I want to move away from kibble & tins and feed my dog more naturally not no idea how

[ErnesttheBavarian]

I don't know what to give her
Or how much - she's a labby, so I can't go by appetite . At least with kibble & tins I know exactly how much she should get.

Am confused about bones - I always thought total no-no? But then read differently?

So can someone give me beginners/idiots guide to ditching the dog food?

I was stopped in a pet shop last week by some woman who went on about how beautiful she is (she is, it's true) and then went on about how terrible dried food is etc. I then read a little bit and it's made me think I should make some changes. I do think what we give her is very high quality and she looks very healthy, but could it be better?

PS I absolutely loath cooking, so no fancy recipes or anything complicated. I've, on many occasions, been tempted to to have a cup of kibble a day for myself, it's so much easier. If I didn't have so many food problems I think I would have done by now!

Before changing make sure you are changing because you want to and not just because someone said kibble and tinned food is dreadful. You will always get opinions on what to feed dogs and their way is best. I used allaboutdogfood.co.uk to compare quality (think they have cooked and raw on there as well if you wanted to start with that rather than diy). I looked at the ingredients on my dogs food tin and he eats better than anyone in the family

I can't advise about cooking or raw but just wanted to say what is best is what suits you and your dog. Hopefully someone else will come along that can tell you about bones etc.

We used to buy bags of shredded chicken and packs of white fish from a farm shop. They keep in the freezer and you get out enough for the next day every evening. Our dog would have the meat with rice and veg. She really liked carrots.

I think that we started this when we became aware of her ill health though. Vet advised the switch to 'human food' but to keep it quite plain.

We feed a raw diet. It can be as simple or as complicated as you like. Sometimes we do a DIY version but most of the time we just buy a complete food. It comes in tubs that you store in the freezer then you just have to defrost and weigh out their food. It has the recommended meat/bone/offal amounts so just as easy as any other food. You feed 3% of their body weight (if adult and healthy weight) per day but I generally just go on the look of them now. We give bones every so often but more as a treat. There is some fab Facebook pages that will help you get started. Raw with paws and raw feeding uk are good ones to join. My dogs love their raw diet and are super healthy with clean teeth too.

Bones are perfectly safe as long as they are raw - when cooked they can splinter which is what makes them dangerous. We feed raw chicken wings, drumsticks, duck necks, trachea (yes it's gross!) and have tried lamb ribs too. Our puppy loves them.

There are loads of suppliers who do complete meals so you don't have to work out what your dog needs, definitely the easiest option if you're starting out.

I mostly buy complete raw food so it's already balanced and minced up and I just need to measure it out by weight and feed him. Natures Menu has a great guide to help you work out which raw bones/treats to start with www.naturesmenu.co.uk/advice-centre/feeding-raw-bones

Just select a few from the beginner experience level to get your dog started and work up from there.

If you don't want raw I've switched to Butternut Box. They work out the quantities needed depending on your dog and their activity level. It's all fresh cooked human quality food with no fillers or cereals and then frozen. All you have to do is split the day's ration over however many meals you feed.

Elfpup adores it, the bowl is licked clean and he's thriving. We've been to the vet this morning for more flea/worm tablets and he's had his weight checked and he's perfect so their algorithm seems to work.

I can give you a discount code if you message me.