Hello all,

As the title say it all, just adopted a 4 months old gs puppy and I am a first time raw diet feeder and I need those who's feeding raw to their dog advice for me please.

My gs puppy is almost 4 months old and weight 35 lbs, can you guys please tell me what is the right amount of food to feed this little guy?

 Quote: Walter Chong

Hello all,

As the title say it all, just adopted a 4 months old gs puppy and I am a first time raw diet feeder and I need those who's feeding raw to their dog advice for me please.

My gs puppy is almost 4 months old and weight 35 lbs, can you guys please tell me what is the right amount of food to feed this little guy?

Walter, you are on Day 2, right? And the pup is getting a fine start with skinned chicken backs (very very good first step)?

A pup of this age is growing and so needs more per pound than a dog who is done growing. He needs 5 to 10% of his weight per day.

I have adult dogs, but the folks in our training club start pups on 7%, then they watch the dog's shape and either increase or decrease as necessary. (For 35 pounds, 7% is about 2.4 pounds, or 39 ounces.)

I believe you started with three meals a day? That is a great plan, because smaller more frequent meals with the new food will go a long way towards preventing any surprise diarrhea over the switch.

You should link us to a picture of Junior, because everyone else will want to see him too (I got a sneak preview by email and he is a very good-looking little guy!).

Walter, congrats on your new pup. (I guess that you didn't get the 16 mo old pup that you had posted about a short time ago.

Good for the pup that you want to feed a raw diet. Feeding 3x a day is good for a 4 mo old pup. I would do that until about 6mo or so & then switch to 2x. Connie is right, pups get about 5-10% of their body weight in food each day. (adults get 2-3%)Starting at about 7% & going up or down as needed. Pups should be kept a slight bit on the thin side because their skelletal system is growing & overweight is a good way to cause hip & other skelletal problems. LB sells a good scale for weighing food. It will help get an idea of what amount you need. (I have done it for many years & can just eyeball the amounts that I need but I did weigh in the very begining) I would feed backs for a few days & if no problems, I would start to add a little ground meat along with the RMBs.(chicken backs) Variety is the key in feeding, expecially for puppies that are growing bones & muscle & need all the nutrients possible to grow healthy. You can't just feed chicken backs alone. They can be a base food but you need a great deal of other varieties.
There are some great articles on LB under feeding dog & feeding puppies a raw diet that Cindy has written. It would be impossible for us to cover everything that you need to know on the forum. Go & read these articles NOW so that you get the pup off to a good start. If you think that you are not prepared to do it correctly (don't have all that you need in place at home etc., it would be best to immediately put him back on the kibble he was raised on until you get it all figured out.) You can do more harm not feeding a correct raw diet to a pup then you can on a balanced kibble. It has to be done right. You need to have your feeding plan in place & know what you are going to feed & when to start the next food etc. It is not something that you can do flying by the seat of your pants, so to speak. There are also suppliments that you will need to add to the pups diet as well. All this sould be covered in the articles that Cindy has written.

After you have read & understand & have things set up at home to proceed & have sonme questions as you go along, we will all be happy to assist you what ever way that we can.

I knew folks would jump in and help!

Walter, you're planning to wait for a couple days of good poops, then add the fish oil, then a little ground beef, again waiting for the good poop before the next ingredient, right?

And then (one at a time), the small amount of produce we discussed, the plain live-culture yogurt, the canned mackerel or sardines (giving those in small amounts at first), maybe some lamb, then a gradual intro to organ meat?

Go ahead and pick up some of the raw feeding books that Leerburg sells, too.

It is very nice to have them on hand when you are starting out. I don't know how many times I've read mine.

This is probably one of the best to start with.

http://leerburg.com/970.htm

Congrats on the pup and the switch to fresh food!

Thanks you all for your personal advice, keep em coming please!

Actually this puppy is raise with feeding raw diet, it just me have no experience how to feed raw diet to my puppy. I start feeding him chicken back last night, so far his poop mostly log only the last drop is like pudding but not watery. Funny thing is since I pick him up yesterday afternoon until this morning his only got one poop, now I'm still waiting to see his next poop like. This pup is weight 35 lbs and I'm feeding him 39oz per day and 16 oz per meal, this is base on 7% of his body weight.

I placed his crate in my living room, and last night when we all in living room he is quite but until we all went to bed then he start making noise but at least is not howling or barking or maybe I should say " before " he bark I decided sleep in the living room with him on the couch. But before I accompanying him I did try to turn on the living room light but that didn't work.

This late afternoon I took him for the first walk at the school right behind my condo, and he is really enjoying the walk but he keep turning to my left side then right side, should I stop this habit or this is normal?

Anyway, I have attached the link to my puppy pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/50795588@N07/

39 ounces divided into three meals would be 13 ounces per meal.

I would start a different thread about the walks and the crate, etc. But I generally place the crate of a new dog in my bedroom at night. That's not unanimous at all, however. :-)

Junior looks great. Check out the size of those forepaws!

Opss.. how do I came out with 39 oz divide by 3 equal 16 oz??? Sorry...

handsome and yes huge paws!

He is a handsome pup. He is going to be a bog boy! Pups are the greatest!

When you add new items especially organ meats do it very slowly. More so then any other item. I would add liver in very very small amounts, as it is the one organ meat the can cause very loose stool if too much is feed, even in adult dogs.

It's a great time of year to be able to add some nice fresh produce to your dogs diet.

Also if the pup has already been on raw (before you got him,as you said) things should move along rather well.

Enjoy your pup.

BTW....my dogs sleep in my bedroom with me & pups are crated next to my bed. I have never had any issues with my pups crying or barking in crates. They are almost always in the same room as I am & if I need to go to another room for a minute or two & they are in their crate they learn that I return & it helps limit any chance of developing seperation anxiety in the future. If not crated, pups are teathered to me.