Okay, so I've been lurking a couple of weeks, and I have been researching my little eyes out.
I can't believe that just about a month ago I was feeding Iams, and yet just 5 mins ago, I gave my pup his first raw chicken thigh.
He was fine on Iams, but I started doing research on dog nutrition and I realized that to THRIVE he needed something more. I mean, I was so picky with my own family's diet -- why didn't that apply to my dog?!
I went from Iams to Nature's Recipe -- and he was really itchy. Mind you he was fine on the Iam's. So I went to Natural Balance and I transitioned him very slowly. By the time he was on full NB he had yukky loose runny poop. Not quite uncontrollable diarrhea, but you get the point. So I decided that I would just switch. I went to making a BARF type patty at home, but I know he needs the bone. He's not as runny anymore on the BARF type patties, but I know he really needs bone (not the eggshell or bone meal). So I got a bag of bone in chicken thighs (couldn't find the quarters, will have to look again).
I was so nervous feeding the thigh. He took the whole thing in his mouth and ate it standing up. I think it was because I kept trying to drag the raw chicken off the living room floor hah. He's only 5 months and chowed the thing down like a champ. I took the skin off since he's already a little runny, just to see how he does with it.
So I did it. I took the first step. Dang I'm still nervous heh! And I'm even an authority questioning type!
Here are some questions for you guys!
So, the pup is border collie/lab mix. He's 5 months old and currently weighs 30 lbs. I'm guessing he's gonna be somewhere between 50-80 pounds as an adult. No one really has a decent estimation for me heh. Maybe I'll figure at about 60 or so? I've forgotten how much puppies grow between 6-12 months? Hasn't it slowed down by now? is he at approx half his adult weight? Anyway, so would I feed him approx 2# a day of bone in stuff? I'm not an exact type person, so I'll prolly weigh the first couple of pieces and just guess from there. I know that as a person I don't need to worry about eating as an exact science, so I'm not going to be obsessive about him either. I just wanna make sure my ball park figure is right and I haven't miscalculated too much hah.
About how long will it take for the "I'm insanely hungry" thing to wear off? I know that its normal for them to behave as if they are starving, and I know I have him on the BARF homemade patties now and he should be a little bit better with the bone in stuff, but about how long will it be before this personality change is gone? He went from sweet docile dog to chow hound in the space of a day. He's acting like I'm starving him, and really, according to his weight I'm kinda overfeeding him (but its all good raw meat and a minimal amount of veg matter).
Thanks for listening, I just needed a little bit of emotional reassurance
I can't believe that just about a month ago I was feeding Iams, and yet just 5 mins ago, I gave my pup his first raw chicken thigh.
He was fine on Iams, but I started doing research on dog nutrition and I realized that to THRIVE he needed something more. I mean, I was so picky with my own family's diet -- why didn't that apply to my dog?!
I went from Iams to Nature's Recipe -- and he was really itchy. Mind you he was fine on the Iam's. So I went to Natural Balance and I transitioned him very slowly. By the time he was on full NB he had yukky loose runny poop. Not quite uncontrollable diarrhea, but you get the point. So I decided that I would just switch. I went to making a BARF type patty at home, but I know he needs the bone. He's not as runny anymore on the BARF type patties, but I know he really needs bone (not the eggshell or bone meal). So I got a bag of bone in chicken thighs (couldn't find the quarters, will have to look again).
I was so nervous feeding the thigh. He took the whole thing in his mouth and ate it standing up. I think it was because I kept trying to drag the raw chicken off the living room floor hah. He's only 5 months and chowed the thing down like a champ. I took the skin off since he's already a little runny, just to see how he does with it.
So I did it. I took the first step. Dang I'm still nervous heh! And I'm even an authority questioning type!
Here are some questions for you guys!
So, the pup is border collie/lab mix. He's 5 months old and currently weighs 30 lbs. I'm guessing he's gonna be somewhere between 50-80 pounds as an adult. No one really has a decent estimation for me heh. Maybe I'll figure at about 60 or so? I've forgotten how much puppies grow between 6-12 months? Hasn't it slowed down by now? is he at approx half his adult weight? Anyway, so would I feed him approx 2# a day of bone in stuff? I'm not an exact type person, so I'll prolly weigh the first couple of pieces and just guess from there. I know that as a person I don't need to worry about eating as an exact science, so I'm not going to be obsessive about him either. I just wanna make sure my ball park figure is right and I haven't miscalculated too much hah.
About how long will it take for the "I'm insanely hungry" thing to wear off? I know that its normal for them to behave as if they are starving, and I know I have him on the BARF homemade patties now and he should be a little bit better with the bone in stuff, but about how long will it be before this personality change is gone? He went from sweet docile dog to chow hound in the space of a day. He's acting like I'm starving him, and really, according to his weight I'm kinda overfeeding him (but its all good raw meat and a minimal amount of veg matter).
Thanks for listening, I just needed a little bit of emotional reassurance