Chewie starts his raw diet today!

Stewart Werley

Stewart Werley

Forums Regular
So, I am starting on Chewie tonight with his evening meal. It will be just a partial, with his kibble and we will see how things go.

I am both anxious and excited for him. I am hopeful he doesn't have much tummy upset.

I spoke with our local butcher shop and they ground and blended my meat mix for me, which was really nice. It is basically:

2.5lbs ground chicken
2.5lbs ground turkey
1lb ground chicken hearts
.5lb ground chicken livers. The price was reasonable, I was able to email them and ask them to have it ready for me today and it was there when I walked in. Once I got home I added:

4 eggs and the shells, finely ground
puppy vitamins
4tbs salmon oil
1 ground up yam
1 cup ground up carrots

I have about half of it divvied up in muffin tins (4 oz and 2 oz portions) and they are in the freezer for later. Then I have a bunch ready for now to add on top of his kibble while he transitions. I will keep you all posted on how things go! Wish us luck!
 
Congrats on deciding on raw, you dog will be very happy. Couple things though with raw, you don't want to mix the raw with the kibble. The kibble changes the acidity of the gut which could cause your dog to get sick from bacteria in the meat. You always want to feed separate meals if doing both kibble and raw. Also, I've read that yams have too many carbs (again, same issue as with kibble) and shouldn't be fed with a raw diet. I dehydrate sweet potato and give as treats occasionally. Other than that your mix sounds very nutritious for a dog.
 
Yeah I had been reading articles and web pages and some were saying transition over a week, while others were saying go cold turkey as it were and stay away from the kids be because of pH issues.
I
choose to follow that advice on his first meal tonight. All raw, no kibble. He ate at a normal pace, seemed to enjoy it, did not look up or take a break at all while eating and locked the bowl clean.

He had a decent drink of water afterwards and has had one normal pop so far, but that is most likely still l his earlier meal.

I do feel really good about making the switch though my wife, who is not really a dog person, thinks I am a little crazy.
 
Your wife will understand in time...my 89 year old mother lives with me and even she understands the benefits of feeding raw and sees it in the dogs. I've been feeding raw for just over a year now and my dogs have never been healthier, in fact I've got my 11 week old puppy on a totally raw diet now and he loves it (I did 1/2 raw and 1/2 kibble on the first day and then all raw after and no problems. I do also feed meaty bones (chicken backs) and this helps to firm up the poop. I typically feed 60% of their daily food meaty bone and remainder is raw mix. Ask your butcher if he can get some for you, also called soup bone. I try to stay away from vegetables that have a lot of sugar or a lot of carbs (dogs don't need carbs) but I do use zucchini, blueberries, cranberries, cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower etc. Also pumpkin and sunflower seeds have lots of omega 3's, I grind and add to their food as well as kelp powder and Green Lipped Mussel.
Also I give them either salmon, smelts or sardines (all frozen, not canned...too much salt). If you do buy fresh fish make sure you freeze it for 48 hours to kill any bacteria in it.
Another good source of info is Rodney Habib, check out his web page...lots of info and recipes. Good luck and have fun making your dog happy, supper time will never be the same (my dogs go CRAZY lol)!
 
I will probably switch out from yam to zucchini or some of the other her veggies you mentioned on the next batch.

Chewie does get pumpkin regularly. Also I alternate with plain yogurt and and cottage cheese (had been adding that to the kibble but will just added it as a topping to the raw).

Our butcher sells frozen haddock press packaged and I was thinking he would eventually some as we often but it for ourselves.

I will look into the chicken backs. Do they needed to be ground up first?
 
There's actually no scientific data to support not mixing raw with kibble. So I wouldn't worry about that.

That being said, most dogs do fine switching over without a transition period.
 
Stewart Werley said:
I will probably switch out from yam to zucchini or some of the other her veggies you mentioned on the next batch.

Chewie does get pumpkin regularly. Also I alternate with plain yogurt and and cottage cheese (had been adding that to the kibble but will just added it as a topping to the raw).

Our butcher sells frozen haddock press packaged and I was thinking he would eventually some as we often but it for ourselves.

I will look into the chicken backs. Do they needed to be ground up first?
Click to expand...

No, you don't have to grind them up...I give my smaller Sheltie 1/2 a back ( he's on a diet, you want to feed approximately 2-3% of their weight)(I just use a cleaver and cut down the middle) and my older Sheltie gets a whole back. I also trim the fat and remove the popes nose (the bottom or end of the back)...I try to keep the fat content down as much as I can.
 
Welcome to feeding raw! Chewie will love you even more for it.
I've transitioned 5 dogs to raw and only one had a hard time. The others went cold turkey off kibble with no trouble. If Chewie was getting some live enzymes already (yogurt) he should be fine.
 
Finnie also managed the transition fine in fact he had a piece of heart yesterday for the first time with no issues. I'll start adding that in now regularly and next week we'll try some liver (he has had the odd liver cookie and it does make his poop a tad softer.)
 
Chewie just ate his third raw meal. He is eating enthusiastically, but not too quickly if anything. No upset stomach so far. He really seems to be enjoying the food.

He eats everything, then licks the bowl clean
 
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