Stopping raw feeding?

[Pleasedontdothat]

My two dogs - both Tollers, one 10 and one just over a year old - are currently fed raw. My husband was in charge of ordering their food, making sure it had the right balance etc and they’ve both been very happy on their diet but not noticeably healthier/shinier-coated etc than other dogs …. DH died very suddenly a few weeks ago so obviously all the animal-feeding is now down to me. I’m vegetarian and found the ‘unfiltered’ nature of what was in the dogs’ freezer hard to stomach but he used to get blocks of mince in for me to feed them when he was away - these are still disgusting but slightly easier to deal with. I’m currently feeding them the frozen natures menu nuggets but they’re very expensive and I still keep forgetting to defrost them in time.

I’d like to move them away from raw but want to do it in a way that’s easiest for them (and their digestive systems!). A slight complication is that the younger dog is still on steroids after developing a form of meningitis (not SRMA but similar) when he was a puppy and is still at risk of relapse so I need to be careful not to put his body under too much stress - plus they’re both also grieving with me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

What are you planning to move over to, and have they eaten it before?

Probably a mix of good quality wet and dry food - the older dog has been raw fed for the last 5-6 years and the younger one has only ever had raw

I’m so very sorry for your loss. I’m
sure someone will be along with expert advice on switching off raw, but I don’t think anyone should judge you at all for doing something more manageable for you in the circumstances. I would consider a high quality dry extruded, something like Orijen or Millie’s Wolfheart - you may well have a good local supplier who can advise, otherwise allaboutdogfood.co.uk is a useful resource - I tend to filter by avoiding all ‘red’ and ‘yellow’ ingredients.

Personally we have a young lab doing extremely well on Millie‘s Wolfheart Hunter Mix, which I find to be the right balance between avoiding potentially intolerable ingredients, decent fat and protein content, and cost.

Best of luck whatever you decide.

Sorry for your loss. What about a freeze or air dried raw food? So would look like the dry food? I don't have any recommendations unfortunately or how good it is but might be worth a look x

So sorry for your loss

Your dog will be fine if you just move to normal buscuits. That's all my dog has and he is happy and healthy. Refuses to eat raw. Only ate it when I cooked it would you believe! He's an Akita if it matters

Just add a small amount of biscuits and increase over a short amount of time. Maybe 2 weeks?

Ha @Peacheroo mine only ate it if I cooked it too!

Really sorry for your loss.

I would go for a high meat content food eg Millies 80/20, Eden, Primal there are others on the market. Millies is probably the middle of the range price wise

You can do a straight swop from raw to dry or wet food. Raw fed dogs have loads of stomach acid to happily deal with the change

I feed a wet food only and use Nature diet which is reasonably priced and reasonable quality , our elderly dog does very well on it . Wolf worthy is a dry food that gets recommended a lot for being as close to raw as dry can get although I’ve not fed it personally .

I’m sorry for your loss. I’d agree - go for a high meat content dry and I’d mix in some good quality wet as it will be more of a shock to their palate!

Dry pressed is closer to raw but very expensive. I feed Millie’s 70/30 with a small bit of barking heads wet and my dog thrives. I have fed raw in the past as the dog at the time needed it but I didn’t see any noticeable condition or skin difference. It just made her medical condition a bit easier to manage (we don’t know why - it just did)

You can still add in natural treats - ears, snouts, feet etc.

Thank you everyone - I’ve ordered some Eden wet and dry food to try