When can i Start feeding my puppy raw? - Page 1

my puppy is now 6 months now, wanted to know when i can start feeding him raw meat and also raw beef bones ? Does the raw meat have any side effects or can it hurt him since he's young??

Dogs and wolves never cooked their food before Purina invented corn in a bag and called it dog food. Raw milk from their mother and raw meat was what dogs were designed to eat. Puppies can eat cooked or raw while they are still nursing. I start feeding meat as soon as the puppies can stand and see.  I start feeding cooked chicken stripped from the bones and ground up into a mush with evaporated milk at 4 weeks to transition the pups to raw usually.  For small puppies with no real teeth finely ground meat is better.  Leaving raw meat lying about is not a good idea as it draws flies.  The mother dog may stop cleaning up poop behind the puppies earlier if they are fed meat before they are weaned.  Most of my females will clean the pups den area even after they are weaned.  Six week old puppies will swarm a whole chicken and by 8-10 weeks the puppies will entirely devour a whole raw chicken.  Any raw food should be picked up and fed to other dogs or disposed of as it draws flies and perhaps wildlife guests.  Puppies have a hard time with large raw beef bones until they get their adult teeth but they will try. Raw bones are not a choking threat despite veterinarian misinformation saying that they are. 6-8 week old puppies I start to feed a finely ground raw puppy mix such as Blue Ridge Beef Puppy Mix mixed with evaporated milk or whole cows milk. My puppies never get sick at weaning because they keep nursing as long as the mother dog wants to feed them.  Eventually mom can't keep up with demand as a large litter of 6-8 will soon outweigh their mother in combined weight.  The transition to solid food is not a stressful period when pups are properly fed before weaning so they don't get sick or stop growing.  Small amounts of raw beef liver and chicken liver ( once a week ) and beef hearts are great raw meats for puppies.

puppies can be feed raw food their first meal. Check out K9kravings website, it's been my dogs primary feed since they were little pups.

5 weeks is the best time to start them and 8 weeks is 100% then for the rest of their life. Getting the right balance of nutrients takes some intelligent planning....a lot miss that part feeding raw.

Unless it was a balanced formula, such as K9 Kravings or Primal, I would not feed raw until they are about a year. There is SO much more to feeding raw than just feeding a few different things. I would be concerned with providing an unbalanced diet, which can cause skeletal and growth issues.

Agree totally, when I ask for details from raw feeders they boast chicken frame and....chicken necks, and a huge marrow filled leg bone for the dog to chew on all week whenever unsupervised in the kennel/crate.


So not a balanced raw diet, poor dogs they are better off with a good kibble.

 

As an advocate of feeding raw I only ever advise others to feed a decent mid priced kibble, it is best advice I can give on behalf of the dog's welfare.

We used to wean our puppies onto raw ground meat with goats milk (for calcium). I heard from a few different sources that goats milk is closest to dogs milk. Cow milk's protein molecules are too large for puppies. At least that is what I read; don't know if it is true although it does make sense since goat kids are much closer in size to puppies than calves. Anyway, the puppies thrived on it. Six months is plenty old enough speaking from personal experience and reading. As bubbabooboo said, it is what dogs are meant to eat. Dog kibble has only been around for a few decades. Dogs, on the other hand, have been with us for, well, a lot longer than that! :-)

Lol at the molecules are smaller and puppies are small.....that's some bad science right there.

If you offer puppies...Kibble or RAW Meat...they'll always choose the RAW Meat...They turn their noses up at the Kibble...

All my puppies start eating RAW Chicken at 3 to 3 1/2 weeks of age...No bones at this time...Then as they grow I will give them little bits of bone and grizzle...By the time their 7 weeks old they're eating a full size Chicken Leg Quarter...

I love bringing into the Whelping Box pieces of RAW Chicken for the first few times...I wave small pieces in the air and love to watch the puppies little noses start to twitch...They will sometimes even fight for the chicken...I like to see the aggression towards the food...You can begin to see a lot about your puppies at such a young age...

I will also give the puppies some kibble and mix in some veggies...I start 'em young and it's good for them to learn to eat everything I offer them...

~Bob~