hello, i have recently switched my cane corso pupp to an all raw diet, and im a bit overwelmed with all the information out there, i dont know what to believe. should i add calcium supps or not, what is the best plan to follow, there are so many menues out there and then the rmb to weight ratio and ugh im soooooo confused.

i have been feeding him, beef liver with chicken, or ground beef, sardines, canned salmon, chicken hearts and gizzards ( witch he loves by the way) i just had his ears cropped so i reall y cant feed him anything with big bones untill he gets his cone collor off due to the fact he cant hold the food in his paws :-( and i dont want him chocking.

and he doesnt seem to be gaining any weight, am i not feeding him enough, am i not giving him the right foods? he has loose stool sometimes is that because im giving him to much liver and veggie glop?

so many questions, im sorry for the long post but i have exausted myself scouring the internet to find still no answers

hope i can finally get the answers i have been searching for

thank you

michael

Congrats on the decision to feed your puppy raw! Have you read this article? http://leerburg.com/feedpups.htm
I love this book: http://leerburg.com/935.htm And it's only $9.00!

How recently did you switch?
When switching, the best thing to do is start with one meat source and then gradually intro new things after a few days to even a week. This will help you pinpoint things that cause digestive upset, loose stools ect.

As far as organ meat....it only needs to be 5 to maybe 10% of their daily diet if that. I do not feed organ meat daily, only three to five times a week.

If you are feeding correctly you should not have to add calcium.
Meat to bone ratios should take care of that. If I have a surplus of ground or boneless meat, I add chicken wings to it. Minimal meat on those but good bone ratio.

Also, I would take most of the skin off any chicken you are feeding since chicken skin and fat can cause stomach upset at first.

Everything should be gradual.

I was overwhelmed at first as well, but this is a great place and the knowledge here is priceless.

The article that was posted is a "must have" as well.

i switched him 2 weeks ago, and honestly he loves it way more then kibble, gobbles chicken and fish right up, i think the loose stools were from too mucch veggie glop, and to much liver, i fed him liver for liek 3 days straight, but thank you kow i will only give him the liver say once a week and on the other days i will use the chicken hearts and gizzards as they are also organ meat i believe.

i am going to read that article also.

Be careful with feeding too much liver. It can cause issues if fed too frequently, in too large an amount.

Hi Guys,

I feed a little chicken liver everyday (one small whole live or 1/2 of a regular size liver)....it comes to 5% or so of the total food (Cleo is almost 50 lbs now). Is this ok? Is there something I should be worried about with feeding her liver every day? Alyssa, what are the issues associated with frequent liver feedings? Cleo is healthy and her stools are good.

thanks for the info.

A diet high in liver, large quantities of liver, for an extended period of time, may lead to Vitamin A toxicity.

so liver like once a week would be good, and use the chicken hearts and gizzards for the other types of organ meat? and how frequently should i feed fish?

and if his stool is still loose what other types of food will help to battle that?

ugh so many questions

 Quote: Michael curry

i switched him 2 weeks ago, and honestly he loves it way more then kibble, gobbles chicken and fish right up, i think the loose stools were from too mucch veggie glop, and to much liver, i fed him liver for liek 3 days straight, but thank you kow i will only give him the liver say once a week and on the other days i will use the chicken hearts and gizzards as they are also organ meat i believe.

i am going to read that article also.

5 to 10% of the diet for organ meat, and I feed it most days (in very small amounts) rather than a lot on one day because one of mine doesn't do well with all the organ meat at once.

http://leerburg.com/feedingarawdiet.htm

Here are actual one-week diets (two of them) to copy for adult dogs, which makes it very easy for a beginner.
http://leerburg.com/diet2.htm

And for puppies:
http://leerburg.com/feedpups.htm

Chicken backs are excellent starter RMBs.

Don't forget fish oil and Vitamin E (which are listed in the sample menus).

Diarrhea is generally from too much fat for a beginner, too much food, or too much organ meat for a beginner.

It helps, as Carol mentioned, to start with, say, chicken RMBs and some ground chicken with nothing but the fish oil and E for a couple of days, then gradually add each new ingredient. Organ meat, you can start lower than the eventual 5 to 10%.

And Carol is right - no calcium supplements, because the calcium is in the bones you give (the RMBs, the basis of the diet).