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The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Original poster

can we talk about raw feeding?

9 replies

TheyGotTheMustardOut12 · 05/05/2020 19:05

I've tried raw feeding my dog in the past but I found it a faff making everything balanced and weighing everything and going round all the local butchers for odds and ends, i felt like i wasn't doing it properly so switched her back to kibble. I'm getting a pup in a few weeks that is currently raw fed and want to switch my older dog over too. She currently gets wings/neck/feet or a meaty bone at breakfast which she loves and then kibble for her other meals. I've seen places that sell complete meals 80% meat 10% bone and 10% offal. My vet is against raw feeding, so not much use. The breeder has been helpful in answering my questions but his advice differed to the advice given when i called the pet shop so i thought i'd ask for more opinions on here. I'm not on social media so can't ask on any groups there.
Can i also feed bones with the completes or would that be too much bone and bung them up? And what age can the pup start having bones instead of just minces? Thanks

OP posts:
StillMedusa · 05/05/2020 19:23

I'm no help, but in the same boat. I wanted to raw feed but my puppy was fussy from the start and we ended up throwing so much expensive complete away...
So she has kibble... reluctantly... at breakfast and raw for tea.. I do use some completes but if it has any detectable veg in she refuses so I mostly do my own.. raw mince (lamb, some beef, tripe from the country shop) and give her raw chicken wings for bone. Every few weeks I give her a bit of liver or kidney but she refuses that raw..has to be lightly cooked!

I figure that with the kibble she is probably getting anything she is missing from the raw, and she's slim, healthy, doesn't scavenge (unless it's cheese..she'll do anything for cheese!) so we do a bit of both.
Chicken wing tips are fab for pups.. I think mine had them from about 12 weeks, and even then that's just as I'm a worrier.. our butcher gives them to us free as he throws them away!

Our vet is fiercely anti anything but kibble too, but my dog finds it utterly boring!

Madvixen · 05/05/2020 19:24

With the complete food, you have to be careful not to add in more bone or offal to their diets. Otherwise it can affect their poop (either not enough or too much).

Funf · 06/05/2020 20:47

I feel I would listen to the Breeder as the pet shop will just flog you what they have but thats just me. We feed the amounts and brand recommended by the breeder ( 1/2 pouch wet food 3 handfuls complete kibble dry stuff same brand as the wet pouch.)
I did look at changing but its a mine field, one thing we did notice is we where overfeeding, she is back on track now and a happy little soul.

ducksback · 06/05/2020 21:33

I wanted to raw feed but did not want to make my own. My lot have Gentle which is very easy and they love it.

AragornsManlyStubble · 09/05/2020 17:13

Jack wolf was amazing for my boy. He gained 1kg per week on just that from 9 weeks and it really helped having the online calculator to figure out how much to give him. They deliver but I got it from my local farm

TheSmelliestHouse · 09/05/2020 17:22

My dog didn't eat mush and was underweight. He also had terrible skin problems, constant itching. I changed his food to help the itching. Itching immediately gone and he started to eat properly and gained enough weight to be on the skint side of normal. He's now 12 and people think he's a puppy as he bounces about when we go for a walk (only at the start of the walk lol).
I will never feed any of my dogs anything else. I get him nutriment which I buy from them direct online or sometimes though ocado (but its quite dear from them), although there's a lady near me that stocks it and sells from her home. I used to feed him natural instinct but they changed owners, changed ingredients, and its a bit shit now (he stopped eating it). Moved over to Nutriment and haven't looked back. It's meat, bone, veg and supplements so I don't need to think about adding stuff. There's a puppy one and now the senior one for our old boy.

Vicbarbarkley · 09/05/2020 17:34

I do the 80 10 10 from scratch for my two.
I just set an hour aside on a Saturday morning and make uo their mixes. My oldest is 9 years old and the vet is always gobsmacked at how good his teeth are, my youngest at 8 years old currently has unrelated leg problems, but is a labrador and doesnt have an ounce of excess fat on her, so will hopefully aid a quick recovery.
I add golden paste (turmeric and oils) to their food, but i am categorically not evangelical about their diet. They have been known to enjoy a Sunday dinner..... including yorkies😁

GeraltOfRivia · 09/05/2020 17:46

I buy minced raw from our local supplier. He doesn't get a complete as we have a Dalmatian and we need to avoid almost all offal. So he gets the meat with bone mince and we add veg, fruit, yoghurt, egg etc etc. He is thriving on it.

Catsrus · 09/05/2020 23:43

Don't try to DIY until you are a bit more experienced- use whatever the pup has been on, mine was weaned onto nutriment by her breeder so we stayed with that, then tried other brands of completes. All three of mine are on Paleoridge as that's the one that suits the one with a dodgy tum.

One reason vets don't approve of raw feeding is because they see the consequences of people getting it wrong. Use completes, including those sold by the pet shop, and you'll be fine. Animal feed is tightly regulated by DEFRA, most raw is labelled as being for "working dogs" (so VAT exempt ) but that doesn't mean you can't give it to any dog.

I've raw fed for over 20yrs.

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