[1605]

We've been discussing on & off the possibility of introducing a raw element into Zio's diet. However, our biggest query is what to do when we travel; we are often in other cities or states at events and dry seems like it would be much less complicated than raw.

What do you do in these instances?

Inquiring minds,

 

[t0nnn]

Bring a cooler and get ice..that will work fine

 

[DaneMama]

Depends on the length of the trip and where you go.

If we go camping or something we just take a cooler and just put the meat in frozen. In a cooler it takes a few days for things to fully thaw out.

It's also pretty easy to plan ahead on where you are going and finding out where there are places like walmart and other grocers to buy meat from.

Some people switch back to kibble on the road but to me there is no convenience to feeding it instead of raw. You pack a big bag of food versus a big cooler with meat. Not to mention switching from raw to kibble is very hard on the dog's body. It constantly would have to change it's body function to different methods of digestion when there are carbs present.

My biggest recommendation is to go 100% raw or keep to 100% kibble with the occasional RMB for scraping tartar off. Beef ribs are great because they don't have much meat on them, and the bones are not too dense that the dog will break a tooth but dense enough to last a while with gnawing.

 

[LindaP]

I know people who use The Honest Kitchen (THK) when traveling. Here's some additional information.

You could also do Stella amd Chewy's patties or frozen bags of raw food from the pet store for a short time of vacation, if you don't want to carry the RMBs. Lots of raw options are portable. Personally, depending on the vacation, I would pack a cooler and have THK as back up.

I have to chime in here and encourage you not to do a mix of kibble and raw. Really not good for the dog. I also believe that when you start feeding RMBs and REAL food to your dog, you eventually get to the point that you cannot fathom giving them kibble.

 

[rawfeederr]

I pre-weigh enough meals for the time we will be gone, put them in to individual ziplock baggies, and put them in a freezer with ice. Occasionally I have to buy new ice along the way because it melts, but no big deal.

You could also buy freeze-dried raw or prepared raw but it's NOT cheap.


You can feed dry if you would like, but start feeding it about 3 days before you leave so that your dog has time to get adjusted.

 

[rannmiller]

Yeah i just like to put either thawed raw in a cooler with ice or frozen raw in a cooler with no ice. When I did the frozen raw with no ice when I went traveling for Christmas, it took about 2 or 3 days for the food to most thaw in a styrofoam cooler, it was great! It also wasn't anymore or less complicated than having to take a bag or container of dog food along for the ride and dish out a bowl. In fact, this way I didn't have to carry bowls around and potentially lose them (as I am wont to do). I'd say it was just as convenient if not moreso than kibble.

And taking PMR with you is no harder or easier than taking pre-made raw with you so if you're planning on doing PMR don't worry about having to switch back and forth between the two for convenience's sake. It's also WAY cheaper.

If you're gonna be gone for a long time in a town with a Walmart or other grocery store with reasonably priced meat, you can also do like danemama suggested and just plan ahead to buy the meat there. As I'm sure someone might also do if they were gonna be gone a long time so they wouldn't have to haul a 20+ bag of dog food with them.

It's really just not as complicated as people make it out to be.

 

[CorgiPaws]

We just do what everyone who feeds kibble does. Pack what we need, and hit the road. A cheap styrofoam cooler is all we need to keep the meat decent for the most part. I don't find it any more or less inconvenient than traveling with kibble. Actually last time i traveled with kibble it ended up all over the back of the car. go figure.