[BGBY]

I read through the lengthy Why Not thread yesterday evening and really enjoyed the debate. It has also helped me to push forward with feeding my girls RAW diet.

My husband side tracked us today by giving Casey and Ava kibble while I was at work after I specifically told him not too. I was really upset seeing the kibble in their bowls when I got home. I got rid of the last of it this evening so hopefully, it won't happen again.

This morning, I pulled out a roaster chicken for the girls' dinner and split it right in half, one side for each of them when I got home. It took them about an hour to eat it. I'm thinking that is okay since they really didn't know what to do with it at first. I even encouraged Casey a bit more than Ava to go ahead and eat up and she did to my delight. When they were done, there was two legs left so I put them back in the fridge for breakfast tomorrow.

I took pics of the girls I'd like to show. Casey skin is a bit patchy though and she is the main reason why I'm starting them on the RAW diet. I hope it helps her. I just wanted to warn ya before you all saw her and say OMG!

Here is Casey. She was so funny, she's a dainty eater. She was hardly putting effort into it.


I hate posting this pic of her because I feel so guilty, perhaps contributing to the hair loss via poor diet all her life. We were told it was a flea allergy but she doesn't have fleas. She's FRONTLINED every month and she get's this way a few times a year at odd times, never really knowing when it's going to happen. Since starting a couple days ago, her hair has become soft which is a big improvement thus far. I hope it's from the RAW diet I've been feeding her and it continues to improve.




And Ava. She was all over it, even using her paws to hold it down and rip, crunch and chew.


Ava thought Casey's piece was much better. She kept staring at hers.


I look forward to learning more and contributing to the forum. Thanks for having us.

 

[RawFedDogs]

Thats cool!!! You are doing great. They will soon eat that much chicken in about 5 minutes or less. It just takes them a little bit to learn and gain some confidence.

 

[BGBY]

I figured that was what it was RFD! They are not use to tearing and ripping their food. I was really impressed with their enthusiasm this evening over dinner, especially Casey. :biggrin: She surprised me the most considering she didn't like her first piece of chicken.

The look in her eyes as she was really knawing on it was priceless. She looked like she really liked it! This weekend, I'm going on poop patrol to see what their poop looks like. Fun FUN!

 

[BGBY]

I watched Ava poop today at 6am. It was too dark to go out and look at it. I thought about taking a pic but nah... I'll let you all keep your breakfast and coffee down this morning. :biggrin:

I did however get me a stick to see if it was hard. It definately looked different, maybe a little harder than usually but still had some smoosh to it. Not real white but maybe just a little grey on the one end, two logs about 4" long. I think it looks good for poop. Yes...

I will be looking at poop for awhile to make sure it's not runny or to white.

The girls are doing good thus far. Casey especially. DH thinks she is clearing up on her own and not from what I'm feeding them. He thinks it's a co'inky dink because she goes through stages.

Oh and did I tell you guys Hubby thought I was making a roasted chicken for his dinner last night! :biggrin: No baby! It's for the dogs! :tongue: Oh he didn't take it well! haha

I'll be updating this thread with any progress on Casey's skin. I think it's looking better myself. Scratching seems to have slowed down some too. I mean, she could go to town on that butt of hers.

 

[rannmiller]

Haha thats funny your husband thought the chicken was for him! Make sure you aren't over feeding your dogs, as that will be the biggest thing to contribute to softer stools when you're starting. Depending on how active and how much exercise they get, (and if I'm remembering their weights correctly), they probably only need about a pound or so of meat per day.

That's awesome that you're seeing improvements already! If they keep up, that will certainly prove to your husband that you're right and he's wrong, which is always great.

 

[BGBY]

Ava <boxer> is extremely active and Casey <labmix> not as much as Ava but still gets around pretty good. She's heading into her senior years soon too I believe. Casey is a bit overweight too so maybe I should cut her down a bit?

They have always eaten breakfast and dinner. Well, it was breakfast lunch and dinner with the kibble. I will be looking at them weekly to see how they are progressing and make changes accordingly. :smile:

I can feel ribs on Ava but fat rolls on Casey. I posted some pics in my album. You are all welcome to view tham and leave comments. I'll be adding more when I get home.

 

[RawFedDogs]

I did however get me a stick to see if it was hard. It definately looked different, maybe a little harder than usually but still had some smoosh to it. Not real white but maybe just a little grey on the one end, two logs about 4" long. I think it looks good for poop. Yes...

I will be looking at poop for awhile to make sure it's not runny or to white.

You are going to be amazed at what an expert you are going to become on dog poop. You will watch it constantly for about 6 months then you will be very confident in the diet and will only glance at it once in a while. You will learn to tell what food they ate to create that particular poop. You will even see parts of two meals in one stool. You will judge how solid it is, the size, and the moisture content for a while.

 

[BGBY]

I feel so weird posting this but I was sniffing dog poop on a stick today. :biggrin: It hardly had a dog poop smell! WOW! Also, I was patting Casey's backside <she loves it> and smelled my hand and her stink is virtually gone. POOF! No smell to her at all! I usually had to wash my hands after a pat down because her stink was too much.

I'm happy so far! Really! I just can't believe the improvement in just a few short days because of raw chicken!

 

[BGBY]

Also, this must be why you never see big piles of wolf/coyote poop in the woods! :biggrin:

 

[BGBY]

A pic from yesterday to today of Casey's hair...


Look at the base of her tail on both pics! AMAZING!

 

[EnglishBullTerriers]

You are going to be amazed at what an expert you are going to become on dog poop. You will watch it constantly for about 6 months then you will be very confident in the diet and will only glance at it once in a while. You will learn to tell what food they ate to create that particular poop. You will even see parts of two meals in one stool. You will judge how solid it is, the size, and the moisture content for a while.

I will still ocassionally go out and watch my dogs poop! I have been doing raw for a year now!! Woohoo!

 

[rannmiller]

BGBY congrats on raw working so well for you so quickly! Hopefully all that hair grows back just as quickly

 

[BGBY]

Thanks rannmiller. I'm happy so far with the results and the girls seem to be too.

I was watching Ava eat her chicken tonight and she'd hold it in her mouth and shake it! I've seen her do that with her rope toy but never her food but it was cool. She eats a lot faster than Casey. I think Casey is just not used to the idea of eating RAW since she's been on kibble so long. She eats it for me though. I tell her, Eat your chicken! and she goes back to it every time. I keep my eye on them cuz I know Ava would probly try to steal hers, she likes it so much. I give Ava the EH EH and she backs off and watches Casey finish hers.

 

[BGBY]

I am being side tracked again by hubby. He thinks Casey is too old. She can't eat it, I'm forcing her blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda. I have tried to tell him how much healthier it will be for them but he is having nothing of it and feeding the dogs pizza, pretzels and whatever else while I'm at work. How do I know?!?! Dogs don't talk! I saw their poop! It is black and runny looking and nothing like their RAW poop I saw a couple days ago. Casey is getting her smell back to her too! I know it's all new to him and the only way he'll go with me is kicking and screaming! Well, let's go! *grabbing hubby by the ear*

I just feel set back over this, figuring it out that he is feeding them other stuff. He says that I need to chop up Casey's chicken because she picks at it and she doesn't like it. YEAH! But she eats it! It might take her awhile but she "eats" it! She just doesn't know how to handle it yet because she doesn't know how to eat raw meat. She's eaten bagged dog food for 9 years! Ava scarfs her chicken down now. She's done within 15 minutes but Casey takes an hour or so to eat hers.

Here is a vid I made to show the girls eating.
YouTube - Feeding the Girls RAW

After our lil talk, he seems to be okay until he gets another hair up his butt. I have told him that I have read and researched this online and there are alot of people who feed RAW with great success. He thinks the dogs need more food besides RAW and that somehow I'm starving them. I told him that I wouldn't do this if it was going to hurt them! Even though the dogs are domesticated, they still have the stomach to eat like dogs in the wild. He said fine. I told him I can't help Casey if he is going to give her flour, wheat, soy and other stuff and there will be no improvement in her skin if he doesn't STOP! I said, The vet can't even help her or won't help her! Let's give you 50 dollar bags of this stuff! She has a Flea Allergy... I'm calling BS! Just give me time feeding them RAW! I know Casey will not heal overnight but I saw a big improvement the first few days that I posted about earlier.

*sigh* Starting over again tomorrow.

 

[whiteleo]

Lets see, if your husband had an allergy to nuts would you give it to him? would you feed him shrimp if he had a allergy to shellfish? I think not!:biggrin: Put him on here and I'll give him a piece of my mind! Does he realize how painful it must be for your dog to constantly be itching and scratching? At least your dogs have you looking out for them, who knows what would happen if left solely to the man! Good luck on getting it through his brain that this is the best thing you can do for a dog that has any allergy symptoms. Does he have an allergy to anything? see what happens if you gave it to him secretly! JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BGBY]

Lets see, if your husband had an allergy to nuts would you give it to him? would you feed him shrimp if he had a allergy to shellfish? I think not!:biggrin: Put him on here and I'll give him a piece of my mind! Does he realize how painful it must be for your dog to constantly be itching and scratching? At least your dogs have you looking out for them, who knows what would happen if left solely to the man! Good luck on getting it through his brain that this is the best thing you can do for a dog that has any allergy symptoms. Does he have an allergy to anything? see what happens if you gave it to him secretly! JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a severe nut allergy. He knows what will happen if I ingest the smallest amount of a peanut. I did two days on life support 5 years ago and almost died from it because someone snuck it and didn't say I have nuts. He probably doesn't see Casey's allergies like my allergy because they won't kill her in 5 minutes like mine does. Many people view allergies as a stuffy/runny nose and nothing more but it can affect the skin, cause unbelieveable swelling and whatnot. I know what you're saying though and I get your joke, just so happens I BTDT. We talked and he said that he wants to see before and after pics of dogs like Casey and how RAW helped them. He's just being stubborn. He doesn't know. He hasn't read the benefits of RAW or the downfalls of kibble. He won't get online to do any kind of research or talk to "strangers" like I do. I just want him to know that I don't pull this stuff out of my ass.

 

[BGBY]

I found a freezer for 30 bucks! They are even delivering it and putting it in the cellar for me. As soon as I get it cleaned and set up, I'm going to place an ad for unused freezer meat!

 

[rannmiller]

Awesome, good job! My mom got me a freezer for $50 for my birthday and they did the same thing with the delivery and set up.

 

[BGBY]

I'd like to post some update pics of a before and a few days after which is today on raw chicken.

9/22/09 Casey's skin...


These were taken this morning at breakfast over a bowl of chicken.






It's going to take time but I do think that her skin is getting much better. Her tail is filling out nicely with hair and she does have some new growth on her back end. It's not a lot, I know but it sure is growing. I have also noticed her flakes are going away and even though she is still a bit itchy, it is not as bad as it was a week or so ago.

 

[BGBY]

I had to laugh at Hubby today when he came in and wondered where all the dog poop was in the yard. :biggrin: I didn't clean it up. He said he hasn't cleaned it up for almost a week and he knew there was dog poop out there. Key word... WAS! :biggrin:

I told him it was just another benefit from RAW! No clean up! Poof... be gone!