[Daunte]

Hello fellow rawfeeders! We recently adopted a 5 year old Kooikerhondje and he's swiftly become a much loved member of the family. He also came with some pretty nasty teeth!

The previous people he was with got him as a puppy and had been feeding him Purina dog chow for the last 5 years. We read up on PMR and decided to make the switch about a week ago.

He's been doing really well, and I can already tell a difference in his teeth. Yay!

So here's my question.. I've been adding a very small amount of raw garlic to his chicken quarters because it seems to peak his interest. For the first few days he was very reluctant to eat raw, which I understand having been fed dog chow for so long (and also I can imagine those yucky teeth might have hurt). Any downsides to using the garlic for now? I don't think he'll have any problem once we get to the point of giving him other meats. He got a taste of raw venison the other day and went nuts for it. But I want to do this the right way and introduce those other meats slowly, and the garlic definitely helps.

Anyway, thanks for reading, here are a few pictures of Daunte enjoying his chicken quarters.

And one of his beautiful face:

 

[rawfeederr]

Welcome! Kooikerhondjes are beautiful dogs!

I don't think the garlic will hurt if you are just doing it for a little while.

Good luck! :smile:

 

[Daunte]

Welcome! Kooikerhondjes are beautiful dogs!

I don't think the garlic will hurt if you are just doing it for a little while.

Good luck! :smile:

Thank you! Yes, we only intend on doing it for a short while until he gets used to the idea. He's kind of a picky eater. LOL

There's a lot of information/misinformation about garlic for dogs on the web, so I just want to make sure we're doing the right thing.

 

[CorgiPaws]

Welcome to the forum! SO glad to have you here, and what a beautiful dog!

I don't see a health risk with temporarily using the garlic, that's how I got my Corgi interested in liver, actually. Long term use I'm not so sure, but it doesn't sound like that's your plan anyway.

Aside from health, I will warn on creating a picky eater. What you don't want to do is let him play a game with you, refusing meats until you add something else to it. A dog will not starve himself in the presense of food, so remember if you are giving him something he is refusing, you are not going to starve him, and eventually he will eat it and realize that you call the shots. (we all give in every now and then and let them indulge, i don't care what anyone claims! lol)

Some people think garlic is toxic. I don't buy it. I've given my dogs garlic on many occasions. Some swear by it as a natural flea repellent. I don't know anything about it working for that because I don't live in an area where fleas are a problem, but I don't think twice about indulging my three with some garlic every now and then

 

[Daunte]

Welcome to the forum! SO glad to have you here, and what a beautiful dog!

I don't see a health risk with temporarily using the garlic, that's how I got my Corgi interested in liver, actually. Long term use I'm not so sure, but it doesn't sound like that's your plan anyway.

Aside from health, I will warn on creating a picky eater. What you don't want to do is let him play a game with you, refusing meats until you add something else to it. A dog will not starve himself in the presense of food, so remember if you are giving him something he is refusing, you are not going to starve him, and eventually he will eat it and realize that you call the shots. (we all give in every now and then and let them indulge, i don't care what anyone claims! lol)

Some people think garlic is toxic. I don't buy it. I've given my dogs garlic on many occasions. Some swear by it as a natural flea repellent. I don't know anything about it working for that because I don't live in an area where fleas are a problem, but I don't think twice about indulging my three with some garlic every now and then

Thank you! And yes, I'm walking a fine line between calling the shots on what he eats and trying to get him interested in raw. He's made huge strides in our first week, so I think he's getting used to the idea now. :biggrin:

Thank you for your imput!

 

[RawFedDogs]

Thank you! And yes, I'm walking a fine line between calling the shots on what he eats and trying to get him interested in raw. He's made huge strides in our first week, so I think he's getting used to the idea now. :biggrin:

It won't take long for him to start loving the raw diet. I know a lot of people who use garlic in the diet for a flea repellant.