New to raw feeding, needing help and guidance. Allergy!

[BigB02z28]

Hello, I have a 1.5 year old Victorian Bulldog named Tyson.

Tyson is having some issues. He sometimes loses 1-2 small patches (about quarter size) of fur. They are usually in the same location. His face is sometimes flushed, and his eyes are a little red. But he's been pink faced and red eyed since we bought him as a puppy. He licks his feet a lot (Which we thought he was just cleaning his paws). And just a few days ago, I noticed he developed 2 Interdigital Furuncles, one on each front paw.

The Furuncles scared me and I was ready to take him to the emergency clinic, but first googled. They seem to be a secondary issue due to allergies. The pink face, red eyes, and licking his feet seem to be signs of an allergy as well. (Please correct me if I am wrong, I am not an experienced dog owner).

So, I was googling some more and came across this site, and raw feeding, and that it was helping people with their pups.

So, Tyson has been eating 1.8lbs of raw chicken for the past 3 days. I alternate between Boneless Thighs and Bone-in Thighs daily. Sometimes I toss him a raw egg (He looks at me like I'm stupid).

I've been giving him "paw-soaks" with epsom salt, cleaning the bottoms with Stridex pads, and the top of his feet where the Furuncle is with Preperation H.

The Furuncles have reduced considerably in size, but they popped today. He seems to be fine and not in any pain.

My questions are, When will I know if the raw feeding is working? How long until I know if he is allergic to chicken? Since a puppy he has been eating Taste of the Wild Bison and Venison.

I'm confused at what organs to add in, I read in a few threads that Lung and such isn't an organ but a meat.

Also read that I should be giving them Tripe, but how much?

Where are you guys getting Chicken backs and pig necks? etc? I am paying $1.99 for boneless thighs and .99 for bone in thighs. Any savings would be great!


Any help would be much appreciated! My wife just had a baby and we've been exhausted with that and going to doctors appointments, we have to drive 45 minutes each way daily for help w/ my wife's incisions (problems healing from C-section) and haven't had time to go to the vet. We can go next week if his symptoms don't get better.

Here are a couple pictures.

 

[izstigspunks]

Hi and welcome to the site! Tyson's a cutie. Curious, what's the difference between a Victorian bully and an English one? Because Tyson looks like an English, maybe bigger?

As for the raw. You're doing great! Has he had any poop issues ... too soft maybe? If not, that's fantastic. It's one of the challenges of starting raw.

Starting with chicken is very common. And you should be able to see changes soon. With my bully, Stig, it only took a couple of days for his hives to disappear. But don't take that to heart though, it's different for everyone. Since his feet has pustules, it may be after they're healed that you'll see a difference. I say give it a week and see if any redness has gone down. Since he hasn't had any loose stools and other signs, he's probably not allergic to chicken.

Keep on doing what you're doing with his paws, sounds like you're progressing. Wondering also if it's winter in your area and if there's salt on the ground. Stig's sensitive to that too, so we wipe his paws clean after every walk.

You don't need to add organs right away, but if you would like to start with small pieces at first. Heart isn't an organ in raw terms. Lung and stomach are in the middle, some say they are, but some say they aren't. Those that def belong in the category are spleen, liver (max 5% of the diet!), kidneys, etc.

It's against the law to sell green tripe in normal grocery stores, so I source them from raw feeding stores, farms and other rawfeeders. Whereabouts do you live? Maybe I can try to find a community for you. There's no firm set amount of green tripe you can give. Some give a spoonful each time. My boys sometimes get a whole meal of green tripe if that's the only thing available.

And I think 99 cents/lb of chicken is a bargain. Lucky! I aim for less than a dollar for anything too, especially pork, chicken and turkey. I get half my meat from ethnic grocery stores as they carry various parts. The rest I get from local rawfeeders who sell.

G'luck! Let us know if you have any other questions.

 

[RiiSi]

Really nothing to add...[MENTION=1209]savemejeebus[/MENTION] got everything covered. In my neighbor hood 99 cents/lbs would be considered free...Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[BigB02z28]

Thank you guys! His poop isn't completely runny but it is soft. We had to clean his back area yesterday because he had some residue left in his fur around his exit point, which never happened before.

I am located in Pinellas Park, FL. Just south of Tampa. I am shopping at costco for his meat.

As far as a victorian bulldog goes, heres an excerpt

In London in 1985 a breeding program began, led by Mr. Ken Mollett. Mr. Mollett was saddened to see so many unhealthy bulldogs and wanted to bring back the original, taller, healthier bulldog of the 1800's. With the passing of the years, Graham Woods and Ken Mollett's brother Derek, both early partners in the program, gave up or sought other goals, but Ken persisted. Using only bull-breeds registered with the Kennel Club of Great Britain and anchoring his program firmly on the modern bulldog, he set about crossing Staffords, Bullmastiffs, Dogue de Bordeaux and the healthiest Bulldogs he could find. Mollett selected carefully and every animal used was the best available. In the late 1980's the dog's being produced and bred by Derreck Mollett and Steve Barnett were utilized and used, by Ken Mollet as the direct foundation dogs to his Victorian Bulldogs. Working to old photographs, statues, written descriptions and engravings, he set out to remake the dog pictured in Victorian times. He called this dog the Victorian Bulldog. Today the type is fixed and the dogs are breeding regularly to that type. Ken Mollett insists, however, that since the health of his dogs is more important than their looks, the standard should not be viewed as a straight jacket. Similar to what happened in the USA to the Olde English Bulldogge of Mr. David Leavitt, where breeders of alternative strains bred Bulldog types together and wrongly used the name Olde English Bulldogge for its popularity, so can be seen with Mollet’s Victorian Bulldog. Mr. Mollett named his strains Victorian Bulldogs. As the Victorian Bulldog became popular, other breeders started to create their own strain of Bulldogs and called their dogs Victorian Bulldogs when the dogs were not related to Mollets strains at all. Some Bulldogs using the name Victorian Bulldogs are just first or second generation crosses.


Most people think hes an english bulldog as well, but he's a few inches taller than any other bulldogs we've come across. He seems to have less breathing problems then my families english bulldogs and maybe a little more active. An uncle on my wifes side breeds some english bulldogs and they're extremely strict about their requirements and such, so to him our dog is just a mutt, but we love him!

 

[RiiSi]

You could try giving him two meals with bone and then one without bone. That should firm his poo in no time....

 

[BigB02z28]

Hey guys, stopped by the local butcher today. I ordered some chicken backs, Had to order a 40lb case at $.99/lb... He said he can order me the green tripe as well, but I'd have to order a 40lb case of it. From what I was reading you don't feed them very much tripe, so I'm assuming 40lbs would last me way too long. Any advice to finding a smaller quantity?

 

[izstigspunks]

Any chance that there's a chinese or latino grocery store near you? Backs are usually much cheaper than that. And how much is he selling the tripe for? If it's cheap and you have room in your freezer for it, I would take it since it's difficult to come by tripe, in my area at least.

 

[BigB02z28]

I haven't seen one, but I am sure there is. There are a lot of Vietnamese, russian, and greek specialty stores, so I'm sure theres chinese and latino as well. Im sort of new to the area. I've already ordered these but I'll shop around for next time. I don't recall what the tripe price was, but I'm assuming a few people order from him because I walked in and asked "Do you sell green tripe and chicken backs?" and he goes "I can order it, I don't carry it, are you raw feeding your dogs?" So he must be aware.

 

[izstigspunks]

They're all edible so your money will go to good use. I would check those different ethnic stores and see what they carry. Who knows, you'll probably uncover a gold mine!

 

[luseaann]

I get my chicken backs cheapest from an Italian market $.39. I have also found them in the regular supermarket $.59, but not often. Most of their meat I get by buying the meat that is marked down before spoiling. I can get $2.00 off. Chicken gizzards are cheap. My ladies don't care for turkey or lamb. I usually sear the outsides of that and season. They are oddly fond of various curries. I feed liver, either beef or chicken, once every 2-3 weeks. They only eat once a day.

 

[wheezer]

I started feeding raw to Zeus about two weeks ago, but I also had him neutered about three or four weeks ago. I don't know if one or both of these changes has given him the energy of a young puppy. He runs and jumps and plays like he did when he was 12 weeks old. I have only fed him chicken so far to make sure he does not have an allergic reaction. He is still a little pink on his face and still licks and has pink paws but they are much better. He loves the raw chicken and chicken livers and hearts. His coat is soft and shiny and very little shedding. I never dreamed I would feed raw but it is really much easier than I thought it would be. I travel weekly so my hubby is the main caretaker. He was really against this until Zeus was showing so many symptoms of allergies. Now that he has seen such a difference, he jumps right in to prepare his feedings. I have noticed a huge decrease in his water intake and he only poops about once a day and sometimes every other day. I don't know what I would do without all of the information I have received from this site. Good luck with the rawfeeding and thanks everyone for your help!!!

 

[ame16]

I wouldn't feed chicken backs, necks, etc. They may be cheap, but when you factor in the fact that necks, for instance, are 44% bone, you quickly realize you're not getting much for your money. Remember, you wanna aim for 80% meat (you don't need to have a perfect ratio each meal...this balance can be achieved over weeks or even months).

Keep your eyes open for deals. I just scored 30 pounds of chicken quarters from Wegmans for $11.70 ($.39/pound).