On Thursday I plan to transition Faroh from his current home cooked diet to raw.

Just to give an idea of where we are coming from - he has always had issues with his stomach. I've tried him on several premium kibbles (Orijen, TOTW, Holistic Select & Nature's Instinct). Some he did "alright" on for a while, but eventually couldn't tolerate.

He is now an itchy dog. I won't get into the medical details of what we've tried, but I've put him on a home cooked diet of the following (which has at least done wonders for his stomach and poops):

chicken thighs
quinoa
broccoli
carrots
squash
green beans
canned tripe (tripett)
hard boiled eggs
probiotic yogurt
salmon oil+e
calcium

So, I have chicken leg quarters starting to defrost now. Should his first meal be just the meat? Some meat and bone? Should I hack it up with a cleaver? Remove the skin? Just give the back portion or some leg, some back? How long do I continue with just the chicken?

He really likes the veggies, but it seems that not everyone feeds a lot of veg... For those that do, how much do you give?

Faroh also needs to have breakfast, snack, dinner, late night snack (empty stomach syndrome), which I was planning on giving yogurt and veggies for the snack.

He also really likes hard boiled eggs, and I would like to give him 1 a day. Also, at what point should I start to add organs?

Thanks!

I have just gone thru that with my sensitive Harley.

I have given him a small meal of meat and bone at first. Chicken is the base of his food.

Before I had any new thing I wait to see good poop and I add very slowly and poop check for good poop before I can increase the amount.

I found that Harley can't have just quarter leg or neck. He has too soft or too hard poop. I have to give a mix of quarter and neck or a lot of neck with some meat.

Go slow, my boy loves eggs and vegies and fruit with yogurt. I use these now as snack food for him.

IMO you can continue feeding everything he is eating now in a raw diet. Raw only refers to the meat and bone--all those veggies and eggs continue to feed cooked. Or you could process veggies by purée or simply freezing.

I'd start this transition by simply gradually switching cooked chicken meat with raw in the diet that's already working for him, until it's all raw.

The "back" bones on the leg quarter are easier to digest than leg/thigh bones so start with those. Remove the skin, which is mostly fat for the first week or so and then gradually add it in. Fat's important, but add it slowly; same with organs. Tiny pieces until you see that everything's okay.

With raw bones in the diet you will no longer want to add supplemental calcium.

You may eventually phase out the quinoa, if it's taking up a lot of the diet--most of the meal will eventually be meat and bone. Think of everything else as side dishes. He can certainly have veg every meal, just not so much that it's taking the place of animal protein as the preponderance of the diet.

I am having issues with my dog Cody and I too have to feed him at night to tide him over. I am right now dividing his food into three meals, so his system won't be overloaded. When he finally gets off boiled chicken and rice, I am going to try Quinoa with him too. It is full of very wonderful nutrients. I was glad to hear that your pups didn't have a reaction to it. It has to be rinsed but I was reading some people have a problem with it even when rinsed. So, you are an encouragement to me. I give veggies too, my dogs love them. we were thinking of changing Cody to a prepared diet from some of the manufacturers you have mentioned. but we just can't get past the fact it is processed. If I buy a dog processed meat, veggies, etc, why not feed him the real thing.
Hope things go well with your changing is diet. I have had good results feeding my dogs raw and they have lots of energy and feel great. Cody is the one with some tummy problems of late. So, we really like feeding raw.
Veggies= I give my dogs about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of steamed veggies. Of course my dogs are little the biggest one weighs 20 lbs. I do not give large amounts of brocoli due to gas. I give greek fat free yogurt to the dogs, what type of probiotic yogurt do you use? I avoid the ones for people due to sugar and preservatives. I also add parsley to their diets each day.
Maybe you could email me and let me know of the medical details of what you have tried, we are at the beginning phases of solving Cody's tummy problems. It would really help to hear what you have done and how it worked. Thanks sharon

 Quote:

Also, at what point should I start to add organs?

If you are having regular solid stools, you can slowly introduce small amounts of organ meats.
I started with one ounce daily for a while waiting for again solid stools. I prefer to give small amounts daily rather than one meal of it or larger amounts through out the week.
Too much at once has resulted in diarrhea for mine, so I just prefer to give small amounts daily, roughly 2 ounces per day.

As long as you feed small amounts and watch for solid poops, you can add another small amount and check, so on and so forth.

I feed Honest Kitchen with every meal...the meat based ones -Zeal or Keen, etc...I use a half a cup twice a day and then supplement 2 cups of chicken bones, sardines, fresh beef etc on top of that...had no problem transitioning that way. I'm a bit fan of THK -yes, it's costly -but I feel she's more nutrient covered that way..

 Quote: tracy collins

IMO you can continue feeding everything he is eating now in a raw diet. Raw only refers to the meat and bone--all those veggies and eggs continue to feed cooked. Or you could process veggies by purée or simply freezing.

I'd start this transition by simply gradually switching cooked chicken meat with raw in the diet that's already working for him, until it's all raw.

The "back" bones on the leg quarter are easier to digest than leg/thigh bones so start with those. Remove the skin, which is mostly fat for the first week or so and then gradually add it in. Fat's important, but add it slowly; same with organs. Tiny pieces until you see that everything's okay.

With raw bones in the diet you will no longer want to add supplemental calcium.

You may eventually phase out the quinoa, if it's taking up a lot of the diet--most of the meal will eventually be meat and bone. Think of everything else as side dishes. He can certainly have veg every meal, just not so much that it's taking the place of animal protein as the preponderance of the diet.

Thanks Tracy. That's exactly what I did tonight. He had his normal meal (about 70% protein, 30% mix of quinoa and veg), but I replaced half the cooked chicken with skinless minced back. He gobbled it in about 5 seconds as usual.

I am wondering since he always eats his food so fast, if he will bother to chew the bones properly, or if he will gulp them.

 Quote: HILARIE COBY

I feed Honest Kitchen with every meal...the meat based ones -Zeal or Keen, etc...I use a half a cup twice a day and then supplement 2 cups of chicken bones, sardines, fresh beef etc on top of that...had no problem transitioning that way. I'm a bit fan of THK -yes, it's costly -but I feel she's more nutrient covered that way..

I have thought about THK, and might add it down the line. However, since he has allergies, I am trying to have total control over what he eats, and eliminate any processing.

You minced the back so there was nothing to chew. You can either continue to give him pieces that he can swallow without chewing, or transition to pieces large enough that he has to chew a couple of times to get down.

Dog chewing is different from human chewing. They don't grind food to mush before swallowing since they don't have any molars. They just sever hunks into pieces they can swallow. If it goes down it'll usually be fine. Sometimes nature sends it back up for further chewing.

You and he will get the hang of it.

This morning there were some bone pieces I heard him chewing up, despite the rapid pace!

The one thong I am slightly foggy on, should I remove the calcium supplement totally from his diet, now that he is getting the raw, even though I'm not giving him parts with tins of bone?