Raw Recipes

Soapskid

I'm looking to start feeding Spud a raw diet and have time to make this. Charity gave me her recipes but she does full on raw and definitely works great for her. I'd like to do a mixture of both kibble and raw. Does anyone have any suggestions?

What I'm requesting is the basic how I should introduce it, what mixture is good and what type of raw foods can go well with kibble.

Soapskid

Forgot to mention I'm likely leaning towards adding Darwin's shortly. I just wanted to see what everyone had in their diet. Any information is great. I'm looking to start him on some kibble with chicken on Monday/w/f of next week the slowly adding more items.

xchairity_casex

Kibble and raw shouldn't be fed together as raw is digested quicker then kibble and also  the fillers in kibble can cause stomach irritation causing the normal bacteria in the raw to be more easily absorbed.

so, if you are to feed raw and kibble, I would suggest doing kibble one day raw the next.

youll also not need organ meats-as kibble provides the daily amount of vitamins needed that youd get from the organs.

 

I would start exactly as I told you to do with the raw chicken first no fat no skin lots of bone in pieces, and then the next day feed a normal kibble meal like you would.

Xtracho

He'll love it. As most know Maya gets the Darwin's. But we add to it. It's kind of varied. Some days boiled chicken. Other days raw beef liver and chicken livers. Then when we have some left over....raw ground beef. And occasionally an egg. And the TOTW and BB kibble is mixed in. She does just fine on that diet. And you cannot go wrong trying the Darwin's for $15 and free shipping.

Stoeger

We've fed Stoeger on a mix of kibble and raw since 8 weeks old.

I'm not sure Stoges_mom's mixtures would be much help switching Spud over from straight kibble...

I'm glad we started him so young on this diet. His digestive system has shown zero issues mixing the two (except when a raw egg is added, that 100% results in him vomiting, scrambled, soft & hard boiled don't show the same results).

Recently I ordered the Darwin's sampler. Despite the ease of the Darwin's Stoges_mom insists on feeding him a variety of other raw cuisine. So he only gets one pack of Darwin's per day. The list is so long I'd get tired typing it. Recently he's had Tuna Steaks, Rib Bones and Chicken Gizzards.

Like Xtracho said, the Darwin's $15 deal is just that, a DEAL! So much of a deal that I ordered one with my card delivered to my car dealership address and I'm gonna have Stoges_mom order a second to our home addy with her card. They set you up for auto-ship after the initial $15 deal but I'll just cancel mine and continue to get it delivered to the house through Stoges_mom's auto-ship. Stoeger will certainly enjoy the savings double-dip that results in 20lbs. of raw Beef, Chicken, Duck & Turkey hitting his dinner plate for $30

Soapskid

@Stoeger - is the raw and kibble mixed at each feeding together? Or do you separate it each feeding for example raw in the morning then kibble at night?

Charity mentioned that mixing them may be a bad idea. I'm positive Spud should do all right by slowly introducing some raw and I'm hoping to go to the market in the next hour to get some since its only 5am here but super excited for football Sunday.

Xtracho

Maya has also been on the raw/kibble mix since we got her at 10 weeks. No problems at all. And yeah @Stoeger - our list of the raw cuisine menu grows each day with her as well.

Stoeger

Mixed right in the same bowl, some feedings he gets raw alone. Like when we toss him a drumstick or recently the Rib Bones.

xChairity_Casex is definitely better versed at raw than us for certain, so by no means am I questioning her advice.

The only reason I think Stoge has done so well on a mixture is the fact that it's the only food his tummy has known since being off watered-down kibble when he was weaned. Hence the reason I think our mixtures wouldn't be suitable for Spud's switch over.

I do have some advice though. When feeding messy-raw like bone in chicken... Figure out a set up where Spud can get his eat on... It will take some time for him to chomp down a drumstick and it will be messy. We take the bedding out of Stoeger's crate, it has a plastic tray bottom. We feed him the messy-raw items inside the crate. When done, we disinfect the plastic tray and reinstall his bedding.

The Darwin's and less messy raw can be fed easily in a bowl.

[Deleted User]

I think I might pull that same trick @stoeger

Stoeger

@AtibaCooper24 our pup loved Cottage Cheese, Ground Beef & Victor's Grain Free early on and we diversified from there.

Soapskid

Early on I was able to feed Spud boiled and baked beef or chicken liver. His stool was solid still and seemed fine to me. I'll have to slowly introduce some chicken today and monitor how he does.

Stoges_mom

In the morning Stoeger gets kibble, cooked egg, salmon oil, Knox gelatin and I put a little cottage cheese or coconut milk to mix everything together. Nothing really raw there bc he can't handle raw egg.

I still have him on three meals a day because he defiantly is hungry three times a day( ill move to two once he starts leaving food in his bowl).

For lunch I've started giving him just raw, like a chicken drumstick. Or beef rib with chicken gizzards and what not.


Then for supper he gets the Darwin's with a tiny bit of kibble just to be sure hegets enough. This diet seems to be working well with us.

I want to keep kibble incorporated just in case someone has to puppy sit and isn't comfortable with raw. We have a couple vegan friends (they don't know what they're missing) and if they had to watch I way to make sure he is still getting quality kibble.

BulliesofNC

I feed our Bullies both Kibble and raw but their main daily food is always kibble. We mix in vegetables, raw meats, and whatever we may have that will add to their diet and provide a change to their menu.

Raw meats are great but I wouldn't go with them as a sole source diet unless a I owned a butcher shop and even then I'd most likely be wanting to provide Kibble from time to time.

Keep in mind Raw Beef (as an example) is 80% water. If you compare Raw meat to Beef Meal found in high quality foods you'll note that the beef meal has 300% more protein than fresh beef. Many of the top kibble companies that are receiving 5 star ratings are using some sort of meat Meal as their key ingredient to provide high amounts of proteins. You'd be hard pressed to obtain this protein value from raw alone.

I feed raw to my bullies all the time and they love it but for optimal growth, development, and weight gain they are provided a top quality kibble on a daily basis to maintain a protein, carb, and fat value that know to be outstanding.

Most kibble foods are the market today are pure junk. However, there's good reason why the 5 star grain free kibble can cost $50 for a 35 or 40 pound bag. Not cheap at all but it shouldn't be if it contains expensive ingredients. 

For those that want to conduct a good comparison of nutritional and balanced diet. Take one cup of kibble from a 5 star grain free food and analyze the difference between it and a entire bowl of raw meat. The raw meat will provide decent protein value as well as fat value but a good kibble will have the numbers beat by a long shot because they are using meat Meal and raising the protein concentration levels a lot higher than fresh raw meat. Kibble additionally contains other key ingredients like vegetables and starches for a balanced diet and proper weight gain.

I've seen many dogs that were raised on strict raw only diets. Most are very healthy. However, the wide majority that I've seen are usually smaller and thinner. Even wild dogs, coyotes, and dingo's stay on the skinny side. Unless of course they are held in captivity where their food intake, nutrition, and health can be manipulated to benefit them thus causing their life span to be considerably higher than it would out in the wild.

As I've said before on similar posts, I'm not knocking raw meats because I think they are excellent but I would never omit a quality dry food and attempt to provide the same nutritional value (every day) by strictly using raw meats and veggies. 

Stoges_mom

I feel te same Steve, I also feel 'safer' using raw and kibble. Id be nervous about him not getting everything he needs through raw alone. I've done a ton of research on raw but he enjoys kibble and how we feed him now.
We've yet to see any bad consequences from feeding raw and kibble together. Believe me, if we did there would be a quick change!

Xtracho

Quote from Steve: "However, there's good reason why the 5 star grain free kibble can cost $50 for a 35 or 40 pound bag. Not cheap at all but it shouldn't be if it contains expensive ingredients."

Like I've said before, if you're gonna get a Lamborghini you better have the $$$ to put the high test gas in it.

[Deleted User]

@xtracho how fast does your bullie go through a 30 pound bag?

Soapskid

So I gave Spud his normal 3 quarters of a cup of TOTW along with half a scoop of nupro (until I can afford some Nuvet), with two squirts of salmon oil. At night he gets the same but no salmon oil. His stools are all solid and easy to pick up no mess but he does go often in the morning (2 times, at wake up and after eating).

I want to maybe give him some quarter legs that are skinless and without fat tonight then evaluate his stool in the morning. Anyone else think this is a good idea?

Charity sent me her meal plan and it looks great but I'd like to maybe go 30% raw and 70% kibble. This can all change in the future though as I evaluate Spud's diet to see what performs well.

Soapskid

@Atiba, Blue Buffalo Wilderness lasted 2.5-3 months for Spud from 3-6 months. When the bag slowly dwindled down I added TOTW but it lasted less because I had to feed more. BB has a higher protein content then TOTW but it will vary based on exercise, allergies, etc. You will start to understand them when you spend time with them and you are getting a Bully from NC which Steve has raised so it will be a lot easier for you.

Xtracho

@Atiba - I'll have to ask Lizzie. We usually buy the medium sized bags of TOTW and BB and mix them together. Off the top of my pointy head? I'd have to say Maya can go thru 30 lbs. of kibble in about 6-7 weeks. That's just an estimate. I'm gone from home so much here in Brazil that Lizzie has a better handle on that than I do. The only real thing I know is I have to pay for it! 

For the record I'd have to say the ratios for Maya are closer to 60% raw/40%kibble.

Soapskid

With TOTW its about 7-8 weeks for me. Remember the label for feeding suggestions may be higher than normal. You have to gauge your pups diet. At one point I was feeding too much and Spud wouldn't eat in the morning but devour the kibble in the PM. I started feeding less and he went back to eating breakfast.

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the insight you guys. I'm just trying to calculate the maintenance and how much $$ I need to dish out a month

Soapskid

Spud's first introduction to raw food tonight below. I wanted to see how he would do with quarter cup of kibble, banana, nupro and one drumstick. Supervised him eating the drumstick and he did all right. It got to a point where the drumstick was done halfway and tried swallowing it all but would gag and throw it up then eat it again.

I'm going to likey do this 4-5 times a week for his dinner now and see how things go. If things look great I will decide if more raw is needed.

Stoges_mom

I hope he did well with his supper!! Stoeger loves bananas and apples but I use them for treats to try to change things up!

Soapskid

His poop this morning was solid and he didn't have any blood in his poop. I'm going to take it slow still and only do this about 4-5 times a week which is about 20-30% of his feelings. I will be using drumsticks and leg quarters then try other items later.