RAW feeding questions. - Page 3

NansGSD,
My 11 year old female with her worn teeth eats 1 1/4 lb chicken quarters with no problem.  It takes her a little longer than my 4 year old male, but she crushes those bones right up.  She looks and acts like a 7 year old GSD.  She has no problem eating the chicken legs and thigh quarters.  I never grind up the bones.  Start your older dog on necks or wings if your concerned.  Soon you won't be worried.

Jim   

OK...today was fish day.  Didn't go like the other days.  I took em into the yard due to the smell and gave em each a whole Talapia.  My male sniffed a couple times, licked at it then proceeded to try and roll on it.  My female promptly picked it up and tried to bury it.  When she came over to take his, I told her to get her own, so she went back and brought hers back out.  She then layed down and proceeded to chomp through it, head first.  I tried cutting a couple chunks out of his and feeding it to him and he spit it out and tried to roll in it again.  After she finished hers, I got him some chicken and let her have the other fish.  Are there some fish that dogs will eat more so than others?  I think I'm gonna try the sardines in water, but don't know yet.  If I can't get him to eat fish, what if any supplements should I give him to make up for not eating any fish?  This is strange to me because his favorite kibble was TOTW Salmon...

PS:  No problem with my older girl, she gums the chicken legs and chews and down they go.  Makes my happy.  Thx.  Nan 

Well you are right, my old girl has had no problems handling the raw.  She has done fantastic.  Interesting enough. she has quit limping since she started eating raw.  Only a couple of days.???  I figure it is probably the cartlidge??  Nan

Pharaoh did not care for the canned sardines (in water with no salt) at first, but now he loves them.

I also give him a pump or two of high quality salmon oil.  The two or three times a week I give him TOTW Wetlands recipe soaked in water also gives him fish:

Ingredients:  Duck, duck meal, chicken meal, egg product, sweet potatoes, peas, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), potatoes, roasted quail, roasted duck, smoked turkey, natural flavor, tomato pomace, ocean fish meal, salt, choline chloride, dried chicory root, tomatoes, blueberries, raspberries, yucca schidigera extract, dried fermentation products of Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum, dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin (vitamin B2), vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

Also, it does not have any vegetable oils which Pharaoh does not tolerate well,  Including flax, which is a very common allergen.

I don't worry if we are out and about at stores and they give him cookies or biscuits.  That is only occasional consumption and not a regular part of his diet.  As a ninety percent raw fed dog, his stomach is cast iron.  I wonder if he was kibble fed if he would have allergies like my first shepherd who could not tolerate vegetable oils (expecially flax) and soy.  He was the reason I went to raw feeding.  I had him tested for allergies, so, it's not my fantasies.

Michele

Could be that the grain content of kibble was giving her inflammation of the joints. Usually takes longer than that to get the toxins out, but.....hey, all progress is good progress! 

NansGSD,
I'm glad to hear it's going well.  She is probably getting nutrients from the raw bones and marrow that she has never had before.  Just the process of eating the raw food is a good workout for the jaw and muscles from head to toe.  I will never go back to dry food again.  Even when I travel with the dogs, I stop at a supermarket and buy my raw dog food.  It's pretty easy when traveling also.

Jim

I dunno but, I'd like to see what the grain looks like just before dog food processing. It would have to be the worst of the worst for real. That means not good for grain fed pigs and goats even .. sooo I think the grains are a huge part of the nutritional value. That's not saying much for all commercial dog food, in my opinion.

But then again, I look at the number of rows, columns and overlap on a cob of corn before I'd buy it. I prefer no genetically-engineered produce. 

Anyhows, I think the quality of grain and mold content plays a big role in the overall health of a dog in commercial dog food. Why that's not ever discussed is beyond me. We know there's no Angus roast or ribeye in that bag.

 

Yes, I can remember travelling with my two huge GSDs (before Paraoh) and stopping at a 24 hour Safeway and getting a couple of trays of chicken parts and feeding them on the lawn.

There were some people who stopped to watch them eat.  It was about 9 or ten years ago and they thought it was feeding time at the zoo.

Michele

hi,everyone.my name,s Carole and i live in the uk.my kennel name with the uk.kennel club is rheinmeister and i have showline german shepherds.my shepherds,2 females,are of the international type and not the old fashioned english type,which can still be seen here.i have been feeding raw for quite a few years.my girls aren,t too keen on fresh fish,but will eat tinned sardines,pilchards and mackerel,but try giving them fresh and its pushed around all over the floor.i think its probably the slimy texture of the skin.i,ve been able to pick up a couple of trays of salmon bits from my local supermaket yesterday.they ate the bits without the skin with no hesitation,but the bits with the skin on,they kept picking up and shaking it then dropping it.eventually they did eat the bits.just persevere ,they,ll get the hang of it.mine did that with the chicken wings when i first started.they looked at me as to say WOT THE HELL IS THIS YOU,RE GIVING ME.i now buy chicken carcases,if i can as greedy chiki(my youngest aged 7)swallows the wings whole if they,re a bit on the small size.lily is her mum and is 9,going to be 10 in june.RAW IS DEFO.MUCH BETTER THAN KIBBLE,KNOWN AS COMPLETE HERE IN UK.people think i,m mad feeding raw.i get so many telling me ,CHICKEN BONES ARE BAD FOR DOGS,COS THEY SPLINTER.i,ve even had a vet telling me off too.wot do they know.most vets here treat yu like idiots .anyway have to go now.