Kaiser seems to have adjusted to his raw diet. On Sunday I experimented with his diet a little. I left just a little skin and a little fat from one of the three chicken backs I fed him at meal time - along with the organ meet from one of the backs. Later on, his stool was only a little soft - nothing like it had been.
Now, later on in the day he was outside with me and was grazing on the grass. He ate grass for a short while - I'm assuming he was feeling a little stomach upset. About an hour later or so he had a loose stool with a slight amount of mucous.
I'm thinking here that it was the recent introduction of the extra skin and fat and organ meet that caused this distress. I backed off the additional stuff and this morning everything was back to normal except for the large amount of grass he passed! LOL.
So, here's the question. How do I move on to step 2 of introducing additional food items (skin, fat, organ meat, supplements such as vit e, etc) so that distress does not come or is diminished.
Also should mention that I took him off of the yogurt and put him on one probios tablet per day.
Natalya Zahn Webboard User Reg: 12-22-2006
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Loc: Cambridge, MA
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Quote: Peter Marek
Now, later on in the day he was outside with me and was grazing on the grass. He ate grass for a short while - I'm assuming he was feeling a little stomach upset.
Hi Peter, grazing on grass isn't always a sign of upset tummy - in spring especially, the tender new grass coming up seems appetizing to a lot of dogs, mine included. I think they eat it sometimes for natural veggie supplementation.
About your diet progression question - I would definitely keep your ingredient introductions limited to one at a time (so a little extra fat OR a little extra organ meat), and back off if the stool gets loose, but try again a few days later - the expectation is that the dog's system will eventually get acclimated to the new ingredient, then you can feed it every day, and eventually start increasing the amount. Since the extra fat here may have just triggered a little soft stool, back up to no extra fat - but try again once the stool looks good again. The timeframe for all of this is unique for every dog and you'll just have to base your tempo on the pup's reactions to everything.
Grazing on grass is common.
Mostly, it smells really appetizing to the dog. Tastes pretty good, too.
Of course, what nobody tells the dog is, like all fresh veggies, he can't derive any nutritional value from grass. The cellular walls haven't been broken down for him to access the nutrients.
(This is why we must pulp or otherwise break down the cell walls of veggies we give to our dogs.)
Instead, the dog is basically ingesting an irritating, fibrous mass that often causes digestive upset (hence the vomiting, mucosy stools and diarhea that can accompany grass consumption)- all that, and no nutritional benefit in exchange.
Sounds good. I'll leave the organ meat in the backs and remove all fat and skin as I have been doing.
Chicken necks good?? I can get my hands on them in quantity if they are good to give. I found one in a bag of backs and fed it to him and he seemed to love it!
Should I add a little Vitamin E and Omega-3 fish oil? One capsule each ?
He seemed to really enjoying himself walking around the yard in the warm weather chewing away then laying down for a little sleep in the sun.
The wife remarked last night how silky his coat has become!
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