Hey guys
I have a 12 week mal I want to start on a raw diet
She is aprox 35 lbs projected weight at around 80 lbs
How much should she be eating
I feed my last dog raw nut started her as an adult
I know pups should be feed different
Advice is appreciated
Thanks
Shem hetep
Nuk au neter

Hi,

Do you plan to give a commercial frozen raw? Or maybe THK with RMBs added?

Or full-on home-prepared raw? If so, have you read up on raw feeding? (I ask this because there's much less wiggle room when feeding a growing puppy.)

You need to be right on perfect when feeding young pups a home made raw diet. As Connie stated VERY little error room. You might be better of using a ready made like Bravo or Omaha's Pride or some other....or honest kitchen.

I have raised 3 pups from 7-8 weeks old on raw & used Bravo & honest kitchen with RMBs added for some of the meals. I feed pups until 6-7months OLD 3 meals a day & would usually make one from premature raw. ALL 3 were praised from dams raw fed..so the were weaned onto raw.

If I were to start a kibble fed pup onto raw I would proceed very slowly....as risking diareah in a young dog can be life threatening. You will need to be even more exact in feeding a correct diet. You are also nurturing the dogs skeletal system for their future health...so you need to get it right.


Good luck with your new pup.

I've raised two pups on homemade raw successfully.

I follow a very careful ratio of 50% muscle meat, 40% meaty bones and 10% organ.

I aim for bone content (actual bone, not including meat) to be approximately 10-15% of the total diet. Organ meats are 50% liver, 25% spleen, 25% kidney.

My goal is a ton of variety. Muscle meat includes boneless turkey chunks, turkey hearts and gizzards, lamb hearts, pork chunks, pork hearts, beef tripe, beef heart, beef chunks, etc. Meaty bones include chicken parts (backs, thighs, necks mostly), pork rib tips, duck necks, turkey necks, young beef with soft bone. Organs come from chicken, beef (mostly), lamb and pork. I also buy some prepared mixes that include bone, meat and organ in balanced ratios. I use a vitamin supplement (B Naturals Daily Blend), fish oil and vitamin e.

I've never had any trouble feeding raw to pups, but like I said - tons of variety and carefully balanced.

I raised my current GSD from 12 weeks on raw and he did great. I found this Ed Frawley article very helpfuL;

http://leerburg.com/feedpups.htm

Meliisa's advice abut variety is right on, but don't feed too many different proteins all at once or you could be cleaning up a lot of puppy puke. I started with chicken wings and ground beef as the two main RMB/protein sources, then added small quantities of beef liver and worked up to introducing a new protein every week.

I raised my current GSD from 12 weeks on raw and he did great. I found this Ed Frawley article very helpfuL;

http://leerburg.com/feedpups.htm

Meliisa's advice abut variety is right on, but don't feed too many different proteins all at once or you could be cleaning up a lot of puppy puke. I started with chicken wings and ground beef as the two main RMB/protein sources, then added small quantities of beef liver and worked up to introducing a new protein every week.

 Quote: Sarah Ward

Meliisa's advice abut variety is right on, but don't feed too many different proteins all at once or you could be cleaning up a lot of puppy puke.

Good point

Thanks for all your responses
the breeder had her on such a disgusting kibble I feel shamed to even buy it
Given the advice I will switch her to a healthy kibble then straight raw out of puppyhood
Thanks to all who replied
Shem hetep
Nuk au neter

 Quote: Eric Kalmbach

Hey guys
I have a 12 week mal I want to start on a raw diet
She is aprox 35 lbs projected weight at around 80 lbs
How much should she be eating
I feed my last dog raw nut started her as an adult
I know pups should be feed different
Advice is appreciated
Thanks
Shem hetep
Nuk au neter

The amount of food would be in the ballpark of 1.6 pounds per day--or about 25 ounces per day. This is 2% of the dog's expected ideal adult weight. For a small pup, you'd probably split this into three 8-ounce meals per day, and eventually move to two 12-13-ounce meals per day.

This 2% calculation is just a starting point to determine the meal size. It may have to be adjusted up to down based on individual needs--some dogs are more active, have a higher metabolism, etc. So adjust (within reason) from these numbers as necessary.

Like others who posted above, I've fed small pups on an exclusively raw diet with success. It's not difficult, but does require some basic understanding. Since you've already had some experience with raw feeding, I see no reason why you couldn't do this if you want to. Puppies aren't hothouse orchids. Yes, nutrition is important for growing puppies...and anybody that doesn't have the time, knowledge, or interest should be dissuaded from raw feeding in general. But for those that can and are willing it's not that hard.

A puppy's raw diet is identical to a well-balanced adult dog's raw diet. Even the amount of food is the same. Puppies need more food than adults, as percentage of their size. That's why basing the meal size on the expected adult weight works so well. As the dog grows, the meal size (as a percentage of the dog's weight) will automatically get smaller a tiny amount each day.

There's another thread going here that outlines a nearly fool-proof method for transitioning a dog to raw. That would be the same protocol for a puppy.

Watch the ratio of Raw Meaty Bones to Muscle Meat. That calcium/phosphorus ratio is the important part here for growing pups. Luckily, nature has taken care of this for you. Raw meaty bones already have the right calcium/phosphorus ratio. Don't add any additional calcium to the diet. How will you know? Poop! When you've got the right balance, the pup's poop will be firm and log-shaped. If you've got too much calcium (i.e. too much bone) the poop will be rock-hard, crumbly, or pellets. When you see that, you know to add more muscle meat. The correct ratio will be something on the order of about half and half. Half RMB and half MM, by weight.

All raw feeding requires a little fiddling (meaning trial and error to get it just right.) With pups, the risk is you don't want to do too much fiddling around. One or two off meals to get the bone-to-meat right isn't going to hurt, but it needs to get right quickly, because they are making bones and building brains at an astonishing rate. You also don't want to inadvertently cause diarrhea, because its a bigger deal for a pup.

So. Know what you're doing. But don't fear doing it once you do. IMO, there's nothing better nutritionally for a pup than a well-balanced homemade raw diet. (But nothing worse than a poorly done one.)

"So. Know what you're doing. But don't fear doing it once you do. IMO, there's nothing better nutritionally for a pup than a well-balanced homemade raw diet. (But nothing worse than a poorly done one.) "

Excellent advice.


And here's the other thread going on now:

http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=34041&page=5#389360

It would be very very good to read that thread and also the other threads linked in it, and then ask all the questions you want. You'll get very experienced answers here.

You might read a couple of threads tonight, a couple tomorrow night .... making it not such a long chore. (To me, posts on nutrition are very interesting, but I know that's not true of everyone. But I chose a few with very good, important information; it's well worthwhile to read and then ask.)