I remember reading that puppy foods make pups grow too fast. Like most, this is what I'm used to with the growth of young cats and dogs. My question is, does the growth rate slow down dramatically with raw food? Duke's been 40lbs. for over a month now (he's currently 29-30 weeks). I know that he's still got a year or so before reaching maturity and will fill out a bit in that time, it's just odd to me that he hasn't put on any weight since we started feeding raw.

Poop is usually nice firm logs, with an occasional bout of diarrhea. We're feeding him 1.25lbs. of food a day, for an expected adult weight of 60-65lbs, which is currently a chicken leg quarter, a whole egg, and occasionally some Jack Mackerel or chicken gizzards (probable cause of the diarrhea)...we're working on the supplements.

Any and all respectful and constructive comments welcomed. If information is lacking, please do ask for clarification and I'll be happy to oblige.



Here are some pictures from this morning to show what condition he's in.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g181/91SiZ6/pets/duke126.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g181/91SiZ6/pets/duke131.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g181/91SiZ6/pets/duke144.jpg

(Note: Tail up is his normal tail position.)

From all that I have read and heard breeders say, raw tends to even out the growth of pups so that it's slower, steadier, less spurt-y, but same end result (I mean same eventual size the dog would've been on commercial food).

He sure looks good! He's 7 months or so? He looks excellent to my eyes.

I'm not a puppy expert, though.

How did you come up with the food amount? 5% of puppy weight of 40 pounds would be 32 ounces (2 pounds) and 3% of adult weight of, say, 63 pounds would be 30 ounces. Oh, I see: 2% of expected adult weight?

Was he plumper a month ago?

Calling puppy experts!

Thank you, ma'am.

Yeah, we're doing 2% of expected adult weight and my wife saw that Cindy feeds her 60-ish pound dogs about 1.25lbs..

About the plumpness. Looking back through the last two months of pictures it seems that he had a bit more mass, but wasn't in his lanky period yet...which I'm pretty sure he's just getting into. He's definitely grown because he's taking up more space in his new 42" crate than he was when we got it. I've toyed with the idea of giving him closer to 2lbs. a day but I don't want to make him fat.

Maybe I'll bump him up to 1.5lbs. for a few days and see what happens. He's a total chow hound so I'm sure he'll have no problems with an extra portion, hahaha.

Yeah, that sounds totally safe to me. I betcha he IS growing up at the moment.

If you keep an eye on his body shape, which again I think looks perfect (but I will be interested in puppy experts' opinions), that's the important thing.

That is definitely the body shape I like to see in my adult dogs. Nice tuck-up underneath behind the ribcage, nice "waist" from above, and just a hint of a rib visible.

I think he looks great!
Food intake can vary greatly from dog to dog though, so you always have to adjust as needed for their metabolism and activity level.

I think you'd be ok to go up to 1.5 and see what that does.

Looks great though.:smile:

As a side note, you are probably safe to start adding in some organ meat in tiny amounts. Slowly building up to the 10% +/- organ meat reference amount. Liver and kidney are usually pretty easy to get. You may have to ask the meat man for kidney, though.

After the addition of organs, you could also start adding in different protein sources.

Wait 'til he is good with one ingredient before adding another. That way if his stomach does get upset you'll know where you messed up.

Just remember too much of anything, too fast will give diarrhea.

Sorry. You didn't ask, but I noticed the "lack of" in the menu.

Thanks, folks.

Michael, thank you for the advice. You just let me know where I messed up, too much weight in gizzards. I'll pick up some liver tomorrow, is any particular kind better?

Whatever you can get. Chicken liver should be readily available. Might be able to find beef liver, too.

Either is fine. Start small. I mean like 1/2 an ounce to be safe.

Ask around, and I bet you can find some kidney, too.

Sweet breads(thymus glands and pancreas) are another organ meat that you can get easily in a grocery store. Maybe special order, but they can get them.

Variety is good with organ meat, too. The mo' the betta'. Every new organ should be added in slowly and in small amounts.

Ah, that last sentence was a goodun! I would've figured "well, he's used to it now so...". Oi, poor puppy.

My wife found a butcher in our area who said "give me a decent price and you can have whatever left overs you want". Speaking of which, when do we start adding in the green tripe? After other organ meats are established? (Good info for our old dog, too.)

Yeah. Working up the organ's would be of more priority to me at the moment.

Once he's good with organs, green tripe would be a great next protein.