I need some advice as we are considering changing Teagans' diet.

At the moment she is on the best complete dry food we can find - organic, human grade with oils/vitamins etc - but it's still high in ground maize and rice. (23% protein)

I'd like her to be on the 'Barf' diet, but realistically it is just not possible for us at the moment.

There doesn't appear to be any dehydrated food companies here in the UK, and shipping it internationally works out very expensive.

I have found a company that makes a 'complete frozen meal', with only 8% rice - the rest is meat, vitamins and veggies. We simply don't have the space to store huge amounts of it.


I know it's not an ideal situation, but is it better to give her one meal dry and one meal of the meat, rather than just keep her on the complete dry food?
Would I need to use supplements? At present we don't use any, and she looks fantastic.


We simply don't have access to the 'holistic' food companies here, and our circumstances don't yet allow us to switch to a RFD completely, but I would like to improve Teagans' diet.

Has anyone tried this, or can give me some advice on the best way forwards?

Many thanks
Rob

 Quote: Rob Bruce

I know it's not an ideal situation, but is it better to give her one meal dry and one meal of the meat, rather than just keep her on the complete dry food?
Would I need to use supplements? At present we don't use any, and she looks fantastic.

I would say that half and half is better than all kibble as long as you do not feed kibble and raw together in the same meal. And salmon or fish oil with Vit E supplements couldn't hurt either.
There are some way more experienced people that can help as well.

Rob,

I also give dry kibble in the a.m. and raw in the p.m.

I was told not to ever mix them together though because the digestion process is different for the breaking down of kibble than it is for that of raw meat.

So, I give my dogs and all protein/veggie/fruit kibble in the a.m. and all raw meat w/salmon oil and vit e in the evening. They are all perfectly healthy and happy.

Only problem you might have is the dog will prefer the meat to the kibble and start refusing to eat it in the a.m. That is what happened to me w/Levi until I switched dog foods. I use Taste of the Wild Dog food and my dogs absolutely LOVE IT! So now I don't have issues between the two foods.

Hope this helps!

Thanks guys,

Robbin, do you notice any difference in energy levels hen you feed the kibble to raw?

I've heard that dogs are more lethargic after kibble, and are much more active after raw. This could help if we when we have to leave Teagan, as a kibble meal would make her more likely to sleep. Any truth in this?

Also, do you give any additional raw bits, such as chicken wings etc?

Rob

Rob, I do notice a huge difference between activity levels when feeding kibble and raw. When I first got my dogs they were fed kibble and I changed them to raw. They have tons of energy after raw.
GOd bless you

Rob, I wouldn't count on kibble to make a dog lethargic enough to sleep a lot. It could just be my dog but when we're on trips I feed kibble and have never noticed any less energy level. (Unfortunately )

I am not sure I would say energy levels are higher (all mine will go until they drop anyway), but they are more alert, "happy" and the stamina is increased.
But overall general health, coat, teeth, skin is better on raw. It even gets better when switched to an all natural kibble that is grain free, or close to grain free.

Adding salmon oil and vitamin E even to a kibble fed dog works wonders as well.