New puppy and raw food

[holmessweetholmes]

We are picking up our 7 week old German Shorthaired Pointer puppy in 2 weeks ! I have ordered from the breeder two big sacks of the kibble that he's eating but I've been reading about raw diets and their benefits.

So... anyone doing the raw diet thing? Is it beneficial and is it possible to do it inexpensively? Where do you get your meat? Oh and how soon can I start my puppy on it?

Many thanks .

My dog is on the raw diet, and we started as soon as we got her at 9 weeks. She easily made the switch to Nature's Menu raw puppy nuggets. She was on this for 2 months, then I switched to the Nutriment puppy formulation. After that, we slowly introduced yhe other varieties.

Currently, she has a portion of Nutriment complete raw food in the am, and I a,ternate what I give her in the evening. As I have done this, I have gotten more confident in going off piste and give her joints (duck legs, lamb ribs, chunks of meat, bits of offal, etc), I stock up on meat and bony cuts at Vostco or when things are on special. I will also cut portions off what we eat before cooking.

I have not found feeding raw to be more expensive than a premium kibble, and the shiny coat, firm and small pool, shiny white teeth, and lack of doggy breath, as well as the excellent health she gas to make it worth it.

Thanks! I was hoping to go straight for getting scraps from the butcher's, offal etc rather than going for a marketed raw food. Just hoping it's not too much faff. I have a big chest freezer with loads of space in it, so I'm hoping to grab bargains when I can!

I'd be careful doing this with a puppy as they do have different metabolic needs to an adult. Perhaps mostly the complete formulas (have the necessary protein/fat/offal/bone/roughage + antioxidants) with the occasional chicken wing to start?

You could do the whole thing ad hoc yourself, but I would do loads of research on the optimum nutrition for puppies and make sure that you are giving your pup what it needs in the quantities recommended - this is why I started out with the complete formulas.

We have a GSP who is 6 months old. We started her on the kibnle from her breeder and then moved to Burns before researching Raw feeding. She has been fed Raw ever since the first 4 weeks of us having her (so from about 13 weeks old).

To begin with we fed her chickwn wings but she just wolfed them down without any chewing so had to stop and move to frozen packages of raw with bone and offal content. This now suits us perfectly and she has one to 1.5 of these bricks daily and sustains a perfect weight. Her coat is glossy and she seems to be doing really well like this.

We supplement with veg and fruit and some oily fish and tripe, etc.

On the very rare occasion we have had to give her dried she is very windy and her poos are horrible.

Will never go back to Kibble no matter how 'high quality'.

Where is your puppy coming from and what are his markings? love GSPs!

join the Raw feeding uk on Facebook. Lots of knowledgable people on there.
There is a specific guide for puppies at the top of the page and if you can't find it, just ask. Of course you can do it if you're prepared.

If you're on FB join the Raw Feeding UK group. Loads of info and files to read through, info on raw food puppy diets so you get the mix of nutrients right.

Brilliant - thanks everyone! Ahardyfool - we don't actually know which one of the boys in the litter we are having yet, but they are apparently most likely to be largely brown with only a small bit of white ticking, as the mother is almost completely brown. He will be our first dog as a family so I'm a bit apprehensive as well as very excited!

Ih and he's coming from a breeder in Harrogate. That's 1.5 hours from us, so the journey home with the little chap will be a bit long!

We travelled about the same with our little girl puppy. It was fine - she fell asleep on the children! As a first dog they are quite a baptism of fire according to DP. Lucky for him then that I do the 2-3 hour walks each day! Wouldn't change her for the world though! Have lots of fun x

• Oh

Thanks! I'm up for the walks. It's the training a potentially boisterous dog to be well-behaved that I'm worried about. My parents had to give their male labrador back to the breeder because they couldn't control him (their own fault, I think). So I'm determined to do a good job!

Obviously they all have their unique personality but ours isn't as bouncy off the walls as I expected. Crate is a godsend. She does nick the weirdest things from the kitchen, jump on everyone too much, and have selective hearing but she is nowhere near as crazy as border collies and springer spaniels I've had. For me, the most challenging thing training wise is the aloofness combined with cleverness. She is unendingly loyal and loving but she certainly knows her own mind and I have to be really firm with her in order for it to 'register'. Ours is liver ticked too!

That's interesting - I've heard that the aloofness thing is more common in girls than boys but we shall see!