[Oceans11]

I am picking up our 10 week old Coton de Tulear puppy next week. The breeder has him on kibble and is sending some home with us. I plan to transition him to Nature\’s Variety Instinct Raw and give him raw meaty bones several times a week for teeth cleaning purposes. My question is whether or not I should alternate giving him kibble and the raw diet?

[pugmomsandy]

You can do that. In fact you can alternate anything and everything – kibble, canned, freeze dried, raw. If he’s used to change you can mix up his meals, or you can feed one type of food per meal. My boys are used to change. This morning they had some raw, canned and freeze dried together. Now I wouldn’t have done this 2 or 3 years ago. But they’re used to it now.

[Oceans11]

Thank you pugdmomsandy for your thoughts. I hope our little guy doesn’t have any gastrointestinal issues. We haven’t had a puppy in a good while. Over the years we have raised many great wonderful dogs (Shepherds and Dobermans) but never a little dog. After reading so much about diets for dogs, it’s a wonder our dogs lived to ripe old ages and never had digestive problems being raised first on Purina Puppy Chow and later on Iames dry kibble. Now after doing some reading and being educated on this forum, I feel so guilty having fed our dogs the same food day in and day out. I feel like a novice dog owner now and am thankful to everyone for sharing their wisdom and making this my number one go-to web site. I have to admit that right now after trying to take everything in, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed but thankful that so much helpful information is available.

[Oceans11]

Your Pugs are adorable! I thank you and appreciate your comments. I made the mistake of going in and reading the comments on supplements – too much information for now! If I feed our puppy Raw Instinct Bites and alternate with an all meat kibble (Fromm perhaps??) and give him a bone every 3 days or so, won’t this be enough for a happy healthy pup? Doesn’t the Raw Instinct and kibble have the right mix of all the nutrients they need?

Also, have you any experience with using Diatamacious Earth as a preventive for ear mites?

[Molzy]

In my opinion, the medallions are WAY easier than the bites! My cat has been on NV for over a year. He looks great, hardly sheds. I tried the bites when they came out and don’t like them. Too many edges to get freezer burned, and harder to manage portion sizes. The medallions are all the same size, where I felt the bites didn’t always measure out the same in my measuring cup, and it was harder to split up his meals for the day. Just my opinion, but thought it might help. I’ve been very happy with the natures variety raw!

[Oceans11]

I appreciate the tip and will use the medallions. I have great respect and admiration for the people who are preparing their own raw dog food. I just don’t have it in me to do that at this point in life at least not right now.

[pugmomsandy]

oceans11,

Yes a mix of Instinct and kibble and bones will do!

[Oceans11]

I can’t tell you how relieved your response has made me feel. Thank you, thank you.

[Molzy]

I’m just about to start my own raw with both the cat and our two dogs who are currently on commercial dry and canned food, but I feel more comfortable after using a commercial raw product! I would continue using natures variety if I could, but it isn’t feasible for my budget with two 40lb active dogs. For me, it helped to read the ingredients on my raw bags to see that they don’t add much. I’m going to buy a ground whole prey as well, which seems easier to balance than using parts for now.

Good luck with your puppy! I have really loved natures variety, and will continue to use it for back up food. It seems like a great company, and I’ve been very happy with the product!

[Oceans11]

I am sure that once I become more confidant, I will be looking in to supplementing his natures variety with homemade meals because it will be more cost effective. I will be very interested in what you think of preparing their meals yourself.

[theBCnut]

I make some of my own homemade raw, but I still like getting some commercial too. Today I grabbed a container out of the freezer for their dinner, but when it came time to feed I found out that I didn’t grab what I thought I did. I had chicken necks, which 2 dogs can eat, but one can’t. I just went and grabbed a pouch of Darwin’s and floated it in water for a bit for him.

[pugmomsandy]

oceans11

There are some easy recipes in “Real Food for Healthy Dogs and Cats” by Karen Becker/Beth Taylor and there is a 4th edition which I just purchased. It makes for good reading too even if you don’t actually make the recipes. Anyhow, that is how I got started with homemade raw, but I use a commercial vit/min mix instead of the book’s recipe (CarnivoreRaw). Homemade is quite easy when you use a premix like CarnivoreRaw, Urban Wolf, The Honest Kitchen, Grandma Lucy’s, See Spot Live Longer. You just add the boneless meat/organs and oil (except for CarnivoreRaw, you have the choice of with or without calcium).

[Oceans11]

Thank you Pattyvaughn and pugmomsandy for the tips and your encouragement. I found out the breeder is feeding our pup Origen Puppy kibble along with Grizzly Salmon. I am going to feed Nature’s Instinct Raw frozen medallions alternating with Nature’s Variety Dry kibble Duck and Turkey and maybe throw in a little Nature’s Variety canned food to mix it up. I read somewhere on this website that Nature’s Variety is good for all life stages so ok to feed to a 10 week old puppy.

[FreeholdHound]

Sandy- the Carnivore Raw w/out calcium can be used with the bone-in grinds from Hare? THAT would be a God send for me – I mean Harry 🙂

[theBCnut]

Yes, it can!!! I’m going to try it soon too.

[FreeholdHound]

There’s chicken in it 🙁 but I’ll probably risk it.

[theBCnut]

That’s how I felt about it, but at least I have 2 dogs that I know I can get away with giving chicken to.

[DogManDan]

guys i have a question, im new to raw feeding… do you serve the bones as a whole especially with chicken wings, I’m kinda hesitant to give them the whole wing afraid they might choke or something due to those pointy bones.

[Cyndi]

Raw bones are perfectly fine. Chicken wings are fine, especially for smaller dogs. They can chew them up and swallow them. Cooked bones are hard and can splinter, so they are a no no. If your dogs are gulpers, chicken wings may be too small. You want them to chew them up and get the teeth cleaning benefits from the bone and not just swallow them whole.

[DogManDan]

I see, im planning to change their diet from regular dog food and cooked meals to raw… would there be a problems that i would encounter from changing their diets all of a sudden? or should i slowly make them adapt to it? like mixing raw food to their regular meals or should i just go with the raw immediately?

[Cyndi]

I basically switched my dog immediately. I’m not an expert or anything, so maybe someone else can chime in with their thoughts. I started with one protein source and fed that for a week or too, then went to another and then another. Slowly add organ meats in as well. You just want to make sure your dog can handle everything before you move on to something else. I started with chicken for the first week or two. My dog had a bit of a setback, getting used to raw, but she’s been doing fine. Just remember with completely raw you want to feed 80% raw meat, 10% bone & 10% organ meat (5% of that being liver). Every meal doesn’t have to be balanced, just balance it over time.

[Cyndi]

Also, some people here feed raw as toppers to their kibble or feed kibble for one meal and raw for another. Some dogs can handle that, some dogs can’t. Use pure canned pumpkin and plain yogurt along with the raw, that helps with digestion and any stomach upset as well.

[DogManDan]

thanks on that quick reply… i would put that on my note and prepare them as soon as possible.

[Cyndi]

You’re welcome. I was in your shoes about 6 months ago. It was all very over whelming! There’s quite a few of us here that feed raw, and we’re all here to help with any questions you may have. Good luck! 🙂

[Oceans11]

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we are picking up a 10 week old Coton puppy on Friday. He is being fed Orijen Puppy dry kibble. I will probably continue to give that to him for a couple of days then switch him to Nature’s Instinct Raw Medallions. By feeding him a commercial product like this, I don’t have to be concerned with percentages of protein, fat, etc. do I?

[pugmomsandy]

Oceans11,

Yes you do. Commercial raw products just like kibble and canned foods come with varying degrees of quality, even within the brand. Instinct actually looks pretty good and rated high. But if you take a look at Aunt Jeni’s or K9 Natural, there are some recipes that have too much fat (as much as or even more than the protein). I would be careful feeding the ones with excessive amounts of fat regularly. For a puppy and working dog/sled dog, those might be ok but it depends on your dog.

[Oceans11]

Sandy,
Thank you for clarifying. Is there a formula online that lists the percentages and ratios? I hate to admit it but I am overwhelmed right now and don’t want to think about it much until I get a handle on things. This will sound like an excuse but we are having our master bath redone and were to have had the bedroom painted. It’s week six and the contractor is about 50 percent done. There is no way we will paint the bedroom now. Will postpone that to next spring. I wanted everything finished so that when we bring the puppy home we can focus on him and establish rules and routines. It is totally frustrating because things aren’t where they will be once the remodel job is completed. Sorry to take up space here venting – just had another frustrating go round with the contractor.

[pugmomsandy]

If you look at the raw food reviews, 4 and 5 stars I would feed with no problem, 3 and 2 stars I would feed intermittently or use as a topper on top of other foods. That might make it easier for you. There is a formula to use to turn the protein and fat into “dry matter” that way you can compare each recipe.

/choosing-dog-food/dry-matter-basis/

[Oceans11]

Thanks for sharing the website. Good to know there is a formula to make sense out of the different dog food “analyses” and help to compare oranges to oranges.

[lukeduke]

I have a Cane Corso pup and the breeder had her on Kirkland puppy food. I transitioned her to Raw (instinct raw bites and Darwin). She eats the instinct like its “Crack”. 3secs and its gone. Oh, I do mix it with kibble (Prairie large breed). I’m thinking of just strait RAW. Darwin’s raw is local and free home delivery. I will say this about raw; the stole is solid and way less smelly.

[theBCnut]

If you can afford to go all raw, more power to you!! It is still best to find things other than Darwins to rotate to, just so you are making sure he gets a wide variety of micronutrients. You might want to look into a couple of different premixes or making some of your own raw meals.

[lukeduke]

Darwins, Instinct and probably Stella as far as raw and to cut down on cost i’ll probably mix it with a can or kibble. Not sure yet. Is kibble really that bad?

[theBCnut]

You know how a good doctor will tell you to stay away from processed foods? Kibble is the height of processed food. There are better and worse kibbles, and I feed my dogs half kibble and half raw, but I always look for the kibbles that use ingredients that are recognizable foods, that are cooked at low temp, and that have the highest levels of protein.

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