The puppy has been on TOW till now and there seem to be no problems caused by the move to the new home and the 1st round of shots.

One option would be to wait till he's got all his shots and then switch. But it just does not feel right to keep him on kibble when he could have the best fresh ingredients.

Another option would be to just switch cold turkey. After all the threads about diarrhea in puppies I guess I am just a bit scared to take the first step.

Is there anything I am missing here:

- start with skinless chicken backs and necks
- introduce one new ingredient at a time and make sure the poop is good before adding another one
- add yogurt (right away?)
- work up to Leerburg puppy diet

I was reading raw threads carefully and making mental notes but since the puppy arrived my brain seems to have gone blank and I barely have time to get to the computer anymore

As big a fan of raw feeding as I am, I would wait a little while. Get a little idea of his overall health, get him settled in to whatever your routine is going to be. My vet, who advocates raw and studies nutrition suggested I wait before switching over with Billy. Chaos was eating chicken wings when I got him, so I compromised and used Natures Variety. Expensive, but its not too bad when its just one puppy.

You've got a pretty full plate now, switching him right away is going to be one more thing added.

ditto to what Steve said. Puppies grow so much in those first months, you want to make sure they are healthy and settled before changing too much in their lives. At least he's started on good quality kibble rather than crap in a bag that some puppies are started on before they make it home.

Ok, will wait. Would it be OK to give him some yogurt, cottage cheese and cooked egg one item at a time in small amounts?

He had a 1tsp of yogurt so far and it did not cause any problems. After all, he has been drinking mother's milk till the day he moved in addition to kibble.

Yogurt and egg, sure. Why the cottage cheese?

 Quote: ana kozlowsky

Ok, will wait. Would it be OK to give him some yogurt, cottage cheese and cooked egg one item at a time in small amounts?

He had a 1tsp of yogurt so far and it did not cause any problems. After all, he has been drinking mother's milk till the day he moved in addition to kibble.

I'd wait at least long enough to know his poop habits, and his all-around physical "norm" so that when you switch, you will recognize immediately if he reacts to some ingredient. Also, a young pup is very needy of a well-balanced diet to grow teeth, bones, and organs, so you want to have no confusion in your head at all before starting.

I'd skip the cottage cheese. It's very salty unless you got unsalted, and even then it's more of a variety item for when you're looking around for lots of different protein profiles. In addition, some dogs don't handle cow's milk products well unless it's in the form of yogurt (cultured, fermented). All in all, I'd hold off on cottage cheese for now, but maybe keep it in mind to try a little later on, once he's well along on his raw diet.

Yogurt, yes (unflavored and unsweetened, and with active cultures).

Raw eggs, you will want to go slow with. Even when he proves to handle them well, as most dogs do, you'll want to remember that we now know that the yolk turns out not to have nearly enough biotin to make up for the binding property of the avidin in the raw white, so raw eggs are better given pretty low numbers.

And if you do what is outlined here in thread after thread (and I know you will), the puppy will not have diarrhea. Raw food doesn't trigger diarrhea. What does trigger it is too much too soon, particularly organ meats, very fatty meats, or just too much food per meal.

Every new ingredient is added one at a time, and the next poop observed before going on with it.

Thank you!

You are absolutely right, I should get to know the pup better before making any changes to his diet. I'll take this time to re-read all those threads and print out the essentials to tape to the fridge