Raw feeding 911;updated on Aug 8th
In entries titled "Do you really know what is going into your dog's stomach Part I' and "Do you really know what is going into your dog's stomach Part II" I wrote about why I decided to switch my dog's diet to raw feeding. For those who are trying to plunge into the new diet for your dog,I thought it will be nice for you to have something to refer to when you stumbled over feeding problems. so,for this entry,I write little bit about raw feeding tidbits here for you.
Bellow is my dog Palette eating her big meal "Goat Leg".
Raw feeding has lots of leaning curve,but the result is great,I don't regret my decision that I made for my dog's diet.Once you know you are providing the best care possible for your dogs, I am sure you would enjoy raw feeding even if you sometimes got problems with feeding.
Some of the advantages of feeding raw diet are..
* diet menus are always being control by you,so you can tweak the diet details such as menu,total food amount,fat amount,bone amount when your dogs had digestive problems etc.
*you will always see with your eyes what your dogs would eat as meal
*your dogs' menu is always fresh,free from added vitamins,minerals,preservatives,additives,colorings etc and minimally processed
*you will always know where the fresh food comes from
*your dogs' coat becomes shinier,glossy looking with softer touch
* your dogs tend to use molars,canine teeth,front teeth when they eat their meals,and all chewing actions and ripping and tearing actions clean their teeth.As a result,their teeth gets whitier as days passes by. You can see my dog Palette's white teeth picture in the entry titled "Secret behind Palette's white teeth"
*food items provided on raw diet are easy to digest, and they have less waste to poop out,and less farting. Rawfed dogs' poop are compact in size (Palette poops out about 1/3 volume of poops on kibble diet time.For my 33lb Corgi,one zip bag is enough size to pick up her poop on walk),sweet smell poop(my husband say her poop does not smell like poop
),and not mushy,rather firmer poop. Poop from rawfed dogs turn white under the sun if you did not pick up the poop.Their pooping frequency gets much less too. She used to poop out at least 2-3 times per day but now,she poop one time per day or so and sometimes no poop.And Palette used to fart quite a bit when she was on kibble diet,but now on raw diet,she fart much less and not as stinky as it used to be.
*your dogs' breath would become sweet breath (No more doggy breath)
*your dogs' energy goes up
One thing you may encounter other than effect that I mentioned above is that,dogs would drink much less water because meal has lots of water in it.With kibble,since salt % is higher,and drier than raw meat,they tend to drink tons of water.
Our vet was first iffy about this way of feeding because she was worried about nutrition balance,however,she sees what makes difference in my dog and,since we did complete blood test as well and knows she is great inside as well,so now she is praising me,telling me that I have been doing great job for my dog,Palette.She is amazed by good body build,and especially amazed by pearly white teeth. I think pearly white teeth from doggy smile also attract vet,I guess,lol.When we go for walk,some other doggy walker or even security guard who is patrolling around the neighborhood stop their car, and comment on shiny coat too. My Corgi is Tri color corgi,so,especially sun reflect on black fur on her,it really looks nice and shiny.Anyhow..
What do you feed?
First of all, what you would feed are: meat,bone,organs. Of course,all in raw state.Sometimes,organs are called offal. And,sometimes,meat is called muscle. Now, you would soon understand what are bones/meat,but what are organs(offal)? Offal or organs are liver/kidney/lung/spleen etc,and while heart or tongues are,in our perception,considered to be an organs but for rawfeeding,tongues,hearts are in meat category,not organ category.
Good guideline ratio(%) are to be 80-10-10.Lots of meat(80%),some bone(10%),and some organs (10%).For organs such as liver,5% being liver and other 5% being other organ like kidney.When I have kidney to go with,I feed 5% liver,5% kidney for my dog.
You do not have to be on exact 80%,10%,10% at all.It is just a guideline,not set in stone%.It is just there with those figure to let you know how much of meat or bone or organs are to be fed in general. Like I mentioned in previous entry,raw feeding is to be designed to tailor to each individual dog's need.So, some dogs may not need this much of bone% or some dogs may need more bone%.It all depends on each dog. You observe your dog and see what works for you two.
Now we cleared what you would feed. Then,what kind of those are to be fed??
Any meat that are available to you are good one to feed. Most people start off with chicken because easy to find,reasonable price and,seems digested well by many dogs that are new to this diet. So,you get a whole poultry and then,cut to your dog's portion and feed through. I see that chicken parts are quite cheap like 50cents per pound,but think again. You are paying money to mostly bones not meat.So,when you feed backs for example,you must add meat to it to make it meaty meal.I think buying parts by parts sounds cheaper but end up costing more than buying a whole chicken.
Goal here is that you try to feed meat from various sources over the course of your dog's life. And if your dogs liked fish like mine,you feed fish. What kinds of fish you would ask. I would say,if you would like to try fish,try with omega3 rich fish to start with. Omega3 rich fish will be salmon,sardine,and mackerel. Don't buy big first if you were not sure if your dogs liked the fish you buy or not.Buy small,then,buy more if you found out your dogs do doggy dance for fish.I rotate those 3 fish over 3 weeks period,and since my dog is seafood lover,I feed non omega3 rich fish on other day as well. This week,she got flounder.
And feeding raw egg,green tripe will be good too. Green tripe is from cow's stomach and supposedly good for coat.Whether it is or not,Palette go nuts about green tripe and I feed it 2 times a day as side dish.I feed it as side dish because with big amount,being thawed,I just cannot stand the smell. It smells. I cut to ice cube size when I receive the tripe from my supplier,then bag them up and freeze them for feeding. Don't buy the white colored Tripe though from ethnic market.It is bleached and no nutritional value to it.
Now,what to avoid feeding your dogs?
*Avoid feeding weight-bearing bones such as feumer/marrow/knuckle bones from big animal like cow.Those would be teeth breaker/wearer.
And,while chicken bones are soft and any dogs can crunch down fine,but avoid feeding chicken necks to big dogs like Great Danes. They can swallow the chicken neck whole without crunching down and not good.
*Avoid feeding chunk of oxtail sold for soup.One inch chunks of bones can get swallow whole for many dogs,and stay away from it.If you like to feed oxtail bone,get whole uncut oxtail that is covered with meat around the bone from meat guy.
*Avoid bone-in pork chops or T-bone beef steak to feed.Bones in them are too small and it gets swallow whole.
*Never feed cooked bone.It is hard,indigestible,and splinter sharp,and can cause digestive problem big time!
If you ever go fishing in Pacific North West,and caught salmon or trout,DO NOT feed them right away.Freeze them a couple of weeks before feeding.This caution is there to avoid salmon poisoning for dogs. If you buy from grocery store,the fish should be brought to port frozen solid and it should be kept frozen until the one moment that be thawed to sell in fish counter so,that is fine. However,if you were still worried feeding raw salmon or trout for salmon poisoning,cook them.Cooking destroy the parasite,or avoid feeding salmon.
Next question you might have is "how much to feed?".
Well,guideline to be 2-3% of ideal adult body weight. That is your starting point to feed as daily amount. If your dogs were puppy,divide that amount to 3-4 feeding and feed throughout the day.Again,2-3% figure is guideline only,so,you feed that amount and if you thought your dog needed more for highly active dogs,then,you can up the% to 4% or 6% etc. Good guideline to know you feed good amount is that,you stand over the dog and when she/he is standing up,you feel ribs from top and if you easily felt ribs,then,good,if you had to dig into the skin to feel the ribs,then,you may want to consider tweaking food amount,down the daily feeding%.
However,don't be fool by your dog's look.Looking chubby does not necessary means your dog gained weight. Rawfed dog gains muscle and,really look muscular.Palette hind leg especially look muscular. So,sometimes,even if your dog looked chubby to your eyes,she/he may not be chubby at all,just changed to muscular look,and could weigh same or around.
Here is a thing. My dog, Palette, is Pembroke welsh corgi.If you go to AKC site and look the female dog average weight,it says average is 28lb. How much palette weigh?? She weigh 33lb. If you just look at number,you may say "Ohh,Palette is chubby a little". Fact is,not at all. Average corgi is 12" tall,it says. Palette?? She is 14" tall. And she does have waist and nice tuck-in tummy line. She could become a Corgi model So,for me,with her being tall,heavier than average corgi weight is fine as long as she does not keep gaining weight like to 50lb. 50lb corgis,now I see chubby So,my point is,when you see the weight # gain and tweak the diet to lower% to feed,try consider your dog's overall size too.Your dog could be taller than average like Palette.
With kibble feeding,you maybe feeding meal on schedule.But with raw feeding,try break the habit of feeding on same exact time. Why? If you were feeding on schedule,your dogs would expect you to feed meal on that particular time.And what happen if not fed on that time slot?? Well,dogs would vomit bile.. It is not vet emergency thing but,with random time feeding,dogs would not expect food on certain time and,that bile vomit goes away. That is something to think about. I do not feed Palette on schedule.It is random time.
Other vomit related thing is that, sometimes,dogs may vomit bile at early morning.That is not emergency stuff.It just that your dogs were hungry.So,try feed small snack before bed.That prevents you being woke up with vomit gurgling sound of your dog.
IF the vomit had bone bits in it,then,consider your meal had too much bone to digest.So,feed less bone in meal if that happen.
IF the vomit had all menu;meat,bone everything came back up,then,consider food temperature. some dogs do okay no matter what temperature of food was fed.My dog? She can eat small snack size frozen thing like frozen chicken feet,but with frozen meal,forget about it.She gives you present all over the house after 8-9 hours later. So,with her,I make sure that all menu being on counter to come up to room temperature.
Or.. if dog vomit up right after she/he ate the meal,chances are,your dog misjudged the swallowable size of the food,so they would re-chew it and swallow. It happened once to my own dog,Palette, just when I started feeding raw food.Don't feel alarmed,that is ok.
Oh,and it sounds gross to you,but let your dog re-eat the vomit if they wanted to.No harm at all.
Next question you might have is.. where do you feed?
I feed in kitchen with vinyl shower curtain on floor. That gives my dog quite space to eat on,and easy clean-up.I clean the area with 50% water 50% vinegar solution. I clean her paws if her paws got soaked with meat juice with the same solution.
My dog, Palette , took this new diet as if she were eating for ages.No nose-up. However,for some dogs,this new food may not be so appealing to them.Why? Remember? Dog's nose is amazing.They can smell your 1/28 ounce of sweat from sky.Their nose is that amazing.So, #1,smell different from kibble,#2 texture is not crunchy like kibble,#3 taste bland,#4 visually looking different.So,even just tiny bits of raw meat,for dogs that are new to this type of diet,lots of things to clear to feel to be motivated and actually enjoy them.
If you encounter dogs on strike,,what can you do??
Here are some tricks you can do.
1>try put the meat in zip bag,and put them in warm water to make smell more stronger
2>try put the skillet on very very very very high heat,and put the meat only one side about 1-3 seconds (quick sear the meat) and after it gets cool down,feed it
3> try make slits for them to smell inside better
4>poke the marrow in bone.If bone was with meat,it can entice your dog to nibble on meat too.
5>Mix it with raw Egg or Green tripe only if those were introduced by the time of strike
6>try put the meat 10-15 minutes,if no go,put it back and do not give anything no treats,no table scraps no nothing,and offer the same meal your dog refused hours later.
7>if the strike had happened on mid term of raw feeding,not on beginning of raw feeding time,you can simply bag it up and keep in freezer for months and try feed it again.Sometimes,taste buzz seem to change. Palette refused Ostrich meat first when I tried to feed it to her,but I forgot about it it is in freezer for good 3-4 months.Then,I was a little iffy but tried feeding Ostrich again,and guess what happened ? She ate in gusto, Ostrich is one of her favorite menu believe it or not.
Another problems you might encounter while on raw feeding is.. poop problems.If you see softer poop but dogs seem not in distress and if they did not ask you to take for potty zillions of times,then,it is just runny poop,not diarrhea.In such case,you can think about..
1>if the meal had not much bone in it enough to firm up the poop
2>if the meal was on little fatty side
If your dogs call for you zillions of times for potty,then,it is diarrhea.This might have happened because...
1>too much fat in one sitting
2>too much meal per sitting
3>too much new stuff in one sitting
Try find out the cause(!! It is always good for you to keep raw feeding journals.You write in what you feed,how much you fed etc and you should find pattern in your dogs.And it makes easy for you to find the cause of the problems if diarrhea or any other problems occured. You cannot recall what you had for your own dinner 3-4 days ago,right?? So,keep raw feeding journal!!),and while dogs are on diarrhea phase,do not feed the meal,but offer plenty of water to avoid dehydration and give probiotic or slippery elms to sooth the stomach.
Next time you feed,you feed tweaked meal detail such as..taking off some poultry meat's skin or try feed fatty cuts a little less with some meat (if fat% was cause),or feed smaller portion (if too much food was cause),or omit lots of new items from the meal and feed meat your dogs do well on along with tiny bit of one single new item (if too much new stuff in per sitting was cause)etc.
#1 rule here is.. introduce new item one at a time:put one single new stuff to the meal already being good on and after you see your dog drop the cute nugget poop,you then,introduce another new item.One baby step by one baby step.
And..opposite to diarrhea,if your dogs appeared to be constipated,go for long walk. walking encourage the bowel movement and good exercise for you both. If your dogs poop were whitish crumbly poop,then,you feeding too much bone.So,reduce the bone amount in meal. Dog needs lots of meat not bone.
Also,don't try to make the poop to nice consistency poop all the time you are familiar with dog on kibble. As long as dogs are pooping out the poop that match to meal detail,reflecting what were fed to them,then,it is fine.When you feed heart meal,the poop tends to get softer than usual,and as long as it has shape to it,not like very soft fettuccine poop with messed up butt pants,then,that is fine.
Poop change its color depending on what were fed. Poultry poop is yellowish,red meat/fish poop is dark brownish color and poop after heart meal tend to be darker.
When you start feeding raw,you tend to be obsessed with poop. Sometime in the beginning phase,you may see bone bits in the poop.That is fine. When dog gets accustomed to digesting bone,it will go away.
When I started raw feeding,I was afraid of my dog choking bone.But I am not that nervous now. But I make sure I sit with Palette (for me to read,for her to eat) while she is eating and give quick glance now and then. If your dogs were,turned out to be a gulper,then,feed larger piece to avoid swallowing whole thing.Observing the feeding time is something I recommend too.
So,now you know basic of raw feeding. I hope you enjoy raw feeding and your dogs live longer and healthier..
For newbie feeder,I leave this entry with my dog's beginning phase meal plan to peek through. this is just my way for my dog. You do not need to follow exactly what I did for my dog. Feed the way your dogs do good with.
Week 1 Chicken
Week 2 Chicken with chicken liver
Week3 Beef with chicken liver for half the meal and chicken half the meal (first 3 days),
Beef with beef liver(last 4 days)
Week 4 Beef with either chicken liver or beef liver
Week 5 Beef with either chicken or beef liver half the meal and Turkey half the meal
(first 3 days) and , Turkey with either chicken or beef liver (last 4 days)
Week 6 Turkey with either chicken or beef liver half the meal and pork half the meal (first 3 days),
Pork with either chicken liver or beef liver (last 4 days)
Week 7 Pork with either chicken liver or beef liver(first 3 days) Pork with pork liver (last 4 days)
Week 8 and Week 9 started with some Pork with Lamb in the meal for some days, and moved to
Lamb with either chicken or beef or pork liver without pork in the meal
Week 10 Lamb with chicken along with chicken or beef or pork liver
Note:She had digestive problem with lamb tongue so,I spent 3 weeks on lamb for her etc etc
To read "Raw feeding 911 Part II", please click here.
To read "Raw feeding 911 Part III", please click here.
To read "Raw feeding 911 Part IV", please click here.
Bellow is my dog Palette eating her big meal "Goat Leg".
Some of the advantages of feeding raw diet are..
* diet menus are always being control by you,so you can tweak the diet details such as menu,total food amount,fat amount,bone amount when your dogs had digestive problems etc.
*you will always see with your eyes what your dogs would eat as meal
*your dogs' menu is always fresh,free from added vitamins,minerals,preservatives,additives,colorings etc and minimally processed
*you will always know where the fresh food comes from
*your dogs' coat becomes shinier,glossy looking with softer touch
* your dogs tend to use molars,canine teeth,front teeth when they eat their meals,and all chewing actions and ripping and tearing actions clean their teeth.As a result,their teeth gets whitier as days passes by. You can see my dog Palette's white teeth picture in the entry titled "Secret behind Palette's white teeth"
*food items provided on raw diet are easy to digest, and they have less waste to poop out,and less farting. Rawfed dogs' poop are compact in size (Palette poops out about 1/3 volume of poops on kibble diet time.For my 33lb Corgi,one zip bag is enough size to pick up her poop on walk),sweet smell poop(my husband say her poop does not smell like poop
),and not mushy,rather firmer poop. Poop from rawfed dogs turn white under the sun if you did not pick up the poop.Their pooping frequency gets much less too. She used to poop out at least 2-3 times per day but now,she poop one time per day or so and sometimes no poop.And Palette used to fart quite a bit when she was on kibble diet,but now on raw diet,she fart much less and not as stinky as it used to be.*your dogs' breath would become sweet breath (No more doggy breath)
*your dogs' energy goes up
One thing you may encounter other than effect that I mentioned above is that,dogs would drink much less water because meal has lots of water in it.With kibble,since salt % is higher,and drier than raw meat,they tend to drink tons of water.
Our vet was first iffy about this way of feeding because she was worried about nutrition balance,however,she sees what makes difference in my dog and,since we did complete blood test as well and knows she is great inside as well,so now she is praising me,telling me that I have been doing great job for my dog,Palette.She is amazed by good body build,and especially amazed by pearly white teeth. I think pearly white teeth from doggy smile also attract vet,I guess,lol.When we go for walk,some other doggy walker or even security guard who is patrolling around the neighborhood stop their car, and comment on shiny coat too. My Corgi is Tri color corgi,so,especially sun reflect on black fur on her,it really looks nice and shiny.Anyhow..
What do you feed?
First of all, what you would feed are: meat,bone,organs. Of course,all in raw state.Sometimes,organs are called offal. And,sometimes,meat is called muscle. Now, you would soon understand what are bones/meat,but what are organs(offal)? Offal or organs are liver/kidney/lung/spleen etc,and while heart or tongues are,in our perception,considered to be an organs but for rawfeeding,tongues,hearts are in meat category,not organ category.
Good guideline ratio(%) are to be 80-10-10.Lots of meat(80%),some bone(10%),and some organs (10%).For organs such as liver,5% being liver and other 5% being other organ like kidney.When I have kidney to go with,I feed 5% liver,5% kidney for my dog.
You do not have to be on exact 80%,10%,10% at all.It is just a guideline,not set in stone%.It is just there with those figure to let you know how much of meat or bone or organs are to be fed in general. Like I mentioned in previous entry,raw feeding is to be designed to tailor to each individual dog's need.So, some dogs may not need this much of bone% or some dogs may need more bone%.It all depends on each dog. You observe your dog and see what works for you two.
Now we cleared what you would feed. Then,what kind of those are to be fed??
Any meat that are available to you are good one to feed. Most people start off with chicken because easy to find,reasonable price and,seems digested well by many dogs that are new to this diet. So,you get a whole poultry and then,cut to your dog's portion and feed through. I see that chicken parts are quite cheap like 50cents per pound,but think again. You are paying money to mostly bones not meat.So,when you feed backs for example,you must add meat to it to make it meaty meal.I think buying parts by parts sounds cheaper but end up costing more than buying a whole chicken.
Goal here is that you try to feed meat from various sources over the course of your dog's life. And if your dogs liked fish like mine,you feed fish. What kinds of fish you would ask. I would say,if you would like to try fish,try with omega3 rich fish to start with. Omega3 rich fish will be salmon,sardine,and mackerel. Don't buy big first if you were not sure if your dogs liked the fish you buy or not.Buy small,then,buy more if you found out your dogs do doggy dance for fish.I rotate those 3 fish over 3 weeks period,and since my dog is seafood lover,I feed non omega3 rich fish on other day as well. This week,she got flounder.
And feeding raw egg,green tripe will be good too. Green tripe is from cow's stomach and supposedly good for coat.Whether it is or not,Palette go nuts about green tripe and I feed it 2 times a day as side dish.I feed it as side dish because with big amount,being thawed,I just cannot stand the smell. It smells. I cut to ice cube size when I receive the tripe from my supplier,then bag them up and freeze them for feeding. Don't buy the white colored Tripe though from ethnic market.It is bleached and no nutritional value to it.
Now,what to avoid feeding your dogs?
*Avoid feeding weight-bearing bones such as feumer/marrow/knuckle bones from big animal like cow.Those would be teeth breaker/wearer.
And,while chicken bones are soft and any dogs can crunch down fine,but avoid feeding chicken necks to big dogs like Great Danes. They can swallow the chicken neck whole without crunching down and not good.
*Avoid feeding chunk of oxtail sold for soup.One inch chunks of bones can get swallow whole for many dogs,and stay away from it.If you like to feed oxtail bone,get whole uncut oxtail that is covered with meat around the bone from meat guy.
*Avoid bone-in pork chops or T-bone beef steak to feed.Bones in them are too small and it gets swallow whole.
*Never feed cooked bone.It is hard,indigestible,and splinter sharp,and can cause digestive problem big time!
If you ever go fishing in Pacific North West,and caught salmon or trout,DO NOT feed them right away.Freeze them a couple of weeks before feeding.This caution is there to avoid salmon poisoning for dogs. If you buy from grocery store,the fish should be brought to port frozen solid and it should be kept frozen until the one moment that be thawed to sell in fish counter so,that is fine. However,if you were still worried feeding raw salmon or trout for salmon poisoning,cook them.Cooking destroy the parasite,or avoid feeding salmon.
Next question you might have is "how much to feed?".
Well,guideline to be 2-3% of ideal adult body weight. That is your starting point to feed as daily amount. If your dogs were puppy,divide that amount to 3-4 feeding and feed throughout the day.Again,2-3% figure is guideline only,so,you feed that amount and if you thought your dog needed more for highly active dogs,then,you can up the% to 4% or 6% etc. Good guideline to know you feed good amount is that,you stand over the dog and when she/he is standing up,you feel ribs from top and if you easily felt ribs,then,good,if you had to dig into the skin to feel the ribs,then,you may want to consider tweaking food amount,down the daily feeding%.
However,don't be fool by your dog's look.Looking chubby does not necessary means your dog gained weight. Rawfed dog gains muscle and,really look muscular.Palette hind leg especially look muscular. So,sometimes,even if your dog looked chubby to your eyes,she/he may not be chubby at all,just changed to muscular look,and could weigh same or around.
Here is a thing. My dog, Palette, is Pembroke welsh corgi.If you go to AKC site and look the female dog average weight,it says average is 28lb. How much palette weigh?? She weigh 33lb. If you just look at number,you may say "Ohh,Palette is chubby a little". Fact is,not at all. Average corgi is 12" tall,it says. Palette?? She is 14" tall. And she does have waist and nice tuck-in tummy line. She could become a Corgi model
So,for me,with her being tall,heavier than average corgi weight is fine as long as she does not keep gaining weight like to 50lb. 50lb corgis,now I see chubby So,my point is,when you see the weight # gain and tweak the diet to lower% to feed,try consider your dog's overall size too.Your dog could be taller than average like Palette.With kibble feeding,you maybe feeding meal on schedule.But with raw feeding,try break the habit of feeding on same exact time. Why? If you were feeding on schedule,your dogs would expect you to feed meal on that particular time.And what happen if not fed on that time slot?? Well,dogs would vomit bile.. It is not vet emergency thing but,with random time feeding,dogs would not expect food on certain time and,that bile vomit goes away. That is something to think about. I do not feed Palette on schedule.It is random time.
Other vomit related thing is that, sometimes,dogs may vomit bile at early morning.That is not emergency stuff.It just that your dogs were hungry.So,try feed small snack before bed.That prevents you being woke up with vomit gurgling sound of your dog.
IF the vomit had bone bits in it,then,consider your meal had too much bone to digest.So,feed less bone in meal if that happen.
IF the vomit had all menu;meat,bone everything came back up,then,consider food temperature. some dogs do okay no matter what temperature of food was fed.My dog? She can eat small snack size frozen thing like frozen chicken feet,but with frozen meal,forget about it.She gives you present all over the house after 8-9 hours later. So,with her,I make sure that all menu being on counter to come up to room temperature.
Or.. if dog vomit up right after she/he ate the meal,chances are,your dog misjudged the swallowable size of the food,so they would re-chew it and swallow. It happened once to my own dog,Palette, just when I started feeding raw food.Don't feel alarmed,that is ok.
Oh,and it sounds gross to you,but let your dog re-eat the vomit if they wanted to.No harm at all.
Next question you might have is.. where do you feed?
I feed in kitchen with vinyl shower curtain on floor. That gives my dog quite space to eat on,and easy clean-up.I clean the area with 50% water 50% vinegar solution. I clean her paws if her paws got soaked with meat juice with the same solution.
My dog, Palette , took this new diet as if she were eating for ages.No nose-up. However,for some dogs,this new food may not be so appealing to them.Why? Remember? Dog's nose is amazing.They can smell your 1/28 ounce of sweat from sky.Their nose is that amazing.So, #1,smell different from kibble,#2 texture is not crunchy like kibble,#3 taste bland,#4 visually looking different.So,even just tiny bits of raw meat,for dogs that are new to this type of diet,lots of things to clear to feel to be motivated and actually enjoy them.
If you encounter dogs on strike,,what can you do??
Here are some tricks you can do.
1>try put the meat in zip bag,and put them in warm water to make smell more stronger
2>try put the skillet on very very very very high heat,and put the meat only one side about 1-3 seconds (quick sear the meat) and after it gets cool down,feed it
3> try make slits for them to smell inside better
4>poke the marrow in bone.If bone was with meat,it can entice your dog to nibble on meat too.
5>Mix it with raw Egg or Green tripe only if those were introduced by the time of strike
6>try put the meat 10-15 minutes,if no go,put it back and do not give anything no treats,no table scraps no nothing,and offer the same meal your dog refused hours later.
7>if the strike had happened on mid term of raw feeding,not on beginning of raw feeding time,you can simply bag it up and keep in freezer for months and try feed it again.Sometimes,taste buzz seem to change. Palette refused Ostrich meat first when I tried to feed it to her,but I forgot about it it is in freezer for good 3-4 months.Then,I was a little iffy but tried feeding Ostrich again,and guess what happened ? She ate in gusto, Ostrich is one of her favorite menu believe it or not.
Another problems you might encounter while on raw feeding is.. poop problems.If you see softer poop but dogs seem not in distress and if they did not ask you to take for potty zillions of times,then,it is just runny poop,not diarrhea.In such case,you can think about..
1>if the meal had not much bone in it enough to firm up the poop
2>if the meal was on little fatty side
If your dogs call for you zillions of times for potty,then,it is diarrhea.This might have happened because...
1>too much fat in one sitting
2>too much meal per sitting
3>too much new stuff in one sitting
Try find out the cause(!! It is always good for you to keep raw feeding journals.You write in what you feed,how much you fed etc and you should find pattern in your dogs.And it makes easy for you to find the cause of the problems if diarrhea or any other problems occured. You cannot recall what you had for your own dinner 3-4 days ago,right?? So,keep raw feeding journal!!),and while dogs are on diarrhea phase,do not feed the meal,but offer plenty of water to avoid dehydration and give probiotic or slippery elms to sooth the stomach.
Next time you feed,you feed tweaked meal detail such as..taking off some poultry meat's skin or try feed fatty cuts a little less with some meat (if fat% was cause),or feed smaller portion (if too much food was cause),or omit lots of new items from the meal and feed meat your dogs do well on along with tiny bit of one single new item (if too much new stuff in per sitting was cause)etc.
#1 rule here is.. introduce new item one at a time:put one single new stuff to the meal already being good on and after you see your dog drop the cute nugget poop,you then,introduce another new item.One baby step by one baby step.
And..opposite to diarrhea,if your dogs appeared to be constipated,go for long walk. walking encourage the bowel movement and good exercise for you both. If your dogs poop were whitish crumbly poop,then,you feeding too much bone.So,reduce the bone amount in meal. Dog needs lots of meat not bone.
Also,don't try to make the poop to nice consistency poop all the time you are familiar with dog on kibble. As long as dogs are pooping out the poop that match to meal detail,reflecting what were fed to them,then,it is fine.When you feed heart meal,the poop tends to get softer than usual,and as long as it has shape to it,not like very soft fettuccine poop with messed up butt pants,then,that is fine.
Poop change its color depending on what were fed. Poultry poop is yellowish,red meat/fish poop is dark brownish color and poop after heart meal tend to be darker.
When you start feeding raw,you tend to be obsessed with poop. Sometime in the beginning phase,you may see bone bits in the poop.That is fine. When dog gets accustomed to digesting bone,it will go away.
When I started raw feeding,I was afraid of my dog choking bone.But I am not that nervous now. But I make sure I sit with Palette (for me to read,for her to eat) while she is eating and give quick glance now and then. If your dogs were,turned out to be a gulper,then,feed larger piece to avoid swallowing whole thing.Observing the feeding time is something I recommend too.
So,now you know basic of raw feeding. I hope you enjoy raw feeding and your dogs live longer and healthier..
For newbie feeder,I leave this entry with my dog's beginning phase meal plan to peek through. this is just my way for my dog. You do not need to follow exactly what I did for my dog. Feed the way your dogs do good with.
Week 1 Chicken
Week 2 Chicken with chicken liver
Week3 Beef with chicken liver for half the meal and chicken half the meal (first 3 days),
Beef with beef liver(last 4 days)
Week 4 Beef with either chicken liver or beef liver
Week 5 Beef with either chicken or beef liver half the meal and Turkey half the meal
(first 3 days) and , Turkey with either chicken or beef liver (last 4 days)
Week 6 Turkey with either chicken or beef liver half the meal and pork half the meal (first 3 days),
Pork with either chicken liver or beef liver (last 4 days)
Week 7 Pork with either chicken liver or beef liver(first 3 days) Pork with pork liver (last 4 days)
Week 8 and Week 9 started with some Pork with Lamb in the meal for some days, and moved to
Lamb with either chicken or beef or pork liver without pork in the meal
Week 10 Lamb with chicken along with chicken or beef or pork liver
Note:She had digestive problem with lamb tongue so,I spent 3 weeks on lamb for her etc etc
To read "Raw feeding 911 Part II", please click here.
To read "Raw feeding 911 Part III", please click here.
To read "Raw feeding 911 Part IV", please click here.
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