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ForumsGerman Shepherd Dog > From raw to homecooked - looking for some advice and/or opinions. (45 replies)
by elisabeth00117 on 28 April 2011 - 19:46 |
| Sable and realmccoy - not sure if you read my posts or not? I WANT him to eat the raw, but he will not. I am a big, actually HUGE advocate for raw feeding and perfer this diet, but when you have a dog who will not eat - what do you do? I am not a "newbie" to raw (my last dog was on this diet for 13.5 years) and totally agree that it is the best way to go.. but when a dog goes 3-4 days with NO eating on a regular basis (like weekly!), what would you suggest? |
elisabeth00117 by realmccoy on 28 April 2011 - 19:54 | |||
My bad I misunderstood, give a try to the raw product i suggested, see how that goes. He may love the taste and develop an apetite. :) | |||
realmccoy by uvw on 28 April 2011 - 20:12 |
| elizabeth, my concern is the part where you wrote that if you give him bone he poops shards or pieces. typically they should look like little white specs, or if it's all bone it will be a light/white/beige colored solid poop, or if it's overkill on bone it will litterally be powder. have you ever had him on a probiotic/digestive enzyme? i know many people like to give yogurt for 'beneficial bacteria', but there really isn't enough in a scoop of yogurt to be effective (in my opinion), so i typically recommend acidophilus, and i like this product in particular...http://www.thewholisticpet.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=553&ParentCat=50. ***but i think maybe in your case you should try this one...http://www.renewlife.com/ultimate-flora-critical-care-50-billion.html. i take it myself, and have seen really good results with my dogs when needed. again, i usually don't use supplements unless needed for some reason (with the exception of fish oil), but maybe you should give it a try? also, if for some reason he does have an issue digesting bone properly (which also depends on the type of bone you feed), you can try a supplement like this...http://www.thewholisticpet.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=576&ParentCat=40, to replace bone for a while and see what the outcome is. i personally have not used this supplement, but have heard good things about it. on a side note, have you ever drizzled honey, for example, on his food? |
uvw by Nans gsd on 28 April 2011 - 23:08 |
| I also use the Ultimate Flora-50 million; remember to keep all probiotics refrigerated, I also give to dogs but not full time; only if someone has an issue. But to build up good flora I have given it to my old picky-fussy skinny boy and seems to really him out. BOL Nan I do not trust the dog probiotics; don't know what the hell they are?? or how they have been handled and shipped. No. use human grade or don't waste your money. |
by elisabeth00117 on 29 April 2011 - 05:21 |
| The sharded pieces are only every once in a blue moon when I give a certain type of bone (usually beef ribs), I assume because he is not chewing them well enough. His poops are usually soild, dark brown in colour and small (grape sized). On occassion he does have a whiter coloured poop, but that of course is an indication of too much RMB. He is on a probiotic/human grade (started it about a month ago) and I will find out the name when I get home. It is considered a "multi-probiotic" I believe. I haven't tried honey, no. But will definitely give that a try. I have tried other things though. Thanks everyone! :) |
by uvw on 29 April 2011 - 13:32 |
| if you decide to try honey, try to get a raw unprocessed honey. you should be able to find one at a health food store or whole foods, or a local farmer's market. they usually come whipped (solid and looking like wax), but sometimes you can find them liquid which is easier to drizzle on his food. nans, yes, i agree with you completely! but i have use several of the wholistic pet products, and i've really liked the quality from what i've seen so far. they are one of the few pet supplements i would use. on a side note, many times people grade supplements have other ingredients/preservatives that i try to or need to stay away from for a particular dog, which is one of the reasons i like wholistic pet products. they have just the ingredient that i'm looking for (i don't use any canine complete or multi-vitamin products)...and they're very reasonably priced. ps - i don't sell their products, this is just my opinion of them. |
by elisabeth00117 on 29 April 2011 - 16:17 |
| My uncle actally raises bees so I can get whatever I like from him - BONUS! :) Thanks so much, I did the meat raw last night and flash boiled the veggies and gave 1/2 cup of rice plus suppliments last night and he ate about 1/2 of it.. so we are going to try again today with giving the raw. Tomorrow I will try the raw bone again and see if he eats it. I appreciate all the help from everyone! :) |
by sable59 on 29 April 2011 - 21:14 |
| elisabeth, take all food from him for 24 hrs. put his food in the next day. give him 5 min. take away. 24 hrs and again 5 min. continue to do this . he will get the message. usually the second day. don't feed him a lot. the right ammount to feed is the ammount he or she will eat and throw off and not loose or gain weight. |
by sable59 on 29 April 2011 - 21:14 |
by SitasMom on 29 April 2011 - 21:30 |
| whole chicken with bones, gizzard, liver, whole brisket boil until bones are soft......... then and add large pinch of salt 6 cups of rice boil until rice is done and add 2 cans of peas 2 cans of carrots 1/8 cup of cholrella cool and seperate into individual servings........ add a few puppy vitimins per mfg recommentations at time of feeding..... i have no idea if its "good" or not, but my preggers loves it and is eating well |
by elisabeth00117 on 30 April 2011 - 05:00 |
| Sable, I have done that... with no luck. He just doesn't eat. I did that for 2 months and he just would eat one day, leave the meals for the next few.. eat half, leave the meals for the next few days, etc.. Trust me.. I have tried. |
by SitasMom on 30 April 2011 - 10:55 |
| i had a dog that didn't eat well, vet put him on antibiotics, now he eats like a horse.......he had some kind of infection that was making him not feel like well. never could find the exact source. now he cleans his bowl twice a day - 6 cups TOTW a day - raw isn't for every dog, expecially not this one. have you had blood work done? |
by sable59 on 30 April 2011 - 14:09 |
| SITASMOM, OTHER THAN THE PUPPY VITAMINS, YOU COULD SERVE THAT FOR SUNDAY DINNER. WHERE DO YOU GUYS GET ALL THESE MIXTURES OF FOOD. DIDN'T RELIZE THE CAPS WAS ON. |
by myret on 30 April 2011 - 19:31 |
| In my opinion and in I would say all dogs they have an instinct to survive that means that the high fooddrive dogs like food better and has a verygood instinct to eat when food is availeble,but many dogs don't and my experience tells me that give the dog the food give about 5 minutes if he does not eat take the food away and try again the next day,dogs that are fussy eaters and the dogs that know that the owner will soon give him something else will not eat for days ,because they know that the owner willl soon give up due to the fact that people think it is not good that a dog goes four 3-5 days without food ,but that is not a problem at all. Yuo hold on to that and the dog will eat eventually,some dogs even get the instict back that they are surposed to have that is eat when its possible or starve. believe me I works most of the time.- |
myret by elisabeth00117 on 30 April 2011 - 20:30 |
| @ Myret - Not sure if you are reading my posts? I have done this for months on end for 2 years, he just doesn't eat. I have no issues with him being full, that is fine, but because we are extremely active (schH, agility, obedience/rally, hiking and swimming and soon herding) I need to ensure he is getting the proper nutrients into his body so he is in tip top shape. We put his body through some rigorous training so we need to take of it. @ Sitasmom - Yes, he had had bloodwork done, a full panel with thyroid & tick included. All came back fine. No indication of anything wrong. He is in great shape, my worry is him getting the proper nutrients. I will say that since I have started cooking for him, he has eaten every single night. He has not missed a meal in almost 2 weeks now. VERY big change for us here. Although I do not want to feed this way, and perfer a raw diet, I am considering continuing with this method. I have been doing half-flash boiled meats (still pretty raw, just some colour on the outside to bring the flavour out) and half raw-raw, while everything else (minus the rice) is flash boiled as well (still pretty raw). Organ meat is raw-raw and I also feed trip and eggs raw. |
by sable59 on 01 May 2011 - 02:02 |
| so he will eat his food cooked? he has gotten what he wahts. WINNER DOG!! |
by elisabeth00117 on 01 May 2011 - 02:19 |
| After 2 years of trying it the other ways and not getting him to eat his meals no matter what I do, yes, I have resorted to cooking his meals (meat still raw basically). I am happy he is eating. Not really sure why that would be an issue? Having an active dog go days (4-5) without eating anything is not healthy nor is it good for a young dog who is extremely active; I think most can agree with that. I weighed my options and this won out, for now. |
by uvw on 01 May 2011 - 03:03 |
elisabeth, if you're searing the meat, and still leaving it part raw, and feeding organs raw, etc., i think he will be just fine. you seem to be covering all your bases. don't worry too much, or over do it on the supplements because you think he "may" be missing out on something. just remember a few things, which i'm sure you already know:
good luck! |
by myret on 04 May 2011 - 00:05 |
| elisabeth I have read your post and I understand where you are coming from Your dog is a picky eater and does not like food that well and is not food motivated. And I understand to that he will only maybe eat his raw food 1-2 a weak and theMaybe yon goes for 4-5 days without food. I guess that you dog is one of those than eats just to survive nothing else but I dont understand why all of your training has to do with what I wrote you?? Maybe you will never get the fooddriven dog but he will not starve himself 1-2 meals are enough for a dog to thrive,nothing to be conceaned about if you can getmany of the nutrients in him in those 1-2 meals a week he will do just fine . dogs system are not built to eat everyday,they do not have a prey stomach. and if he did not loose weight then there is nothing to worry about. Dogs that dont have their stomachs full of food everyday will work even better at an emty stomach. My own dogs eat 1-3 meals a week and they have more energy in that method than the 5-6 meals I used to give them. we work 12-14 ours at night security + traning and they have tons of energi . Most dogs like homecooked food I have almost never seen a dog that did not like home cooked food. Don´t take my post as a criticism,just knowlegde and my opinion.  ' |
by sable59 on 04 May 2011 - 02:35 |
| elisabeth, yes him eating is the main thing. i was beginning to think he may of had an intestinaeal problem. there is no issues with what you did. i have never seen a dog starve himself to death. |
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