Feeding Raw

13»

Comments

  • sounds like a plan. tommorows meal was to be turkey so we will keep it going for the next week and see what happens. @rikumom if i give her yogurt will it help with flow because while she seems to be fine and no tummy noises and her belly is soft I am feeling her pain for her.
  • Good luck @cdenney!

    There's no harm giving small quantities of yogurt, FortiFlora or pro-biotics, it helps w/ the gut flora. However, since her poop alternates between liquid and solid, vs. consistently liquid, I suspect something else besides the gut flora is not happy.

    Btw, my JA pup is blowing her puppy coat so I'm trying out this new supplement that claims to "promotes strong joints, luxurious coat, good digestion and optimal health." Might be too good to be true but I figured no harm trying:
    http://www.springtimeinc.com/product/fresh-factors/13
  • thanks. any ideas on what it might be?
  • Is "what" referring to liquid poop or pooping every other day?

    If former, her system is showing signs of not processing what you're feeding. Most likely too much protein or fat, or transitioning between proteins too fast, or but could also be food allergies (like celiac disease in people) or intolerance (like lactose intolerance). Let's hope it's just a matter of transitioning too fast between high protein/fat foods in this case

    If later, likely lack of fiber
  • ps. the fact that she has both liquid and solid is not a bad sign, especially that she seems to be fine and is not losing weight.
    I knew a breeder who lost two of her shibas to IBD, that's very frustrating and difficult to treat.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflammatory_bowel_disease
  • pps. once she is on a single source protein and poop then becomes consistently solid, you can prob rule out allergy or intolerance, and focus on the pooping every other day.
    You can try offering her a small amount of pureed pumpkin or green beans to see if she'll go #2 daily.
  • Interesting with the freeze dried liver.

    Probiotics might help too. I know someone had issue with transitioning to raw and it helped with it. Ark naturals gentle digest is brand they used, but there are other kinds out there.

    Even if it isn't gut issue it might help get things in order.

    I sometimes give plain Greek yogurt as yummy treat, but I don't know if yogurt has enough to help.

    I just give it as a once in awhile snack.

    I'd do a bland diet for a bit give stomach rest and try again.

    Is the chicken enhanced with any broth or sodium?

    What kinds of organs are in the turkey grind?

    Did she do this when on just chicken?

    Like Rikumon said Pumpkin, green beans should help firm things up rice helps with that too I think.

    On days Saya had the honest kitchen or my home made wet dog food she does poop twice a day compared to once a day..

    Honest kitchen has veggies, and my wet dog food has cooked carrots, sometimes green beans, little bit of broccoli, and spinach, pumpkin and yellow squash, zucchini when I have it in the garden.

    I don't give honest kitchen daily or sometimes not weekly same with the wet dog food I froze them into meat ball shapes and take them out as yummy snack or part of a small meal, also nice for hiding medicine/supplements if needed luckily she likes her joint supplements and takes it with no need for hiding.

    The wet dog food I make has cooked meat either boneless pork, turkey, ground meat, also couple organs like kidney and liver or heart or one of each.

    Makes yummy kibble topper for Bella and small meal or snack for Saya.

    Was she sensitive to chicken or turkey in kibble?

    I do know one person on dogster who doesn't do well with chicken either in kibble, cooked or raw form..

    Another who did fine with raw chicken, but had issues with chicken in kibble.

    I hope things get figured out soon.
  • She poops she scores! There was one poop to rule them all!-Seriously she would have done a 90lb pound lab proud.

    Last night I gave her 3 Tablespoons of organic greek yogurt with probiotics to lube her system (all we had in the house is vanilla) so I crumbled a liver treat in it and I think I found HER FAVORITE treat tail was going nuts the entire time.

    today we were treat free and only on the premade turkey raw blend and her movement was a mix of every consistent the first time and pretty liquid the second.

    while she has never shown any food allergies I think I am going to keep her off chicken for now and see how she does.
  • I'm glad she is doing good. Some dogs are sensitive to chicken or other types proteins.

    Dink my old catahoula mix had horrible gas and semi loose poo whenever she had cooked turkey or kibble with turkey somewhere in it. The cooked turkey was natural no salt or skin just tiny kibble topper. Bella did fine on it, but Dink she cleared the room.

    Dink did get turkey necks once in while did fine, but it was just once or twice a week.

    She did better on fish based kibble.

    I sometimes give plain Greek yogurt as yummy treat one of the only people food Saya will beg for when she was young. Now she learned to compose herself and lay in sight looking at me with shiba mind control. haha

    I just give it as a once in awhile snack.

  • @cdenney,
    @saya brought up something I forgot to mention

    The few food allergy cases I've heard of either in pure bred shibas and JAs, the dogs don't do well on chicken. It's not flat out GI issues, but they get hot spots and itches. One set of dogs was okay having Natural Balance or Royal Canin limited ingredient diet w/ duck.

    The Akita mix that was having food allergy turned out to be intolerant to ALL poultry, and had to be on a soy protein diet for a while before the owners figured out fish-based kibble works for them. However, I hesitate putting dogs on fish kibble exclusively b/c mercury levels in fish...
  • @rikumom thanks I will do it in a month, she's on an anti fungal led and whilew I doubt that would skew a test you never know. We switched from chicken to turkey premade raw and we have solid daily movements versus 1 every 2-4 days of liquid so im thinking a chicken allergy.
  • Anti-fungal med? Poor thing, but glad to hear she's regular now
  • edited January 2013
    Yeah had to put her under the Swab whole knocked out and have her ears fully cleaned as she was WILD when trying at home methods and it was costing $80 a visit to have the vet do it daily and she fought them enough it couldn't be done fully, so clearing the rest up with meds now that the junk is out.
  • edited March 2013

    @saya,
    RE: "I never heard of people only feeding green tripe."
    Well, now you have from two people!
    I only heard this from one person who is other on here that feeds only green tripe?

    Is raw green tripe only thing this breeder fed no meat, no liver, no kidney, no beef, lamb or fish?

    Just feeding raw green tripe as meat source doesn't seem healthy to me as green tripe is a bit fatty for me to feed it as main meat portion..

    I'm not against fat as I do feed things like pork, lamb, ewe and even pork shoulder that has skin on or pig head which has skin all over the head..

    Even fed beef bones that have a lot of fat, but I limit it so she isn't getting too much.

    Sorry to question this, but thought I'd ask for more info on this type of feeding.


  • I feed green tripe about once every four days as part of my rotation. Sansa looooves it but I'd never JUST feed her green tripe. That doesn't seem nutritionally balanced.
  • This thread is old, and it's a topic that we've discussed ad nauseum, lol, but I'd like to add to this thread and share my experience with feeding raw.

    A short background: As a puppy, from 3months - 9months I had Saigo on Orijen, Blue Buffalo Wilderness and Fromm. My breeder adamantly insisted that Saigo eat nothing but kibble. I supplemented his kibble with salmon oil and dry treats, such as liver and Orijen freeze dried food. His stools were soft-medium in consistency and smeary. I guess he did okay (since I didn't know otherwise). I also had difficulty making his kibble interesting. He got bored of the same thing everyday and I didn't blame him. I tried to change up the flavours, but I mean, how much more interesting can kibble be? He ate his food, but never with enthusiasm.

    During the changing of the seasons in September, Saigo suffered really bad allergies. He was chewing the fur off his front and inner back legs until you saw the pink. The pink then started to hyperpigmentate and turn almost dark brown. He was put on allergy meds which stopped the scratching, but I just noticed that overall, his fur just wasn't so healthy. Even thought I supplemented with the fish oil, his coat was kinda dry and flat. I bumped into this beautiful husky with the most amazing, shiny coat i'd ever seen. The owner described how they were feeding raw and it has been the best thing they'd ever done.

    So I decided to try it.

    First, I started off with giving Saigo a raw chicken neck. He loved it. Then I progressively started giving him bigger and bigger pieces of raw meat; cow neck bones, ox tails, etc. Then I purchased commerically prepared raw nuggets and patties. These were really good because they're supplemented with veggies and vitamins that meet the standards of the commercial kibbles.

    I saw the effects of the raw diet immediately - his breath stopped smelling and his stools are nice, firm and compact. He stopped letting out disasterous farts that made you gag and his coat started growing back in wonderfully. He has also stopped biting at his legs and just stopped itching overall. (We do have him scheduled for an appointment with the Doggy Dermo for tests just incase). His energy levels are incredible, he's more lively and actually LOVES eating his food. I think this is what sold me on raw - he actually enjoys eating his food and never leaves anything in the bowl. Did I mention his coat is incredible!? Fast forward to now - Saigo's eating all kinds of raw things: we get our ground meat from a raw dog food company who buys from local farms. The meat is prepared frozen in 1lb cubes. ( shameless plug: www.dogsloveraw.com) So he's eating about 2-3lbs of chicken, lamb, and all kinds of body parts (gizzards, necks, backs, livers) a day. And Tripe is his absolute favourite. It's actually been FUN mixing it all up and giving him something new at each meal. Treats are now a frozen neck, piece of chicken liver or whatever. He also gets big meaty bones to clean his teeth. Saigo goes crazy whenever we open the freezer.

    Disclaimer: I'm not sure if eating raw was the direct result of his coat change as the winter months are approaching and he's growing his winter coat anyway. I also can't claim that the raw did anything to change his mood or personality since he is still a puppy. I will definately continue feeding raw and won't go back to kibble. There is a ton of literature on the internet about the Pros or Cons of feeding raw, and one could spend their lifetime advocating for one side or another. I would argue that the best way to find out is simply try it out on your dog. I never would have been pursuaded by reading something online and I probably would have argued the benefits of kibble without even having tried raw. Now that I've tried it, I am happy to say that I'm glad I did.
  • Glad Saigo is doing well. :)

    Saya has been on raw for four years maybe bit less almost four..

    I enjoy the diet and so does she. I even share it. Got a great deal on ground grass fed Indiana ewe(female sheep) I sometimes cook some up for myself and Saya gets the raw ground ewe. She loves her food.

    I finally got my own freezer so will be able to order stuff like green tripe and other things in bulk. Saya and Bella love tripe.

    My dad had gotten a deer so I was able to get the liver, kidneys, heart and stuff. A lot of goodies for the dogs..

    Even with the organs, ribs there is still good bit of room. I plan to order some quail and other stuff. Then tripe. There is local place that sells various items in 10lb and 20lb bulk sizes.. Been giving Bella more raw meals now that I have more space instead of sharing so I can stock up on stuff for her. She loves the goodies she gets.
Sign In or Register to comment.