[GSDsForever]

I’m working with an unfamiliar recipe that calls for barley in it — a very small amount, percentage wise but barley nonetheless.

I don’t generally feed grains. It is from a specialist vet I’m working with & for now I think I need to stick pretty closely to the recipe, at least until I have a chance to talk to her about it. The nutrient levels, including very, very high protein & fat percentages + caloric density, are critical . . . as well as whatever values Chinese medicine attaches to the specific ingredients that I may not be aware of.

My Q is how I can make it digestible. I really don’t recall if/when I’ve ever fed barley (would have been years ago) . . . but I’m concerned it will all just come out unchanged at the other end, because that’s what happens if I were to feed whole brown rice.

Bulk recipe calls for several lbs grass fed organic beef, various veggies/greens/herbs/spices, and 1 C barley — so he’d be getting about 1/5 or 1/6 cup barley a day (and half of that at each meal) — cooked in a crockpot. Would the small amount make it easier to digest??? Or is it going to still be about the small size of the whole grain and its exterior covering?

Should I grind it raw, and THEN throw it into the crockpot with the other ingredients? Or cook it separately and then puree it? And what KIND of barley do I buy? Pearled, whole, flaked/rolled?

Or should I just not worry about him not digesting it well and just throw it in there?

I have a feeling I’m going to run into the same thing if she wants me to use quinoa or millet. . . .

[Cyndi]

Your best bet if you’re looking for teeth cleaning is an occasional raw meaty bone. Depending on your dog’s size, a chicken neck (for a smaller dog) or a turkey neck (for a larger dog) would be the best thing for teeth cleaning…
Since I’ve been feeding raw, my dog’s teeth sparkle. No sign of tarter or whatever it is dogs get on their teeth.

[somebodysme]

When I bought the bone, I thought it would be harmless…HA! I wouldn’t have thought it was chew down that fast. She has another large hard white bone that she’s been chewing on for many months. She doesn’t get enough off of it to do any harm as far as allergies. She has a basket full of assorted sizes of antlers but she only wants the split ones. I don’t see any reaction to antlers either, she doesn’t really get anything off of them either. Her favorite thing to chew is a rawhide but she can’t have those since we figured out she reacts to them. It just seems like, everything that she enjoys chewing is bad for her. Bully sticks are gone in a minute with her. What I’m after is teeth cleaning.

[konamisan]

Hi Dr. Mike,

I’ve been feeding both my JRT & Yorkie raw food for two years now and have only had a problem with feeding the JRT chicken & turkey because she has SEVERE ALLERGIES to it. I’ve tried several brands i.e.;, Bravo, Darwin’s, Steve’s, Stella & Chewy’s, Vital, & lastly Nature’s variety Instinct.

I’ve fed them rabbit, venison, pheasant & lamb.

I recently tried the Variety Instinct Beef!!! BAD CHOICE!.

I started the beef this past Sunday Sept 15th, 2013. I purchased the Patties & the Raw Kibble Bites. I would give them the patty in the evening & the raw bites in the morning.

3 days into the feeding, I noticed that after my Xena the JRT started throwing up about 15 minutes after she ate this food. If she drank any water, she would throw it up too.

Well here we are Saturday September 21st, and she has refused to eat either the patty or the raw beef bites as well. My Zeus, the Yorkie was refusing to touch it too. They both have diarrhea, Only my JRT is still vomiting she isn’t even keeping the water down.

She went to poo this morning and alarming to see, that she had BLOOD in her STOOLS!!! She is refusing to eat anything.

I called the Petco Store where I purchased this food & spoke to the Manager.

He suggested that I bring in the UPC Labels and to generate a written report to the Nature’s Variety Instinct Corp.

I contacted my Vet and He suggested I give her some boiled Chicken & Rice & some Pedialyte. My Vet also suggested that since I can’t afford to bring her to him to check her, he said ” Maybe you should consider giving one of your dogs up for adoption cause you certainly can’t afford the two to take care of them in a case like this”

I have never had an issue as this one to make my Xena soooooo sick. I know that she has not ingested anything other than this BEEF product.

I still want to feed them Raw. HELP WHAT DO I DO Dr. Mike & knowledgeable dog owners.

I also have them on Dr. Becker’s Liver & Kidney Support, Digestive Enzymes & the Spirugreen Super Food for Dogs.

Sincerely for My (Zeus 7 yr. old male & neutered & (Xena 6 yr. old Female & Neutered)

I’ve had Zeus since he was 3 months old & Xena since she was 6 weeks old.

Thank You ,

Konamisan

[FreeholdHound]

Oh yes.. and the days I’m dividing up the raw tripe into smaller portions — Harry has fits outside the kitchen gate. Of course I have to give him some to shut him up. I guess he never read that Greyhounds don’t bark LOL.

[FreeholdHound]

I know Tripett and Merrick both have canned Tripe and are sold in most pet stores. I used the Merrick as a topper when I used to use canned food. Harry liked it but the raw is definitely Houndie Crack around here.

[theBCnut]

PrincessPiper
Don’t worry about freezer burn unless your dog does. Just because it is freezer burned doesn’t mean it is bad, it just changes the taste and dogs don’t seem to mind that. Partial defrosting, repackaging, and refreezing is common practice among raw feeders.

Sully’sMom
Canned tripe is not raw since the canning process requires high heat, so it loses some of it’s positive traits. But the canned green tripe is still very smelly, so it makes an excellent topper. Some of them are not balanced, so they should not be more than 20% of the diet.

[PrincessPiper]

I’m just getting started feeding raw and I have a question? I have a 3lb Yorkie and was wondering how long it takes for food to freezer burn? Is it safe to thaw it, repackage it, and freeze it again? I’m just bought a 4lb bags of Nature’s Variety to see if she was going to handle raw okay because she HATES dog food and she is doing very well with it so it’s time to start buying in bulk but was wondering on the freezer burn thing where she doesn’t eat very much.

She is currently munching on a chicken foot (we raise our own chickens so they are free range and no yuck is used) and is loving it.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 6 months ago by PrincessPiper.

[rogerharris]

Hii… There are some book suggestion for home made dog’s food–
1. Real Food for Healthy Dogs & Cats by Dr. Becker
2. K9 Kitchen by Monica Segal
3. Raw dog food
4. The Natural Pet Food Cookbook by Wendy Nan Rees
5. Natural health for dogs & Cats by Dr. Pitcairn.

Hope This information is helpful to you.

[somebodysme]

As some of you know, my dog is having allergy issues and we are in the process of finding out what she can eat. OK so she’s doing pretty well on the food she’s eating and she needs something to gnaw on for her teeth. I bought a Red Barn Naturals brand sliced knuckle(cow) bone. She loved it and chewed about 1/3 off one day and 1/3 of it off the next…It caused her rash on her back, tail and feet to flare up BAD and it also gave her bowels a fit too! OH and it came out completely undigested like how bone meal for your garden looks.

OK so my question is, should I now avoid anything beef or do these bones have some chemicals in them? I know she can’t have rawhide but there is the question also, is it beef or the chemicals? I have no clue if Red Barn has any sort of chemicals in them at all…do you know? The label did not say. Any thoughts on the bone? I know I could try raw bones but I wanted something that she could eat in the house and not make a mess.

[beaglemom]

also wanted to add… it’s annoying because I only found out about the stupid site because that woman emailed our co-op (PA_NJrawfeedingnetwork)… so i can’t imagine how many other people are in the same boat. Not sure if you’re a member of the group or not but no one’s responded with any sort of feedback, so who knows.

[beaglemom]

Hi Freehold… that website is definitely a bust. HDM posted that she placed an order and never received it, had to find their phone number through Paypal (since the one listed on the website is out of service), and got a similar BS line from them about how it would ship soon or some such thing. We dug deeper and found that this same creep of a woman (Suzanne) burned HDM once before with a different website but somehow she’s still putting up these sites and screwing people. Her former 2-3 businesses all have an F rating on the website of the Better Business Bureau. You can read our discussion here…
/best-dog-foods/raw-dog-food/ (suggested raw dog foods)
I wouldn’t wait to file the claim with Paypal – do it asap. They took care of HDM’s refund the same day.

[FreeholdHound]

Looks like Raw Pet Food Nation may turn out to be a bust (at least for me). I placed my order last weekend & never received any sort of email from them for confirmation. I emailed on Wed & got a reply that they were looking into it & nothing since. Sigh. I ‘ll hold out thru the weekend & then go thru PayPal to dispute the transaction.

[JLezinsky]

Hi Everyone,

I gave up on trying to find a pre-made raw after the Sirius food had all sorts of negative issues. Since then I have been trying to figure out the best way to make my own. Here is what I am planning on doing to start with. I would love to get any feedback because I really respect the knowledge of everyone here.

a.m.
Ground Beef/Tripe/Organs and Bone
(alternating between the Tripe Super Mix from MPC and Ground Beef/Organs/Tripe/Bone mix Hare Today)
Eggs (every other day)
Sardines (opposite the eggs)
Krill Oil (Mercola Liquid Pump) (every other day)
Dr. Harvey’s Multi-Vitamin/Herbal Supplement and SpiruGreen Superfood (rotating between the two)
Multi Vitamin (½ tablet daily)
Coconut Oil
Turmeric

Veggie/Fruit Mix a few times a week

p.m.
RMB’s
Rotating between chicken necks, back, feet and turkey necks and backs.
Also occasionally adding some chicken gizzards, hearts and livers.

I am still nervous about calcium/phosphorus ratios and vitamins. Is a multi-vitamin ok with this? If so what multi-vitamin tablet (so I can split it) would you recommend? Please let me know if this looks balanced or if I should add or adjust things.
Thanks everyone, I appreciate any help.

[pugmomsandy]

Great! Just checking. I used it as muscle meat in my last batch of raw.

[somebodysme]

How long has she been on Nutrisca? It will take a while on a new food for the crud to get out of their system. I’ve been dealing with an allergy dog too. Your story sounds a lot like mine and my dog started off in a low end type food Pro Plan and I wanted a better food so bought Blue Buffalo and then all he(( broke loose. I kept trying new food changing the proteins and she just got worse and worse with rashes and red ears and raw paws etc. We are on NB potato and rabbit for three weeks now and things are improving but not perfect yet. She also will break out suddenly out of the blue. I’m telling myself it is what they call a “healing crisis”. Supposedly that’s all normal. I will tell you that she looks better now than she has since I switched her off Pro Plan. I’m assuming you took her off the Rachel Ray stuff because you wanted healthier? Or was she having problems on that? On Pro Plan, my dog was scratching a little but had a watering eye and that was pretty much all. Then we finally realized that all the foods she was allergic to had only one common ingredient and it is PEAS. I know she is allergic to other things too though like rawhide and cow bones.

I would suggest that you give her only one food until you find that it is OK. I would also suggest to not give any of those supplements you mentioned because right now you have no idea what she’s allergic to. My dog reacted badly to spirulina! If she has yeast then keep the probiotic. Then once you know the food is OK, add ONE new supplement at a time until you know it’s OK and no reaction. Any of these things can cause problems for a sensitive dog. She could easily be allergic to salmon oil or coconut oil or that glucosamine. Honestly the only thing that I can give my dog without it causing a problem, that I have tried, is her human grade probiotic.

If your dog was NOT allergic to the Rachel Ray food then look at the ingredients and try and find a better quality food with the same basic ingredients. Like if it has chicken then you know that chicken was not the issue. What I have learned from having a dog with allergies is that you can’t just say “oh that food has 5 stars it great for my dog”. It just doesn’t work like that. These dogs have a whole new set of rules when it comes to what to feed.

[Molzy]

Hello! I’ll apologize in advance for the length of this post.

We adopted an Australian Cattle Dog (Quincy) at the end of July. He is a year-and-a-half old neutered male, and we were told he was given up due to not being housebroken. I am beginning to suspect that the real reason may have be what I can only describe as his gulping disorder.

For the first two weeks at home he was totally fine. We switched him from Science Diet to Merrick Lamb and Rice, which he gets twice a day. We did have to board him about two weeks after adopting him due to a family wedding, and it was after this that he started his first episode of gulping/swallowing. Usually at night, he will begin frantically swallowing and gulping. Quincy will frantically search the house for carpet fibers to pull up, and will eventually vomit and then re-eat his food if we don’t get to it in time. This went on for about a week the first time – we brought him to the vet, they said he looked fine, and that it was probably just all the changes in his life. I did give him a gas-x one night, because he was swallowing so much air I was concerned about bloat. He ate some carpet this first time, when I fell asleep with him out of his kennel (he normally sleeps in bed with us, but when he is having these bouts I have learned to kennel him so that he can’t get into anything). He threw the carpet up about 3 days after that.

At that point, we thought he just had a sensitive stomach. So, when we switched his food again (our other dog has an iron stomach, and had done well with us rotating food, so we already had a bag of grain-free salmon from Nutrisource), we weren’t all surprised when the symptoms started up again. This time I gave him a couple of doses of pepto-bismol to ease his tummy troubles, and about 6 days later he stopped vomiting. I should note – when he vomits, it seems associated with these bursts of gulping/swallowing/licking. I thought it was him having an upset stomach and panicking about it, but the vet thought it was odd that he is willing to eat his vomit right away, and that a nauseous dog wouldn’t do that? I am beginning to think that the actual issue is the gulping/swallowing, and the vomiting may be a side effect of that, rather than the other way around.

I switched him to rice and boiled chicken, and he seemed to get better. We put him back on Merrick (chicken and rice this time, because they were out of lamb and rice), and he did fine for about a week. Then last week, he threw up again (he had had a minor bout of swallowing, but nothing like he normally gets). We fasted him for 36 hours, and brought him to the vet. Again, his stool and activity is normal. The vet gave him an anti-nausea shot, and sent us home with some anti-nausea pills and canned science diet ID (for gastro-intestinal health). He was fine for about 3 days, and then last night had one of his worst bouts of swallowing/gulping yet. He didn’t throw up at all (that I know of, I did fall asleep for a little while), but did try to eat a rope toy. I kenneled him for the night, and this morning he ate grass like crazy.

His bouts tend to start at night when we’re going to bed, and he works himself up into a frenzy. Once it starts, it tends to last for multiple days, and kenneling him seems to work to calm him down a little. Our other dog (LoJack) has been totally fine through all of this. They are never outside without my supervision, and he doesn’t get human food (except for the two occasions he has stolen it off of the counter). I haven’t been feeding treats for a few weeks now, but tonight had to give him some zukes at training class. The only other thing would be that he did start HeartGuard and Frontline, but both of those started after his initial attacks. One last thing I should mention is that he plays a LOT with my other dog, and they usually wrestle and play tug of war every night before bed, but will often stop for >2 hours before going to bed. I haven’t felt like there was any correlation between them playing and one of these attacks. When we walk he is on a gentle leader or harness, but he is on his collar when on his tie-out in the yard. I remove the dog’s collars when they’re wrestling so that they don’t hurt each other.

Has anyone dealt with similar symptoms? What did you do? My Internet searches have found that others have this issue but I haven’t found anyone who has solved it. We will probably do blood work and an X-ray next to rule out anything normal, but I want opinions from others on possible nutritional changes that could help. I refuse to switch to science diet unless I absolutely must. I’m considering trying raw, but currently scared of anything that might upset him, since I’ve been cleaning vomit for the past month it seems! I do natures variety raw with my cat, and our other dog has been on grain free nutrisource or merrick for the past year.

Thanks for any advice, I appreciate it!

[theBCnut]

I got VE to use as a replacement for raw when I went on vacation, but it turned out that my squeamish husband thought that Darwin’s looked enough like ground beef that he could handle it. So I’ve been using the VE for training treats. We do agility on Fridays, so sometimes those training treats are enough to be a meal.

[pugmomsandy]

I use it as a meal sometimes when I don’t have any raw thawed or any kibble! Mostly I use it as treats or as a topper.

[Cyndi]

Thanks Sandy! That’s what I thought, but I wanted to be sure. I haven’t tried Urban Wolf yet, I just got my See Spot Live Longer dinner mix and will be trying that soon. I’ve been using the Grandma Lucy’s and I still have Dr. Harvey’s Veg to Bowl that I haven’t used yet.

[pugmomsandy]

It would be too much calcium and an off-ratio of Ca/Ph in the end product. Have you tried Urban Wolf? I want to try that one next. And I emailed them and they said just to use muscle meat too. I just made a batch with CarnivoreRaw with the bone-in product.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 6 months ago by pugmomsandy.

[Cyndi]

Hey everyone, I have a question, possibly a stupid one, but I can’t figure it out…

When I was questioning about premixes at the beginning of this thread, HDM told me “Make sure not to use a pre-mix with a grind which contains bone.” Why is that? I have a few different premixes here that I’m using and I’m just curious to why I don’t want to use them with meat and bone.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 6 months ago by Cyndi.

[Anonymous]

apriliamille, It’s the temperatures which are killing me! My GSD was having trouble too, but she was old too. My horse is Arabian and has no problems at all.
Will ask for help in raw section. I am learning a lot, reading my way through the forum…

[apriliamille]

wow netherlands to dallas, texas bet that is a scenery change. nothing quite like saying welcome to usa outside of plopping into texas. start a thread in the raw section to help with locations and ideas for looking for raw for where you are moving to.

gsdmommy89, are you looking for one food for both the adult and the pup?

• This reply was modified 12 years, 6 months ago by apriliamille.

[SandyandMila]

HDM- does that go for the Primal beef mix as well? I fed it today for one if the meals and gave Mila a RMB for the other meal.

[RescueDaneMom]

Thank you pugmomsandy and Hound Dog Mom for the info and quick responses. It is much appreciated!!!

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi RescueDaneMom –

There’s no need to add additional muscle meat to Primal grinds – all have balanced C:P ratios except for the beef and buffalo which actually have more phosphorus than calcium and thus should be fed with some RMBs. You would want to add vitamin e, vitamin d (such as cod liver oil), omega 3′ and a whole food supplement. I would also recommend feeding some canned oysters once or twice a week (high in zinc and selenium) and some ground nuts or seeds (like sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds) a few times a week (high in manganese). Yogurt or kefir is rich in probiotics and can make a good addition as well. Cod liver oil is rich in vitamin a but there’s really no need to worry about vitamin a levels – if the dog is getting liver (which it will be if its eating the grinds) and fruits/vegetables it will be getting plenty of vitamin a. Also keep in mind that the vitamin d requirements are 500 IU per kg (or approx. (227 IU per pound) on a dry matter basis – one lb. of raw food will provide around 0.3 lb. dry matter. Therefore, you would need around 68 IU per pound of raw food (minimum). I give my girls each a capsule of Carlson Cod Liver oil daily which has 250 IU vitamin d per capsule – they also get a some lower levels from beef liver, eggs, dairy. A glandular isn’t necessary, I think it can be beneficial though.

[pugmomsandy]

RescueDaneMom,

I don’t use the grinds, so no advice there. I was just going to suggest something easier and less time consuming to begin with – Urban Wolf, Grandma Lucy’s or Honest Kitchen premixes. You just add meat and some oil. There’s also a product called CarnivoreRaw (from Young Again Pet Food) that you add to meat. It’s a raw food supplement with everything in it. All you do is use meat and oil and the powder. That’s what I used this last time around in my batch of raw.

[RescueDaneMom]

Hi All,

I have been lurking on DFA for a few months now. Originally I was trying to find the best dry food for my dog, then I started getting into dehydrated and freeze dried. Now I’m looking at frozen raw. For the past two months I have been doing 2/3 premium 5 star kibble with 1/3 frozen raw (complete formulas from Primal or Stella & Chewy’s). I didn’t know if my dog would go for it so that’s why I started this way. Now I want to move to full raw. I will admit to being lazy when it comes to this process. The easiest thing for me to get hold of right now is Primal grinds and complete formulas (Primal and S&C). A lady in the next town owner has become a retailer and sells it out of her house and adds very little markup.

I have a 7.5 year old Great Dane named Max that I got from a rescue. He is 155 pounds, is currently eating 1800-1900 calories per day, and is in perfect condition. I have fed him 3 meals per day since I got him because I could and it works for him. I want to do Primal grinds with additions for two of his meals and a complete formula for his third meal. I am most concerned with balancing his two meals of Primal grinds. From reading I have gathered that these grinds can be high in bone content as well as fat so it is important to add extra muscle meat (heart, boneless meats) and protein (eggs, cottage cheese, canned salmon, canned oysters, tripe?). I also plan on adding yogurt or kefir, sprouted seeds, fish oil, vitamin E, HDM’s superfood blend and veggie/fruit/herb puree, and 3 cloves of garlic 3x/week.

I have a few questions/ things I wanted to double check. He would need about 3200mg combined EPA/DHA, 300iu vitamin E, 200iu vitamin D/lb of food, 3 tsp of superfood blend daily, right? I couldn’t find what the appropriate amount of vitamin A was? If I use cod liver oil for the vitamin D, will that provide sufficient vitamin A? Also, would it be good to use a glandular supplement too? Lastly, assuming I have covered everything, a multivitamin/mineral isn’t needed correct?

Thank you in advance for your help. And special thanks to Hound Dog Mom for posting menus and such great, detailed information.

[theBCnut]

Triplets Mom

A lot of us here feed raw so feeding bones is normal for us. I don’t worry about salmonella in my dog at all, I just take precautions for us humans. I also feed raw rib bones, they are softer than marrow bones, but still take some chewing. Mine really like turkey necks and they have a lot of cartilage, so act as a joint supplement too.

[Anonymous]

Apriliamille, I have found a game butcher fairly close by, I will definitely try them for dog raw. Thank you so much for this excellent tip!

[BlackandBlue]

Ooh nasty anal gland problems (thank goodness my dog hasn’t gone there). For now I’m going to “bask in the glory” (thx Freeholdhound for that quote) of Wellness Whitefish & Sweet Potatoes. Never thought I’d say that about a 3 1/2 star dog food. Cause I can’t tell you how many food trials I’ve done with my dog, including raw medallions, dehydrated, and homemade. And you’re right Somebodysme, peas could be a problem for my dog and food with peas will be avoided.
At the vet, they suggested my dog go back on Royal Canine Potato and Whitefish veterinary diet. Yes, my dog did OK on it, except for really goopey eyes that disgusted my kids (caused by white potatoes). So, I refused the food and found the Wellness Whitefish. Anyway, there’s some Royal Canine Veterinary Diets that are only available in Canada that may work for my dog. Such as the RC Catfish kibble. I don’t know why they don’t sell that in the US? (Sorry I’m stooping so low as to be seeking out Royal Canine dog food but I’m in ear infection fallout.)

[somebodysme]

Patty, it would just seep out when she was sleeping. We’d be sitting around watching TV and she would be asleep on her blanket and all of a sudden the air would fill with that nasty dead fish odor.

OH and she is also allergic to beef rawhide and beef chew bones they sell packaged up like the Red Barn bones.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 6 months ago by somebodysme.

[somebodysme]

blackandblue, the NV LID has PEAS right after the tapioca so don’t dismiss it’s the peas. The symptoms of pea allergy with my dog are: red ears, watering eyes (mostly just one eye), hairless dime to quarter sized rash with pustules on her back and one large one on her tail, red/raw underside of her neck, red rash all over her chest, irritated genitals, completely raw paws with bloody pustules, scratching of her sides and thinning of the hair on the sides from scratching, pimples on her chin, irritated elbows, gnawing on knees. That’s about it, I think…UGH!

Natural Balance potato and rabbit is the only food, so far, that has worked for her…and it’s basically a bag of potatoes but I don’t know what else to do…she has to eat and she loves the food and it seems to very much agree with her. Not only are her allergy symptoms going away, she also has a very regular digestion and no anal gland problems like she had on the others.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 6 months ago by somebodysme.

[silkwingspapillons]

I’ve been making my own raw dog food for 12 years now. I travel with my dogs and have tried to dehydrate their food but have found that there is so much oil in it that I can’t get it to a dry consistency. I got a sample bag of Honest Kitchen this weekend and their food is like powder. I’m wondering how they do that with raw meat. Does anyone have any experience at this and can offer suggestions?

[apriliamille]

antar.
not intending to de rail the thread. but pending on where you moved to in the usa. look up game and live stock butchers and lockers. we have one here in utah who grinds up the remnants from the deer and elk and sells it as a dog raw for .89 a pound. 2nd shop grinds up and includes the organs and bones for about 1.50 pound

[Anonymous]

Thanks for this wonderful thread, most of all Hound Dog Mom for her great knowledge, research, and unbiased advice.
I have brought home a puppy from the rescue, it looks to be a lab/greyhound mix, it might become large, it might turn out to be medium, but I opted for the safe bet and I am feeding it low calcium.
I have recently moved to America from the Netherlands, and fed my GSD raw, but over there I can go to the butchers and get cuts and special dog-food easily. Here I have to find out anew where to go and what to buy. But I am impressed with the many different brands of quality dog food.
And tripe in a can! Brilliant!

I have learnt so much on this thread! I have read everything and printed HDM’s list so I have no questions, just:
Thank you all very much! Especially Hound Dog Mum.

[FreeholdHound]

No that would be MIRACULOUS! Something that he likes and it likes him back lol. I’m on a roll!! 1st Natues Logic, then the raw, now the premix… I may actually be able to rotate foods with him, never would’ve dreamed of that a year ago.

[beaglemom]

Patty, I like how you think!… I told him the “when h**l freezes over” line and he didn’t like that much, haha. He only has himself to blame though, he went with me to purchase the freezer! Did he think it would stay only half full? Admittedly I do need to reserve a little space for the deer he’d better be bringing me once hunting season starts. I like to tease him that it’s all for the dogs… (most of it is, I just let him think it isn’t).

Freehold – no luck with Raaw Energy and the tripe patties? Good luck getting your freezer, it makes raw-feeding life much easier! My fridge freezer breathed a sigh of relief when every last inch wasn’t busting with meat anymore. And now i have room for a few human items again, hehe.

[FreeholdHound]

I just put thru an order from Raw Pet Food Nation – just a little one. I couldn’t get my Tripe Patties locally so I gave it a shot.

[pugmomsandy]

I saw this the other day since I get their emails. It seems that ONP puts their private label on products already on the market. Their freeze dried raw raw food is identical to Sojo’s. This freeze dried product looks familiar too. There’s talk about this company in the ONP Nude Food review. Whether or not they “make” this food or not, ingredients look good. And some folks have stated that their customer service is not great.

[FreeholdHound]

I think I screwed up my question (apologies, bad week). I’m keeping the 1 1/2 cups of kibble in the AM, but will be mixing things around in the PM. When I use the See Spot Live Longer premix w/ the raw ground meat I eliminate the kibble if I’m reading things correctly – it’s the amount of ground meat I’m confused with.

[theBCnut]

Then about 12 oz of raw. Plan on having to adjust that amount. Actually what I do is feed the amount or raw that suits me and adjust the kibble up or down. I find that easier than having a few ounces of raw left in the fridge. It’s about cup of kibble to a half pound of raw. It’s not anything like exact, since your raw may have more or less fat on any given day and your kibble may have more or less calories than mine. I hope I’ve made this clear as mud, I mean clearer for you. LOL!!

BTW, my favorite book is Steve Brown’s “Unlocking the Canine Ancestral Diet” and my second is Dr Karen Becker’s book that I alway say the title wrong, something like “Real Foods for Healthy Dogs and Cats” Sorry, I’m not at the bookshelf for the exact title, but you should be able to find it. I got mine on Amazon, I believe. Oops, nevermind, you were asking about other premixes, not books, that was from the OP.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 6 months ago by theBCnut.

[FreeholdHound]

Oops! He normally gets another 1 1/2 cups of kibble in the PM, or a mix of raw/kibble

[bodzio]

Thank you Patty for the info. I think I am going to move towards kibble for initial 3-4 weeks with blend of wet/raw food. I am in NJ and found on this site info for Hare Today raw food distributor.
Was going to use their whole carcas grinds and prepare with veggies/eggs/fruit mixes.
When it comes to additives what would you recommend?

Probiotics – greek yogurt/goat milk?
Omegas – salomon or other fish oil?
Coconut oil – or garlic oil – for anti-backerial protection, some people use them?
Vitamin E and D? – I was going to use spinach, celery, carrots, pumpkin for raw meat mix – do I still need those?
What super foods would you recommend?

Thanks again.

[theBCnut]

Whether or not you continue to give some kibble may depend on how hard you want to work at providing variety and balance. My dogs still get about half kibble so if the squeamish family members have to feed, they won’t die. Since my dogs still get half kibble, I don’t have to worry as much about getting every vitamin. I still make sure that I feed the right amount of calcium and phosphorus pretty much every meal, and I always add in enzymes, animal derived omega 3s, and some source of super foods. I regularly add in coconut oil, probiotics, vit E and D. Everything else is hit and miss because of what fruit/veg I’m currently feeding, what I’m adding for variety, and/or covered well enough by the kibble. I also add in complete and balance raw sometimes. If you are feeding 20% or less of raw then you don’t have to worry about even that much.

[HilaryFarmer]

I have been feeding Orijen Regional Red ($90 per 29#) for about 2 months now and I’m very happy with it, I feel I can trust the company and my dogs are doing well on it, but I cant afford to feed enough of it to my pit mix (60# 2 yr old). He is eating 2 cups (900kcal) plus a half can of EVO (230kcal) wet food and feels a little too bony for me. I was thinking about adding RMB’s like chicken leg quarters to cheaply boost the amount of food he is getting.

My questions is would a leg quarter a day add a substantial amount of calories and is there anything I can add to boost the calories. I only have a small fridge being that I stay with my mom, but I can do things like eggs yoghurt etc along with the meat.

Although I would love to feed raw exclusively to all three of my dogs I work 8-16 hour days 5 days a week and have my younger brother walking and feeding and I dont trust his ability to feed anything other than my pre-set up bowls of kibble/supplements ;)So I would feed the raw meal in the morning before I go to work and he would get his kibble mix in the evening.

I have no problem keeping weight on my neutered dachshunds and they are actually slightly heavier than I like to keep them.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[bodzio]

We just got our 10 week old Eskie from the breeder and needles to say, he’s on Purina Pro program :(. I have been reeding these forums for information about nutritional needs of our new family addition and must say you folks are amazing with the amount of usefull information.

I had a couple of dogs in the past and never fed kibble, but rather raw/scraps/veggies to them. but that was 20 years ago or so. this time I am really looking into well balanced nutritionaly raw food diet.

Could you please recommend the best way of weening our Eskie of purina and should I still provide some kibble to balance his diet with raw food?

[theBCnut]

They don’t have to add supplemental vitamins if they are putting in whole foods that contain those vitamins, so I would still be wondering what you need to add. If you are still feeding half kibble or another raw that is complete and balanced, then I wouldn’t worry. But as a stand alone, I want to know that everything is in there. I would use it, but I am still feeding half kibble.

[emchide]

Hello again everyone,

I’m not sure this will be of more than speculative interest to most of you, unless you also live in the the greater Baltimore metropolitan area, but I think I’ve found a very appealing raw food source at a great price point. Any insights or thoughts will be appreciated, but it seems this company at the moment isn’t shipping product at all and is only available locally. Nonetheless, I am excited by the affordability/quality intersection as I see it.

Dogs Gone Wild

Currently offering one pound chubs, beef marrow bones, turkey necks, and chicken necks at one of the smaller, locally-owned pet stores (Howl, Dogma, and Bark!)- I have two others to explore and see if more variations are available. The PetCo and PetSmart stores nearby don’t carry DGW.

Chicken: 70% chicken / chicken bone
20% vegetables – broccoli, kale, carrots
10% organ meats
$2.50/lb

Turkey: 70% turkey / turkey bone
20% vegetables – green beans, carrots, yellow squash
10% organ meats
$2.65/lb

Beef: 70% beef / beef bone
20% vegetables – butternut squash, green beans, kale
10% organ meats
$3.05/lb

Duck: 70% duck / duck bone
20% vegetables-butternut squash, carrots, zucchini
10% organ meats.
$4.00/lb

Lamb: 80% lamb / lamb bone
20% vegetables – zucchini, carrots, parsley
**was out of stock**

Chicken & Veggie Mix Crude Protein (min) 12% Crude Fat (min) 10% Crude Fiber (max) 2% Moisture (max) 72%
Turkey & Veggie Mix Crude Protein (min) 12% Crude Fat (min) 5% Crude Fiber (max) 2% Moisture (max) 76%
Beef & Veggie Mix Crude Protein (min) 14% Crude Fat (min) 10% Crude Fiber (max) 2% Moisture (max) 70%
Duck and Veggie Mix. Crude Protein (min) 14% Crude Fat (min) 5% Crude Fiber (max) 2% Moisture (max) 75%
Lamb & Veggie Mix Crude Protein (min) 11% Crude Fat (min) 25% Crude Fiber (max) 2% Moisture (max) 61%

When thawed, the grinds look very appealing and fresh – softer and looser than my only comparisons, the FreshPet Vital refrigerated chubs which are firmer in texture and ~$6.00/lb.

I expect a significant contributor to their pricing involves not having supplemental vitamins included and thus not being certified as a complete food or whatnot. I’m curious about the perspectives of the knowledgeable members here.

• This topic was modified 12 years, 6 months ago by emchide.
• This topic was modified 12 years, 6 months ago by emchide.