Moving to raw food from kibble, greyhound

[gerbo]

I know food is a very contentious topic with dogs, but wondered if anyone had made the move to raw food from kibble with a greyhound?

Our boy is 4, we've only had him 3 and a half weeks, from Dogs Trust. He came eating Wainwright's salmon complete kibble and his poos still aren't great. We're past the mustard coloured nervous runny poos stage, I think, yet still by the 2nd or 3rd of the day they're runny/Mr Whippy ish!

I know raw (complete) is more costly.....but we're thinking that having to take 2 big water bottles out with us to clean up, and use 3 poo bags per poo to scrape it up, it's worth a try, despite cost.

Anyone have experience of making this move, particularly with a greyhound and their notoriously delicate tummies?!

We had all types of advice re lowering the kibble while upping the raw, some said dont mix feed raw and kibble at same time so remove and replace but feed 4 times a day, (2 kibble feeds, 2 raw feeds) Someone suggested going cold turkey and just make the switch. Too risky for 1 of ours. Others suggested no food at all for 24 hrs then a few small raw feeds over the course of the day and then all raw over 2 feeds the next day but 1 of mine gets sick when hungry. In the end we removed 20% and fed a small amount of raw a few hrs later then repeated gradually removing more kibble over a few days until they were all raw. Dogs were totally fine apart from 1 needing slightly less bone content than the other. Easily fixed by chucking in a chicken wing or thigh to the one who requires more. You will know if bone content too high as they will strain more to poo and if too low can be much much softer. When you find your happy place poos will be small, firm and a lot less smelly !! Remember chicken will make poop really pale so don't panic. Roasted squash or sweet potato to ease transition and Kefir or scrambled eggs seems to really help my two if their tummys are ever a bit off. We also chuck in random veg, eggs every few days and they are thrilled with a tin of sardines in tomato sauce 😁
Hope that essay has been of some help.

Ps because of my 2 dogs needs individually we found raw worked out about the same as kibble but they were on quite expensive kibble as that was what suited their needs.

Ooft, you're brave. My greys always had runnyish poo. Anytime I attempted to change kibble - absolute disaster. I've never used raw, but my understanding is it makes for softer poo, so a courageous experiment When mine were elderly I finally found a supplement to add to their food which really helped to firm them up. Sorry, can't remember what it was called but look on the usual pet supply sites. Good luck, they're wonderful dogs, poo aside.

@Buttonitboris

Ooft, you're brave. My greys always had runnyish poo. Anytime I attempted to change kibble - absolute disaster. I've never used raw, but my understanding is it makes for softer poo, so a courageous experiment When mine were elderly I finally found a supplement to add to their food which really helped to firm them up. Sorry, can't remember what it was called but look on the usual pet supply sites. Good luck, they're wonderful dogs, poo aside.

Raw does not usually give softer poo. Raw tends to produce much less poo as most of the food is absorbed.

I always switch any of my fosters straigt onto raw from kibble. If the current food is not suiting them and you already have runny poo it might be a choice you want to make but equally slow and steady is also fine.

Do stick to single protein food for a while and introduce new proteins slowly.

Runny poo as the day goes on could be caused by over feeding and also exercise so if the runny poos appear after a greyhound zoomie that could be a reason.

I would check with a vet as he is new to you to check for any other reasons and maybe get a check over with maybe a stool sample.

The pre-prepared raw trays are a good place to start because the tricky bone/meat percentages have already been worked out for you.

I don't have greys but I do have three mutts that I successfully switched to raw. The big two I did over 5 days, the little one was a straight swap. Used Nutriment and Natural Instinct, both do sample packs which is a handy way to try without too much commitment. Both are excellent.

www.naturalinstinct.com/10kg-raw-dog-food-bundle-2x500g
www.nutriment.co.uk/raw-dog-food/starter-packs/

I've had my Grey for 2 years now. Started off with completely raw. Now mix in with a little kibble as it gives him all vits and minerals he needs. Also give 5 squirts of salmon oil into his food his coat is so shiny.

I've never used raw, but my understanding is it makes for softer poo
It’s actually the opposite @Buttonitboris Raw makes much smaller, well formed, non smelly poos. It’s honestly the main reason we switched. (Dog poo makes me gag but on raw they’re much easier to deal with!)

@SatsumasOrClementines, @OliveToboogie and @Blondiney , I had heard the poo was much better on raw.

It will cost us a small fortune, but I think it's worth it so we don't have 3 huge soft poos each day which smear on the pavement and require a huge bottle of water carried with you to wash them away!!

I'm going to be brave and order some Natural Instinct packs. It'll be expensive (he's 37kg) but worth it. The poo is the only stress with having him.

Hi, we've got (not a greyhound but) a sighthound who also has a very delicate tummy (and is ridiculously fussy!) she started on kibble and we put her on raw food, which she actually seems to enjoy and her poos are SO much better, small and solid! I originally had her on raw food from an online brand which would've cost £120 a month after the discounted trial but turns out our local butchers sells human grade dog food and it now only costs me approx £40 a month for doggos meals (I bought a little second hand freezer to store the raw food in). I think quite a few of these company's do discounts so you can try them out, so maybe try make the most of those or phone around local butchers and see if they do dog food.

@imnotprincessbubblegum that sounds good. Do they make it a complete dog food or do you have to work out the 80/10/10 yourself?

Yes, do they add veg etc? Sounds a good prospect!

I'd be nervous of making it myself, I know though some people top it with veg/fruit/eggs.... does anyone have tips on that??

We don't find it expensive. They don't eat a huge amount, 3% of their adult body weight, approximately.

We use food from the supermarket. Beef mince is about £3.50/kg, chicken legs £1.75/kg. Pork is usually about £3.50 a kg somewhere. Organ meat from Morrisons. We dehydrate and feed as snacks. Can't get him to eat it raw.

I don't measure bone. If the poo is a bit sloppy, Chuck him a drumstick. If it's a bit firm, give him some mince!

@SatsumasOrClementines it's complete as in has the organ meat and bone in it (well I've not seen bone but apparently it's in there), I give pup vegetables etc separately.