Another Raw thread - Page 1

I have gone through some of the old threads on the raw diets, I do see a big difference in the raw fed dogs.  Here's the dilemma as with any subject I have done hours and hours of research (to my disappointment haven't found a good book on it yet).  When doing research it is very difficult especially on the internet to tell what is reputable and what is not.  When it comes to studies we all know he who controls the pencil controls the statistics!! None of the sites seem to give an actual example of a daily diet for the dogs? Are supplements required, when it says 10% organ meat, which organs and how do you know it's 10%.  Some sites say cook the food slightly, others say feed it totally raw.  Some say no ground beef, some say ground beef is fine.  I was hoping somebody could give examples of what they feed, how much etc..

I would read the book by Mogens Eliasen very good book myself and thousands have read it with very good results , it explains how the dogs system work it has helped alot

I know when I wanted to try raw I decided on the prepared raw patties. The patties have everything in them meat, ground bone, organs, and fruit/veggies (explained to me that is what would be in belly of animals wolves ate and provides certian vitamins and minerals). I certianly believe it helped me take the guess work out of feeding raw.  But, if I remember correctly, you were still supposed to feed a multi-vitamin and probiotics and tripe (which helped digestion or absorption).  Plus, you were still supposed to feed bones (not cooked) once a week.  But, this food is EXPENSIVE.

Sorry I can't be of more help if you wnat to prepare your own food. But, I know there are a lot of online e-mail groups devoted to feeding raw so maybe you could ty to touch base with one of those groups.  Here is a thread on another gsd group that talks about feeding raw that might be of help to you:
http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/b-r-f-raw-feeding/

My puppy ended up hating raw and refused to eat and lost weight.

So, I switched her to a dry kibble based on the raw concept: Orijen Puppy large. She looks great; her poops are solid; and her coat just shines. 

However, lots of people swear by the raw diet and I feel it makes a lot of sense.  Good luck!!

My puppy ended up hating raw and refused to eat and lost weight.
 

The ungrateful wretch...after all that work you did! 

Whjat
WhaWhat 

Sunsilver- yeah, I know.  What the heck!! hahahaha

I even tried mixing a fresh scrambled egg in every time (delivered fresh from our farm chickens). Embarrassingly,  I even tried spoon feeding it to her. It was ridiculous....

Finally, my vet and I agreed to go back to kibble and I could try again when she put weight on.  But, she loved the kibble so much and is doing so great that I am leaving her on it....But, I am a big believer in the grain free/raw diet based type of kibble. She looks amazing, has lots of energy, good poops, and a super shiny coat!

@Donnerstorm -
I'm new to raw feeding as well but I did a lot of research (websites, journals, etc.) and interviewed long time raw feeders. If you PM me your email, I can send you a list of the resources that I found very helpful. I also keep a spreadsheet of what I feed if you'd like that.

This is a good thread too:
http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/bulletins.read?mnr=478777

Laura

Join the raw feeding Yahoo group and search through the archives, some great tips and "recipes":

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfeeding/

Some recent messages have explained the 80/10/10 ratio and how to go about getting it.

The bulk of my diet is chicken leg quarters supplemented with marked down beef/turkey to up the meat content. They also get raw pieces of whatever we might be cooking...venison, duck. My organ meats are primarily beef. I give the occasional egg, veggies and tripe because they like them. The only supplement I give is salmon oil and Vitamin E, because the meats I get from the grocery store are not grassfed/pasture raised.

I get the 10% mostly by estimating. If a dog needs 10 lbs of food a week total, it needs 1 lb of organs a week. That means .5 lb liver (liver should be half of total organs fed). So, once a week I'll give half a pound of liver, once a week half a pound of other organs (kidney, pancreas, etc). Balance over time. I don't know that ground/not ground matters that much, but you should try to feed whole pieces and never ground bone. Whole pieces encourage chewing.

I joined the group since it seems to come up in many threads on raw feeding and I found their list of suggestions to obtain meat at a lower cost interesting. I also joined CanadianRawPetSupply to locate meat distributors in my area (there's a US version too). I will very carefully add that I find that the group tends to take a stricter approach to the prey model than I do. I'm glad that I did my own research before joining the group. Be sure to read the TOS before joining- it's unusually draconian.

LOL, I feel the same way...

Thanks for the links, I had pulled those up, I live in a rural area so I have no problems getting the raw, it's how in the world you feed it.  Molly I notice you have posted like Laura in most of the raw threads on here, would you mind sharing your recipes??