Jimiya - Jake is going raw!

Jimiya and for all of you who have been beating me up :mrgreen: to put Jake on a raw diets well I am. here is the scoop.

I took him the the holistic vet yesterday - He says it has to be the grains causing Jakes problems. Jake also had another ear infection that just popped up too so this is perfect timing He sells ground meats/bones. He has lots of freezers of the stuff and says he sells like 3000 pkgs a month. I am going this route. It works out to about $1.00 a day and Jake is 100#. Plus I have to add veggies, I do need to cook them though as Jake wont eat raw veggies. I mixed a little beef in his food this morning and he wolfed it down. he will be making the transition for a month.

I told him about Jakes benign tumors, he said studies are showing this also caused by grains in the diet. Dont know how much of that I believe bu that sounds interesting.

Honeybear

 

Honeybear! Congrats to you!! Wahoo
One thing I have been told and personally do with Harley is grind up the veggies for her first. Sometimes dogs can have problems digestign veggies (this is mostly for raw, not sure about cooked) so if you grind or puree them for him, it cuts one process down for them making it easier to digest. Just a thought.

Good luck with everything, and keep us updated on his progress. Sometimes you will notice changes immediately. With Harley on a natural diet, within a week, her stools were small and harder, and her coat was so much smoother.

Go Jake Go :0018:

 

thanks - bullylove, He did say to chop them so that makes sense about the digestion. And he said to make it easy like the beginning of the week, just chopped a whole bunch keep it in the fridge and take out as needed

honeybear

 

Can someone give me a good site to find info on raw diet? I'm really interested in trying it for my girls, but have not been able to find complete info on it. Or are there any books out there that any one knows of that give a complete explanation of it?

 

Kathy:
Go onto Yahoo groups and do a search. I belong to Totally Home cooking and they are great. You could join them and they would probably have some sites. There is also a BARF diet group. Just go on and type in Raw diet for dogs or something like that and I be tons will pop up.

Good luck!

 

I can guarentee he's going to like the raw much better than the dry ol dog food. My dogs will munch on their dry food (when we're home) but its only a snack for them, THey go for the Real stuff!!!!

 

Wonderful, honeybear! Remember that with ground patties like you will be using, you won't get a few of the benefits of a totally natural, raw diet - like you won't get the teeth-cleaning properties of munching on bones. But overall, it's a great way to go!

Definitely let us know how he does on it!


Jamiya

 

Good one Honeybear!
I started out reading about raw food diets on a book called "Natural food for dogs and cats" then went onto Dr Billinghurst's book, "Give your dog a bone" and now I have "Raw Meaty bones promote health" (which Jamiya recommended). Also reading up on the net, anything I could find really. The first two books I found were not the greatest, the format and info are a bit all over the place. Although I have taken bits of information from here and there and these books were benficial in one way or another. I have read a little of raw meaty bones, but haven't got through it yet. It seems to be more "professional" than the other two books. They all have different info regarding what to feed, I did get fraustrated, although I figured in the end you just have to do what makes sense to you, and what feels right. After all it is the same with people- and we don't stress about what we should and shouldn't be eating so much. There are always reports on stuff that they thought was good for us, then they come out and say it's bad. Also we know we shouldn't eat junk food- but we all do hey!?
It's great that you have a supplier. I tried to get meat and bone grinded up together for my pup, but no one would do it for me-- they said it would stuff up their machines or something. I was quite annoyed, because my pup is an absolute PIG and sometimes I'll feed her chicken necks and she'll swallow them whole without getting the benefits of crunching up the bone. I don't give her chicken wings coz she doesn't chew them up either. She is such a pig!!! I gave her a whole quail, and she chewed twice then swallowed it! It's an all out competition at feeding times to see which dog can finish first! lol. As Jamiya pointed out it is important for dogs to chew on bones to have clean teeth. My Mum's dog Missy recently had a operation to have teeth removed because they were all rotten. Missy must have been in alot of pain, not to mention the $$$ it cost!

 

kathry, see Jules post about raw info and do a search about BARF diet and theat will bring up a lot of good info.

Jimiya and Jules, Jake does get bones but they ar cooked and they last forever, he usually knaws on them every night for about 15 minutes, (his favorite place to chew :? my dining room because its the only place that has carpet) his teeth look fairly good for a dog his age, some tartar but not a lot. The vet also has pacakge heart and something else to add a few times a week since it is so rich, but I wont be doing that until Jake gets accilmated to the new diet

Honeybear

 

Good luck and let us know how he does on it. I have been seriously thinking of swithching mine! My hubby already thinks I am nuts, wonder what he will say about this one. LOL

 

Jules, chicken necks and wings are too small for most dogs. They also have too much bone compared to how much meat they have. I only feed them as snacks or when they are part of the whole bird. As a general rule, especially for dogs that tend to bolt their food down, you want to give them pieces of meat that are larger than their head!

Sometimes you can also "teach" them to eat more slowly by holding on to one end of whatever you are feeding so he has to rip and chew. Watch your fingers, though!

If the reason the dog is swallowing stuff whole is because of competition with other dogs, then separate them. Some let the dogs out one at a time (tried this - was too hard), some feed them in crates, etc. I used to try to let Bonnie and Nala out separately, but it was just too hard. But I noted where they preferred to take their food and lie down to work on it, so I got a couple of those tie out lines. One I attached to a tree near Nala's favorite spot, and one I attached to the swing set near Bonnie's favorite spot. When it's time to eat, I bring them out and put them on their lines. They have to sit to get the line on and then remain sitting until I give the release word (Bonnie is working on this still). I feed Nala first, because I am not really sure who is alpha but I think it is Nala and Bonnie doesn't object. When they are both done, I go back out and let them off their lines. They immediately run to the other dog's spot to see if they missed anything - especially Nala. Sometimes Bonnie skips this part and just goes to the door to be let inside.

So how is Jake liking his new food, honeybear? And what kind of cooked bones do you give him? I was told that cooked bones splinter and are unsafe, and that large bones - like the weight-bearing bones of ungulates - are too hard and can chip teeth. If you can find raw turkey necks, that might be a good thing for him to munch on every day or two to clean his teeth! We also used dentabones and greenies before Nala was on raw, and put Oxyfresh in her water. She has never had any tartar (but she is still very young) and Bonnie's tartar is now all gone after a month on raw.


Jamiya

 

Oh yeah- I tried that one and I never did it again- she almost ate my hand off lol :mrgreen:
Bender is good with necks- I sometimes give them to him as a whole meal because he chews them up. Thanks for the advice, I do like giving Leela the chicken carcasses because she has to chew them up to eat them. Jamiya- do you give anything to your dogs as 'fibre' to help them digest and not get constipated? Their droppings seem to be quite hard and I'm sure if I were doing ones like that it'd probably hurt for a start (!) and sure I would get constipated, any info on that?

 

Nope. I was told that small and hard was normal for dogs - not the huge squishy stuff we are used to seeing. Large and hard would be a different matter! The small, hard stool also helps to express their anal glands on the way out, as nature intended. I watch my dogs go, and they do not seem uncomfortable or in pain, and they do not strain for a long time trying to produce the stool, so I think they are fine.


Jamiya

 

Here's a good site for anyone wanting to put their dogs on a raw diet. It even gives you daily menu plans for the whole week so you know the right amount to give for your dogs weight. http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/riverien/nutritogether.htm

 

This is the list I learned from: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfeeding/

No recipes. Very easy.


Jamiya

 

Jimiya, Jakes really likes the raw stuff, he is eating beef now, I aslo bought chicken but havnt tried that yet. He will be eating kibble /raw for 3 more weeks before he goes fully raw. As for bones, tthey are not like the cooked ones from dinner. I found a certian type at petco, knuckel bones that dont splinter that last for several months. Iput the oxyfresh in his food. I should put it in his water, Midas drinks out of it too, being a cat I hope the size wont matter. Jake is scrathign a lot now, the vet sai he wil have adverse reactions for a short while. I hope it is not fleas. I have never had a flea problem, but the bvet gave the wrong heartworm medicne that does not have the flea stuff in it.

honeybear