When I got my pup at 7 weeks I started raw cold turkey. The first couple days the poop will be runny but it should firm up quickly. I use chicken thighs and the occasional chicken drumstick. I just take the skin off and trim some of the fat and its good to go!

Garebear wrote:

When I got my pup at 7 weeks I started raw cold turkey. The first couple days the poop will be runny but it should firm up quickly. I use chicken thighs and the occasional chicken drumstick. I just take the skin off and trim some of the fat and its good to go!

Some say you can start cold turkey and other's say to slowly introduce it. To each their own I suppose

Ok i got a question... I dont plan on feeding my dog raw, even though i wish i could, i live with my rents and i can just picture my mom freaking out over it.. And we dont have much freezer or fridge space, cause i have a big family.. When i get my own house down the road ill look more into te raw diet (i hope my GF doesnt read this thread lol) but anyway my wuestion is is it safe for my dog if i feed him kibble, and ocasinly give him some kind of raw treat.. If so is there any type of raw i should avoid or favor so i dont get him sick since ill only do it every once in a while?

Ericobeasto wrote:

my wuestion is is it safe for my dog if i feed him kibble, and ocasinly give him some kind of raw treat.. If so is there any type of raw i should avoid or favor so i dont get him sick since ill only do it every once in a while?

It is absolutely fine and safe to supplement raw occasionally on a kibble based diet. That's how I got started on raw in the first place since I didn't have a freezer to just make the switch cold turkey. I wouldn't say that there is anything to avoid but I would be careful if you introduce organ as it can be very rich and can give a dog the runs if they are not accustomed to it. I stuck with non-organ meats when I was feeding a primarily kibble based diet and had no problems whatsoever.

Ok.. So bascially any meat with the bone is ok just becareful of organs.. Ok that makes sense.. Most of the time ill probably give like chick or steak or some ground beef.. I also read somewhere that sardines are really good for huskies and that they love them! Have you ever gave them sardines and what is your take on those?

I think there is a thread on here somewhere about sardines. Maybe do a search for it.

I don't feed any fish because my sibe cannot tolerate fish.

I'm thinking about getting into feeding raw with Bella but I'm having a bit of trouble understanding some things.
I keep seeing bone in products are best and get cuts of meat with the bone but very little about what those cuts actually are. I know I could probably pester a butcher once I find out in my area but I was wondering what people usually get that isn't chicken?
Also, about how much bone would an egg shell replace. I fed one to Bella this morning and after she realized it was food and not a toy she ate about half the shell and all of the egg. I go through a lot of eggs in my household and if I could get away with crushing up the shell for an alternate source of calcium when there's a good sale on some boneless stuff I'd like to do that.

I couldn't tell you how many egg shells to use, but again it's not an exact science and each individual dog will vary in their dietary needs.

As for non-chicken cuts of meat, again it's not an exact science. Variety is the spice of life, I'll buy anything I can for cheap so there is quite a variety in my freezer. I don't buy bone-in beef, it's too expensive for me to get. I do feed pork ribs as well as bone-in poultry backs, breasts, necks, and wings. Others feed stuff like heads, legs and feet, that's just too much for me to handle. Throwing in a whole prey animal like rabbits, hens, quail, goats, deer, etc is great too but again I can't stomach going that far. I'm far too squeamish to get that serious about raw feeding.

Are pork chops good to use? They had a good deal and before I read about chicken first I got a package so I could test the waters so to speak. The bone is a wierd shape and i read somewhere that's not a good thing. Should I not use them?

I asked the same question about chops. I didn't use the bone. Seems too sharp, and a weird shape

You can feed pork - but if your dog doesn't have an iron stomach it may cause upset. IMO, you should freeze the pork for at least 7 - 10 days before feeding it. I'm cautious with pork...so I always freeze to kill anything of. That goes for anything I buy at a grocery store.

It is currently marinating in the extreme cold of my freezer and yeah, Bella does not have an iron stomache, if she even thinks about getting her hands on human food she gets the runs. I'm wondering if feeding with a little bit of pumpkin when you start them on the diet would be a good idea. I am a huge fan of it and Bella spit polishes her bowl whenever I give it to her.

My sibe is on the sensitive side when it comes to food but he handles pork just fine, and has anything but an iron stomach.

As for pork chops with bone, some people feed them and others don't because of the sharp tip. I am one of the better safe than sorry crowd and don't feed the bone in pork chops. I'd rather just cut the meat out and have peace of mind.

My question is about ground beef and cut up chicken with my puppies kibble. I doubt I could go full raw at this point but I would like to possibly do so in the future when I've found reliable places to get all the required meaty bones and organs in my area. Sorry if I'm re-asking a question. Came into this thread late.

SkylerWest wrote:

My question is about ground beef and cut up chicken with my puppies kibble. I doubt I could go full raw at this point but I would like to possibly do so in the future when I've found reliable places to get all the required meaty bones and organs in my area. Sorry if I'm re-asking a question. Came into this thread late.

I didn't see a question there.

Sorry was writting this on my way out the door this morning. Is it okay if I mix those in with his puppy food?

SkylerWest wrote:

Sorry was writting this on my way out the door this morning. Is it okay if I mix those in with his puppy food?

A lot of people will tell you not to mix raw and kibble because they digest at different rates and I think in general it's good advice to follow if you do it often. However I have mixed the two on occasion and have never had a problem doing so. You can always give it a try and see how your dog does.

Similar here. Callie's the only dog in my house raw feed and she still occasionally steals the others' kibble. It hasn't caused upset but then again, it's not like she's eating that much of it and it's also at a separate time.

As long as you don't feed a full serving of kibble and then some raw as well. You still want the total intake to be about the same. So if he's eating say 4 cups total a day, and you want to feed half raw, he should only get about 2 cups of dry food a day.

calliegirl08 wrote:

Similar here. Callie's the only dog in my house raw feed and she still occasionally steals the others' kibble. It hasn't caused upset but then again, it's not like she's eating that much of it and it's also at a separate time.

As long as you don't feed a full serving of kibble and then some raw as well. You still want the total intake to be about the same. So if he's eating say 4 cups total a day, and you want to feed half raw, he should only get about 2 cups of dry food a day.

Thank you both for the info. I was worried at first about feeding a puppy raw meat but after a lot of research I am willing to give it a try. Not complete raw mind you, maybe grounded beef for breakfast and kibble the rest of the day.

SkylerWest wrote:

Thank you both for the info. I was worried at first about feeding a puppy raw meat but after a lot of research I am willing to give it a try. Not complete raw mind you, maybe grounded beef for breakfast and kibble the rest of the day.

That's sounds fine, but if you plan to do that regularly you'll probably want to use more than just beef. I think you mentioned chicken also. I like to throw in some ground turkey and pork as well.

I'll make sure to do that. I'm planning on using blue wilderness for him along side the various kinds of meat.

Sounds good to me, any raw is better than none at all so even a bit of supplementing a kibble diet is way better than kibble alone.

How old should a pup be before you start a raw diet with them? It's something we'd be considering in the future but need to do bit more research first, my baby's only 14 weeks old so figured I've got some time to decided, great post btw very informative, still digesting all the info

You can start from day one Nikko was 7 weeks when I got him and started him raw right away

Oh I didn't know that, just apprehensive about the bones really, I'm going to have an in depth read up and make sure I understand it fully before going ahead.
Thank you for getting back to me, much appreciated!