The skin condition on my wife's dog led us to this forum. That has in turn led us to start a raw diet with the three dogs.

We have received very helpful guidance from the PMs and we have been using the search function exhaustively.

I cannot say that the kibble is completely gone, as my wife feeds it for convenience on the days I'm not home.

For the most part, the dogs are getting chicken leg quarters and nothing else at some meals. Every few meals they get a dollop of yogurt and a raw egg. We are ordering some salmon oil and picked up some vitamin E soft gells today.

Once the GI track is used to raw, how often should the yogurt continue to be given? Is it needed, or just prevenitive?

I read just a couple posts about whole fish being given. Do the small sharp fish bones not cause a problem? My son is always catching fish. Can we just throw these whole to the dogs?

What about chitterlings. From my search I now know what they are, but I did not see anything conclusive as to a pro or con. Are these good to give once in a while, or even regularly? Substitute them for the chicken from time to time?

From my reading, I guess in addition to the salmon oil and vitamin E, vitamin C is also good to give. What about just giving the multi-vitamin that I take every day in an effort to cover all of the bases?

I'm trying to keep this as simple as possible, but I don't want to be neglectful.

I welcome any insights and suggestions from you experts.

Thank you.

http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=134513

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Once the GI track is used to raw, how often should the yogurt continue to be given? Is it needed, or just prevenitive?

This is a personal thing, but i do not feed yogurt generally as I do not feel that dairy is part of an adult carnivore diet. Once the dog is used to raw I would remove the dairy. It can also be a contributer to allergies. I might use it while a dog is on antibiotics or as a treat occasionally but no need for it otherwise IMO. Totally up to you though.

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I cannot say that the kibble is completely gone, as my wife feeds it for convenience on the days I'm not home.

Make some premade patties or buy them, or even just individualy package some chicken quarters. Have your wife open the freezer, and open the ziplock bag and dump the contents frozen onto your back lawn. No harder than scooping kibble and a frozen meal now and again is no big deal IMO. Does not need an egg and yougurt with it at every meal!

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I read just a couple posts about whole fish being given. Do the small sharp fish bones not cause a problem? My son is always catching fish. Can we just throw these whole to the dogs?

Bones are not a problem. Fish sould be frozen to kill parasites first. No pacific salmon. Connie can help out with further info here. Maybe talk to your local C.O. and find out if there are parasite problems in your area's fish and ask your vet if these parasites can affect dogs?

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From my reading, I guess in addition to the salmon oil and vitamin E, vitamin C is also good to give. What about just giving the multi-vitamin that I take every day in an effort to cover all of the bases?

Up to you but if you want to feed a multivitamin I suggest a dog one. Many human vitamins are designed somewhat time released and can pass through a dog's short digestive tract undiegested. We also need different vitamins and different quantities than a canine. I only supplement Fish oil (and the vit e needed to process it)

Thanks, guys.

Alex, I tried to go to the yahoo pets group in the link you posted in order to see about a discount on a food order. The link I cut and pasted didn't work for me. Do you have any good contacts?

Hi Eric, here is a nice page with more RAW info. Click on "raw feeding" to take you to the yahoo group.
http://rawfed.com/myths/feedraw.html

Hi Eric:

If you're looking for a good price on raw see if you can find a co-op that's close. I found this website - scroll 3/4 down the page and there are some links to co-ops in many states including Florida:

http://presagirls.tripod.com/id14.html

I also found these websites to be helpful when I first started raw in January (of course Leerburg was where my internet connection lived most of the time during the transition):

http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/shasta.htm#shasta-diet
http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm#fast
http://www.rawlearning.com/index.html

Aside from Leerburg, this was my second favorite:
http://www.rawdogranch.com/

Good Luck!

One other thing about fish, you might want to open up the fish and check the insides for any hooks inside the body.

Kimberly

 Quote: Eric Eschmann

What about just giving the multi-vitamin that I take every day in an effort to cover all of the bases?.

This is not a good plan. I'm glad you asked.

There are several problems, not least of which is the different size of the dog (compared to the 150-pound human most OTC meds and supplements are geared for).

Dogs don't need many of the vitamins and minerals included in human multis, and several of the minerals will be overdosed, both with a raw-fed dog (and I'm thinking of calcium in particular, but others too) and a kibble dog (who is getting supplements already from the kibble).

You might like to see this POV about supplements:
http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm#sup

I feel more strongly about fish oil (plus E) than they do, but otherwise that's a pretty sensible POV, IMO.

I'm with Jennifer about freezing fish at zero for a few days (like commercial fillets of line-caught sole, cheap at Trader Joe's, and something I likt to use for variety, even though it has no bones; I use them with a bony meat or egg shells).

Fish are likely to have parasites, I think, that are killed by cooking for us, and by very cold freezing.

OTOH, I certainly know dogs who have eaten raw fish with no problems.

And Jennifer's right about no raw salmonids from west of the Cascades (Pacific Northwest). (Cooked or canned is fine.)

Good information. Sometimes the more I read, the more confused I become.

A lot of differing view points on adding vegies. I'm tending to stay away from them.

I am concerned with information at one of the links. It brought out that chicken leg quarters do not provide the needed amount of calcium. UGHHH. Chicken leg quarters are the staple of the diet I am feeding my dogs.

I still have not found much on chitterlings, but I am tending to think they may be good a couple of times a week along with the egg.

Here's where I'm at:
In the morning each dog gets one leg quarter. In the evening the GSD and Pitt each get a half of a leg quarter and the rottie gets a full leg quarter. At both feedings the dogs get two fish oil capsules, a vitamin E capsule and a vitamin C tablet masked in peanut butter.

I will plan on adding some pork chitterlings and an egg a couple of times a week.

I hope this will do it....????

I was planning on buying some salmon oil, but for now the capsules are working well, so I'm not sure if I want to switch to a liquid.