[MATT C]

I’m guilty of over-researching some things. Going to a raw food diet is one of them apparently… To start out is there any reason I can’t get a supply of good quality chicken thighs, freeze them, and thaw out a couple to give my pup each day?

Is it really this simple?!?!

We have a 2-year-old small dog (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel + Poodle mix) who has been on so many types of hypoallergenic dog food that I’ve lost count of all of what we’ve tried. He’s about 17 pounds now and has been eating Hills Science Diet z/d which is all that he has been able to tolerate so far. He still goes through periods of loose stool and what we call “flare-ups” when he’s clearly not himself. We’ve gone through the allergy testing but even the “safe” proteins have given him problems. This is why I want to go raw…

This is what I think I will do. Any comments, thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated!

1) Pick a weekend when I will be home to start this (my wife is not exactly on board with this idea…)

2) Fast Jasper on Friday (he normally eats 2x per day)

3) Not do a transition period, but start him with 1/4 pound of raw chicken 2x per day. His feeding times have been between 7-8am and then again between 5-6pm.

4) Assuming he eats this I will be prepared to get up at nights for the aftermath. From the reading I’ve done I would expect this to last a week or two as he adjusts.

5) After 1 to 2 months I can start adding in other sources of protein.

Again, any comments or suggestions would be great! Oh, here’s Jasper:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWiaZkWFWj7/?taken-by=mbcoulter

[pitlove]

Hi Matt C-

No, raw is not simple. The diet you are proposing for your dog is very nutritionally deficient. Simply feeding him chicken thighs with nothing else is not providing a complete nutrient profile for him and can end in diseases such as Ricketts. More and more raw fed dogs whos owners believe they are feeding them “complete and balanced” homemade raw meals are finding their dogs are Vit D deficient.

Also the idea that your dog needs to detox itself from the processed food and that is why they are having diarrhea is insane to say the least. Expecting your dog to have diarrhea and allowing it to happen for 1 to 2 weeks will only result in you having to rush your dog to the ER vet for SubQ fluids for dehydration.

Please consider using the consulation services of websites like BalanceIt.com or petdiets.com to pay a veterinary nutritionist to help you formulate a diet that will be complete and balanced and not taking any more advice from blogs on the internet. It is nothing short of disturbing that this kind of information is floating around the internet.

[MATT C]

Pitluv,

Thank you for your insight and comments.

🙂

Matt

[InkedMarie]

Raw feeding means meat, bone, organs….it means a variety of proteins and MORE red meats than white. Go to Hare-Today dotcom, look for the raw food education link. Tracy, the owner, is very helpful.

[elaine c]

I use Answers Pet food. It is raw and even better that raw because it is fermented Check it out you will never look back and your dog will LOVE IT

[poodaddy]

Hi Matt, ditto all the above. I am very new to forums in general (about two weeks ago) and noticed your post. First, one cannot over-research raw feeding – not possible in my opinion. It is a tremendous subject that I have been reading about and developing an Excel application for since March of this year. Started our two canine companions on a raw food diet on 18 Mar 2017 and have been refining it every month since; it is a Sunday morning labor of love I guess. So, … if you are into model development, raw food manufacturing AND applying the science/data that will produce a balanced and healthy diet, let me know. I could certainly use some collaboration since every “consultant” I reached out to seemed to run away from the project I guess thinking it was a threat which of course is silly in my view. Am about 90% with the model and nearing the output that will highlight the deficiencies of each micronutrient and vitamin against the daily standard needed for balanced and healthy meals. It is a lot more effort than I originally thought and that does not even address the actual work involved in menu prep, shopping, preparation, and cleanup for a 60-day supply of food for two dogs. The model also captures level of effort in hours, and price/cost of the menu. Manufacturing the food is a giant production operation that is a LOT OF WORK but we are passionate about the results it has achieved for our two cockapoos not to mention the vet bills avoided. Lots learned and a lot more to go.

[MATT C]

Wow! That sounds like quite the project and quite the commitment. Since my wife is now working more hours (away from the home) we decided that this was not going to be the right time to transition Jasper’s diet. We’ll be looking for a time when I will be home for a stretch to deal with any digestive “issues”.

On a separate note, one of the major revelations regarding his gut issues came about a few weeks ago. We finally realized that his “flare-ups” (as we call them) have been coming a 4-5 days after his heart worm meds. So in an effort to reduce the number of things changing we are keeping his diet the same and we will omit this medicine. With luck, making this change will prevent his issues and eventually allow us to transition him to a natural diet.

We also found a fairly local raw food provider. Fortunately, we have a retailer in our area.

http://abbyschoice.com/home.html

This product (along with some supplement) will be fairly high on my list when looking at raw options 🙂

[poodaddy]

Well, you have my contact information. When you are ready to start planning (say about two months out from doing it yourself), let me know. I plan on helping a lot of folks get a first-hand view into the equipment needed, what it is really like to plan a menu, iterate on the nutrition metrics, set up the specific controls for dog weight, activity level, age, etc, and take control of their individual dog’s food requirements, but, … not until the model is completed and checked by a seasoned pet nutritionist. There are two actions to complete the model: (1) input the Daily Nutrition Requirement by micro and vitamin into the model which will automatically show the variances in each micronutrient and vitamins from the menu, and (2) determine the source(s) of supplements needed (if any) to balance the variances to an optimum. Getting VERY close!

[Sloane K]

Matt –

If you’re still around on these forums I am curious to learn how your pup reacted to the transition into a raw diet. Let us know! Thanks

[MATT C]

Yup, I’m still here (at least getting notifications) but no, I did not transition him to raw. We were able to trace many of his digestive problems to the heartworm medicine that we had him on. We stopped giving him this medicine and both the severity and frequency of his flare-ups drastically decreased.

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