Going Raw and clueless!

[BullyLove143]

My year old bully was just diagnosed with complex partial seizure disorder (excessive fly snapping) to be exact! He's currently taking phenobarbital 2x a day, also potassium bromide. Needless to say its been trial and error and he's still having break through episodes. Before this all began he was eating Avoderm. I switched him to Merrik, and I kid you not, I swear that's when his seizures begun. Speaking to a vet about food allergies being related with seizures is just a waste of breath....any who, I am ready to switch him to RAW and need some help on how to start, and what exactly to buy. He's 65lbs. Please fellow bully owners, Help!


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[JAKEISGREAT]

[MENTION=1209]savemejeebus[/MENTION]. [MENTION=3354]RiiSi[/MENTION]. [MENTION=1714]Sherry[/MENTION]

 

[RiiSi]

I can understand your hurry to switch, but you need to have a clue what needs to be done. This link has good information on how to get going...good luck and let us know how it goes....
http://www.englishbulldognews.com/f...commendations-on-how-to-start-with-rawfeeding

 

[Sherry]

My year old bully was just diagnosed with complex partial seizure disorder (excessive fly snapping) to be exact! He's currently taking phenobarbital 2x a day, also potassium bromide. Needless to say its been trial and error and he's still having break through episodes. Before this all began he was eating Avoderm. I switched him to Merrik, and I kid you not, I swear that's when his seizures begun. Speaking to a vet about food allergies being related with seizures is just a waste of breath....any who, I am ready to switch him to RAW and need some help on how to start, and what exactly to buy. He's 65lbs. Please fellow bully owners, Help!


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I follow the general rule of thumb except, I grind the meat and bone because I have 5 bully's. I do this to avoid grumbling with each other, easier clean up since they eat from their dish and less chance of choking. I freeze cubes of smoothies I make from veggies and vitamins. They get one cube ate each meal. I feed once a day. I work outside the home and found this easier for us so far.

 

[anatess]

Have you decided between BARF and PMR?

If you're going with PMR, here's a first month sample plan. I'm going to assume your dog will be fine with raw chicken. A lot of bulldogs are allergic to chicken kibble. But several are fine with raw chicken.

The main objective is to eventually get to feeding the dog 2-3% of its ideal adult body weight daily. For your 65lb dog, you can start with 1.5lbs of food daily. Out of this 1.5lbs of food, 1.2 ounces would be liver, 1.2 ounces would be some other secreting organ (kidney, spleen, etc.), around 2.4 ounces would be bone, and the rest would be muscle meat (meat, heart, tongue, etc.). This is just a starting guideline. You adjust the amount of food if your dog gets too skinny or too fat. You also adjust the bone content depending on the firmness of the poop. Organs usually cause soft poop, so the recommendation is to get the dog used to raw food first before adding organs. Also, it is recommended to switch by fasting an adult dog for one day then giving a small meal for its first meal.

So, with those guidelines in mind, here's a sample "menu" for the first month:

Weeks 1 and 2 -
What to get: Whole fryer chicken (if you don't mind springing the extra bucks for the free-range chicken - in my local grocery it is $1.59/lb compared to the 99cents a pound of non-free-range one). About 25 lbs worth (chicken fryers are usually 3-4 lbs).

Prep: Cut the fryer so you get 5 parts: 2 leg+thigh parts, 2 breast+wing parts, 1 back part (if your fryer comes with it, add the neck to this one). No need to grind. The dog can grind it up for you.

Day 1: Chicken back and neck (a bony first meal is good to alleviate soft stool during transition).
Day 2: Both Leg and thighs
Day 3: Both breast and wings

If by Day 3 his poop is too soft, repeat this cycle (back and neck on Day 4, leg and thighs on Day 5, and breast and wings on Day 6). If his poop is fine then do a 2-day cycle of just Leg and thighs on Day 4 then Breast and Wings on Day 5 and doing this again for Day 6 and Day 7 all the way through Day 14. Keep all the chicken backs and necks for later.

Week 3: If everything is going good so far, add another protein source. Beef chunks (fajita beef is one of the cheapest cuts) is a good one.
For Day 15-21: Give chicken back/neck that you have been saving and add all meat beef chunks. Average out the meat to bone ratio so you get about 10% of bone to the meat. Basically, if your chicken back is 5 ounces worth, then give the chicken back with the beef chunks to make 1.5lbs of food, then give 1.5 pounds of all meat the next day. Make sense? If the poop goes soft, add more bone, if it's too firm, lower the amount of bone.

Week 4: Introduce another protein source. Pork is another easily accessible one.
For Day 21-28: continue with the chicken backs/neck and give half beef and half pork for the rest of the boneless meat.

That's month 1. For month 2, you can start adding liver and other organs a little bit at a time to the same chicken/beef/pork cycle. You can also start giving fish - salmon is good, even the canned version next to the tuna in the grocery aisle.

Hope this helps.

 

[Sherry]

Well laid out plan!!! Thanks [MENTION=2874]anatess[/MENTION]