Food for Mals - Page 1

When I first got my pup, I was giving her science diet. After much research, I decided to give Taste of the Wild a try as it seemed to be a pretty decent food. It's done a great job with my now 9 month old Mal. However, I am intrigued on the raw food diet and would like to pick someone's brain on how to go about getting my pup started on it. I've done some research on google and some websites as to how the raw diet works, but I think I'd get a much better understanding being able to speak with someone that actively feeds their dogs on the raw diet. Any help you may provide would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance.

Where to start?  Give your dog a chicken neck, wing, or back.  RAW...  Keep giving daily for about a week or until he/she gets used to that meat then go to another meat, give for a week and then the next meat.  Successful RAW is about variety.

NOW, some say it is OK to give at the same time as the kibble, some say NOT to do that as the RAW meats digest at a different rate.

Personally, I use raw ground meat in the AM, turkey, pork, ground beef, or any other raw ground meat mixed with Honest Kitchen Preference.

PM feeding is any kind of raw meat that works for your dog, I use chicken thighs (boned & skinned) and free range chicken necks.  The chicken necks allows you to adjust the amount of bone needed for your dog, each dog varies.  For your Mali I would probably use 2-3% of his/her body weight to start, and go up or down depending on how he/she processes the raw.  Again each dog is different, some will gain weight, some may lose weight.  They ALL definitely gain muscle.

If you have access to prey model type raw feeding be my guest;  however, I do not, I live in the city so I buy in bulk when I can from grocery stores, wal-mart is fair, and meat markets.  I prefer grass fed beef but it is hard to find.  I prefer organic or free range when I can find it and afford it, otherwise I use store bought for variety;  YOu can go to like a Costco or Sam's if convenient, may save a little.  You can also use your kibble and add ground meat (instead of canned foods or meats).  I poach fish, just think it's better that way and less gross not with bone though, if you give whole fish, give completely raw or debone. 

If you want to slightly sear meats just do not heat up bone.  NEVER give cooked bones.  The sky is the limit and what I love is the fact that your dog will have excellent clean/white/strong teeth, great muscle and endurance and the immune system will become much stronger.  Good luck  Nan

PS:  find a good bone source for chewing hopefully you can find some meat on the bones;  give for chewing then pick up and throw away;  always watch your dog(s) with any bones.  I give mine in their crates then clean up mess or if you just have one dog you can give outside.  BUt do not leave bone and dog unattended inside or outside.  Watch carefully.  BOL  Nan

Thanks, Nan for a quick response. I just have a couple of questions. You gave me a good idea about how to go about the meat, but what about other things? On some of the sites I've seen they mention veggies and other stuff. What's your take on that?  How do you go about getting the proper protein/fat content? Sorry if these are all "newbie" questions, but I would really like to get a good understanding before I switch my dog over only to do her harm. That wouldn't be wise for me nor the dog.

Thanks again!

Well supposedly they do not need vegi's, however, I do like to give them pureed though as otherwise like carrots come out the same way they go in, in whole chunks.  YOu don't want that.  Sooooo, that is why I use honest kitchen as that gives them the vegi's and the preference YOU add the meat.  The other Honest Kitchen formulas already have the meat in them, I am not as fond of those,   If you go with Honest Kitchen, you can also drop the kibble.  So that is one option.
 

Other things like eggs, cottage cheese, yogart (plain & organic if you can) are good, however, start small with one thing at a time; that way you know if your dog is going to have any problems with anything; and not feed that item again. 

As far as the protein/fat it works itself out over time;  watch your dogs stool, energy levels and of course weight, if all is good then you know he/she are on the right track.  If any one of those is off then you know for say more energy/stamina for dogs it is more fat.  Protein of course they need for survival and an all raw diet (prey model style) is approximately 17-20% protein.  So I like to achieve balance pretty often for my 2 seniors at almost 14 female and a 12 year old male;  I feel they do somewhat need that.  But the 12 year old male is very picky and sometimes won't eat anything I find to give him, know he does not have balance but it is the best I can do for him and that is whatever he will eat.

So if you want to use fresh vegi's, I used to do that too;  I pureed them in blender with warm water then put in plastic bags and froze until I used them.  A real pain in the butt.  So went to honest kitchen for AM feeding and am really happy with that plus is very easy to feed.

Also watch coat quality; and for any itching.  I don't have any itching at all unless I use some kind of flax, either oil or seeds; 2 of my 4 itch like crazy.  I also use l000-2000 mg salmon oil and one Vit E capsule (400 mg daily) which ensures good skin/coats.

So no flax of any type which is in a lot of supplements and doggy treats and some kibbles.  Watch your cottage cheese/eggs as some dogs are sensitive to those and I think it is the preservatives in the CC and I try to buy organic eggs.  My friend makes her own yogart but seemed like too much work to me so buy organic yogarts, and greek yogarts, etc.

As far as your balance(s) that will be over time with raw, so if you are more comfortable in feeding one meal of kibble or even one cup of kibble occasionally or say Honest Kitchen with meat, or even some of the frozen raw combinations, K9 cravings; Bravo, (Natural Instinct has flax) but many others are available, that will give you balance and you can see on the packages how much fat/protein/vegi's you are getting.  That is why to get started I do recommend to some to use those prepared diets along with chicken leg quarters, thighs, necks/backs/;  duck, ostrich, goat, if you have hunters in your area y ou can get deer, antelope, bison, all types of meats are OK; whatever is available.

I also use some type of organ meats 2 times per week, remember though it is rich, very rich so a very small amount the size of your palm or a deck of cards is more than sufficient to start;  mine are no longer sensitive to that.  I know many that overfed that and had really runny stools, so a warning in advance that it is rich for them;  but they do need liver/heart/kidney or whatever else you can get weekly or byweekly.  I used to have the butcher grind 25 lbs at a time for me but that became a hastle as they complained they had to wash and disinfect all their eqiupment, blah, blah, blah.  So you can get that frozen from Bravo, etc and just cut some off and refreeze.

That's about it for now, let me know if you have any questions.  I know it seems like a monumental task at first so go ahead and start with a frozen formula give a small amount at a time and proceed ahead.  Good luck  Nan

I also like the websites of Von Lotta on raw;  Save our Shepherds, Jan Anderson's PWD's; so if you have not read any of these sites on RAW you can start with Von Lotta's as they go into detail how to feed a puppy from 0-18 months which I found very helpful as when I started 2 l/2 years ago my female was l year old.  So far so good.  BOL  Nan 

I have not used any kibble dog food since I started, bought a bag for security and threw it away months later.

How much do you average spending per dog? My girl is right at about 50 pounds, 9 months old. Just trying to get a feel as I am planning on getting a puppy soon too and these types of things play a roll for me.

Thanks again, I will definitely look at the sites you recommended.

I'll need the luck! lol

I feed Orijen. My boy is 60lbs at 7 months. For kibble out is the best