Help with new diet

Hi everyone! First, congrats to Jamiya on the promotion to moderator.

I need some help with the raw diet I want to put Harley on. It came as a whim to me, so I am a little unsure of how to start it. First, my parents put in a beef order and they ordered some bones for their dog. A HUGE box came so they gave them all to me. Now I just need to know how to incorporate this to her. Do I need to wean her from kibble or just switch completely. She is onNutro Natural and I have had great results with it. H

Do I weigh the bones and give her a certain weight per her body weight? She is about 60lbs. now. Also, is it safe to thaw them on a counter or do I put them in the fridge over night.

And lastly, I do give her a half natural diet now as well with veggies and fruits. Do I need to stop this or just reduce the amount and feed this less often?

Man, I feel like this is my first post all over again. I gave her one of the bones yesterday, she didn't throw up which is good, but it looks like she has some mild diahrea (sp?) Is this soemthing I should be concerned with?

Thanks guys.

 

Hey!! It's so nice to see you!
Feeding raw is so exasperating at times huh? I worry all the time. But anyway I give my girls the whole bone. I know some people ground the bones up IM not sure how but I have heard about them being given that way. Incorporating the veggies and supplements you already give are perfectly fine. Harley may have diarrhea for a couple days Bluebelle and Fancy did I don't think it's anything to worry about though as long as it does not go on long term. Honeybears and Jamiya also feed raw so hopefully they will pop in and be of some help. Good Luck!

 

I feed raw, too. Just go by gut instinct with how much to feed, did you weigh up your kibble? You most likely have an idea of how much your dog eats. I used to worry about quantity but I just keep an eye on my dogs weights to make sure they are getting enough, or not too much.
I think you need to do research on raw feeding, as everyone seems to do it differently. These are the ingredients in my dogs diets:
Ground up rabbit or chicken (bones included), or ground beef mixed with purreed veggies, kelp powder, vit c for immune and alfalfa powder and sometimes an egg each. I feed this often but alot of times I feed:
Lambs necks and hocks
Sardines and other whole fish or fish heads
Chicken carcasses
Offal such as liver, hearts, giblets etc
kangaroo tails
lambs flaps (ribs)
then for ultimate chewing pleasure I buy beef soup bones that have a bit of meat for them to chew off.
All this stuff is raw, of course.
Sometimes for treats I'll give them a good quality dry food (which they absolutely love, but I see it as not as healthy for them- we all like stuff that isn't good for us, right?!) and table scraps sometimes or left over stuff from the kitchen I work in.
The diarreah is probably from a change in diet, if your dog is used to getting the same stuff day in day out. If it doesn't pass in a couple of days I'd say maybe you should get it checked out.
I feed twice a day at the moment, but when Leel's gets to a year old they will probably go to one meal a day, with maybe a small snack in the afternoon. Some people also have a fasting day on the raw diet too, I have done that a couple of times with Bender, he is about 2 and a half, but mainly when I have been extra generous with the food proportions the day before.
I hope I have been of some help! There are lots of websites to check out, maybe have a look at rawmeatybones.com. I'm sure others will have sites you could look at, and I know Jamiya is in a raw feeding discussion group.

 

I think she should be fine with the diarrhea(side note probably the reason it is so hard to spell is that it has 3 spellings: Diarrhea(american spelling)diarrhoea(brittish spelling) diarrhaea(medical) But I don'T kow how australians spell it.) I think it is just from the switch and it should clear in a few days.
But you ask about how much to feed, I sort of want to ask a question about that too. Luther seems to be able to eat and eat and eat, he is healthy, no worms or anything, should I stop him from eating even if he still wants to? He doesn'T gain weight or anything, before with kibble i just let him eat as much as he wanted. I keep his bowl full of kibble and still feed him the bones and stuff, it takes him maybe 4 days to finish a bowl, that is with him eating 2 chunks of beef every day. But someone told me I didn'T need to give him the kibble. I think it depends on your dog ultimately whether or not you gradually switch or full out switch.

 

I switched both the dogs cold turkey and neither one had any problems. Some dogs do, though, so it depends on the individual. You should generally stick to one protein source (chicken is good) for a week or so and then start adding more things in. When you begin feeding organ meats, start with small quantities and work up to the amount you want to feed - organ meats can give a dog the runs very quickly!

It's up to you whether you continue with the veggies and supplements. I don't do any of that. I feed very meaty bones (about 3/4 meat and 1/4 bone), whole fish, organ meats, and a few whole eggs. I supplement with garlic during bug season and wild fish oil all the time.

If you keep the fruits and veggies in the diet, make sure it's not comprising too much of the total amount of food. Fruits and veggies are like extra treats, and if Harley fills up on them she will be missing out on important nutrients she needs from her meat and bones and organs.

A rule of thumb about amounts to feed is to start with 2-3% of your dog's ideal adult body weight. Then you can adjust based on how the dog looks. You should be able to easily feel the ribs but not see them, and there should be a narrowing at the waist (look from above). Harley has a figure like Bonnie's and I have yet to see Bonnie start to get fat no matter how much I feed her. I feed Bonnie about 16-20 ounces per day and she weighs around 40 pounds or a bit less. Nala is at least 45 pounds (could be closer to 50 now) and I feed her the same amount - she is hungry 24/7 but she starts to plump up if I feed her more. I think her metabolism is set to herd sheep all day and since she doesn't get that much exercise, she can't eat as much.

Organ meats are about 10% of the diet I feed. So I either feed about 2 ounces per day or 4 ounces every other day. You CAN overdose on liver so don't over do it - but DO feed it because it is very good for them.

I don't actually weigh stuff, although I did in the beginning. I can judge pretty well just by looking now. It's not an exact science anyway - do you weigh YOUR food? (Man, I hate diets that make you weigh your food!!)

If the bones your parents got are mostly bone with a little meat on them, they are good for exercise but not for a meal. I feed things like chicken leg quarters, whole chickens hacked up into appropriate sizes, turkey thighs, turkey legs, lamb shank, pork ribs, pork shoulder, beef brisket, etc.

I take out about 2 days worth of meals and thaw in the refrigerator. You can also thaw on the counter. Sometimes if I forget to thaw something, I will thaw it in warm water to get it done faster. Some people will actually feed frozen or partially frozen. When I am trying to thaw in a hurry to get them fed, I generally don't worry if the center is still frozen a little. Heck, if they can chew through a turkey leg bone they can chew through a little ice! If you are worried about older meat or meat that is a bit funky-smelling, think about wild dogs - they bury their kill and go dig it up later and eat it. Your dog doesn't mind smelly meat! Just watch her so she doesn't roll in it. Nala used to try to roll in her liver (ugh).

A lot of people say not to feed the large marrow bones of ungulates because they are too hard and will break your dog's teeth. Some dogs also manage to get their jaw wedged in the center of the bone. Other people feed them all the time for recreation, so I guess it's an individual decision. My dogs totally consume most of the bones I give them, although they had lamb shanks (a treat, since they are normally too expensive) this weekend and they had to work a long time on the bones. Nala ate hers, but Bonnie cleaned hers and then left it. Of course, Nala then helped Bonnie out by eating her bone (there's still some left). And when I let Nala out the last time before bed that night, she came in with another hunk of bone that I suspect was buried, judging by the amount of dirt on it (that of course was then on my carpet). I try not to feed many bones that they can't totally eat, because we end up having lengthy (annoying) "discussions" about not bringing the bone inside to chew on. Nala argues very persuasively about being allowed to bring it in since I won't sit outside with her while she chews, so she gets lonely - it's a very tiring process to get her to drop the dang thing and come inside, and then she wants to go right back out and we start all over again!

Ummm, did I answer everything? Any more questions?

 

where is the kitchen sink?

 

It's under all the dirty dishes. Duh!

 

hee hee that's hilarious. Thanks for the advice!!