Feeding raw?

[shoesaregood]

I really want to transition our 15 week old whippet puppy onto a raw diet, but don’t know where to start!

Would it be best to use something like natures menu to start with? I’m not sure about quantities if going it alone.

At the moment he’s on More puppy food, mixed with raw mince, scrambled eggs, veg and sometimes fish like sardines or mackerel in spring water (breeder recommended meal plan). But he doesn’t seem to enjoy the biscuits and I worry that he’s not eating enough or getting everything he needs. He’s also had the odd raw chicken wing which he loves (again, breeder’s recommendation).

TIA - I want to give him food he enjoys and will give him everything he needs. Photo attached (any excuse )

This is something I'm considering for my own pup. If and when we take the plunge I'll be using someone like Honeys (honeysrealdogfood.com/) as they do all the work for you to make sure the dog gets what it needs. I may go it alone later but it's so important that a growing puppy gets what it needs.

At the moment we're on cooked "real" food which he loves and he's thriving so I'm leaving things alone at the moment

I've just this weekend switched my pup, I joined the BARF UK Facebook group and got an absolute ton of advice and help.

If you want to feed them normal food, it's safest to cook and then remove bones as they can splinter and cause damage. Dogs eating raw food can spread and/or catch salmonella, campylobacter and E. coli.

I recommend joining a couple of Facebook groups: Rawfeeding Rebels, BARF UK and 'Rawfeeding advice and support'. They have slightly different philosophies on raw feeding but it's good to get the breadth of different opinions before you form your own views.

Nature's Menu could work fine for you but personally I would recommend following a structured approach to introducing raw food (as outlined by the above groups): gradual introduction to different proteins will help you identify what suits your pup and potentially save you a lot of grief in the long run.

As to where to buy from, there are a lot of really great and knowledgeable suppliers who are happy to help you with your transition. If you have a raw food supplier near you (i.e. One that specialises in raw food and stocks a variety of different manufacturers) then they would be my first port of call. Personally, I have found Paleo Ridge, The Dogs Butcher, Scruffles and Poppy's Picnic to be excellent - I like to shop around to give my girl plenty of variety in her diet!

My ddog hated kibble and tinned food so much that we just switched straight over. He was struggling to poo on kibble and wouldn't touch tinned food. We buy a complete mince so we just defrost it and stick it in his bowl. No bum problems and a clean bowl everytime

Nature's instinct here. Human grade meat, stored in the freezer and defrost as you go. Supplemented with frozen chicken thighs and also fresh butchers bones. He also likes raw carrots to chew on. I have a Leonberger puppy so he eats tonnes but I find the nature's instinct good value, hygienic and easy. Good luck with your transition!

Ignore User, raw is completely safe. There are lots of raw food completes out there which you just defrost and feed as is. Jack wolf is a good one to start, you can get a trial pack for a cheaper price. I think you need to feed 5% of their body weight when puppies but you will need to double check that. I'm sure natures menu website has a calculator on it that will tell you how much to feed.

Raw is not completely safe. There is a much increased risk of food poisoning and parasite infection. Obviously you may think that that is acceptable. But really, how stupid to blithely say that it is completely safe.

If you want to feed raw, feed raw, but don't ignore user as suggested. You should consider all aspects of it including the hygiene as its not suitable for all households even if it is ok for the dog. Young kids for example. Dog eats a lovely raw chicken wing then merrily gives you or one of the kids an appreciative kiss to say thanks. Do you want poo with higher bacterial count in your garden. I'm not saying don't do it, just think about all angles. There is a higher risk of introducing potentially pathogenic bacteria into your environment so you need to think about how you are going to control that

Exactly @Oops4 ! Personally I wouldn't risk the bacteria everywhere - dog eats meat, dog dribbles, licks, kisses etc. If dog licks itself and then your children pet it, put their hands in their mouth..! Just not something I would risk. If you don't have small children, fair enough, but I work at a vets and they all say there is no evidence that a BARF diet is better than a good dog food

Raw chicken bones don’t splinter... if cooked then they do. Raw is the way to go, that’s how dogs have eaten for years.... vets want you to buy their foods to get commission. I swear by raw pet diets!

User the vets would say that there's no evidence that raw is better than a good kibble dog food. They say that because they get a kick back from selling ghe ' good kibble dog food'
The top and bottom of it is that dogs are designed to eat meat.
Even the top quality kibbles rarely have more than 26% meat/ fish.
Lots of dog food is wheat- how many dogs eat shredded wheat in the wild??
Dogs need meat
I feed my girl a complete ( Dog and Bones) and- because she likes it, I put veg in with it to fill her up. She gets fish once a week and a couple of raw eggs. Her poo is firm and non smelly. She is five years old and has been kibble fed all of her life u til I changed her over three months ago.
She was a pain in the arse with kibble. Wouldn't eat it unless I sat with her and hand fed every bit of unless it had ' human' food mixed in.
She bloody LOVES her raw food.
Join some of the Facebook groups which have been reccomended and don't be afraid to ask loads of questions. It took me a year to fully explore the benefits/ potential problems/ check up on useless information I was told by people who knew nothing about it ( few if them on here too!!)
Some people are really hard core about raw feeding- I'm not. My dog still gets a Yorkshire pudding in a Sunday etc. Don't be intimidated or put off by people who think you are feeding your dog poison if you give him/her something not raw and who post pictures of their dogs dinner and it looks like something Gordon ramsey would knock up.
I'm really happy with it. The price is fine, my dog loves it and she looks as fit as a butchers dog!
Oh, and she kisses us sometimes after eating ( she's very fast at kissing !!) and none of us have caught anything.
Oh and your dogs poos are much smaller and less smelly simply because they are absorbing much more from the raw as that is what their body needs. A kibble poo is much bigger as the dog is shitting out all of the stuff it can't absorb which isn't good for it.
If you think about it, if you are ill in the bowel department your poo is smelly isn't it. Kibble fed dogs poo is the stinkiest poo ever - this is because it's not good for them. Frankly, the difference in my dogs poo was sufficiently huge for me to decide that I would be sticking on a raw diet.
Good luck. Feel free to pm me if you want. As a relativly new raw feeder I know exactly how confused you might be feeling now!!

Is young enough to just change without issue; I transferred a 15 month old straight over, was fine. Mixing raw and kibble is worse than just switching. Natures diet is over priced, far better to just feed meat, bones and organs, and fish if your dog will eat it, from butchers / supermarkets

My breeder has advised if feeding from a supermarket that you freeeze the meat first then defrost as it places any potential bugs in stasis. I have done this. The only time my dog has been unwell in the poo department is when he stays at a friend's and has a bit of her dogs kibble.... I can confirm that having looked after a kibble fed dog, the size and smell of a raw food fed dog is very different. Raw fed dog poo is considerably less smelly and smaller.

My dog has Basils raw food. All prepared and stored in the freezer. He loves it and has been on it for a couple of years now. Never had any issues with it and it takes the hassle out of raw feeding.

My dog has a grain free complete dry food down all the time to pick at but would never eat enough dry food to sustain weight. Every day we feed a 500g pack of 20% fat beef mince from Tesco or Aldi’s (just the cheaper range that we can all use) raw which is wolfed down. The dog is almost 11, in awesome physical shape and very happy with it. The vet has always said it shouldn’t work but it does so don’t change a thing. We’ve tried the complete raw foods in the past but all the stuff that’s added makes it tast funny and it doesn’t get eaten and it certainly doesn’t seem to have had any effect on health.

My latest dog was weaned onto Nutriment raw complete by her breeder. I've fed raw for 20+ years - years in which I've never brushed Dogs teeth and never had a single dental issue.

You don't have to be evangelical about it. You can feed meals of a good complete non raw and other meals of raw - just keep them separate. Raw meaty bones such as chicken carcasses, wings, necks etc are nature's toothbrush.