bradpattison.com

The veggies added in commercial foods are mostly \\\"fillers\\\"\\\', cheaper than meat and also make your dog pass the food too fast thereby causing them to eat more of the kibble. You will find with Raw that they dont need to eat as much and also they dont need as much liquid.
I will never go back. You can see how happy he is in this photo!




Wen

This site might help you as there is a lot of info on various types of food (both whole and premade) etc. http://www.natural-paws.com/

I\'ve been feeding raw for just over 4 years and can tell you there are as many versions of it as there are of human whole food diets. Some say you have to veggies, some say never. I think you go with what works for you and your dog. Mine hates veggies in any form unless it\'s french fries. Go figure.

Anyway, this might be in other threads but since I am pretty new here and haven\'t read them yet I will mention it. You can hold hold the chicken or whatever in your hand if you are worried about the dog gulping (and it\'s a pretty good lesson in whose in charge too). That will usually get them to knaw on it and they\'ll get the idea. I was really worried about gulping but gave my dog (10 weeks old at the time) a chicken back and after she figured out this was food, she just went at it like a pro. I was worried, but she is now 4 and has never had a problem.

The nice part about feeding this way is if puppy gets the poops you know right away to adjust the food.

If it helps, when I first started I was so nervous about feeding right especially while a pup that I went to a store that specializes in raw foods and bought some packages and had them tell me exactly how much to give when. That way I was sure it was balanced and could try different things without worrying I was killing the dog. As time went on I got more confident and now buy what I need in whole foods. I still buy some premade things like Offal because that stuff gives me the willies so I am happier paying for frozen premade patties.

Don\'t worry. Just go for it and you\'ll gain confidence as you go and your pup will be stunning. I thought mine looked great until she was on raw a while and then there was no comparison in her coat or build. There is also nothing like the teeth a raw fed pup gets when the adult teeth come in.

Oh yeah, for fun, boil up an egg and give it to pup right in the shell (they can eat the shell and it\'s good for calcium). They have a lot of fun figuring it out and it\'s usually a good time to have the camera ready as they puzzle it out. It\'s almost as much fun as ice for them.

And for even more fun ... give them the egg raw (do this outside) and watch them chase it around and play with it until it breaks ... The first time I did this with Abby it was priceless ... the look on her face when she dropped the egg on the patio stones and it broke was hilarious ... she just looked at me in horror ... I killed my toy! That look didn't last too long once she got a whiff of it ... the whole egg, yup, shell and all, was gone in less than a minute!

Thank you so much! I think there is a small pet food place nearby that specializes in raw foods so I think that would be a great start for me and while on that I can experiment with small things to figure out what works best and what he likes best and go from there. As soon as I have a plan I will make sure to let everyone know how things are going! He still has his baby teeth so I would love to get him going on this when younger vs older. I can only imagine the amount of fun Jaeger would have with the egg!!

JeanJean wrote:

QUOTE:
This site might help you as there is a lot of info on various types of food (both whole and premade) etc. http://www.natural-paws.com/

I\'ve been feeding raw for just over 4 years and can tell you there are as many versions of it as there are of human whole food diets. Some say you have to veggies, some say never. I think you go with what works for you and your dog. Mine hates veggies in any form unless it\'s french fries. Go figure.

Anyway, this might be in other threads but since I am pretty new here and haven\'t read them yet I will mention it. You can hold hold the chicken or whatever in your hand if you are worried about the dog gulping (and it\'s a pretty good lesson in whose in charge too). That will usually get them to knaw on it and they\'ll get the idea. I was really worried about gulping but gave my dog (10 weeks old at the time) a chicken back and after she figured out this was food, she just went at it like a pro. I was worried, but she is now 4 and has never had a problem.

The nice part about feeding this way is if puppy gets the poops you know right away to adjust the food.

If it helps, when I first started I was so nervous about feeding right especially while a pup that I went to a store that specializes in raw foods and bought some packages and had them tell me exactly how much to give when. That way I was sure it was balanced and could try different things without worrying I was killing the dog. As time went on I got more confident and now buy what I need in whole foods. I still buy some premade things like Offal because that stuff gives me the willies so I am happier paying for frozen premade patties.

Don\'t worry. Just go for it and you\'ll gain confidence as you go and your pup will be stunning. I thought mine looked great until she was on raw a while and then there was no comparison in her coat or build. There is also nothing like the teeth a raw fed pup gets when the adult teeth come in.

Oh yeah, for fun, boil up an egg and give it to pup right in the shell (they can eat the shell and it\'s good for calcium). They have a lot of fun figuring it out and it\'s usually a good time to have the camera ready as they puzzle it out. It\'s almost as much fun as ice for them.

You may want to give your pup more than 2%
Here's the guidlines I found on one of the Raw websites when I started.
2% of body weight / per day total, divided by 1-3 meals / if your dog needs to loose a little weight
2.5 % if your dog is at a healthy weight
3% if your dog needs to gain a little weigh

* as your pup is still growing, I'd personally feed 3% of his/her body weight. Dont forget, this weight is for the DAY.
You may want to weigh the food the first week, so that you get used to SEEING what that amount looks like.
Then you'll get the hang of how much it should look like in the dog's bowl.

I use the guidlines - 80% meat, 15% bone, 5% organ
Adjust the bone & organ amount by watching your dog's poos !
Check it out the next day:
Too white and dries REALLY quickly, you may want to lessen the amount of bone.
Too runny or soft, you may want to ease up on the amount of organ.

Don't forget - not every meal has to be EXACT ! When was the last time YOU had "perfect" meals on a regular basis.
Some days I give a little less or a little more. If your dog has just basically lay around for a couple of days because of the heat, give a little less. Did you go to the dog park today & burn a lot of energy ? Give a little more.
It will balance itself out.
Not every meal for my dog is TOTALLY balanced, but over the period of 2-3 days, it works out.
Relax - you'll get the hang of it.

Oh yeah - a lot of people assume that heart is an organ, but it's actually a muscle. So count it as meat.

Hey Shauna,

There is really no need for you to go to any store that "specializes" in raw feeding, unless it's a butcher. Many of these specialty places will try and sell you veggie patties (not biologically appropriate for dogs), or insist on grinding up your bones.
Dogs are cousins of wolves: do you see wolves cooking themselves up some kibble? Grinding bones and/or meat and/or veggies into patties
that are the exact same size at every meal? Hardly.
Some days it's ok to feed your dog less. Other days, it's ok to feed your dog more. As a puppy, give him 3%-5% of his adult weight and you'll notice within a few days if he's getting too much by his weight.
I fed my dog entire chickens when I first started. She was getting pudgy so I cut it back to half.

It's really this simple:
Buy yourself an entire chicken. Place it on your floor. Let your dog eat.
A lot of dogs take a bit of time to "figure" out how to eat it. Once he does, you're well on your way.


Usually at this point I would give you my entire list of raw resources, but I've posted it so many times that you can find it anywhere. However, I really would recommend this site www.rawfed.com/myths because it will help dispel fears you may have about going down the raw road.
Basically you want to feed as many different body parts from as many different animals as you can to ensure your dog is eating optimally and getting optimal nutrients.

Don't worry about over feeding, just wait a few days and you'll start noticing a difference. If you find your puppy is getting too rolly-polly, then just cut back a bit.
The weight baring bones are not good to give unless it's just for the marrow. And make sure to give liver once in a while in REALLY small doses (it causes runny pooh if given in big servings).

Just for fun, feed him as much as he can eat to determine his threshold. It's funny to watch them waddle around afterward!

Start with chicken and he might have runny pooh at first, and that's normal. When he starts having normal pooh again, then introduce a new meat like turkey or pork.
I'm not going to lie, in the first week I gave my dog chicken, turkey, pork, and goat. Yah her pooh was runny, but she got over it real fast.
I would NEVER go back to kibble... ever!

Good luck, and if you really want me to post my resource list again, just let me know!

Nathalie
aka
Preacher Poulin

Praise Preacher Poulin.

Here, here, Sister!

I didn't meant for that to be the final say on the matter...

Haven't heard back from Shauna in a while.
What's up? How's the raw feeding going? Did any of these links help?

Nathalie
aka
Preacher Poulin