Food upgrades

[abbyneo]

Soooo..today fiancee and I went to a natural pet supply store that we like and the lady helped us find some stuff we needed, and we got to talking about transitioning to raw, etc.

The girls are currently eating Blue Buffalo Wilderness (grain free) and I'm looking to upgrade them. I don't think we're ready for raw yet, because of our lifestyle and because of the cost. But..with everything I read on this forum, I'd really like to get there someday. The lady at the store was super-helpful and gave us some samples of Taste of the Wild food since it's an affordable upgrade from Blue Buffalo, and she also gave me some Primal brand nuggets to try. I'm really excited to see how the girls like the raw, but I looked up the prices and it's just not going to be reasonable for our budget right now, considering how much they would eat.

So I'm thinking we'll upgrade to Taste of the Wild and then supplement with the raw nuggets, so they get some variety (along with their carrots, apples, yogurt, pumpkin, etc.).

I guess I'm looking for some validation that I'm doing the right thing, or looking for advice on what I should do. I get SO stressed out about food and I just want to do what's best for them..I need them to live forever!!

[runlikethewind]

You don't have to choose a commercial raw food to feed raw... That IS the expensive way to do it. All that you and your dogs need are at your local markets, local butchers and good supermarkets for a lot cheaper and often cheaper than commercial regular dog food.

[jacksdad]

I have just started feeding Jack Raw, I started phasing it in about a month ago, and now we are almost 2 weeks into 100% raw meals. So while I am new to it, I did a lot of reading first and the conclusion I came to, buying "raw" isn't much better than buying commercial.

IF you choose to go raw, my personal opinion, learn to do it all your self, select good quality human grade food and once your ready, just do it. cost wise it's not going to be that bad and may even work out cheaper than commercial kibble or commercial "raw".

I am already seeing Jack need less food. when I started he seemed to need a full chicken wing breakfast and dinner. I have now cut that back to close to half a chicken wing for breakfast and lunch. When I just feed him raw chicken no bone since I couldn't be around while he eats, I was giving half a cup of diced raw chicken. Now I am cutting that back to 1/3 cup. he is up to close to 1/2 cup of minced veggies a day and that probably won't change.

I bought 3 packages of chicken wings from a local supermarket, there were about 8 wings per packages. I skin them and then freeze them. it cost about $15 total. at his initial food level, would have lasted about 2.5 weeks. at the reduced level it will last closer to a month. his veggies come out of whatever we buy for our selves, same with fruits and other things I give him. so the cost of feeding Jack mostly adds just a little to what I buy for me and my family. Even feeding Jack "premium", it is still way, way, WAY, cheaper than feeding a 6' 4" teenager who ran track all four years of high school

Personally I am not that worried about is "do it your self RAW" cheaper than kibble. Not to give the impression I am "rich" because i am not. But I do live in a HIGH cost of living area so watching my expense is always something I need to do. My main concern is Jacks health. based on the last 6 weeks, raw seems to be what he NEEDs to be healthy. So for me, while I won't say cost is no objective, but considering last years vet bills (about $5000.00, thank god for pet plan insurance out of pock it just a couple hundred) based on the results I am seeing from feeding Jack my self and now RAW, I don't care if in the end I am not "saving" money feeding him my self using RAW over commercial kibble.

Just a side note, I will never claim all possible health issues will disappear just by feeding RAW or that you will never, ever need a vet. Just in Jack's case, with the specific issues he was having...knowing everything I know now, I would have changed vets earlier, and listened to my gut and feed RAW sooner.

Anyway, my 2 cents on raw....

Do your research. Then if you decide it's what you want to do, or need to do, just do it. learn to do it your self and initially don't focus on the cost. focus on learning to feed your dog. once you have it figured out, then if you need or want to, start looking for ways to cut costs. But don't focus on the cost to start, focus on what you believe is the best direction for your dog.

[ClareMarsh]

I don't think we're ready for raw yet, because of our lifestyle and because of the cost.

Hi there, I'd echo what has been said already there's no need to buy any sort of dog food at all if you go raw. I feed Ted raw (admittedly he doesn't eat anywhere near as much as your two would ) and all his food comes from the butcher (who as well as the stuff we buy gives us chicken backs for free), supermarket, and farmers market. If I were you I'd do some research on what you want to feed, how to go about it then start looking for economical was to source food (for e.g. in the UK one can get hunted wild rabbits mail order cheaply and rabbits are an excellent source of raw feeding provided you have some freezer space), discount stores etc.

You also mention lifestyle, whilst raw is slightly more time consuming than scooping out kibble once you get used to it it doesn't actually take that much time to do. Is there anything you were especially concerned about that we could help with.

I am a MASSIVE fan of raw feeding and would not feed any other way now, if it's where you want to end up then why not let us help you get there quicker

If you are going to do a mix of TOTW and raw then I'd go with sourcing the raw as suggested above and feeding RMB rather than feeding nuggets/mince which doesn't clean teeth and you don't know what is in it still, quality of the meat, bone ratio etc.

I hope this helps you, ask ask away, the first few feeds are nerve wracking and then it all becomes second nature

[minkee]

(for e.g. in the UK one can get hunted wild rabbits mail order cheaply and rabbits are an excellent source of raw feeding provided you have some freezer space)

Do you have a link for this, Clare?

[ClareMarsh]

Hi Minkee, I'll PM you the details.

[abbyneo]

Thanks for the responses, everyone. I guess I'm making it a bigger deal than it needs to be..I think that I, like a lot of people, are just so used to kibble that it seems strange to do anything else. Thanks for the suggestions..going to sit down with fiancee next weekend and work out the logistics of getting started. Thanks for your advice and support!!

[ClareMarsh]

I think that I, like a lot of people, are just so used to kibble that it seems strange to do anything else.

Once you switch you will think anything other than a raw diet is strange! DO IT, DO IT, DO IT, DO IT

[abbyneo]

I think that I, like a lot of people, are just so used to kibble that it seems strange to do anything else.

Once you switch you will think anything other than a raw diet is strange! DO IT, DO IT, DO IT, DO IT

Tell me how you really feel!!

[abbyneo]

So we've had the girls on TOTW but now that these recalls have begun, this has been my motivation to finally get them on raw and I need help. Abby is an adult and her ideal weight is about 65. She's a bit more than that right now because she's been getting spoiled and admittedly she hasn't been getting the exercise she should be with the move and everything. Neo is 10 months and weighs about 55 right now and just went through her fitlrst heat. I know I could google this but you all are so much more knowledgeable and entertaining than google!! So...my first question is..how much (roughly of course) should they get, and of what kind of meat? Obviously chicken...wings? Breasts? If you have any tips/tricks for raw beginners I would love to know those too!

[bendog]

I was taught the general rule is to give them 1-3% of their body weight in food and then adjust up or down as you need to. For Abby i think this means she'll need almost 600g of food a day. Is neo full grown yet? If not feed her according to what she should weigh when full grown.

I'd guess chicken wings are far too small for yours, I'm thinking more whole chickens! If you find a good butcher I think you can get chicken carcasses (chickens with the best cuts removed) so long as these still have plenty of meat on I'd guess maybe 1 or 2 chicken carcasses would be about right. Or a half or whole chicken (and you can take the breast meat off for yourself to eat/to cook as training treats). Ribs, rabbit, duck etc are all great too, do just research what is available and how much you can afford. I still buy most of my meat at the supermarket because the hours I work mean I never get to the butchers when it's open, but if you find a good butcher you might get stuff free/very cheap as you can feed the dogs stuff they'd normally throw away. Remember that they'll need some offal (liver, kidney etc) as well once or twice a week.

Generally people say start them off on one type of meat (eg chicken) for a little while then introduce new meats gradually. With offal its best to give really small amounts at first coz it can give some dogs the runs the first time. See how they react. To be honest I pretty much ignored all of this, introduced new meats quickly and gave offal in fairly large amounts fairly soon but my dogs got the hang of it straight away and have steel stomachs

As a guide my 20lb dog gets anywhere between 160g-350g of meat a day, I just try to even it out so big meals are followed by small ones, really small meals I add offal too etc. they get about 120g of offal a week, split so they have half one day and half another. So you'd be feeding about three times this. You can also add in eggs, veggies, yoghurt etc as you feel.

It doesnt take long to get used to, I've only been feeding raw for a few months.

[ClareMarsh]

The only thing I'd add to Bendog's excellent advice is you should also feed an oily fish (or fish body oil if your girls won't eat fish, not all dogs will). For their first few meals I would err on the side of feeding bones covered in lots of meat rather than chicken backs so I'd go with the whole / half chickens to start with so that there's plenty of meat wrapped around the bone whilst their digestive systems (especially Abby's being older) get used to the new regime. Go really big as it reduces the risk of the dog gulping the food down and just keep an eye on them, particularly at the end of the meal when there is only a small amount left as no doubt they will just swallow the last piece whole which should be fine but better if you're there to supervise. And as Bendog says, offal in small amounts (really really tiny, think size of your fingernail) to start with just to be on the safe side because having read about the bottom explosions if you give too much too soon you really don't want to be dealing with that!

Your girls are going to love you for this

[danastinson]

Coco can't handle anything that I could consider eating so the whole raw thing is out of the question because I can’t budget two different meals for my two dogs. My question is would Coco still benefit if I gave her some sort of kibble with small amounts of fresh fruit and vegetables added (just to try out for now to see if Coco's tummy can handle it)? If so what different kinds are ok for dogs besides apples and carrots?

[bendog]

I often used to give mine fruit and veg before switching to raw with no problems. Virtually all fruit and veg except onions and grapes are ok. Just depends what your dog will eat and enjoys. Frozen peas, pears, apple, broccoli are all popular here. Cooked veg is also fine.