Anyone feed a raw, or partially raw, diet...?

[Nancery]

I saw a programme I recorded (The Truth about Your Dogs Food) and it reiterated various things I suspected might be the case with a lot of processed dog food. While I thought the people who fed their dogs a vegan diet were quite ridiculous, I do like the idea of feeding my dog a raw if not just partially more diet. We currently feed our border collie Wagg mainly because the otherbrands caused her skin to itch and somebody recommended it to us. I have since read that it's not one of the best however we usually mix the biscuits with other things, such as leftover chicken.
However. I am liking the sound of going more raw and perhaps ditching biscuits altogether. Anyone have much experience of this...?
Thanks!

Yes, I raw feed as do several others on here.

It is gernerally not recomended to mix feed as they are digested very differently.

When you first switch you tend to start gently with something like chicken and then build up variety. Eventually you are looking to feed approx 80% meat, 10% bone and 10% offal. It is possible to get ready made raw diets like Nutriment if you don't want to source yourself.

I would very much recommend you join the Raw feeding UK group on facebook and read as much as you can

Thanks! There's lots of info out there but it's always good to have a recommendation!
Where do you source most of your meat, and how do you prepare it? I ask as I have a 21 month old and limited time and space!

At the moment I mostly use Nutriment...it is slightly more expensive but very easy. My dog can be picky and this means he gets a good balanced diet.
I have a normal freezer but can get 10kg of Nutriment in a drawer and a half and this lasts me 40 days. I can eek it out longer by feeding wings and stock bones from Morrisons for crunch too. Just make sure you feed a boneless meal next if yy
ou feed a bone for a meal. Nutriment do a couple of boneless minces too. They above site has loads of info on suppliers and lots of people who will offwr you their experiences if you post for info

Thanks! Due to the time issue I am conscious of not creating lots of work for myself but I also need to bear cost in mind. As we don't have any current health problems as such we would like to alleviate with a raw diet it's purely for long term benefits (hope that makes sense!)

Have sent a request to join the Facebook group now and currently reading some pet forum stuff, though some of it seems quite labour intensive and daunting!

So, if using something pre made, necessary at some of the time, it costs about £2 a day if not a little less? I am also presuming that once you get the hang of things, you can get stuff fairly easily and relatively cheaply from your butchers. The sort of meat that they wouldn't normally be able to sell?

What does your dog weigh? I have a Border Terrier and Nutriment costs me around 80 odd pence a day to feed. That includes delivery. There is no labour involved beyond making sure I take it out the freezer! I take the tub out onto the side for an hour or two and then remove the amount I want once it is partially defrosted. It is fine to put back in the freezer.

I can feed for as little as 20p a day but that involves a lot more work.

A lot of people do get freebies and bargains if they have a friendly butcher. I think the key to the biggest bargains is having the room.to bulk buy. But it is possible to use a combination of butchers, supermarkets and pets at home.

Don't be scared of having deliveries though. Honestly, Nutriment have bern fantastic to deal with and food has always arrived superbly packaged and frozen solid

Oh and it does seem hugely daunting at first but you get into the swing quickly even if you DIY. It is actually really satisfying and the benefits have changed my dogs life (gastro problems went overnight). Knowledge is power as they say so arm yourself with as much info as you can. The FB group is a fab place to start and you will find lots of people happy to help

No idea what she weighs; she's an, er, average sized border collie. I am guessing it can be far less than £2 a day then, and not too expensive even if using pre packaged.
Do any of you include anything cooked, ever? Like table leftovers, for example?

Will look on the FB group tonight

I do add cooked veggies if we have any left and am happy enough to use cooked meat as treats. Use your personal judgement there, it is a contriversial subject on raw pages and often ends in a bun fight! I don't feed grains though like rice or pasta.

Wiki says 14 - 19 kg for a Border collie female? It is suggested you usually feed between 2 and 3% of bodyweight. Based on 2.5% that would be between 300g and 475g daily I think. It varies dog to dog and is trial and error. You have to guage yourself how they are looking and up or cut the amounts.

I generally put in most of our leftovers (within reason) in her food as I hate waste!
I was told by the vet that she needed to lose 1to 2kg but she is very fit (the vet said this, I'm not just adding it in to make myself sound better!) as she has two hours running every day (it's also quite rural / hilly where we are) as well as joins us on any smaller trips out. I am guessng that raw is far better way to reduce weight too then? As less bulky stuff like carbs?

I'd say so...This is my raw fed BT and I think he is in good shape.

He's lovely!

She's not massive but you can't feel her ribs without pressing

We raw feed and I am slightly evangelical about it. We mostly use Nutriment and they are really great with advice to get you started.

Why so evangelical...?

Aww she looks lovely too

I can feel my BT's ribs easily and he has a good waist and tuck. But he is strong and muscular. My friend walked with us today and held him at one point ans commented she couldn't believe how strong a little dog was!

I am evangelical too! I try not to but the difference it has made to my dog has been unreal. He basically did his first fully firm poo at 8 months old after his first raw meal. We never looked back. He had such a sensitive tummy but he can eat anything at all raw with no problem.

Thanks!

Mine is quite stocky (running up steep hills) around the shoulders but does need more of a waist / tuck.

One thing that has niggled at the back of my mind for a hike is the number of poos she does, generally up to 5 or 6 a day (not necessarily big ones, we don't just feed her enormous quantities.) This surely isn't great, I would have thought that what she was putting in didn't get used for much so just came out the other end. Like cheap white bread would with us perhaps? Other than that she has no major issues; she did get very itchy after we ended up buying Pedigree 'Better by Nature' but that's why we got recommended Wagg, although like I say it's mixed with leftovers from us more often than not

This is interesting as it's something I started wondering about today.
We also have a BT (aged 9); she's been overweight for a few years now but when we saw the vet for her jab yesterday she took bloods to screen for possible Cushing's disease/low thyroid.
She'd actually put weight on since the last visit, in spite of us being really strict with her treats (only a few ears of baby sweetcorn and a tiny bit of peanut butter in her kong once a day). She has been having a joint chew which I suspect is calorific, so will look to replace that.
Sorry just realised this is a total hijack - I suppose my question is: is raw food likely to help if she does have some underlying issue?

Hijack away, I'm interested regardless!

I don't know specifically with cushings/low thyroid, it isn't something I have any experience with. But there are some fantastic knowledgable people on the raw pages, and there is one on FB specifically for raw feeding BT's.

BUT, it certainly can help with some underlying conditions. I actually think now, with the benefit of hindsight that my BT's health problems were CECS/Spikes disease (a genetic condition affecting BT's). I have since been put in touch with the lady who owned 'Spike' who the condition was named after. She is a huge advocate of a hollistic approach including raw feeding. I had noticed a huge improvement in his health after going raw. Strangely, I was already raw feeding and had seen the improvement when I found all this out! It was retrospective knowledge but I'd stumbled into an appropriate way to manage it by sheer coincidence!

I would recomend joining the above FB page and just jump in and ask the questions as I will lay odds that someone will have experience. One of the admins is a BT owner/enthusiast with 20 years raw experience too so you'd find help there.

That's so helpful thanks. Never done fb < gulp >. Will have to man up and take the plunge!

I am happy to post on your behalf if you phrase your questions if you want? As long as you don't mind the complication of relayed answers!