New Puppy - Questions, Comments.

1902 Views 13 Replies 6 Participants Last post by harrkim120, Apr 11, 2010

xxshaelxx

Discussion Starter · Apr 9, 2010

Okay, so first of all, I want to have a good laugh at the people who try to say "You need to give your dog vitamins, even on a raw diet!" I'm sorry, but I believe that is over-supplementing, and they don't get vitamins out in the wild in the form of soft, chewable tabs. -.- So yeah, we go to adopt the pup, and I say we're just going to fast him for a day and switch him to raw. What do they do? "Oh! You can't just do that! You need to gradually switch him over, otherwise he'll get diarrhea! I applaud you for your choice to switch to raw, but you should go with one of the pre-made diets, like 'The Honest Kitchen,' or you need to supplement them with a vitamin, because they aren't getting everything they need in a raw diet. Not only that, but we have to cook our food, because that kills off all the bacteria. You never know what you're going to get if you get a thing of chicken from Smith's." Um...yeah, I do...I know they're going to get healthier meat than they ever would in the wild, yet still be getting the PROPER diet that a dog SHOULD be getting. *rolls eyes* Not only that, but they wanted me to give his last DHAPP shot AND his Rabies shot on the same day. I was, like, "Nuh-uh."

So anyways, on to the puppy. He's four months old, twenty-one pounds (though I think he's a bit overweight, because he's smaller than Ryou was when we got him, and Ryou was about fifteen pounds), and they said he's probably an Australian Shepherd/Rottweiler mix. Rachel says that she doesn't think he has Rottie in him, but he's got the BIG paws, like he's going to get really big. I'm pretty sure he has Australian Shepherd in him, he's got the longer fur. So that leads me to my question, about how big do you guys thing he's going to get, and about how much should I feed him right now? I read over the guide on preymodelraw.com, but I just never really understood how much it would be for a puppy.

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DaneMama

· #2 · Apr 9, 2010

Glad you are starting him out on raw!! Being that he is a puppy you shouldn't have any issues with him taking right to it. Puppies still have their innate instincts to eat raw, that haven't been warped into them knowing how to eat kibble. He should take right to it. Below is a part of the "Getting Started" page from our website on puppies and figuring out how much to feed:

If starting a puppy, this takes a bit more math. Start off feeding 10% of its current weight, meaning if a puppy weighs 10 pounds, feed 1 pound per day. If this puppy is supposed to be 60 pounds full grown, its ideal amount of food per day is 1.2-1.8 pounds per day. Once the puppy reaches ~18 pounds, or the 3% amount of adult body weight, you should back the amount down the 2-3% for normal feeding. You will only be feeding 10% for a little while, which is normal. Its better to split this amount up into several smaller meals since this will be a lot of food for a little growing puppy. Remember, this is just a guideline and that every dog is different.

As far as easing him into it...you might want to take the bone in cuts of chicken and whack the crap out of them with a hammer to help crunch up the bones a bit for the first couple of days. That is what we did with Akasha since she got into the habit of swallowing bones whole instead of chewing them up. Here is a video of her with her first chicken quarter:

YouTube - Akasha's first chicken wing

Good luck!

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xxshaelxx

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 9, 2010

I knew you'd be first to respond! XD

Wow...guess I must not have been paying too much attention when I read that, because that's totally understandable. Then again, I wasn't starting out a young, young puppy. He's already 21 pounds, so I guess he'll be going straight to about 2-3% of his body weight, but the question remains...how big do we think he's going to get?

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DaneMama

· #4 · Apr 9, 2010

I'm going to assume that he will be ~65 pounds when he is full grown considering his weight now and his age.

65 X .02% = 1.3
65 X .03% = 1.95

21 X .10% = 2.3

So I would feed him ~2 pounds per day at this point, considering he may be a bit heavy for his age.

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xxshaelxx

Discussion Starter · #5 · Apr 9, 2010

Oh wow! That's a lot! I feed Ryou about 20 oz per day, which is 1 lb 4 oz. You sure I should be feeding that much?

lol. Just seems like a LOT!

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DaneMama

· #6 · Apr 9, 2010

What you have to consider is that he is a growing puppy which takes more energy...and those numbers are changeable! I would start off on the lower end of those values and go from there.

I may be wrong in my prediction of how big he will get, so you have to take my error into consideration as well :wink:

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jdatwood

· #7 · Apr 9, 2010

Just keep an eye on his shape. If he starts looking fat feeding that much just cut back a bit...

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xxshaelxx

Discussion Starter · #8 · Apr 10, 2010

haha. Well, he's already pretty fat. I can actually grab whole handfuls of fat and flesh, whereas I can't on my dogs, but they're nice and healthy. I can't feel his ribs or backbone, AT ALL. It's all flesh, flesh, flesh, flesh, flesh. Apparently, at the vet clinic, he would let them KNOW when he didn't have food. I haven't heard about it once. I mean, yeah, he begged me a whole hellofalot when I had MY food, but not a peep. Just jumping all over me and my computer. And when I fed Ryou and Amaya, just following me around with the "where's mine" look on his face. Not a peep. I think the people were just spoiling him rotten, and his habits say the same!

I can honestly say, at first I was skeptical, held back a little by the fact that he wasn't the puppy I REALLY wanted, but I'm really starting to love his spunky, happy-go-lucky, dufusy personality. And I bet he will LOVE having chicken in the morning. *nods and gets meat mallet ready to smash bones to smithereens.* This should be fun. :biggrin::wink::biggrin:

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rannmiller

· #9 · Apr 10, 2010

xxshaelxx said:
So anyways, on to the puppy. He's four months old, twenty-one pounds (though I think he's a bit overweight, because he's smaller than Ryou was when we got him, and Ryou was about fifteen pounds), and they said he's probably an Australian Shepherd/Rottweiler mix. Rachel says that she doesn't think he has Rottie in him, but he's got the BIG paws, like he's going to get really big. [/CENTER]

Hey I said maybe shepherd (like GSD) mix! They have the black and tan markings and big paws too! With aussie in there too, there's no denying that one. Maybe he's part chow too!

Anyway, I'd say to start with two CLQs/day for him and see what his body condition does. If he IS going to get big, you want to keep him lean so keep that in mind too!

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mike487

· #10 · Apr 10, 2010

danemama08 said:
As far as easing him into it...you might want to take the bone in cuts of chicken and whack the crap out of them with a hammer to help crunch up the bones a bit for the first couple of days. That is what we did with Akasha since she got into the habit of swallowing bones whole instead of chewing them up. Here is a video of her with her first chicken quarter:

YouTube - Akasha's first chicken wing

Good luck!

Natalie, that is a great video. Is the wing in this video one that had been whacked with a hammer? I am asking because I am wondering if a 8 week old puppy has big enough and strong enough teeth to crunch hole bones in something like a chicken wing in order to get the needed calcium from bones. I am getting an approximately 9 week old Samoyed puppy in June and want to be prepared.

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DaneMama

· #11 · Apr 10, 2010 (Edited)

It is the wing we whacked with a hammer a bit to help her out. While we did this...it's not absolutely necessary for you to do it. Puppies have amazingly strong jaws and sharp little teeth that do really well with raw bones. We only whacked her chicken up for the first few days. Doing this doesn't necessarily help them absorb more nutrition from the bones per se. This is because the dog's digestive system has to adapt to breaking down raw meats and bones, and because it is very likely this puppy will be fed kibble before it comes home with you....there will be an adjustment period. BUT with puppies they adapt to eating raw much, much faster than adult dogs that have been eating kibble their entire lifetime. A dog that is adapted to eating raw can digest a whole bone down to just the bare nutrients...but a dog that is not well adapted has a hard time at first. It takes about a week for most dog's systems used to eating raw, and up to a few months before they become a "pro" at it.

Hands down raw is the best nutrition you can offer a growing puppy!!! Good luck and don't hesitate to ask questions!

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rannmiller

· #12 · Apr 10, 2010

When I put Peyton on raw when I first brought her home, I didn't bother hammering anything. It took her about 10 minutes to get through a wing for the first week but she got a lot faster after that.

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xxshaelxx

Discussion Starter · #13 · Apr 10, 2010

lol. I'm going to start him off on a couple of backs. A lot less fat content in those, too. :wink:

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harrkim120

· #14 · Apr 11, 2010

xxshaelxx said:
lol. I'm going to start him off on a couple of backs. A lot less fat content in those, too. :wink:

I would definitely whack the heck outta those then...whole lotta bone in those suckers. :biggrin:

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