Very interesting...

Food, Fitness and how to keep them healthy.

Postby Jenn » April 28th, 2006, 3:25 pm

Ok, my "Warning if this is in your dog food" post has become a raw post. :lol3:

Well, no question is stupid.. That's what I hear anyway.. ;) I'm not sure that the link I've read so far, hasn't created more fear.
SOOOO, I've thought of another question.

Is it possible for them to develop allergies that weren't present/known once feeding raw? They've never had any allergies from the different dog foods, or any period. I'm a little worried now, about allergies/itching/issues starting. So, is it possible to still get a reaction say to raw chicken vs the chicken ingredient in the Natural Balance? Would I know immediately if they were allergic to the beef, chicken, pork, fish, etc? :|
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Postby babyreba » April 28th, 2006, 3:32 pm

GF, canned green tripe is some nasty stuff. I feed it to Reba and Tucker in their Kongs.

But I'm told it's nowhere near as good as the real deal and that the Solid Gold kind has way too much potato and starch.

I checked out the greentripe.com website, but after emailing them a couple of times and never hearing back, I gave up. Plus, according to their shipping chart, it'd cost a ton to ship out to the east coast. Oh well. Gotta find a local source, I guess!
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Postby cheekymunkee » April 28th, 2006, 3:39 pm

That's a good question & it is a crap shoot with new protiens. I have heard that if a dog is allergic to chicken based dog foods they may still be able to eat fresh raw chicken. Munkee was able to for a couple of months until he built an intolerance to the fresh. But, if your dogs have no allergic reactions to kibble they probably won't to raw either, at least to the protiens they have already been exposed to. You should know rather quickly if they have allergic reations, Munkee reacts very quickly, usually within a couple of days.
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Postby Jenn » April 28th, 2006, 3:46 pm

Ok, another site.. other questions. Sorry! :oops: Loved the "recipes" cheeky! ;)

I was going to do the raw/kibble thing to start off as suggested, and thought that would be great for me. Then I read that alternating between the two can cause problems, due to the kibble taking longer to digest? GF Turtle have you ever found this to be a problem? That site also said, that wings and necks were a choking hazard?

Is it necessary to feed twice daily? Currently I only feed them in the evenings, will that be something I'll need to change?

I bought some bones at the grocery store yesterday, and now I'm worried about what they are? They are beef bones, and the package just said "BEEF" and it was 50 cents so I grabbed them up. How can I be sure they aren't a bone that splinters?
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Postby Jenn » April 28th, 2006, 3:49 pm

cheekymunkee wrote: But, if your dogs have no allergic reactions to kibble they probably won't to raw either, at least to the protiens they have already been exposed to. You should know rather quickly if they have allergic reations, Munkee reacts very quickly, usually within a couple of days.


So how would I know? Is there obvious signs? Is it something that can be a possible dangerous reaction?
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Postby cheekymunkee » April 28th, 2006, 4:02 pm

The problem with mixing the two usually occurs when you mix raw & kibble in the same meal. By alternating you should not have any problems and you can feed as often as you like. I feed once a day, if this is what you do there is no need to change unless you want to. In this case you could feed raw one day & kibble the next.

As far as allergy signs, itching, licking of paws, scratching the ears, hot spots, bumps, redness aroudn the mouth. None of them are life threatening but they will drive your dog ( and you ) nuts.

I have fed necks & wings with no choking problems, the only one who has choked was Ollie on pigs feet & she choked after throwing up, not while eating. You can prevent choking by chopping up the bones in smaller pieces or making them not gobble their food. taht is usually when choking occurs, to stop it hand feed for a few days until they get the hang of it.

As far as splintering, rib bones splinter ( although I have fed them with no problems) weight bearing bones ( for heavy animlas such as pork & beef) should be avoided as they are too hard & could break teeth. A thin bone ( like a rib ) will be one that splinters. Shoulder bones & neck bones should be good. Just make sure what you feed is more meat than bone.
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Postby turtle » April 29th, 2006, 11:57 am

JennKBM wrote:I was going to do the raw/kibble thing to start off as suggested, and thought that would be great for me. Then I read that alternating between the two can cause problems, due to the kibble taking longer to digest? GF Turtle have you ever found this to be a problem? That site also said, that wings and necks were a choking hazard?

Is it necessary to feed twice daily? Currently I only feed them in the evenings, will that be something I'll need to change?

I bought some bones at the grocery store yesterday, and now I'm worried about what they are? They are beef bones, and the package just said "BEEF" and it was 50 cents so I grabbed them up. How can I be sure they aren't a bone that splinters?


No, I've never had a problem with feeding raw and kibble but I do not feed them together. I feed 2 meals a day, she gets the raw in the morning (fed outside) and the kibble meal at night. No digestive upsets, nothing bad at all. The raw & kibble digest at different rates so you don't want to feed them together.

I think dogs do better being fed twice a day. Their food digests better and only one meal every 24 hours, well, that's a long time between eating. Or if you want to stay with feeding once a day, just alternate feeding raw and kibble like Debby suggested.

And there are a lot of sites out there with worrisome info. Take some of them with a grain of salt. If your dogs chew well, they should have no problem with eating raw chicken wings, necks and quarters. Mine crunches them up well, but I did find she does better if I cut the chicken quarters in half and give her just a leg or a thigh for her meal. You can break up the bigger bones a bit by using a hammer or hatchet to pound them with.

I do keep an eye on her while she eats her raw but I have not seen her choke nor have any problems with eating it. She chews well and the raw meal is usually gone in minutes. You might need to teach your dogs to eat and chew slower and not gulp their food.

The beef bones you got, are they "soup bones? Often you can get beef soup bones or knuckle bones and they are good for dogs' chewing and enjoyment but not really a meal. For feeding, you want smaller bones and a ratio of more meat than bones. I don't feed beef ribs at all since I know of some dogs who had problems with them and they did splinter, but yet I feed deer ribs and she is fine with those, crunches them up like candy. Lamb and veal tend to be smaller easier bones for them to eat but both are a bit rich so don't feed a lot of them and not every day.
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Postby Jenn » April 29th, 2006, 12:06 pm

My mother said that's probably what they are ~ soup bones. I just bought them for a treat, not a meal. Thought they may enjoy them, but then I read that about the large bones and was starting to change my mind about letting them have them. :?
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Postby turtle » April 29th, 2006, 12:44 pm

JennKBM wrote:My mother said that's probably what they are ~ soup bones. I just bought them for a treat, not a meal. Thought they may enjoy them, but then I read that about the large bones and was starting to change my mind about letting them have them. :?


When I first started giving my dog raw beef soup bones, I would let her have it for about 45 mins or an hour and I kept an eye on her. That way she did not get too much of the bone and marrow and it did not upset her stomach.

The marrow is quite rich and if you have not fed your dogs soup bones before, they might not be used to the rich marrow. It can give them the runs. It did this with mine when I first gave her bones so that's why I limited her time with them. I just picked it up and put it in a bag in the fridge or freezer for the next time, and I'd wait a day or so inbetween.

You can start slow and see how they do. Remember bones and meat are high value to dogs so keep them well separated so they don't scuffle over the bones.
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Postby luvmyangels » April 29th, 2006, 1:10 pm

Great links! I had tried Raw in January and got scared after a diarrhea and vomitting period. So I stopped. But I know this is the best thing for my dogs but I am a little gun shy.

I just met someone local to me that is a pet sitter/dog walker and she feeds her 3 dogs Raw. She uses Oma's Pride for one of the feedings and uses foods with bone in them for the 1st meal of the day such as chicken etc... I am going to be getting Oma's Pride on Monday and I am going to have to go and get chicken thighs for the morning. I am scared but I am going to do it!!
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