ihave sort of long question:

ifeed my working security dogs mostly on raw now.
when we have to get out to work in the field (imean wild terrain) or travel iam force to feed kibble for short periods (afew days mostly).

in about two months from now most of my company dogs and mans including me are going to face long period of time (about two months) working outdoors in hard terrain open reach roads
ican not hold supply of raw for such aperiod so iwill have to move to kibble for all the two months.

my questions are:

1): how whould you do the changing of the food source and how close to the field work period whould you do it?

(idont want it to be ashock to the dogs system but iwant to feed raw as much as ican before going to the field work)


2):should ifeed both kibble and raw in the period that left to the field work? and if ishould what are the desirable ratio?

3):what dry food/ kibble whould you recomand?

4):how should iget the dogs back to raw when im back?

thanks in advance for you advices

sefi.s
israel

Sefi, I'm no raw expert, but I would think you should fast your dog for 24 hrs before giving them kibble. Make sure they have plenty of water.

I think you can get by feeding raw in the day & kibble at night, but I think not mixing them is better.

I'm not sure what kibbles you have in Israel, but I would look for the highest meat content and avoid corn & wheat.

When you switch back to raw, fast them for another 24 hrs, then just give them the raw food.

Alex

What about switching to The Honest Kitchen, A.K.A. - THK. It's a dehydrated all-natural food. Just add water. It's very compact as well. Sold here on Leerburg.

One of the better kibbles is Timberwolf. THis food has been made so that it can be mixed with raw.

I would add a bit of kibble now to raw to get the dogs used to it.

I travel a lot with my dogs. When I cannot get raw or feed raw I buy meat from grocery stores and mix it with canned stew/canned veggies etc.

I’m reading more and more that feeding raw and kibble together is not as bad as it was once thought. Many people are doing it with no problems, and some have been doing it for years with no problems. I have no statistics to back this up; only the experiences of other people.

I think if I were in your position, Sefi, I would give it a shot if it’s easier for you. The ideal way then, IMO, would be raw in the morning and kibble at night; then raw and kibble in the morning and kibble at night; and then basically all kibble.

I would reverse the process when I came home and wanted to switch back to raw.

Do you have a list of the kibble that is readily available to you that perhaps we can help analyze?

1. I would switch to all kibble at least one week before the field work to give dogs time to adjust. However, on a recent trip I fed Lear one or two days raw, two days The Honest Kitchen (dehydrated raw), two days Wysong Synorgon kibble with no ill effects. Don't know if it's necessary to fast the dog before switching over. I tend to just do it when it comes to things like that - like raw in the morning, kibble at night, kibble next morning and night.

2. Kind of answered above in #1.

3. Here's a list of dog foods Ed Frawley recommends. http://www.leerburg.com/all-natural%20kibble.htm I have fed Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul to my last dog, and Wysong Synorgon. Different dogs like different kibbles, but Lear loved Wysong Synorgon, ate it with the same fervor that he does raw. Both are listed on the site above. Lear does not like the Honest Kitchen Embark (made with turkey) and it gives him gas. Not something you want on a trip. A couple of other people here have noticed the same thing with their dogs (the gas).

4. Kind of like in #1. When we got back from our trip, the next meal was raw and meals afterwards. Again, no ill effects or adjustment time.

thanks to all for the input...

alex - ido fast my dogs about 1 day each months but what is the fast purphess of the fast in the switch between the food?
maybe not to create unbablance rates of materials?

edward- iam allmost sure iwont found ohenst kitchen here in israel
but iwill sure will try to find it.
who knows if it that good maybe iwill be the first to import it.

what is A.K.A and THK?

Shelley- iwill look for timberwolf ithink isaw it been sale somwhere arround here...

unfortanlly where we are going to live and work is purley bush and dust there is no avaliable cool cans or refregerators that wont use for mecine and such so icant hold that ammount of fresh supply.

Jan- combining raw and kibbles sure sound worth the research allthou ihave heard some voices against it.
iwill give it asearch thanks.
the list of avilable food here is very long but iwill try to post here the few ihave selcted.


Sandy- thanks for sharing from your experince.
iwill ask my supplier about Wysong Synorgon.

he he!! we are going to live mostly in tents so extra gass can be amajor BIGG problam iwill do anything to avoid

thanks alot again
sefi.s
israel

If you think you will mix raw and kibble, give it a test run well ahead of time. IF your dog has a problem with it and gets a bacteria overgrowth, you'll want time to treat it before you go.

IME, 4 hours separation is enough between kibble and raw. Or soaking the kibble for 20 min or so it digests faster.

Sefi, you are right. The purpose of the fasting is to help eliminate combining too much of the kibble and raw. Even though, mixing them may be ok, I still think it's best to keep it as simple as possible. By the way, A.k.A is short for "also known as".

I don't think the brand should be as important as the ingredients. When you buy the kibble, look for meat ingredients as the majority in at least the first 7 ingredients. Try to avoid any corn ingredient, and any wheat ingredient or beet pulp.

Sefi,

I was at a Bernhard Flinks seminar last weekend and he said he routinely switches his dogs every 3 weeks between raw and kibble, so they are used to either one when he travels with them. He did not give specifics as to how he makes these switches, but I am going for a one-day follow-up this weekend at another of his seminars -- some of us are slow learners -- so I will ask him (if I remember) and post his answer. In any case, based on his experience it appears dogs can adapt quite well.

Regards,

Anita