#feeding raw

[forestdogs]

raw feeding

hey guys! i am interested in learning more about raw feeding. i know virtually nothing about it, so any tips and tricks would be really appreciated!

[whitefangsandwildhowls]

Info on properly feeding raw?

I often supplement my pets’ diets with raw (usually cooked meats, but I do give raw eggs after washing the shell off first). Where are some good sources of information for properly supplementing a pet’s diet, or how to properly switch to raw completely and make sure they pets are getting all the nutrients they need to thrive? My dog is currently on Zignature (which she loves), the cats bounce back and forth from Orijen, Instinct, and Taste of the WIld (their current kibble), and the ferrets are on Instinct (they do very well on it). I don’t want to stop feeding kibble completely just yet, but I would really like to do more research and become knowledgeable about feeding raw so that I don’t make mistakes. I usually cook the meat because I am unbelievably paranoid about parasites (veterinary field will do that to you)....and I always freeze and thaw the meat before cooking and feeding. Right now, it has been salmon once a week (boneless, and thoroughly cooked), and a raw egg on a different day once a week for both cats and the dog (ferrets are a little pickier, haha, and I’ve had a harder time getting them to take to soupies). 

So yeah, if anyone has any links to websites or articles, or just helpful advice in general on how to cut down on cost (isn’t really an issue, but I do like to save) and make sure my pets are happy and healthy...I would greatly appreciate it! Messaging me would be better than replying to this post or reblogging it! Thank you so much!

[missjalesi]

Anyone have or know anyone who has any experience with NW Naturals raw pet food? For Charlie, the cost would work out to be only a little bit more per month then Orijen. The only bad reviews I've seen are not being GMO free but I'm not fussed about that.

[raihastoomanyanimals]

Oh btw, the dogs are officially off kibble and back on raw! Well, Calista has started raw. I was worried she wouldn’t take to it... hahahahaha, yeah, she grabbed a hunk of it off the counter when I was thawing it this morning. HA. Yeah, she loves it! Day 2 tomorrow. Lets hope her stomach is okay!

[thehorse-and-hisgirl]

Folks who feed your dogs raw!!!

I have a couple questions for you: - what do you feed them specifically? - how do you prepare the meals? - how often do you feed them? - how much do you feed them? - where do you get ingredients? - what are some benefits that you have seen? I'm tired of Casper, my parents'/family's dog, eating the same commercial crap that they buy and since I live with them now and can do something about it, I'm looking into feeding raw. Any help is much appreciated!!!

[erato-and-pets]

There's some good news today as well

Sonia had her first raw meal today! Because of her teeth problems I'm trying my best to ease her into chewing, so for now (four days more I think, at least that's how many meals I have prepared already) I'll give her fully ground meals. Then we'll switch to only having the bones ground and the meat cut up in pieces, and then gradually make the pieces bigger and hopefully include some whole bone (chicken backs or necks, this kind of stuff. Nothing too hard or big.) eventually.

She pleasantly surprised me and ate her food within five minutes of it touching the ground and I'm amazingly happy about it! She hasn't eaten a meal straight away in YEARS. She's usually a slow and picky eater and acts like eating is a chore (largely due to her teeth being in bad condition) although she used to be a food-obsessed gulper when young. Let's hope she continues to enjoy the new food and other meats I'll be adding into her diet at a later date, and that it helps her feel better :) 

I'm also going to slowly increase her meal size once she's eating full PMR because I would like her to put on a little bit more weight. For now though we'll stay on a maintenance amount as I've found with Mariko it's easier for dogs to digest smaller meals at first. (in Mari's case it prevented diarrhea altogether, so I hope for similar results now)

In related news, I have confirmed that grinding whole chicken legs by hand (in an old fashioned iron grinder) is possible. It is not pleasant though, so I still hope I can buy an electric grinder soon. Finding one that can handle bone isn't the easiest or the cheapest task, but it's gonna be worth it because honestly I don't see this girl getting well enough to eat the required amount of bones on her own. Also, grinding stuff by hand is a ridiculously messy business. Good thing I don't mind getting dirty (and getting my whole hands in yucky sticky meat) because eeeew ;) 

[erato-and-pets]

In somewhat less depressing news, Sonia FINALLY managed to finish her kibble

And that means raw very soon! I doubt I'll give her a full meal tomorrow, she's a stubborn old lady and not likely to eat unfamiliar stuff right away (although she was given various pieces of raw over the last few weeks to get used to the taste and enjoyed most of them... except raw chicken meat. Which she's ALWAYS begged for when we made dinner. WTF, dog?) so I can bet my ass she'll be feeling rebellious and not eat.

I'll still offer her some food of course, but yeah, I'm not too hopeful because she really is a stubborn old fart :P 

I plan to give her a series of antibiotics to go along with switching to raw so that there'll be something besides meat fighting her teeth/gum issues. I'm a little unsure how to handle this though, because she's gonna need her bacteria to deal with the raw meat so antibiotics right at the start of the raw diet are probably a bad idea. I'm not sure whether I should go ahead and switch to raw and treat the teeth later (once they're a bit cleaner and she's a bit stronger and doing good on her new diet), or if I should postpone the diet switch until after she's had her antibiotics. OR maybe I should just go with both at once but add some probiotics? Opinions please?

[erato-and-pets]

Pig ears are a great rec treat

AND wonderful raw eating teachers. They take a lot of time, require thorough chewing, and, being big and flat, are great help in learning how to use paws to hold food down.