Protein Levels in raw for puppies - Page 1

We are feeding our 2 GSD puppies (Rocco and Milo) Bravo Balanced raw.  I am also using Blue Wilderness Puppy as a free feed kibble.  The pups just turned 15 weeks old.  The Blue is a high protein kibble. but the raw is only showing 12% protein.  I am very confused now as I thought a raw diet was high in protein.  Needless to say they prefer the raw versus the kibble.  Can anyone shed some light on the issue?  i don't want to take them off their raw diets. Thanks Mike

Yes raw is much lower in protein than kibble; especially the no grain stuff; so your question is what?  Why would you want to take them off raw.  I would probably only give them l cup of kibble a day and go with raw mostly.  You CAN find prepared diets like Bravo that is higher in protein  but if it says balanced it should be good.  Maybe supplement them with some chicken wings for extra or necks for the cartlidge; or even chicken feet.  Add the chicken feet for a snack or?  A chicken quarter would be good once in a while, I like them to rip and tear, it strengthens the jaws.  Best of luck Nan

Thanks Nan. I was just concerned with the low protein levels in the Bravo Balanced.  They love the raw and I have no intention of moving them to a kibble based diet.  We have an ethnic grocery store in the area and they have all sorts of great foods,...fresh green tripe, chicken feet, hearts, livers, tongues, whole oxe tails, etc.

Thanks

Mike

The reason the percentages are different is the kibble is dry and the raw prepared food has a high moisture content so you can't compare the percentages directly unless you calculate the dry matter basis:-

protein percent/(100-moisture percent) x 100

Bravo 12/22 x 100 = 54.5% protein

Blue 36/90 x 100 = 40% protein

Louise

Absolutely you can give them all of that food mentioned;  just for your information I really liked the puppy feeding program Von Lotta and Krisiannrios Weanling raw feeding; both have some good references and menu's for complete raw feeding but I think Von Lotta does add a small amount of kibble also.  Just for info  BOL with your puppies,  Nan

Seems to me that this "Bravo" is somewhat watered down. With 78% moisture that leaves not that much in there in the first place. Here is Bravo's Chicken analysis:  
http://www.bravorawdiet.com/product/balance/balance_prem_chckn.html
With only 4% fat this is a very lean diet for a puppy. Too lean in my eyes. Puppies need more fat and proteins. Now don't get that confused with the kibble proteins. Kibble proteins are processed much differently than raw and too much protein from kibble has been known to cause rapid growth in puppies. In turn this rapid growth can and does cause Pano. Pano can be compared to teenage human growing pains. The long bones become enflamed and sore because of the rapid growth, causing limping. Raw fed puppies do not usually have a problem with Pano even though a raw fed diet is mostly protein and fat. It seems these processed raw diets contain far less protein and fats than feeding raw meat, bones and organs. Think about it.... handing a dog a chicken leg quarter is how much protein? How much fat? While even straight raw meat has a very high moisture content it is very high in protein and fat. Which is what dogs need.( Again, don't get this confused with kibble) 


 Here is a comparason with Natures Variety Chicken:
http://www.naturesvariety.com/InstinctRaw/dog/chicken 
It is somewhat better than Bravo, but not near as nutrient rich as feeding raw yourself.
Debby
 
 

Thanks for the clarification.  It is pretty confusing (LOL).

Mike

How much Raw per day do you think I should feed?  I have seen anything from 4-10% of body weight for puppies.  They both look great (not too chunky or thin) and they are each getting about 2 1/2 lbs per day.  They are both about 35lbs.

Mike

I would keep up the amount you've been doing if they are ideal weights. Alot depends on the activity level and genetic metabolic rate, so I always just watch the puppy to see if they need more or less rather than going by a specific rule. Puppies will also have individual growth spurts as well as slow growth times and their appetites usually pick up or wane accordingly.
Debby

Calcium intake has been shown to be far more important than protein. Calories and total energy are critical, but calcium can really affect joint conformation if overfed, and most of this is a problem with overall over-feeding. 

The ratios are useless if you're comparing percentages between dry matter and raw food unless you convert the percentages to account for the water in raw food.