[Hound Dog Mom]

Cyndi –

It would be fine to feed Fresh Pet for one meal and a chicken leg quarter for another for a week or two. Once she becomes accustomed to the raw you can start experimenting with things other than leg quarters.

[Cyndi]

Thanks again, everyone, for all the info. I’m starting to get overwhelmed again though, lol! It doesn’t take much. I posted a question a few posts back and from what I’ve read, no one seemed to give me a definitive answer on that particular question. I’ll post that part again…. (only because I want to be absolutely sure on what I’m feeding and don’t want to start off wrong…

So, if I kept Bailey on the Deli Fresh, which I feed her in the evenings and she gets 1/2lb. of that, and I started her off with say a chicken back for the first week or so is that ok? I do prefer to feed twice a day and if she will only need like 1-1 1/2lbs of food per day do I need to add anything else? The Deli Fresh is the Chicken, vegetable & rice flavor and I know there is alot of other ingredients and vitamins and stuff in that. Maybe, I’ll switch to the Turkey flavor, if I’m starting her raw diet with chicken…

I’ll also post the ingredients of the Deli fresh/Freshpet that I plan on keeping her on, for a while anyways.

Ingredients:
Chicken, Eggs, Chicken Liver, Chicken Broth, Carrots, Brown Rice, Peas, Rice Bran, Dried Kelp, Carrageenan, Natural Flavors, Salt, Inulin, Flaxseed Oil, Green Tea Extract.

Vitamins:
Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Biotin, Riboflavin Supplement, Manganous Oxide, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid.

Minerals:
Calcium Carbonate, Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Proteinate, Copper Sulfate, Niacin, Manganese Proteinate, Calcium Pantothenate, Manganous Oxide, Thiamine Mononitrate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite.

If I start her on chicken and use a chicken leg quarter or chicken back every day, is that too much bone? I think I may just be over thinking all this, and I apologize for all the questions, but I want to be sure, especially with keeping her on the Freshpet for one meal a day for a while…

Thanks again for all your help everyone! I sincerely do appreciate all your help. I’ve been printing out all your replies and referring back to it all.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi honeybeesmom –

I just ordered a 1 lb. bag of the Spot’s Dinner Mix. I it was manufactured last month – very fresh. It arrived 2 days after I ordered it with standard shipping. I’ve emailed Steve a few times and aleays got prompt responses. I love his book “Unlocking The Canine Ancestral Diet” (I consider it to be the best raw feeding resource available). I have not used the mix yet but I’m sure I’ll be nothing short of impressed. I wouldn’t not try it just because one person is saying they had a bad experience – look at the review section, if you wrote off every food someone conplained about you’d be left with no options. I’d try it and decide for yourself. Had I read this post prior to placing my order, I still would have ordered it.

[soho]

I would like to share my experience with see spot live longer dinner mixes.

I ordered 135 of the single serving packets on 6-5-2012. I wanted them for my own dogs and for my friends to sell at their dog wash. The packets are VERY hard to open. There is no notch in the packet so you have to cut it open. The powder inside falls out when you cut them open and it is very messy. My friends tried everything possible to sell them but people just did not want to deal with the badly designed packets and the high price. They were offered at buy one get one half off and when they still did not sell they were offered at cost.

I wanted to try this supplement but it was a pain to use so I went with other supplements for my own dogs. I contacted Steve Brown on April 6th 2013 to see if he would swap any of the old packets for the newly redesigned 1 pound bags which are over 50% cheaper per serving. Steve Brown never even bothered to respond to my email. I had to email him twice before I finally received a reply from Chris Gelalich the general manager.

Mr Gelalich offered me one bag at no cost and said I waited too long to let them know there was a problem and that the packets were now expired. I checked and the packets were made in February of 2012. So they were already 4 months old when I received them. I find this pretty strange after Steve told me:

“Our website reviews some of the major features of See Spot Live Longer™ Homemade Dinner Mixes : fresh, lean, complete and balanced ancestral-type meals for dogs. The freshness is especially important, most commercial raw diets are not fresh, and many may exceed USDA standards for “quality:” ground meat is only considered to be quality if it’s consumed less than 3 months since manufacturing.”

Today I sent my final email to Steve as it is more than 2 weeks since I first emailed him and I have sent 3 emails to him in the last week with no reply.

[Anonymous]

Hi Cyndi,

I’m glad you have made this decision. It will make a big difference–especially with dental health. All the raw feeders on here are giving great advice. 🙂

Here’s a little advice I will give from observing my own dogs. When they got ALL raw, which normally consisted of a boneless meal and a bone-in meal (a leg quarter, a leg, a thigh, wing) each day, and even 2 bony meals per day, they were fine. When I started experimenting w/using dog food for one meal, and a piece of bone-in chicken for the next, I would notice their poops were getting too hard/dry at times. I know dog foods include ingredients to help firm up stools. SO…since chicken backs are SO bony, I don’t think I would feed those every single day if I were you. They are GREAT to start with, but I really think once your dog gets used to them that first week, I personally would just buy leg quarters. My one dog is 50+ pounds and I still feed him drumsticks quite a bit. If you buy a package of quarters, you can just cut the legs off each quarter too. Sometimes THAT becomes my dogs’ entire meal for the day—the drumstick becomes the breakfast, the other part becomes the dinner. I feed whole leg quarters at times too–those are great for cleaning the teeth. I just prefer feeding 2x per day, so sometimes if that’s all I have thawed, it works best to split it up into 2 meals. Plus, I have to pay close attention to portion control for my dogs.

Just keep an eye on things when you start. If stools get too firm, lay off the chicken backs for a day or two. Don’t let this scare you, as once you get going with it, it becomes very natural. I would stick with feeding only chicken for a couple weeks. People on the forum can help you along when the time comes. It’s all about how YOUR individual dog responds to this diet. Two of my dogs have NO problem with more frequent bone-in meals or even a couple days of just boneless meals. My other dog gets looser stools easily, and does better with more bone in his diet.

Good luck! 🙂

[pugmomsandy]

Cyndi,

You can also find turkey backs at some grocery stores. Sprouts has them. Chicken heart and gizzards are also easy finds as is various livers. Only feed 5 % liver though.

[InkedMarie]

Cyndi, you mentioned “easy”. Thats me, too! I feed grinds from HareToday; my husband isn’t into feeding whole meats but he’s fine with ground. They have a huge variety and for me, it cheaper than feeding a pre made raw, depending on what I get. If I buy an exotic, that may drive the cost up a bit.

[Cyndi]

You guys have been such a big help, thank you!

So, if I kept Bailey on the Deli Fresh, which I feed her in the evenings and she gets 1/2lb. of that, and I started her off with say a chicken back for the first week or so is that ok? I do prefer to feed twice a day and if she will only need like 1-1 1/2lbs of food per day do I need to add anything else? The Deli Fresh is the Chicken, vegetable & rice flavor and I know there is alot of other ingredients and vitamins and stuff in that. Maybe, I’ll switch to the Turkey flavor, if I’m starting her raw diet with chicken…

I AM going to do this! Next time I get paid, I am going to the butcher shop by me and buying the chicken backs and we’re gonna do this! I am determined! The only thing is I’ll probably be here asking another million and one questions…….so be prepared, lol! Thanks guys!!

[pugmomsandy]

Yikes! You can also get there by going straight to dogforums(dot)com and searching for “raw feeding pictures thread”.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Cyndi –

Please don’t blame yourself for the death of your previous dog. We’ve all been there and made poor nutritional choices for our animals. If you didn’t know better than it wasn’t your fault. My current dogs eat a homemade raw diet – I used to feed Beneful, Dad’s, Alpo, etc. It’s a learning experience!

I completely understand your apprehension about beginning a raw diet. I was the same way when I started. I was so concerned about percentages and how many ounces of this and how many ounces of that and worried that they were missing something or getting too much of something else. You’ll get comfortable with it, trust me. I personally started with “semi-homemade” – I’d use pre-mixes to which all I had to add was meat or buy meat/organ/bone grinds to which all I had to add was veggies and supplements. I bought Steve Brown’s book “Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet” and finally got the confidence to try one of his recipes and make my first meal completely from scratch. I now formulate my dogs’ menus all on my own and they’re complete and balanced. Just start slow!

[theBCnut]

Sandy, I clicked on that link and it tried to give me a virus or something. I got one of those pop-up saying my computers security detected a virus, but it listed the wrong program. It wouldn’t let me exit, so I had to force it to end task. I ran my own scan and came up clean.

[Cyndi]

Thank you BRR3, very much! & Thanks pugmomsandy, I will check that out….. My biggest fear, and the reason I haven’t started my dog on all raw yet, is because I’m so afraid I won’t be able to give her or find the right variety she needs. The more I read up on what people feed their dogs the more confusing it is. I’m the type of person who likes easy. Yes, call me lazy, I admit I am, but it sure doesn’t sound easy to find all the things raw feeders feed their dogs. I have grocery stores by me, only one local butcher though. I haven’t checked with these places yet to find out costs and what’s available. I know it would get easier over time, once I get the hang of it, but I guess I’m just scared, because it’s up to me to make sure I’m giving her the right variety. I blame myself for the death of my other dog, because I had to put him down because I didn’t want to put him thru a bunch of tests and stuff at his age. The vet didn’t know what it was that went wrong with him and I believe it was a combination of feeding crappy commercial dog food, topical flea stuff and/or vaccinations.

I’ve looked up sample menus of raw feeders, hoping I guess to find that “one” that makes me say, ‘Yeah, THAT I can do’ but there is just so many things that people feed and to me it’s just overwhelming. I’m just afraid that I would give my Bailey the wrong things or not enough of the right things or whatever.

Thank you all for all your help. I guess it’s just up to me when I feel comfortable enough to make the switch. I really do appreciate all the help. I’ll just keep reading and researching and eventually, hopefully, I’ll just do it…

[pugmomsandy]

Here is a thread just for raw feeding:

http://www.dogforums.com/dog-food-forum/112667-raw-feeding-picture-thread-7.html

[Anonymous]

Hi Cyndi,

Prey Model Raw is by far the easiest and cheapest way to feed raw, in my opinion. You can spend as much or as little as you want. Since you only have one dog, it isn’t necessary to have to stock up and freeze meat if you don’t have the room or money. Your 50 lb. dog will probably need only need 1 to 1 1/2 lbs. of food per day. Buy a pack or bag of chicken leg quarters, and work around that, filling in the rest of the diet with different proteins/organs that are on sale/clearance. This does not have to be complicated, and it’s all about “balance over time”.

Of course you will want/need to feed variety, but I find that this is very affordable when you make chicken the staple. If you can get some chicken backs at the meat market, start with those for at least a couple days. They are soft/bony and recommended to start with. If you can’t find them, you can use leg quarters. You are fine feeding just chicken for a couple weeks. You will however need to start alternating in some boneless meals (every other meal if you feed 2x per day or every other day) or your dog may get too constipated from the bone. All 3 of my dogs are different, and one dog can handle more bone. You learn these things as you go along, and you adjust the diet accordingly.

Once your dog adjusts to chicken, you move onto something like turkey for a couple weeks. You can alternative it w/meals of chicken. Then you will move on to pork, beef, etc.

Heart is very rich yet very nutritious, and it’s considered muscle meat, not organ meat. It can be a staple as well for most of your boneless meals. You are fine feeding a meal of canned sardines/mackerel instead of raw once a week or so.

You don’t even need to worry about organ meat for at least 2 months. When you DO introduce it, go very slow or your dog will most likely end up with diarrhea. I’d even personally start out feeding small amounts of it along with a bony meal. Only 5 to 10% of the diet needs to be organ meat. You need to feed liver, and it’s best you feed another organ as well. If you feed chicken backs at first, your dogs will get some of the little organs that are attached early on–I never removed any of them and all was fine.

Here are foods I feed/have fed: Chicken – Frames, Backs, Leg Quarters, Legs, Breasts, Necks (to my smallest dog), Thighs, Hearts/Gizzards, Feet, Liver. Turkey: Necks, ground. Pork: Butt, Chops, Roast, Heart, Kidney, Liver, Pigs Feet. Beef: Heart, Ground, Steaks, Roast, Liver. Duck: Heads, Feet, Wings. Fish: Various frozen (thawed) and canned sardines/mackerel.

I recommend you read WORK WONDERS by Tom Lonsdale. It’s a wonderful book and easy to read/understand. Even he says that many peoples’ dogs do fine on primarily all chicken. I know my dogs get a lot of it.

Also, check out: http://www.preymodelraw.com. This site helped me learn how to feed properly.

If you’re not comfortable, you could always do a partial raw diet. I have actually been doing that for almost a couple months because I am having a graduation party soon and desperately need my freezer space for that food. So, I have been feeding part PMR and part kibble to 2 of my dogs, and PMR/canned to my other dog. Once the kibble is gone and the party is over, I would like to go back to mostly PMR, but would like to incorporate some days of canned food. Maybe you could do that OR feed raw along w/the FreshPet.

Hope this helps. Again, these are my opinions and what has worked for my dogs.

[Cyndi]

Ok, thank you both, very much!

[InkedMarie]

I agree with HDM.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Cyndi –

If you can afford it, I would eliminate the kibble. Deli Fresh is much more species-appropriate than kibble (even though NV is a high quality kibble). If you check out this website Dr. Goldstein ranks foods in terms of healthiest to least healthiest: drmarty.com/feeding.htm

[Cyndi]

Hi again! I have another question, for anyone that feels like answering. I currently feed my dog Nature’s Variety Instinct grain free kibble in the morning. In the evening I feed her Deli Fresh by Fresh pet. My question is if I were to switch one of her meals for either Primal Raw frozen or Nature’s Variety Raw, which one do you think I should I eliminate? I still don’t feel comfortable switching to all raw, so I figured atleast this is a start. Thanks in advance.

[Cyndi]

Ok, thank you, once again, for all your help!

[BlueDog]

This is a question kind of along the lines of one posted a few weeks ago about shark. My fiance and friends brought home a soft shell turtle today from the river. I’m wondering if the liver, kidneys, etc would be ok to feed in a raw diet. Also, it was a female, and had several large developing eggs inside. If I freeze it for a while (month or two) do you think it would be safe?

[theBCnut]

I use it in rotation, it is heavy with flax seed, so I don’t like the idea of using it all the time. When I use it, I use 9 lbs of ground meat(sometimes I use turkey and pork) and 1 lbs of organs. I add 4 0z. of apple cider vinegar. You can mix it without the eggs and then add eggs when you are ready to feed it if you want to leave the eggs raw. It doesn’t mix and store well with raw eggs.

[Cyndi]

Hey Pattyvaughn,

I was just looking at the DinOvite site, that you mentioned, and they have a recipe on there, with a video, for Homemade Dog food. What do you think about feeding just this as a primary diet? Would my dog be getting everything she needs in that diet? & I wondered why they used hard-boiled eggs and not raw eggs in that recipe. Can I get your thoughts on all this, and anyone else’s, if you don’t mind? Thanks in advance! 🙂

Oh, and what modifications would you make to make it better?

[Cyndi]

Ok, I will have to do a bit more research. Atleast the food I have her on now is much better than the crap she was on. Thank you for all your help, I really do appreciate it. This all just seems so overwhelming, but I so want to do the right thing for my baby. I am so glad I found this site and you are all so polite (compared to another forum where I more or less got yelled at for asking an off topic question). Thank you so much, again, for your help!

Have a great evening! 🙂

[theBCnut]

Including shipping they top $4 a pound for me. I use some Darwin’s, but not all. When I started feeding raw, I googled homemade dog food and found DinOvite. It was an easy way to get started. I used their Yeast Starvation Diet for a bit while I read up on feeding raw. It’s a very easy recipe and I still make it occassionally with some modifications. There are a few premixes and vitamin/mineral mixes that are made to be mixed with either boneless meat or grinds that are also an easy way to get started. These are more expensive than doing it all from scratch, but less expensive than premade balanced raw diets.

[Cyndi]

Thanks Patty. I just got done reading some of the threads about Darwin’s raw food. Do you think this would be a good place for me to start? I haven’t researched the cost for them yet, but Darwins sounds like a good alternative for me instead of me trying to figure out on my own if I’m feeding the rights raw foods in the right quantities. Are they really expensive, do you know?

[theBCnut]

I started using raw as a topper and had no problems, but it could be a case of some dogs having problems and some not. When my dogs were eating enough raw to make a meal of it, I switched to feeding raw for breakfast and kibble for dinner. Now, I can feed all raw, raw and kibble, just kibble, whatever. It is all what works for you and your dog.

[Cyndi]

Thanks so much everyone for all the feedback! I sincerely appreciate it all. One more question, for now anyways, lol! I have read conflicting things on starting to feed raw. I have read to fast your dog for 24 hours & then just start the raw diet, starting with one meat source at a time to get them used to it, but I have also read to introduce raw food slowly, giving them some raw food mixed with their kibble each day. Which is the right way, or is there a right way to make the switch?

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Cyndi –

The general feeding recommendations for raw are as follows (amounts are in % of the dog’s body weight):

1.5% – weight loss
2.0% – inactive
2.5% – adult maintenance for average activity level
3.0% – slight weight gain or active dogs
3.5% – significant weight gain or very active dogs
4.0% – puppies (8 weeks – 1 year) or working dogs
4.5%-8.0% – puppies (4-8 weeks), pregnant/lactating females or working dogs

This is a good guide, but all dogs are different so just monitor your dog’s body condition and adjust portion sizes accordingly. My 9 month old female eats about 3.5% of her weight, my 2 year old female eats about 4% of her body weight and my 8 year old male eats about 3% of his weight.

[theBCnut]

My two very active 40 lbs dogs eat about a pound a day, one slightly more than the other. The rule of thumb is 2-3% of their body weight.

When turkey is on sale at Thanksgiving, I get 2 or 3 extras.

[BlueDog]

Yay Cyndi! I have also recently (as in yesterday) started researching a raw food diet for my 50lb ACD. I found a page (and forgot to bookmark) that helped me decide that with his weight range, I should give him about 1000 Cal/day, or about 1.25lb each day of food, including boneless meat and raw meaty bones. HDM’s suggestions are great, and I went today all around town to local butchers, grocery stores, and even a vet that has knowledge and that supports raw food diets. I made a list of what each place had to offer based on who had better prices on things, especially harder to find things like beef hearts and turkey necks. Ended up buying 3 fryer chickens that were on sale for $0.77 a lb, and some other stuff on sale. My plan is to establish my budget that I can devote to this, price everything up, and start saving. And also to buy meat when I see it for a great price. We are lucky in my area to have access to a local butcher, several grocery stores (HEB has had the best selection of doggy type meats for decent prices) and also a natural/organic food store that has a ton of the great supplements that I have seen mentioned. Check the “Transitioning to raw” thread on this section of the forum, it has a lot of great info and I think a sample recipe from HDM. There’s also a thread “Suggested raw dog food menus” that has several recipes that HDM and others have posted.

[Cyndi]

Oh, a totally unrelated question…… How do I go about putting a picture up for my profile pic? I tried to figure it out earlier, but didnt have any luck.

[Cyndi]

Thank you Pattyvaughn, I will check that out. & thank you also, Hound dog mom, all that is very good to know. Ive just been getting so overwhelmed by researching & reading all the different things that people say they feed their dogs. I really dog want to feed my dog raw, but it all just sounds too expensive to do, but if/when I do make the switch, I need to make sure I can afford it.

Any idea how much, I guess in pounds, that I will need to feed. I feed Bailey twice a day and she currently weighs 50lbs. & I’d like to keep her at that weight preferably.

Thank you both, so much, for your help!

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Cyndi –

It’s wonderful that you’re considering a raw diet for your dog!

Owning three large and active dogs, I can sympathize with you on wanting to keep things cheap. My tips for keeping raw feeding budget friendly would be:

1. Rely on chicken, turkey, pork and beef as your primary protein sources – they’re the cheapest per pound.

2. Rather than feeding boneless meat and supplementing with calcium, incorporate raw meaty bones (chicken necks, turkey necks, etc.) as the calcium source. RMB’s are much cheaper per pound than boneless meat.

3. Rely on hearts and gizzards as your primary source of muscle meat in the diet. While boneless skinless chicken breast might be more appealing to a person, there’s no reason dogs need to eat these expensive cuts of meat.

4. Add things like eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt or kefir to stretch the meal a bit with some cheap but high quality animal-based protein.

5. Avoid pre-ground meats, they’re generally more expensive. Feed meat in chunks or dice it yourself.

6. Buy bulk – try to locate a wholesale supplier. Shop the manager’s specials at the grocery store.

7. Use supplements made for humans rather than for dogs, believe it or not they’re generally much cheaper. I order from Swanson Vitamins (cheap, high quality, big variety).

[theBCnut]

Steve Brown’s book “Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet” is an EXCELLENT place to start.

[Cyndi]

And, I forgot to mention, I don’t have a whole lot of money. I’m not even sure I’ll be able to keep up with what I just started feeding her. So, if someone can help with the cheapest raw things that I could feed my dog, with the right variety that would really help me alot!

[Cyndi]

Hi, I will try to make this as short as possible. Ok, I have a newly adopted dog Bailey. She is a 1 1/2 yr. old border collie/Pit bull mix and she weighs 50lbs. I HATE all the stuff I hear about commercial dog food. I am just recently into researching everything. I had a doberman who died at the age of 11 from an undiagnosed problem and I have a feeling it was from either commercial dog food crap, vaccines, topical flea stuff or all of the above. I am fully committed to doing better by my new dog. I just recently switched to Nature’s Variety Instinct kibble (I was using Purina One) which I feed her for breakfast. For dinner, I switched her to Deli Fresh by Freshpet. I really, really want to switch her to a raw diet, but I have no clue where/how to start, what foods to feed or not to feed, if I can afford it, etc. I’m afraid once I start I won’t know what to feed and and how much and if I am giving her the right variety of stuff. I’ve looked up raw “menus” online, but it sounds like there is so many different things that I would have to feed Bailey, that I might end up going broke. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated…

[BlueDog]

Thanks for the great response! The reason I ask is mainly because I would really like to start feeding a raw diet, but I don’t have a large budget or a lot of storage space. Do you have any suggestions that can help minimize expenditures? I know I need to find someone in town that I can joint order with, but do you have any other ideas?

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi BlueDog –

It would be okay to use canned vegetables on occasion if you absolutely have to, but I wouldn’t exactly consider them a good substitute for fresh. A lot of nutrients are lost during the canning process. Your best choice is (obviously) going to be fresh produce, followed by frozen and then canned would be the least nutritious. Remember fresh and frozen vegetables need to be cooked and pureed prior to feeding – this will start to break down the cellulose and allow the dog to digest the vegetables more efficiently. If convenience is an issue another option that I feel is a bit healthier than canned vegetables is “pouched” fruit and vegetable puree sold for babies. I usually cook up and puree fresh or frozen vegetables for my crew but if I know I’m going to be pressed for time I’ll pick up some of these. They generally contain two or three different fruits and vegetables and the cooking and pureeing is already done for you. Canned fish is fine – tinned sardines are a great source of omega 3’s and vitamin d and low in mercury and canned oysters supply some omega 3’s in addition to many trace nutrients. If you aren’t feeding raw fatty fish or adding fish oil to meals you’ll want to feed tinned sardines. Steve Brown – essential fat authority and author or “Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet” – recommends the following amounts of sardines be served per week: 5 lbs – 1/4 can; 15 lbs. – 1/2 can; 25 lbs. – 5/8 can; 50 lbs. – 1 can; 100 lbs. – 1 3/4 can. (3.75 oz. can packed in water). And yes, it’s completely okay to buy bulk frozen meat. I buy bulk frozen meat because I get the best price when I buy in bulk.

[BlueDog]

I am new to this site and have just started researching raw food diets for my dog, and I want to say thank you all who have contributed their great advice to this forum! Your hard work is very much appreciated!! A quick question: Is canned food, say canned carrots for example, a decent substitute for fresh produce, or even fish? I know you have to watch out for added sodium.. Also, is there anything wrong with buying bulk frozen fish and other meats? So long as you thaw it of course.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi shelties mom –

I do believe that dogs should be fed a diet rich in joint maintaining compounds (glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM, etc.) for a lifetime in order to promote optimum joint health. A dog’s natural ancestral diet which is rich in bones, cartilage and sinew, would naturally contain high levels of these joint health promoting substances. For those feeding a raw diet that includes bones/cartilage, it generally isn’t necessary to supplement with joint supplements unless the dog has an orthopedic condition (i.e. hip dysplasia) or until the dog reaches its senior years. For dogs not eating a species-appropriate diet I feel it’s a good idea to supplement the diet with whole foods naturally rich in joint health compounds (think fresh or dried trachea chews, gullet, poultry feet, etc.) or give a low dose of a joint support supplement for maintenance (the dosage can be increased as the dog ages or begins to show symptoms of arthritis). Some whole food supplements beneficial for joint health would be sea cucumber, shark cartilage or green lipped mussel (generally come in capsules or powder). A standard glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM supplement will also suffice. If a dog is showing signs of pain or inflammation it can also be beneficial to combine a joint maintenance supplement with a natural anti-inflammatory such as boswellia, yucca, turmeric, bromelain, tart cherry, etc.

[dogmom2]

This is the spirulina supplement that my vet.

Animal Essentials Organic Green Alternative

Animal Essentials Herbal Green Alternative Antioxidant Powder for Dogs & Cats

Any thoughts?

Both my dogs are on Darwin’s, or we feed THK preference with an organic protein, or a balanced diet of rmb, meat and organ (usually kidney or liver). We also feed raw green tripe, and on occasion kibble with Merrick. ( we are switching from Evo red meat to trying our first bag of Brothers Complete Allergy. )
We also supplement with kefir, yogurt, cottage cheese, fresh eggs, sardines in olive oil.
We give pre and probiotic with enzymes daily, turmeric, glucosamine and fish oil also.

[dogmom2]

Hi there!!

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back here. It has been crazy busy around here these days.

Hank is doing great on the Darwin’s. We are now into our 3 full shipment, and I am very happy with the food. Both dogs really like it. We also bought duck necks from them, and we are incorporating them into their homemade raw diet. (we get grass fed beef hear, tongue, kidney and liver from a local rancher) It is fun to hear them crunching. My black lab loves sardines as it turns out.

Unfortunately, Hank had his first foot blow up in a year and a half, but we are convinced that it is ingrown hair between the toes that cause it, and not environmental allergies. We are doing laser treatments at our vet, and we did one acupuncture treatment as well. Poor guy, he is on low activity until it heals. His itching and licking is pretty much resolved for now.

All in all, I wish I would have learned about Darwins, raw feeding, etc years ago.

ps. I just ordered my first 5# sample of Brothers complete allergy last night for the days when kibble is whats for dinner!

[pugmomsandy]

HoundDogMom might have the answer. She makes her own raw as well. I have a recipe book by Dr. Karen Becker/Beth Taylor and it actually gives all the breakdown of protein/fat/carbs as well as a nutrient analysis for all the recipes.

[NectarMom]

I have been using Mercola enzymes for approx 3 months now and it has pancreatin in it. If there is another brand that you might think is better or has more in it that she could use please feel free to post it.

For now we are sticking with Turkey but before the Pancreatitis issue I spoke to Darwin’s about mixing in Duck and I recall the girl on the phone from Darwin’s said Duck is lower in fat? I was talking to a co-worker about it and she ordered her yorkie the turkey and she said it made her yorkie very sick but I would bet she did not do a slow transition. I asked her about trying Duck because her dog was on a duck kibble and she said Duck was too high in fat from what she read up on the different proteins??

Also something I noticed more of is that since we switched to Raw my Chihuahua that had the Pancreatitis has been dropping fur like crazy, shes a black short coat chihuahua. Last time that happened my vet said it was due to her missing something in her diet and so that is when we started food searching, we were using Azmira back then.

[Hound Dog Mom]

All dogs (even raw fed) should poop at least once a day. My dogs have been on raw for almost two years and all three poop once or twice a day. Hopefully her stool issues clear up once she gets uses to her new raw diet.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Do you supplement with digestive enzymes? Enzyme supplements that include pancreatin, in some cases, is believed to help reduce the risk of acute pancreatitis or control chronic pancreatitis. Pancreatin is comprised of the amylase, lipase and protease produced by the pancreas. The idea is that adding supplemental pancreatin to the diet of a pancreatitis prone dog will lessen the stress on the dog’s pancreas. Another option would be a pancreas glandular – most glandulars are derived from bovine sources so I’m not sure if that would trigger a sensitivity (I know you’re trying to stick to turkey for the time being). Just some things to consider.

[Hound Dog Mom]

That’s too bad NectarMom. Most dogs can tolerate very high levels of fat but they should be worked up to it slowly. Raw typically has much higher levels of fat than commercial food, so dogs should have their fat levels increased incrementally. Many raw meaty bones and recreational bones (especially marrow bones) are extremely high in fat and should be avoided until the dog is well acclimated to its new raw diet and higher levels of fat.

[blurose]

I an thinking about switching my 70 pound Golden Retriever to a raw food diet. How do you determine the amount of food to give each day? I am planning on using frozen raw with bone already incorporated. Also, would I need to add any supplements? Thank you for your help.

[suztzu]

I am looking to add more moisture to my dogs diet he’s been eating Natures Variety Prarie Dry he does not do well on grain free foods. I want to add canned to his diet or a premade raw for variety and a little more protein without all the extra fat. I cannot decipher these canned labels ( I try but am not very successful) I would like to have something in the mid-fat range hes a shih tzu and gains weight very easily. The canned food reviews Ive been looking at are 20% and higher do I need to worry about the fat levels if it is not his main diet ? Even the 4 star foods are really high in fat. Am I missing something, I would feed him canned all the time if I could figure out how not to turn him into a blimp in doing so I know canned/raw is a healthier option for him. Any advice to alleviate my confusion would be helpful Thanks

[NectarMom]

Weruva did not work out and now I have 11 cans of it I need to get rid of. I had only given them inbetween the Raw diet one teaspoon and vomit was all over the house. Guess it is just raw twice a day and that is it!