Thanks for the help! I hope he can tolerate it...I wouldn't say he has a sensitive stomach but his body definitely is easily "confused." I've been giving him some boiled chicken, peas, broccoli, and yogurt in addition to his kibble lately hoping to introduce variety into his diet. He has been having really loose soft ice cream stool for the past week; I'm guessing the peas aren't necessary and may even be contributing to that so I don't know if giving him some raw would help that or make it worse.
It doesn't surprise me that he is having loose stool with the variety that you are giving him. You are correct in thinking that the greater variety the better, BUT you have to keep in mind that it needs to be *appropriate* variety. Leaving the broccoli, peas and yogurt will really help with the diarrhea. All three of those things are not ideal for a dog to eat.
I don't think giving raw chicken with his kibble is going to help his stools. He sounds to be a bit more on the sensitive side as far as what he is able to handle.
If I were you I would pick either exclusively raw or exclusively kibble. Not both. We will help make you more comfortable with the thought of raw. Most newbies to raw are afraid, but it only takes feeding the first few meals to make that scared newbie into an addict! I don't know how many people I have seen in your shoes, skeptical at first and then blossom into a confident, knowledgeable and experienced raw feeder. It sure doesn't take long.
I'm not ready to make a full transition because...I guess I was hoping that if I switch him to Orijen, it would be almost as good; the next best thing (I know I know, almost isn't good enough :frown: which is why I'm taking this step).
Orijen would not be the "next best thing" but rather a premade, manufactured raw diet. They are still not ideal because of all the inappropriate ingredients that they add in to increase the "filler" content of their patties. Another downside to these diets is that they are *very* expensive compared to both kibble and a prey model style diet.
I also am honestly a little scared. I didn't even know people fed raw in the States until a few months ago when my friend told me she knew someone who did. It's funny, my mom never had dogs her whole life, but she knew feeding raw meat and organs was best for them because that's what her brother always did when they grew up in Taiwan and his dogs were healthy as can be.
Its ok to be afraid at first, but the reason you're here is to learn and gain experience. And that is why we are here, to help you get over your fears! There are hundreds of thousands of raw feeders in the US, and we are converting more and more each day. The raw movement has been around for a long time 30+ years and is really starting to take hold here. We are seeing "combat" in all areas in the media and from the government, because the big corporations that make dog food are scared that they will lose all of their customers....and they should be!
What are you in particularly scared of with feeding raw? Don't be afraid to post up what your concerns are because we wont be able to help you if you don't tell us. There's nothing to be ashamed of!!!
Dog food is just so commercialized that growing up, I thought it was what all dogs are supposed to eat. Plus, there's also the issue since I have parrots. They don't interact a whole lot with Louis, but he likes to go up to them once in awhile and nuzzle them, or sneak a lick in here and there. Not sure if him having Salmonella mouth will cause any harm. I was thinking of feeding him outside on the deck, just don't know how long the bacteria would linger in his mouth.
There are several raw feeders on here that also own birds. Send a PM to Spookiechick on here and she will help you through this issue. All I know is that she has never had an issue with bacteria and her bird. And her bird is one of her babies!
And the last thing, is the husband, who thinks feeding raw meat is "gross" But don't worry, I am working on that one and I will get my way eventually
This very well may be the hardest battle!!! Men can be hard headed, but he *will* see the effects that is has on the dog and *will* be amazed. Then, you can bask in the glory of hearing him tell you that you were right all along! There have been countless wives who post up wanting to make the switch and the hubbies are just not on the bandwagon. But they eventually do because the wonders that raw works are astounding and clear as crystal to the novice eye. Tell him to put his big boy pants on and not be afraid of the meat :wink:
Feed him where ever you feel the most comfortable. We feed outside most of the time. If the weather is too crappy outside, then we have trained our dogs to eat off of their dog beds. You wouldn't even think that they had just had a meaty delightful meal on their beds because they lick them so clean. Sometimes the meat doesn't even touch the beds and just goes right into the mouth, crunched a few times and then swallowed.
Feed ~2-3% of your dog's *ideal* adult weight per day in meat. You said that he will weigh ~20 pounds as an adult. So you'd end up feeding 0.4-0.6 pounds of meat per day. So just about a half pound. You could split that into two meals, 1/4 pound each meal or just feed once a day (we only feed once a day).
Clean the same way you would after preparing meat for yourselves. Disinfect all containers and utensils. Wash any towels or bed covers that he eats off of. We really do minimal cleaning to be honest. The dogs do most of the cleaning! Since we don't spend any time on their beds ourselves, I don't have a problem with them eating on them.
You will store the meat in a freezer which is ideal. Unless you plan on getting meat a few times a week at the store and just keeping it in a refriderator. We have 12 quart containers that hold ~10-15 pounds of meat which lasts our 4 big dogs about 2 days. You could do something similar, but just use a smaller container and put 2-3 days worth of food in it. Thaw it out when you are ready.
Here is a picture of *one* of our freezers:
And I just don't like to dive into something until I've done a lot of 'research' and have a decent idea of how I'm going to go about it. I'm still really new to this whole 'dog thing' and I have much to learn.
Well, then you have come to the right place. Please take advantage of the "search" feature at the top of the forum to look anything that comes to mind up. Just type a key word or phrase into the bar and hit search and I guarantee a whole bunch of threads will come up.
That's what I was hoping for. If some raw is better than no raw, maybe this
In your case it may not be because of a sensitive system. Like I said earlier...some dogs can eat anything and be fine while others have a much harder time. From the sounds of it he might be too sensitive for you to be able to do partial raw.
Some kibble in the morning and a chicken wing or drumstick at night maybe? Danemama, I saw another post you had on chicken wings and how it might have too much skin to start with so I might try a drummette and peel back some of the skin? It's Memorial Day weekend, so I'm going to a cook out at my aunt's and hoping to steal some chicken. Not much of a meat eater myself, so if I did go full raw, all the meat in the freezer would belong to the dog! hehe
If you were to give him a drummie or a wing, do your best at skinning it first. The skin contains most of the fat and fat can be irritating to the system if the dog is not used to eating fat like that. And if you were to give either a wing or drummie, I suggest the wing because it has more bone in it and will be less likely to cause diarrhea. Raw bone is a constipating agent in the gut and keeps raw fed dogs stool firm (if you were to feed NO bones all you would see is diarrhea).
That is true... It's funny how some things can be more eyeopening when they are thrown right back at you. I read somewhere that supplementing with cooked food might throw off the balance of kibble, but I guess I was thinking in terms of homemade cooked diet and how you need to watch the ratio of vegetables, meats, rice??, eggshells to get proper nutrition. So maybe I wouldn't need to worry about that with raw. Must stop thinking so much like a human :wink: Just out of curiosity though (not trying to disagree, and maybe this is a stupid question), how do you know how balanced a raw diet is? I think with kibble or commercial foods it's easy to read the label and see a breakdown of nutritional requirements, and therefore lead one to think a certain food is meeting certain guidelines etc. Whereas with raw, there are no numbers, no charts, no visual data, etc. Know what I mean?
You know a raw diet is balanced because all a dog would eat if it were wild (like its closest extant relative the wolf) is meat, bones and organs from a variety of prey animals. So if you feed meats, bones and organs "modeling" what their composition would be in a prey animal you know that it is balanced. This idea has brought up the ~ ratio of meat to bone to organ of 80:10:10 respectively. This is just a guideline, so don't take it too literal. Just think of the way that you eat...you don't have a complete and balanced meal with all the nutrients you would need to survive in just one meal. Balance over time!
