This was scary to start! I made some newbie mistakes, bigtime. I began with turkey and I should've used chicken. The turkey drums were too much bone and my dog got constipated, the turkey wings were splintery-sharp when he passed them, and I began this all during the soccer finals week, so here in Germany they had non-stop soccer parties, and turkey necks would be sold out, then drums unavailable... etc. My dog had a few days on just ground turkey, so he lost too much weight and we had loose stools.

Enter the chix RMB. Now I have meals twice a day that look like this:

About 2 chicken quarters or drums, a lil extra ground turkey as the MM, until the kitchen scale reads 550 gramm... some brewers yeast, some plain fat free yogurt, a salmon oil & E capsule, a teeny-weeny chunk of turkey liver the size of half an almond, and either a very small bit of green tripe or a chunk of banana or a glop of defrosted frozen spinach or a few cherries or blueberries mashed up.. etc.

A few times a week, Grimm will get some Baltic Herring as either a snack or RMB portion of a meal.

Once a week, Grimm will get a whole egg in shell added to one meal.

Twice a week, I will add a half teaspoon of kelp flakes to his meals.

Sometimes, not often, I will switch the turkey MM that balances out his chicken RMBs with beef heart or groundbeef.

How is this looking? I can either afford grainfree kibble, or the raw plan I mentioned.. I cannot afford the whole 3 capsules daily of salmon oil and E.. I can give him 2 per day. I can't afford to vary this much more than I am. (I can vary with the beef and fish, though) I hate to admit it, but being on disability means I can't add all I might like to my dog's overall diet.

How does what I can manage look like? Any excesses or deficiencies? I know, I am such a Noob at this LOL! I'm reading Billinghurst's book though, and it helps a great deal.

Ideas, opinions?

PS-- After just 12 days into this, I am seeing this: His teeth were due for a dental.. orange with tartar before. Now the very tips of his teeth are pure white! His coat-- it is thicker and plusher than his winter coat was! And, it is a blue sheen to it, much more black hairs in his sable coat, and the pigment much richer.. plus it is starting to feel like SILK. Very, VERY shiny dog!! HUGE amount of gloss on his newly denser coat with more vivid pigmentation. Am I imagining this at all? It's just been 12 days so far.

Can you get liquid fish oil for dogs instead of capsules? It's much cheaper.

Also, he needs separate E; there isn't enough in the salmon oil capsule. However, it's very inexpensive.

My first item would be the E to give with the salmon oil. My second would be to look around for a liquid fish oil that costs less in order to give more.

But I think the diet looks great.

And you are not imagining the "new" teeth and coat.

Thanks Connie, I bought some extra E oil capsules. I am unsure of the salmon oil quality here in the liquid.. i might look around at healthfood stores for some in liquid form. Things are very different here in Germany. Lots of stuff for pets is Walmart quality. Germany is way ahead of us in so many areas, but-- for example-- most of their "top" foods are back where we were feeding 20 years ago (corn, rice, meat-by-products, wheat, poultry fat...). I will look around! Thank you for the diet input!!

My only big worry here is if Grimm must be boarded at a doggy hotel or vet's....... there is no prepared raw here with ground bone, no products like in USA where you can get a frozen chub or dehydrated raw. And when you tell someone here that your dog eats a raw diet....... jaws drop, and the gears in folk's minds just come to a grinding halt. Currently, "BARF" is a trend here that pet people have read about in a doggy magazine. Let's hope Grimm needs no boarding!

Hey.. dehydrated raw-- anybody wants to start a business here, that would have a super future market!

How much should a young GSD tummy be able to hold safely and comfortably? Grimm is quite thin on the raw. I can't blame it all on the raw, he was becoming thin on the kibble too (he does not have worms).. the reason is that within 2 months, his butt muscles have hugely developed where he once had flat butt cheeks.. now he has a beefier chest and shoulders too, and a wider head. His body is going through changes. I had to feed as much as an extra cup of kibble when he was on that. Now with the raw.. he seems quite thin again. I am now going to change from 550 gramms per meal(that's about a pound) to a bit over 600 gramms per meal. Will that hurt him? Is it too much food/weight in his tummy at one time? Grimm is 19 months, and will be about 98 - 100 when filled out. ( very slow-developing Czech lines)

Patti, what about slowly increasing the fat content?
1 lb equals a little over 450 grams, so you are feeding well over 2 lbs per day.

You are right, Lynne, about him getting a bit over 2lbs a day. I think he will be a LARGE dog, his Dad weighs 111 pounds and is all muscle. I will be upping the weight of his food a wee bit, as he is so thin on the raw. He is currently getting 3 salmon oil capsules (i wanted to keep it to two, to be affordable, but.. he is possibly slightly itchy from the chicken's omegas.. and needs the fish oil for omega balance re inflammation), and a teeny extra E capsule. Maybe a wee bit of olive oil to start? Do potatoes or white rice seem to help with weight much? I will add some wee bit of olive oil in a few days, once he is accustomed to the 3rd salmon oil capsule. Anything else for adding chub to a dog on raw? Adding kibble is not really an easy option for me... but i will if i must.

Did you have an EPI test done on him, you should have his pancreas checked...