Switched dogs to raw diet...WOW

[ianpadron]

For an average lab sized dog how much are you feeding them and how many times a day?

Right now we’re on kibble morning and evening to total the daily recommended portion.

This chart is a good starting point.

We feed ours 2x a day, lots of folks do just 1. Note that the measurements are in cups as the author grinds her food into a raw mix. 2-3% of their body weight is the average range to shoot for.

Works out to roughly 1.5# of meat/organs, an egg, or can of sardines, and 4 Oz of veggies a day...roughly. More during big days of course.

Takes a bit of experimentation early, we found that our 40 pound rocket ship Britt actually needs more food than our 68# golden.

 

[Clarktar]

Be careful.iwaa an idiot and just fed my dog protein and fat and he had no carbs. He got super skinny and likely had some kidney problems. Now I toss it whatever left over veggies, or rice we have. I'll have to look into the bone meal .

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[Koda_]

Raw feeding is a great way to go not just for better nutrition but to learn all the different fresh foods you can feed your dog, nothing goes to waste. There are two schools of thought with raw feeding, the "BARF" way which is a ratio diet of 80% meat, 10% bones, 10% offal and then there are people who go to the extent of balancing their raw meals to canine nutritional standards such as NRC or AAFCO. The latter is much more complicated though there are services where you can buy formulated recipes. In my experience its more critical when the dog is a puppy to make certain they are getting all the nutrition required while they are growing to assure healthy joints, typically the first 1 to 2 years.

Theres a great website to learn all about it including free balanced recipes to get started.

Perfectly Rawsome, Raw Feeding Resource for Raw Feeders

Perfectly Rawsome provides pet parents with information on species appropriate raw diets for pets to main and healthy & happy companion.

perfectlyrawsome.com

 

[ianpadron]

Be careful.iwaa an idiot and just fed my dog protein and fat and he had no carbs. He got super skinny and likely had some kidney problems. Now I toss it whatever left over veggies, or rice we have. I'll have to look into the bone meal .

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

Dogs don't need to consume carbohydrates, for the record.

They don't necessarily hurt them either but they are not required.

They do need quite a bit more fat on a raw diet than they get in kibble though, as that's where their energy production comes from.

 

[ianpadron]

Raw feeding is a great way to go not just for better nutrition but to learn all the different fresh foods you can feed your dog, nothing goes to waste. There are two schools of thought with raw feeding, the "BARF" way which is a ratio diet of 80% meat, 10% bones, 10% offal and then there are people who go to the extent of balancing their raw meals to canine nutritional standards such as NRC or AAFCO. The latter is much more complicated though there are services where you can buy formulated recipes. In my experience its more critical when the dog is a puppy to make certain they are getting all the nutrition required while they are growing to assure healthy joints, typically the first 1 to 2 years.

Theres a great website to learn all about it including free balanced recipes to get started.

Perfectly Rawsome, Raw Feeding Resource for Raw Feeders

Perfectly Rawsome provides pet parents with information on species appropriate raw diets for pets to main and healthy & happy companion.

perfectlyrawsome.com

View attachment 655050

Great share man

Everyone should look at that pic next time they feed their dog kibble and ask "which is healthier for my best bud?"

 

[Koda_]

Great share man

Everyone should look at that pic next time they feed their dog kibble and ask "which is healthier for my best bud?"

Mostly the stuff gets jammed into tupperware and stored in my wild game freezer. Its also gotten more expensive so ive had to switch a lot of things up but learning what fresh foods I can feed has been really helpful in adjusting I can generally keep the cost around the same as premium dry dog food. little more work but worth it for the dogs and they love feeding time.

 

[AleksanderSuave]

Great share man

Everyone should look at that pic next time they feed their dog kibble and ask "which is healthier for my best bud?"

Or just look at the insane volume of stories about tainted dog food coming from China, which has resulted in very high volumes of pet deaths.

 

[*zap*]

Doggie caught his dinner today.

 

[Top147]

Currently feeding my 22 month old 83lb lab PPP sport as well. I've looked a bit into the raw diet and it still appeals to me.

But I read to be very cautious if you have an infant at home due to salmonella. My dog loves to face lick. Anyone with young kids feeding raw?

But great post, has me wanting to give it a go.

 

[KurtR]

As important to diet what exercise programs are people following. Im not talking about just going out free running or a walk. How many miles are you roading and at what frequency? How many swimming how many days for rest and recovery. If you are training twice a day how do you mix in the physical conditioning at what ages are you building up or cutting back. What does maintenance schedule look like in the off season. Do you use any balance plat forms to help with lateral stability. Its amazing seeing some of these open dogs still running 400 yard marks or making a 200 yard swim. Dr. Jennell Appel has some good info on exercise and how to keep the older dogs ready to run.

 

[Cameron.25]

Its spendy but im a full believer in it. My dog has eaten raw since she was about 9 months old. We used to "make" it but it was a hassle/big mess and the big local meat distributor i was buying everything from caught on and started selling high quality stuff themselves for a very reasonable price. So we've that been buying that now and its much easier. Dog is 82lbs and eats 2lbs of the balanced raw food per day, plus some fish oil, goat milk yogurt and 4 of our farm fresh eggs, raw shell and all. Sometimes blueberries too. Obviously she gets lots of scraps and organ meat from kills too.

People are genuinely shocked when I tell them she is 8 years old. Doesnt act her age or have a single white hair on her face, which is rare for a black german shepherd it seems

 

[ORHunter]

Are all of you raw food guys giving your pups poultry bones raw? I've been giving my pups the upland hearts & liver but haven't fed them legs/feet etc.

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[Cascade_Sherpa]

The breeder we got our Visala from strongly recommended feeding all of her dogs a raw diet...and raw duck necks were/are one of the favorite treats she would use to crate train the pups....it gave them time in their crates alone to chew up and eat the raw duck necks. But she said almost all raw poultry necks were totally fine for dogs especially since the neck bones are so small.

 

[ianpadron]

Are all of you raw food guys giving your pups poultry bones raw? I've been giving my pups the upland hearts & liver but haven't fed them legs/feet etc.

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Yup g2g on the bones so long as they aren't cooked.

 

[Cameron.25]

Are all of you raw food guys giving your pups poultry bones raw? I've been giving my pups the upland hearts & liver but haven't fed them legs/feet etc.

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Yes if they are raw they can eat them. Chicken feet are great for them

 

[jimh406]

I'd try raw if my dogs had any issues. They don't though, so it would be a lot of effort to figure out what would work as well.

 

[ianpadron]

I'd try raw if my dogs had any issues. They don't though, so it would be a lot of effort to figure out what would work as well.

We didn't think our golden had any issues either, and he really didn't...but the diet switch opened our eyes big time to his true potential and work capacity.

Worth the effort, especially if you consider the added years to their lives

 

[jimh406]

Worth the effort, especially if you consider the added years to their lives

Of course the issue is the dogs can only eat one way at a time, and there is no way to know if the new method is better or not.

 

[Gseith]

Been doing it for 16 years. My dog is finally started to noticeably slow down at 14 years.
We feed mainly chicken hindquarters. A lot cheaper than any premium dog food. Especially if you buy bulk. They get bones and all. Most people don’t know that uncooked bones is good for the dogs and don’t harm them like cooked bones.
Cooked bones will splinter.

 

[ianpadron]

Been doing it for 16 years. My dog is finally started to noticeably slow down at 14 years.
We feed mainly chicken hindquarters. A lot cheaper than any premium dog food. Especially if you buy bulk. They get bones and all. Most people don’t know that uncooked bones is good for the dogs and don’t harm them like cooked bones.
Cooked bones will splinter.

Love to hear it, definitely seems to be the fountain of youth.