Insurance and raw feeding

[Lara53]

Hello! Very pleased to be posting here after reading lots!!! We are rethinking a dog from the shelter where my teens and I volunteer. He should be coming home next weekend 😀.

Waiting to ask two things - firstly what insurance do you have and secondly are there any raw feeders out there who can advise as there are loads of different options. Thank you

PetPlan lifetime insurance
I don't raw feed, for a variety of reasons

We have Bought by many insurance. It seems really comprehensive with good prices.

Petplan life cover. Have easily claimed just under £5000 (BiteyDog is 3).

Don't feed raw as just not convenient for us as he goes to daycare/boarding and when he was a puppy I noticed a few saying they couldn't accommodate raw feeding (plus I think it would be too much a faff for us as well).

We have Tesco Gold lifetime cover which includes dental which many policies don't cover.

We also don't raw feed as our dog we don't have the freezer space to accommodate such a diet, plus he's just fine and happy on a good quality kibble and wet food mix.

Insurance Emporium, also not a raw feeder. Ddog didn't like it and she's perfectly healthy on a mix of kibble and tinned food (I get compliments about her coat a lot).

Also part of pet health club where we get flea and worming treatment through the vets, covers annual boosters, 6 month check ups and nail clipping and a variety of other things, very useful.

Petplan for our two cocker spaniels, luckily they haven't really needed to visit the vet often, but the two small ops were covered by insurance. I really believe the raw diet has contributed to their good health and lovely white teeth, and we have now found a vet practice that is very pro raw - it's good to be on the same page as your vet!

I would recommend using complete raw meals first if you're a newbie - they have the correct ratios of muscle meat, raw bone and offal already measured out for you. Some good brands that do complete prey model (that's raw without any fruit, veg or supplements - just pure animal products) include Paleo Ridge, Henley and Furry Feasts. Some good BARF model (which includes fruit/veg/supplements alongside the meat) are Natural Instinct, Nutriment, Benyfit, Prodog Raw, Nurture Them Naturally, Poppy's Picnic. Definitely worth seeing if there are any raw suppliers in your area and seeing what brands they stock. Pets At Home only stock Nature's Menu, which is only really useful as entry level to rawfeeding stuff - you quickly learn that you can find cheaper, higher quality stuff elsewhere! Introduce different proteins over time to see how your dog copes with it - some dogs can be sensitive/allergic to certain meats so you do have to play it by ear.

Once you're confident with rawfeeding and getting a balanced diet (80% meat, 10% bone and 10% offal, with %5 of that offal being liver), you could definitely do DIY. But don't feel forced to if you'd rather stick to the completes! This starter guide might be helpful rawfeddogs.org/rawguide

John Lewis here for my spaniel, very expensive monthly premiums but you get what you pay for, so far this year they’ve paid out £10k and last year paid out £7.5k without any problems.

Raw feed, started off on completes and remain mostly on completes for ease.

Pet plan lifetime insurance and feed Natures Menu raw. Haven’t tried any of the other raw so can’t compare but this suits him.

BBM lifetime fixed insurance, have been great so far DDog is 2.

I raw feed Bella and Duke complete (I can give a referral code for 50% off first order if you like?). It’s a complete that we have on subscription so it comes when I need it via free delivery and I don’t need to re order just occasionally tweet delivery instructions.

Just changed over from Petplan to Bought by many very good reviews and vet is happy to claim directly with them 🙂 just make sure you get covered for life and the max payout 🙂

I fed raw completes 80/10/10 plus raw meaty bones, tinned fish, I don't fed veg or fruits, start by feeding one protein at a time so the gut has time to adjust to the diffent bacteria 🙂 I always start with chicken for 5 days, then introduce to the chicken another protein like lamb over 4 days increasing the amount until its 100% lamb, then do the same with say beef, over time to get a good balance you need to feed a mix of different proteins, offal and bone easier in pre-mades 🙂 look on Google for a raw food shop close to where you live, I'm lucky as have about 4 round here in the new forest. Oh and be aware not all vets will agree with raw feeding.

I've recently switched to Naturaw and have been really impressed. High welfare meat, balanced options, compostable packaging and competitive on price.

Kennel club for insurance, my dog was 8 when I got her, Kennel club is the only insurer who will take on a lifetime policy for an older dog, the excess is high, the premiums are high, but until I can save a good wodge it will have to do

No advice re raw, I haven't raw fed for a long while now and totally out of the loop

Paleo Ridge for Small Dog because the others I tried had too much bone and made his poos hard and crumbly. He loves it. I used to buy chunks in bulk from Yorkshire Raw but (1) their customer service is terrible, (2) he doesn't like offal so used to drop it over the side of his bowl, (3) Paleo Ridge is just so convenient.

Tesco for insurance. Don't feed raw so can't help