So confused please help! (Raw food diet) - Page 1

I have a 5 year old sable female, & she is my life! I have always tried to feed her the best kibble food; no wheat, corn, soy, no by-products, & I alwys try to get the first 2-3 ingreidents in it Whole animal, not  animal meal...  & also no beef at all in any of her food as I have read many articles that have stated that dogs cannot digest beef, & it doesn't supply any real nutrients. So I'm careful about her diet.

 She has always been so picky about her food,  & I can't buy the $50 bags, of which I 'm sure she would only nibble at anyways... I try the whole leave food down for 10 min. then pick it up untill next feeding. She would then only eat it cause she's starving, & I can tell she doesn't really enjoy it. You give her a peice of chicken, you'll see enjoyment. LoL. I've always of course been told no table scraps,  no human food, & deffenitely NO Bones! Ect... I've tried almost every dog food out there that meats my price usaly $35 a bag, & no junk in it.... Still she snubs it untill she almost has to eat it... Then 2 days ago, we went to visit a friend. A male dark Sable GSD, & whom of which Kozette abosulty LOVES!

Anyways, some how the topic of him eating raw came up, & her laeeting him eat the bones. I thought that wouldn't be "healthy"  but she said tha bones are actaualy really good for digestion. After talking to her, she convinced me how good the whole thing is. Her dog is beautiful, healthy, & intellegent, so I saw it & belived it. She said that she only pays about a dollar/ pound for his food, & he doesn't realy have any health issues. Kozette while not necesarly "unhealthy", she does have a touchy stomach, & has loose bowels often. I started resaching it more, & have found that a raw food diet is supposed to help with that. So I think I am nearly convinced to switch her. But I have no idea how to do it, where to get the food, what to ask for, ect... I have looked on so many websites, but am more & more confused at the end. I was really interested in K-9 craving, but it's no where around my area, & I'm sure I couldn't afford the shipping costs, if they even ship...

But I just want the best for her, & it sounds like doing the raw diet would be good for her. Oh I forgot to mention that I left Kozzette over night with them, & I forgot to mention that Kozette will probably not eat her food untill much later. SO when she noticed her kind of snub her food, she put a bit of "knuckle" meat in her food, & apparently she scarfed it down in a minuite! LoL. I guess they gave her the knuckle bone & she loved it! That made me even more convinced!

Any info. on this subject? I'm uterly confused! I'm not even sure what the "knucle" is! LoL.

Thanks! :)

Hi KiKiKate,

You have a 5 year old sable female & she is your life........NOT.......HELLO!!!!!

If she was your life -------SHE would have a name............................???????

Whats with the COLORS............

I'm sorry, I'm sure you have the best intentions on this post, but the GSD is NOT a color,

the GSD is the best of the best and color does NOT define the breed!

Cost of Food should not be that big an issue,

You have me So Confused Please Help ME Understand!

me to ,so confused raw is raw not to hard to figure out

Sorry, KiKikatie,

I was wrong I didn't read your whole post (I'm a skimmer!)

Anyway, go to the local supermarket & purchase like say... Purdue chicken legs with the thigh attached, I can sometimes find it at .59 a pound, or get Salmon in a can and mix it with their kibble,feed it uncooked bone & all!

I am feeding Fromm Gold kibble along with a raw diet, you can experiment with a little yogurt, honey, eggs, oatmeal, wheat germ, nutritional yeast, all in small amounts until you & your dogs find their happy medium!

VERY SORRY FOR BITCHING AT YOU,

Please forgive me,

Paula

One last thing (ADHD!)

Buy what YOU as a human would consume,

That's all you need to know, no big mistery about raw food, it's stuff you buy to cook for yourself,

only, you don't cook it up for your dogs, they eat it uncooked, Chicken thighs are good, raw chicken livers,

things like that, the bones are not brittle unless they are cooked, raw bones digest very easily.

Hi, great idea to switch to raw - your doing the best for your dog.

A typical Raw diet contains:

55% RMB's (Chicken wings, chicken legs, chicken necks)

30% Muscle Meat (Any mest without bone)

10% Organ Meat (Liver, kidney)

 5% Vegetables (Broccoli, spinach, celery, carrot)-Vegetables must be blended

Supplements: Fish Oil, Garlic, Kelp and  Alfalfa

Its not necessary to give all the supplements, research them and decide if you want to include them.

Hope this helps

i recommend checking out www.rawmeatybones.com

Congratulations, you are making the right choice for your dog.

I have a month worth of daily posts on my blog – I wrote down exactly what I was giving my dogs each day. They are on raw/homemade diet. Start at the very bottom, and you can read up day by day – this could hopefully give you some ideas of where and how to start. Of course, you don’t have to follow it exactly, and can add a lot of variety. Here is the link: http://www.vonlotta.com/blog/

You can’t really go wrong with it – not every meal of your dog has to be balanced. If you feel like giving her chicken today – give her chicken, if you feel like giving her liver – give her that. If you feel that it’s been a while since she had some vit C – add some cranberries to her ground beef, etc, etc.

Henry’s suggestion of proportions of the components sounds excellent too. I personally like to add more organ meat though, and definitely make sure they get all that chicken fat from necks and backs.

Take the plunge!

My GSD girl is just very endearing to me, but she is not my life.

Chicken by-product meal is the meal ingredient of my dog food, $23 for 40 bags. I tried "chicken" and "chicken meal", which she doesn't seem to like any more. The skill and expertise of the maker is FAR more important than whether the ingredient is "chicken", "chick meal", or "chicken by-product meal".

I have to add about three ounces of chicken meat in her meal each day to get her to eat well, oterwise she won't eat enough for best health. She does quite well now.

I eat health food so for the most part  what I need to add to her kibbles is about what I eat. Table scraps can be very good for your dog, it depends. If you eat bacon then it may not be. The last time I ate bacon was about two years ago in a free breakfast in a hotel.

My meat is the leanest part of steamed chicken breast, so she eats what I eat as well, the fattier part closest to the ribs. I eat almost no processed food so neither does she. I feed her without seasoning added.

Is your dog getting enough exercise? My girl fast trot, almost gallop, for about 3.25 miles every two to three days. Just walk a couple of miles a day in between.

Raw is closer to natural, but I think it is also natural for a few wolves to die suddenly of bacterial infection. The risk may be  low, but I just won't chance it. Just my opinion.

-ask your self this "what did they use to feed dogs before commerical dog food?"

- ask your self this "what do wolves eat in the wild ?"

Raw diet is great for dogs,healthier,longer life,less trips to the vet,nice coat,dog doesn't stink ,more energy,happier and best of less poop to clean up!