stay with the chicken meat and bones for a couple of weeks, then introduce some organ... slowly. That'll cause the runs, too.
A product you may want to try is Honest Kitchen's PREFERENCE formula, it is their base formula, made specifically to have meat added to it. I always have a box on hand, its good for when Im not here and hubby is taking over doggie feedings ! It is human grade, 100 % natural.
For constipation, adding some green beans and pumpkin should do the trick.
My 2 dogs had the runs for only the first night after switching cold turkey, I was very lucky, especially since the older one has always been prone to it at the drop of a hat in the past.
I do hope yours overcome it fast !
Glad you made the switch ! Hang in there, itll be so easy soon. Good Luck!
So here goes my first update: Calypso is doing better. I never thought I would write something like this but her poop yesterday was...beautiful??? And today was not bad either. So moving along, sometime next week I will introduce raw beef.
When you introduce the beef, give him/her a combo of chicken and beef. Small quantity of beef then increase it, according to the dog's poop quality indicator. Beef gives the runs to one of my dogs, so I have to give her a combo of beef and chicken. But her stomach is very sensitive.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
