Anyone feed their dog a raw diet?

[AlmiraGulch]

For various and sundry reasons, I'm in the process of changing my puppy's diet. He currently gets very high quality food (Petcurean Now! Large Breed Puppy) but I think we could do better. His gas is AWFUL, and his stools are very, very large. I realize he's a bully breed, and some of that comes with the territory, but I just feel like there is something better for him out there.

 

He needs to be grain free because his skin flares up terribly when he takes in grains.

 

I know there are some excellent premium foods, but I'm considering switching to a raw diet. Not the pre-packaged raw, like Stella and Chewies or similar, but actual raw food.

 

Has anyone here done that? What prompted you to do it, and what were the results?

 

Also, if you transitioned from kibble to raw, can you tell me how you went about it?

 

Finally, if you feed part kibble, part raw, I'd like to hear from you as well.

[Live2Ride]

We normally do all raw. It's easy once you get the hang of it. I have five dogs on raw. It's 2% of their body weight in raw meat feeding. THat can include bone as well. To give you an idea of what my dogs get I'll give you a run down:

 

Great Dane, 85lbs. She gets about 1 3/4-2 lbs of food a day. Such as 1 whole chicken, or 3 leg quarters, beef ground or chopped mixed with 1 raw egg and a palm sized peice of liver or other organ meat like green tripe, 2-3 fish whole depending on size (with the top, bottom and sometimes tail fins removed), chicken gizzards/livers/feet (just mainly for chew fun, turkey neck with other whole meats to make weight, goat/lamb/pork/deer, etc.

 

German Shepherd, 75 lbs gets ~1 1/2 lbs of food

 

Beagle and Fiest, 21-23 lbs get a half pound or so thigh or leg or combo of anything above to make food weight.

 

Pit mix 45 lbs gets 1 lb or more depending on activity level.

 

The nice thing about it, very little output waste! They also have cleaner teeth and healthier gums from the bones=cleaner smelling breath!

 

There is a big yahoo raw feeding group that I visited to get ideas and info back when I started some years ago. Might want to google it and read some. It's really not hard to do and if the dog looks like it's a little thin, bump up the meat a little. They'll put it back on fairly quickly. I also only feed once a day when on raw. And we fast once a week with a large meal the day before. They like their eggs shell and all. I crush it good and mix with their ground meats on one day of the week. Beef hearts are good, but only given occasionally and in small amounts. They like tongue too...

 

Oh and we do kibble at times when we don't have time to get meat or when we go out of town. My dogs have no issues switching back and forth, But I normally skip a full meal before switching. Raw processes more slowly, but kibble seems to stay in their gut longer. If I'm switching from kibble to raw, I only feed kibble in the early morning and then raw the next day after noon. If I'm feeding raw then going to kibble, I'll feed their raw meal in the morning then feed them kibble the next morning. IT's worked so far for the various dogs we've had over the years.

 

I only buy food that is grain free though when feeding raw...their tummy's aren't excited about grains, but they seem to be ok with brown rice so if I can't get their normal food (Taste of the Wild or Blue Buffalo grain free), then I'll grab the next best feed. They always have solid waste on these foods, but more than they would on raw...

[Liz CA]

I have been feeding raw for many years. I am currently feeding raw ground beef (he does not like chicken or turkey) with a little rice and some carrots. He loves celery and carrots. Raw feeding seems to have been great for my dogs.

 

I had one bad incident where I had given my mastiff girl a neckbone that was too small for her and it lodged in her esophagus.

Feed VERY large hip bones (you can get them from a butcher usually as they typically go into the trash). The large bones provide some meat but even if there is little meat on it, the dogs get the benefit of the marrow which my dog licked out until there was nothing left.

[Live2Ride]

I have been feeding raw for many years. I am currently feeding raw ground beef (he does not like chicken or turkey) with a little rice and some carrots. He loves celery and carrots. Raw feeding seems to have been great for my dogs.

 

I had one bad incident where I had given my mastiff girl a neckbone that was too small for her and it lodged in her esophagus.

Feed VERY large hip bones (you can get them from a butcher usually as they typically go into the trash). The large bones provide some meat but even if there is little meat on it, the dogs get the benefit of the marrow which my dog licked out until there was nothing left.

 

I agree. You want your recreational bones to be large. I give other bones to our dogs but it depends on the size as to who gets what. They need the calcium/bone in their diet as well (hence why we feed eggs shell and all). We mostly give poultry bones as they are the most porous and easy for the dogs to chew. Mine also get fruits and veggies when we have some extra. They like many things.

[AlmiraGulch]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. After all the research I've done I really think this may be the way to go for my dog. Now I just have to convince my husband....

[Live2Ride]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. After all the research I've done I really think this may be the way to go for my dog. Now I just have to convince my husband....

 

It also isn't that much more expensive than a high quality kibble diet. I spend almost the same and sometimes more on the kibble...