Hi everybody! I have been feeding Hobie raw for a couple of months now and he looks great! Im still using a pre mix but add different things to it like beef heart, chicken hearts, liver ect also have started giving him big beef rib bones to chew a couple times a week. The only thing is I know when dogs are wet they look skinny but we took him out boating yesterday and yes he was swimming and when we got home i gave him a bath and he is super thin.It snuck up on me he always has been lean but with that hair you cant see rib bones ect. but I can feel his spine and pelvis he is boney! i think im not feeding enough well by the looks of him im NOT feeding enough.Im going to up the amount I feel terrible .My brother thinks all raw can cause kidney problems and that could make him skinny. Im going to go w/ Im making him skinny. I also had to cut out all biscuit treats i was giving him which was alot. now i give baby carrots, apple, raw meatballs ect but not anywhere near the amount of treats he use to get. plus no more people food like bread ect .any advice on getting more meat on his bones?Im still not comfy handing him a chicken thats why im still on the premixes even though i see all the pictures of the raw eaters. he weighed 69 lbs im going to weigh him today he was so tired after his all day swimming so ididnt weigh him yet.any advice much appreciated. amber

I just weighed him he is 67lbs thats been in his range but he is boney i dont feel the muscle like i use too.maybe im just crazy?

You should be able to feel his bones, but not see them. The guide for feeding raw would be 2-3 % of his ideal body weight. So if he is supposed to be about 65 lbs, you should be feeding a total of 1.3 to 1.95 lbs of raw food, depending how active Hobie is (65 x .02 = 1.3 lbs).

Keep in mind, the guide of 80% muscle meat, 10% bone and 10% organ is also a guide. I personally cannot find organ readily available and if I do, it's pretty expensive per pound, so I feed a partial raw diet (muscle meat with bone) in conjunction to dehydrated raw which is already balanced. I still weight this out according to the guide I stated above. Since my 2 mainly just go for walks now that it's hot (with an occasional run at night, 3 times a week), I feed a little less than 2% of their ideal body weight. As it cools off and we're more active, I'll increase their food a little and adjust accordingly if I see an increase in weight that I don't want.

If you want to try chicken legs/quarters, maybe you can hold it for him while he eats it so you can make sure he crunches down on the bone. I started off my 2 with little chicken wings and drummettes, and I held the drumstick when we moved up to bigger pieces. I still watch them eat their raw chicken to make sure they chew, but they get through a chicken thigh or drumstick pretty fast - within minutes.

Here is a picture I have of Koda wet, he was REALLY, REALLY skinny in this:
Here is a dry photo from when he was skinny: http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/67239_1638810738426_1481501051_1633335_6050737_n.jpg

He seriously looked like skelator, especially wet. But even now with how being the ideal weight, he looks scrawny wet... Any way you think you could get a photo? About how tall is your pup? As if he is 67lbs unless he is WAY taller than 23.5 inches that doesn't seem thin at all to me. Mine is 23.5 inches and between 55-60lbs and is perfect weight wise.

If he's looking skinny up him about .5%

Since you're using premades, I don't know what else to tell you. I don't use those as you don't really know exactly what and how much is in it and what the dog is getting. And on top of that they're overpriced IMO.

Feeding raw isn't as scary as it seems. Mostly I just buy chicken quarters and a big pork shoulder. I give them the chicken quarters whole and chop meat off the shoulder. If they're looking skinny i'll up their portions .5% and try to give them a little more fat with the pork. Sometimes i'll even pick up some ground beef and mix that in too.

Also, your dog may just have a different build. I can see Cheyennes hip bones. Always have been able to. But her ribs actually have a nice coating of fat on them now to the point where she's carrying a little extra weight around her middle. But if you looked at her, most people would say she's too thin.

arooroomom wrote:

If he's looking skinny up him about .5%

Since you're using premades, I don't know what else to tell you. I don't use those as you don't really know exactly what and how much is in it and what the dog is getting. And on top of that they're overpriced IMO.

Feeding raw isn't as scary as it seems. Mostly I just buy chicken quarters and a big pork shoulder. I give them the chicken quarters whole and chop meat off the shoulder. If they're looking skinny i'll up their portions .5% and try to give them a little more fat with the pork. Sometimes i'll even pick up some ground beef and mix that in too.

Also, your dog may just have a different build. I can see Cheyennes hip bones. Always have been able to. But her ribs actually have a nice coating of fat on them now to the point where she's carrying a little extra weight around her middle. But if you looked at her, most people would say she's too thin.

Ditto on everything Kristina said! I don't have much more to add.

How much food is Hobie getting daily? I.e. how many pounds of pre-mix (what kind of pre-mix are you using?) And how many pounds of raw meat?

Most raw feeders feed anywhere from 2-4% of the dogs body weight depending on the dog and activity level. I feed my boy 2% - 2.5% of his body weight and he's great there. Some dogs need more which means upping the amount you're feeding should help. I'd increase your feeding anywhere from 0.5% to 1% and see if he doesn't fill out a little on that.

Satin balls are a great way to fatten up a dog, you can google satin balls and find a bunch of different recipes for them. Also feeding heavier meats such as beef, lamb and venison can pack on the pounds faster than lighter meats such as chicken, turkey, duck, etc.