Just started raw, advice on our meal plan please!

[Nmartone7]

Hello!

We just made the switch to raw over the weekend and I would like to get some input on our current regimen! We have a local supplier of raw meat blends for dogs - this is what was recommended/what we tried. Side note: We feed twice a day & our girl is 1 year and a month old and about 120-125lbs. We have another dog (not a Dane) that gets the same meals she does, just scaled down for his weight (70lbs).

One meal -> 1.25 lbs of beef / bone / green tripe blend (we can either get this in 1/4lb burger patties or a 2lb log). I only give half the serving at a time, wait for her to finish the first serving and give her a few minutes before the second serving. She LOVED this (probably the gross smelly tripe) but I don't want her eating too fast so that's why I broke up the amount to two servings.

Second meal -> 1.25 lbs of chicken backs. She didn't know how to eat these, when she tried to bite one, she kept dropping it on the floor and it scared her. She would run away and come back and try again, it was pretty comical (and messy -yuck)!! So I ended up cutting the backs into smaller pieces that she could pick up and chew easier.

In total she's getting 2.5lbs a day.

How are we doing so far? Any recommendations, advice or opinions would be appreciated!

Thanks!

[mnmouse]

Whoa. Slow down. You're introducing way too much too soon. One protein at a time, for a couple weeks before adding another. Who's giving you raw feeding advice? Read this link all the way through and re-think your plan. http://preymodelraw.com/page/article...l-raw-diet-r19

Good for you for feeding raw, but you do need to start it right, or you could have some bad tummy issues. Kibble fed dogs need to build up to eating raw.

[SuzanneRM82]

^^^What she said. Slow things way down and let her acclimate or you're going to have some cannon butt level diarrhea going on.

[Nmartone7]

Thanks everyone, I didn't see your posts until now. We've been dealing with a leak in the house... from a pipe, not a doggybutt!

I'm slightly embarrassed to admit it but I have turned into the poopolice since switching. The first day she had softer poop but nothing alarming - no middle of the night, rush to the door trips. Since that day she's had firm normal poo just smaller in size, which I understand is from them absorbing more of the food as opposed to kibbles. Our other pup had zero issues, firm poop since day 1.

Thus far, we thankfully haven't experienced cannon-butt during the switch. If she does develop tummy issues, I will try cutting a protein. I have read that article, a bunch of others and have spent hours combing through posts and comments on the web and noticed people just starting with chicken also go through cannon-butt and tummy upset. I've seen suggestions to cut the fat off, add more chicken meat, and so on. I'm obviously no expert but I think it really comes down to the dog with respect to how they tolerate starting a raw diet. I think we just got a little lucky that neither of our dogs had any issues switching in general, not withstanding that I included beef and tripe.

We have had the unfortunate displeasure of experiencing cannon-butt when we first rescued her. Between the stress she was going through and the mysterious canned food diet she was on, she had some serious tummy troubles. Nothing a little pumpkin and TLC couldn't fix though. But boy, was it gross. I mostly felt bad for her, she had to be miserable.

Any who, the person we got our advice from is who we get our food from; he's made raw feeding and also training his passion/life's work for over 20 years. One of the things I like most about him is that you can tell it's not a business to him, he genuinely cares...Also, an added perk, it's fairly reasonably priced for packaged beef blends, chicken backs and organs.


I'm not going to test our luck and will keep them with this regimen for a while (unless they have problems of course). I hope they continue without tummy trouble so we can eventually add other proteins and organs down the line (I have a liver patiently waiting in the freezer)