Recommendations on how to start with rawfeeding

izstigspunks

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Recommendations on how to start with rawfeeding

1. Generally, you should feed 2-3% of your dogā€™s ideal adult body weight. Those that may need more are those that are either pregnant, puppies tiny/toy or very active dogs where 4-5% is recommended. Since adult bulldogs are less active, you may find that you can feed less than 2% body weight.

2. If you are unsure of your pupā€™s adult weight, go by the weight of their parents or the average breed weight. Note that it is better to feed a little less in the beginning than feed more as this will avoid cannon butt and runny stools.

3. Generally, the 80-10-10 is followed.
  • 80% meat (muscle meat, heart, gizzards, tongue, etc.)
  • 10% bone
  • 10% organs, max 5% liver as it is too rich (pancreas, liver, spleen, trachea, esophagus, thymus, etc.)

4. ā€œBalance over timeā€. You do not need to go through the trouble and follow the 80-10-10 rule daily, rather, it should be over weeks and even months. In the wild, wolves will eat different parts of a large animal over days, some getting more muscle, while those at the bottom of the chain will only get the leftovers such as the organs.

5. Runny poop is different from diarrhea. The latter is very liquid, watery explosions that are caused by disease or parasites. Tips to avoid runny poops:

  • Decrease the total amount of food
  • Increase the bone content
  • Increase the length of new meat intro
  • Cut off the fatty parts of the meat and save it for later
  • Introduce organs last

6. Never feed beef bones and weight bearing bones of large animals as they are too dense and will only sit in your bullyā€™s stomach. They are also tooth breakers. For my bullies, I avoid beef and pork bones to be safe but some here feed some parts such as riblets. Again, please research or ask before feeding anything suspicious.

7. A lot of the nutrients disappear when you cook food. But it's not an uncommon practice. But remember that IT IS DANGEROUS TO GIVE OUR DOGS COOKED BONE. That's where people get confused. Cooking causes them to become brittle and splinter.

8. At first, buy an inexpensive meat scale and weigh the daily portions. As time passes, youā€™ll find that you wonā€™t need to continue to weigh and go by how your pup is doing.

9. Unlike switching kibbles where thereā€™s a transition period, your dog can quit kibble cold turkey and start the raw diet immediately.

10. In the beginning, offer 2 meals a day for an adult dog, 3 meals for a pup under six months old, 4 meals for those that are under 4 months old and for tiny dogs. Once they are an adult (with the exception of toy/tiny dogs), you should be able to feed only once a day. Some owners recommend feeding at least twice a day for larger breeds such as great danes.

11. Feed larger sized meat pieces. Avoid cutting them into smaller chunks or grinding them. By allowing your bully to chew, paw and work through the meat, he will get physical, mental and dental satisfaction. HOWEVER, most rawfeeders avoid giving pieces that are as big as their dogā€™s head. They consider these to be choking hazards as they are small enough to swallow whole and big enough to get stuck in the throat. Since our bulldogs tend to have bigger heads, the size range that I avoid is anything from as small as my fist (or half a fist for most guys) to the size of a chicken leg. I cut up any pieces in this range. Again, ā€œKnow Thy Dogā€ ā€¦ IF IN DOUBT, CUT IT UP!

12. Itā€™s normal for your bully to regurgitate their food now and again. They will re-eat it after more crunching and chewing.


13. Give 1 protein for at least one or two weeks, then introduce another after. Some owners do a transition period where they would add small pieces of the new to the old and gradually increase the new as the days pass.

14. Read labels of all the protein you purchase. All meats must not be enhanced, flavoured, seasoned, etc and the sodium content must not exceed 100mg./4oz. Note that it is U.S. regulation that chicken cannot be enhanced.

15. Bone is commonly used to control poop consistency. The more bone, the firmer the stool. In the beginning, it is suggested that you sway from the 80-10-10 rule until you and your bully find the best ratio. If you find that he has dry fossil poop, decrease the amount of bone, if it is runny or too soft, increase. As weeks pass, you may find that your bully can handle a boneless meal now and again.

16. Most owners start with chicken as it is one of the cheaper meats, easy to obtain and bland as a protein. I started my bully with a chicken back. Some members here started with a leg quarter. Note that a leg quarter has 30% bone. You can also trim off the fats and skin to start to avoid runny stools.

17. Do not be surprised if your bully poops or vomits small bone pieces from the previous meal in the beginning. Again, his stomach needs to go through an adjustment period and the occurrence should decrease or cease eventually.

18. It is also not uncommon for them to vomit bile. The reasoning is similar to the above, especially if you decrease the amount of daily feedings.

19. Rawfed dogs drink less water than kibble fed dogs as they get some of the intake from the meat.

20. If after reading this you have more questions. PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO ASK. Knowledge is power ā€¦ and for this instance, itā€™s for safety.
 
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Mack-N-MatildasMommy

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[MENTION=1209]savemejeebus[/MENTION] Bravo!!! Well said. :excited:
 

RiiSi

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My bully was diagnosed having bladder stones, particularly Uric Acid Stones.

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=1683&S=0&EVetID=0

Usko was operated and the vet wanted to put him on this therapeutic diet kibble. Usko never liked kibble and other problems were starting to appear as well. When I started feeding him raw the change was almost imminent and he loves it. I still feed him raw and his urine Ph has gone up even too much, so now it just means some more adjustments to find the balance. The book "Give your dog a bone" is a book worth reading. This Dr Ian Billinghurst is sed to be the guy behind Barf feeding. At least here in Europe.
I recommend raw feeding with all my heart, but maybe it's wise to check your bullys urine Ph to make the necessary adjustments if needed.
 
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karenben

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you know i was so fed up with annies itching that when i started raw feeding i more or less jumped in,ive never been much for weighing the food but thats just me!!,i only judge her health by her poops and waist line lol,but i understand that for some its best to do as much research first,i did the bulk of reasearching after the fact,but i fully agree that if your unsure about raw then research as much as you can,feeding and handling raw meat has never bothered me ,karen
 

hughesjo

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Just wanted to say thanks Karen for all your advice. You inspired me to switch to raw for my 6mth old Nelson who is already suffering will skin allergies and ear problems. So I made the switch and I have to say it was so simple and I began seeing the results after a couple of days. There were no issues with the poops, apart from a little runny when I decided to leave on a chicken skin and see how he went, but everything else really. He loves his new food and I am getting a lot of enjoyment watching him devour his meaty meals, I feel proud that I took the plunge and a sense of fulfillment that I am giving him the best start to life with his new diet! I can only say to anyone who is sceptical about this to just go for it, they will thank you for it!! :clap2:
 

PeterPanAndWendy

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I'm not planning on feeding raw anytime soon, but I do have a question. Can they have chicken/turkey bones? We were also told that you never give your dogs cooked bones of any kind or bird bones because they will splinter. I know its true about the cooked bones - but raw bird bones are okay?
 

RiiSi

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Raw bones are perfectly safe, but like you said never ever cook any bones even a little.
 
OP
izstigspunks

izstigspunks

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"Generally, you should feed 2-3% of your dogā€™s ideal adult body weight."

Does this mean per day? Or per feeding?

It's the total per day. Too much and she'll get cannon butt!
 

bullyluv34

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I am considering "raw feeding" for Frankie, She will be 4 months old Saturday the 13th and she is currently on Fromm Gold Puppy Food, but I don't think it's doing what I exspected she has severe runny eyes and tear stains. I clean them 2 x's a day. I had her on the Fromm Beef Fritta but my husband wanted her on a puppy food at least till she was 6-7 months old so I slowly introduced the Fromm puppy food, but I a thought Fromm was an "all life stages" thats why I chose the beef in when we got her because I know a lot of bullies are allergic to chicken and the puppy food has chicken in it. With her eye situation I was concidering going back to the Beef Fritta, but I came across this thread and was curious about how old she needs to be before I can introduce her to a "raw" feeding instead of kibble?

I have a pug that had Bladder stone 3 types ( stuvite, acuric acid & Urate) so I was told by her vet that she could NEVER eat kibble again after the 28 stones were removed. her PH was staying at 12 they could not get it lowered even with filtered water wanted her to eat Science Diet S/D for a month after surgery then only C/D I refused so She only eats The Honest Kitchen and my furbabies only drink Filtered or bottled water and her PH is still at a 7.2 which they say is still to high (should be a 6 or below) so I am wondering if this will help her also??

Thank you for any help :)
 

hughesjo

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Yes, yes go for raw feeding. It was certainly the solution for me with allergies, I cant gurantee that it will get rid of the tear stains totally as Nelson does have them a little still. There is no age as such that you have to wait for you can just switch from one day kibble to raw the next. If you are keen to try I would start her on chicken as the easiest one to get you into the swing of it, you can give it for a few weeks and monitor how she goes on it. Looking back when I had Nelson on chicken I thought he was allergic to it at the time as he was chewing paws and inside leg etc.. but i have since revisted after 8 weeks on raw food diet and he is having no problem with it. I think their systems take a little while to adjust to the raw and get the kibble out the system. I thought it was going to be tricky to do but wanted to try and it really isn't, its so easy!! Cost wise for me its actually working out cheaper than buying the vet prescribed allergy kibble that he used to be on and saving me on constant vet visits!!

If you need any help, there is some great advice on how to get started from Karen and there are plenty of us here doing raw feeding if you have any questions. Its scary at first when you think, what the hell are those chicken bones going to do to them, but its absolutely fine. Nelson is an expert now at chewing bones and I love watching him eating his raw meals :)
 

RiiSi

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I am considering "raw feeding" for Frankie, She will be 4 months old Saturday the 13th and she is currently on Fromm Gold Puppy Food, but I don't think it's doing what I exspected she has severe runny eyes and tear stains. I clean them 2 x's a day. I had her on the Fromm Beef Fritta but my husband wanted her on a puppy food at least till she was 6-7 months old so I slowly introduced the Fromm puppy food, but I a thought Fromm was an "all life stages" thats why I chose the beef in when we got her because I know a lot of bullies are allergic to chicken and the puppy food has chicken in it. With her eye situation I was concidering going back to the Beef Fritta, but I came across this thread and was curious about how old she needs to be before I can introduce her to a "raw" feeding instead of kibble?

I have a pug that had Bladder stone 3 types ( stuvite, acuric acid & Urate) so I was told by her vet that she could NEVER eat kibble again after the 28 stones were removed. her PH was staying at 12 they could not get it lowered even with filtered water wanted her to eat Science Diet S/D for a month after surgery then only C/D I refused so She only eats The Honest Kitchen and my furbabies only drink Filtered or bottled water and her PH is still at a 7.2 which they say is still to high (should be a 6 or below) so I am wondering if this will help her also??

Thank you for any help :)

Raw feeding will help with struvite stones, but you need to be careful not to lower the urine pH under 6, cause that could result to urate stones. My bullie has Hyperuricosuria and is prone to form urate stones. His urine pH is kept at around 7. It tends to get lower but we keep it at 7 with baking soda.
But with high pH meat is good, vitamin C, cranberry all have acidifying effect.
With your puppy you can start raw feeding too. Puppys just need a little bit more bone and less protein than adults and the cycle they need to get all the nutrients is shorter than adults. So when starting raw you start with one protein source and that does not have all the nutrients it's good to give some extra vitamins too. A lot of people here recommend Nuvet, but don't give that to the pug, cause it has a lot of purines that can again lead to urate stones with him.
 

breelbosley

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Hi there, We've been trying the raw diet. We had her on chicken at first but her itching and paw chewing got worse. So I tried pork but it didnt realy make a difference and it made her stink really bad. We put her back on the fromm, beef and it helps a little but shes still getting ear infections and itches/chews paws. Ive been looking at some sites, what are your guys opinion on ground beef? That is the only raw meat I havent tried?
 

RiiSi

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Are you sure the meats that you have tried haven't been enhanced??
 

breelbosley

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I asked our butcher and he said that it wasn't :nope: .. I really don't know what to do, I feel so bad for her..we have tried every food, from really expensive to cheap. The prescription food works ok, but it is really expensive and our vet said you're not suppose to keep her on it for long term. So, I wasn't sure what your thoughts were on ground beef, beef ribs, etc. Thank you for any advice
 

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