Raw Food Diet / Kibble Alternative

[Pork n Pickle]

Hi everyone,

We've been feeding our almost 3-year old male Fromm's kibble since we brought him home. He started to develop some dry skin spots on his back around a year, so we switched him to a chicken free recipe and that seemed to stop them.

He has a hard time emptying his anal glands naturally, so we tried switching the food recipe to a different fish blend and have had him on glandex for about 45-days but the issue seems to persist (although it is somewhat improved). He's going to the vet tomorrow to have them manually emptied and I was going to keep him on the glandex for another month to see if it improves, but have been thinking about a new diet alternative to see if it helps with that issue and for overall health.

Is there a good link that does review of raw food options or does anyone have positive experiences with a cooked food like the farmer's dog? Preparing our own isn't an option for us.

 

[Cbrugs]

My 2 boys are raw fed and have really good poops. Louie gets a rotation of commercial frozen brands which include Small Batch, Northwest Naturals, Steve's, Primal, and Stella & Chewy's. Jax, my Frenchie also gets those brands along with a brand from an online company Rawfed K9. Louie doesn't do well with the Rawfed K9 as it is prey model meaning it contains no veggies. I discovered he needs the veggies to help him poop. The above-mentioned commercial brands all have veggies in them. Some dogs are fine without veggies and some, like Louie, need them. You won't know until you try.

One thing to note if you are new to raw feeding is that you must rotate between at least 3 different proteins (1 being a red meat) as each protein contains it's own nutritional value. Rotating does not need to be done daily or even weekly as it all balances over time. It is also good to do just 1 protein at a time at the beginning to know if there are any intolerance/allergy issues.

I do not have experience with any of the lightly cooked foods out there.

My 2 girls eat Open Farm with Ancient Grains with no issues. All 4 dogs do get a probiotic as well.

 

[2BullyMama]

Citty has you covered on the food... I also feed raw from a local company and rotate between four proteins.

good luck on the food search -it can be like a science project with all the trail and error you might go though, but you'll find what works for you baby

 

[helsonwheels]

All mine are also on raw. It simply builds a better immune system. Great advice above.

 

[Frankiethebully]

Hi everyone,

We've been feeding our almost 3-year old male Fromm's kibble since we brought him home. He started to develop some dry skin spots on his back around a year, so we switched him to a chicken free recipe and that seemed to stop them.

He has a hard time emptying his anal glands naturally, so we tried switching the food recipe to a different fish blend and have had him on glandex for about 45-days but the issue seems to persist (although it is somewhat improved). He's going to the vet tomorrow to have them manually emptied and I was going to keep him on the glandex for another month to see if it improves, but have been thinking about a new diet alternative to see if it helps with that issue and for overall health.

Is there a good link that does review of raw food options or does anyone have positive experiences with a cooked food like the farmer's dog? Preparing our own isn't an option for us.

We have a 17month old male that we adopted December 2022, he was on a chicken & rice based kibble when we got him, his coat was so dry and he had a patch of fur missing on his chest. Changed him to a premium brand puppy kibble & he improved massively. Skin Trouble began again when changing him to the adult version of the kibble at 12months old plus problem with anal glands started. I started to research raw & cold pressed at that time and We settled on a cold pressed salmon & sweet potato based kibble (it’s called patreon but we are based in Ireland so I’m not sure on brands available in your area) and we feed a small amount of raw a couple of times per week alongside this. His anal gland trouble went away pretty much instantly as his poops are much bigger and more solid and his coat is amazing. He did poop a lot more, maybe like 5-8 times per day for the first few weeks while transitioning but this settled back down to 2-4 times per day once his system got used to it & he’s visibly a much healthier dog now.

(He does eat slightly more than the recommended daily allowance for his body weight but my vet has said this is common with cold pressed/ raw feeding as it’s more easily digested so thankfully his weight remains stable & in healthy range he seems to go between 21-23kg)