Raw Diet Help! - Page 1

My 2 yr old GSD has been reared with a raw diet ever since he was a puppy and for some reason last week he has been getting diarrhea whenever he ate raw meat. On the other hand, his stool is normal when he eats kibble. This seems odd since he has been so used to raw meat. We tried again a few days ago and again he gets diarrhea with raw meat. I don't want to feed him entirely kibble since I prefer a raw diet. We use chicken thighs as his raw meat.

Dre

Could be that last batch/your current batch of raw has something wrong with it.  Be careful.

 Could be a bad batch, or it could be something to do with enzymes or protozoans or parasites or bacteria. The fact that kibble seems to work may or may not mean anything; many/most kibbles have stool hardeners added in so it appears that the food agrees well with the dog, which could be simply masking the problem.

Has he been on antibiotics recently? Regardless, you won't hurt him with a good probiotic/enzyme supplement. I like Nzymes and Wholistic Canine Complete. 

I would get rid of that food if it's all one batch he's had a problem with. He could have had an underlying issue (giardia, e.coli, coccidia, clostridium, etc.) that has been "in check" until now for some reason, and now you're seeing diarrhea. Most of these are difficult to test for, so if it were my dog and he had NO other symptoms of anything wrong w/him, I'd try a course of fenbendazole for 5 days instead of 3 and if that didn't take care of it, I'd try a course of metronidazole.  

Now, if there is anything at all else seeming "off" about the dog, by all means, take him to the vet!

I wouldn't advise just chicken thighs. I feed chicken backs, thighs, pork backs and some kind of "good" organ meat. Having said that I agree with the other posts also. Here is a great link everyone should read. I also feed honest kitchen twice a wk mixed with organ meat, I also use human grade diatomaceous earth, tsp. daily & Braggs apple cider vinegar as stated on the link. I was doing this before the link appeared and saw it as validation. http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/02/03/choosing-a-healthy-dog-food-for-your-pet.aspx
A good way to find the problem is skip food for at least 24 hrs allowing cleansing then you will see more readily the issue. Hardest part is finding affordable source of no antibiotic range fed meat.

I recently fed a bad lb of beef. It made my dog really sick and since then his stool has been horrible. I was cleaning up the yard today and see that it hasnt improved much. Reading this wil make me take further steps to see whats up. I dont know what exactly you fed but mine was a lb of beef roll from Walmart.

Ive never had a problem with Walmart but there was something wrong with the meat. and Ill be more careful in the future.

 Bhaugh, if it's been more than a week and it hasn't improved, I'd investigate another cause- most healthy dogs will NOT show food poisoning symptoms like humans will and therefore diarrhea that is directly the result of "bad" food is rarer than we would think. More likely, it's a compound effect from something else. Be careful; one of mine just got diagnosed with a REALLY NASTY strain of e.coli....these bacteria are everywhere, but you never know when a dog will be compromised somehow enough for it to take hold and wreak havoc. 

Maybe try another meat source;  I use pork neck bones; chicken quarters; beef/lamb neck bones, beef ribs; some poached fish; ground hamburger/chicken/turkey.  I would try to keep dog on raw and make sure they have not added something to the chicken you are buying.  Possibly he has built up intolerance to chicken in general.  I would go to beef/lamb and try that.  I would drop kibble altogether as the raw and kibble usually don't mix too well as they do not digest at the same time.  Just MHO.  Best of luck  Nan

One thing I look for, even in the dogs food, is country of origin.  So much of our food is raised and processed where there is less control.  

"...many/most kibbles have stool hardeners..."

Which ingredients would those be?

Keith,if I may I will answer that for you.The most common one is ,beet pulp then there is tomato pomace,powdered cellulose etc.I hope this gives you the proper answer.Take care