Raw Feeding - dog gone off it

[Lotobear]

I've been trying raw food with our 2 year old Welsh terrier - he's a rescue and we never managed to wean him properly off the ste food he was being given in the rescue kennels - he was either dumping over night (Chappie) or else having the skits (Harringtons)

Anyway thought I tried raw and initially he was fine on it - didn't gobble it up as he normally does but seemed to tolerate it. His poos reduced in size and become more solid - all looked good.

Anyhow after around 2 weeks, quite suddenly, he's been leaving it and picking at it but eventually eating it. It may be that he's had enough of course but he's always been a greedy eater. He's around 10kg and I give him 300g a day in two feeds - breakfast and around 5pm. he's an active dog

Now I can decide whether to stop or persist with it.

any tips or similar experiences?

I never give him a mixer with it BTW. The raw we use if beef and chicken offal mix.

[Seventy]

Have you tried a quality food, such as Orijen?

Not cheap, but well worth it, imo.

[Smint]

Our Viszla was happy on BARF for roughly 2 years of her youth and suddenly decided one day she wasn't having any more.

After considerable research we used Millies Wolfheart dried for years but for the last couple of years we've been feeding Wolf of Wilderness kibble bought from Zooplus, grain free, to all 3 of our dogs...nothing wrong with Millies but WoW has a better range and Zooplus have regular special offers and we buy enough for the next 6 months when the offers are on, Zooplus website is easy to use i never could get on with Millies site.
Viz is now 14 active and healthy, as are the two Spaniels 9 and 7.

[Yertis]

We fed our whippets on BARF for years, apparently with great success. However, one of them picked up a parasite so rare it had to be sent to the US for positive ID. Nearly killed Monty (the associated trauma probably did, eventually) and the vet suggested, with a high degree of confidence, that it was injested from his food. So we stopped forthwith.

[Tickle]

Smint said:

Our Viszla was happy on BARF for roughly 2 years of her youth and suddenly decided one day she wasn't having any more.

After considerable research we used Millies Wolfheart dried for years but for the last couple of years we've been feeding Wolf of Wilderness kibble bought from Zooplus, grain free, to all 3 of our dogs...nothing wrong with Millies but WoW has a better range and Zooplus have regular special offers and we buy enough for the next 6 months when the offers are on, Zooplus website is easy to use i never could get on with Millies site.
Viz is now 14 active and healthy, as are the two Spaniels 9 and 7.

Our 11 month old German shorthaired pointer is on Millie's forerunner and wet (game) at the moment. He loves it, seems good quality too.

[Challo]

Lotobear said:

I've been trying raw food with our 2 year old Welsh terrier - he's a rescue and we never managed to wean him properly off the ste food he was being given in the rescue kennels - he was either dumping over night (Chappie) or else having the skits (Harringtons)

Anyway thought I tried raw and initially he was fine on it - didn't gobble it up as he normally does but seemed to tolerate it. His poos reduced in size and become more solid - all looked good.

Anyhow after around 2 weeks, quite suddenly, he's been leaving it and picking at it but eventually eating it. It may be that he's had enough of course but he's always been a greedy eater. He's around 10kg and I give him 300g a day in two feeds - breakfast and around 5pm. he's an active dog

Now I can decide whether to stop or persist with it.

any tips or similar experiences?

I never give him a mixer with it BTW. The raw we use if beef and chicken offal mix.

Have you tried different brands? There is loads on the market, and lots of different flavours to try. We also mix ours up between chicken / beef / lamb / salmon and most are complete so include veg etc. Ours are really funny with versions that have bone fragements and wont eat it.

Look at something like Lily's Kitchen as an alternative or butternut box. Pricey but could be an different option.

If you switch to kibble or cold press you can make sure the stuff you buy is not full of grain. https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/

[Tigerj]

Maybe try a cold pressed food.

[ChocolateFrog]

We've only had one dog that didn't love raw and he was a rescue. We just assumed it was an old dog new tricks deal and kept him on what he was used to which was dry kibble, awful stuff IMO but he liked it.

I'd probably try a few different varieties of raw and see if you hit on one he likes. Ours has Chicken and Salmon but it's from a local producer and unbranded. If he leaves it there's either something very wrong with him or we've left it out of the freezer too long.

[Silvanus]

We use the frozen complete raw food for our dog. She a very fussy eater so alternate between the different meats to give her some variety and balance. We buy natures choice and natures menu. I think some dogs just get bored with the same food as do some humans.

[Smint]

Tigerj said:

Maybe try a cold pressed food.

We tried that, only the Viszla would eat it, Spaniels wouldn't touch it.

Edited by Smint on Tuesday 5th September 17:21

[The Dictator]

Maybe just try a different brand. We have been using Durham Animal Feeds for some years now and our nearly 6yr old Boxer loves their options.

We select the boxes of 14 x 454g/1lb and it gets delivered to our doorstep. They deliver to different postcodes on different days of the week, we get a Wednesday but they have just added a Monday too, I presume due to demand increasing.

https://www.daf-petfood.co.uk/

The price has increased quite a bit in the last few years as they obviously use a huge amount of electricity to produce and keep it frozen, along with delivering it. That said when we ran out once and had to go elsewhere locally, it worked out as almost twice the price.

I have no connection to the business, just a satisfied customer.

When we changed we also found his poos improved, smaller and firmer, easier to pick up and clearly less waste being expelled.

[billbring]

Are there any bhes living close by that could be in heat? I've heard of a few male dogs stopping eating because they can get their minds off the task in hand

I would stick with the raw diet but reduce the daily quantity down to 250 or even 200g and offer it only once a day. My female is 20kg and the general advice is to feed 500g of raw food per but through trial and error she's now on 400g per day and is in perfect condition. I also give her whole chunks on the bone half of the time as it's more enjoyable and natural for them to eat that than a mince, and will keep her busy for quite a while.

If he doesn't eat then take it away and offer it again tomorrow. I'm not a big fan of catering for the dietary whims of a dog, they can become painfully fussy if you let them. They just need to know that they will be offered a high-quality meal once a day and it's up to them if they choose to eat it. Also cut out all treat if you are giving him anything between meals.

[Lotobear]

billbring said:

Are there any bhes living close by that could be in heat? I've heard of a few male dogs stopping eating because they can get their minds off the task in hand

I would stick with the raw diet but reduce the daily quantity down to 250 or even 200g and offer it only once a day. My female is 20kg and the general advice is to feed 500g of raw food per but through trial and error she's now on 400g per day and is in perfect condition. I also give her whole chunks on the bone half of the time as it's more enjoyable and natural for them to eat that than a mince, and will keep her busy for quite a while.

If he doesn't eat then take it away and offer it again tomorrow. I'm not a big fan of catering for the dietary whims of a dog, they can become painfully fussy if you let them. They just need to know that they will be offered a high-quality meal once a day and it's up to them if they choose to eat it. Also cut out all treat if you are giving him anything between meals.

Thanks, this sounds like good advice and once a day feeding would be much simpler - any views on morning or evenings?

Ordinarily I've always fed at 5:00pm - still do for the old dog but the new guy has been on twice a day since we got him on the suggestion of the rescue kennel.

PS: no bhes close by and nads are off in case that makes a difference

Edited by Lotobear on Wednesday 6th September 13:14

Also to add this going off it coincided with a change in texture of the raw food as the supplier had run out opf the previous 'coarse' food that he always ate - that had bones in which he seemed to enjoy crunching up. This batch is a much finer mince, no bones, whereas the other was larger chunks with bone bits.

Edited by Lotobear on Wednesday 6th September 13:17

[Lotobear]

Silvanus said:

We use the frozen complete raw food for our dog. She a very fussy eater so alternate between the different meats to give her some variety and balance. We buy natures choice and natures menu. I think some dogs just get bored with the same food as do some humans.

I've changed him over to Natures Menu and he wolfs it down, really loves it.

...but christ it's bloody expensive!

[Snow and Rocks]

billbring said:

If he doesn't eat then take it away and offer it again tomorrow. I'm not a big fan of catering for the dietary whims of a dog, they can become painfully fussy if you let them. They just need to know that they will be offered a high-quality meal once a day and it's up to them if they choose to eat it. Also cut out all treat if you are giving him anything between meals.

Absolutely agree with this - a fussy dog quickly becomes unfussy when it feels hungry, a healthy dog won't starve itself.

We have friends with a retriever who have managed to get themselves into the position of only being able to feed it on endless expensive tins of wet Lily's Kitchen as it was "refusing" to eat the dried food. No wonder!

[Challo]

Lotobear said:

Silvanus said:

We use the frozen complete raw food for our dog. She a very fussy eater so alternate between the different meats to give her some variety and balance. We buy natures choice and natures menu. I think some dogs just get bored with the same food as do some humans.

I've changed him over to Natures Menu and he wolfs it down, really loves it.

...but christ it's bloody expensive!

We have a pet store near us that has about 10 different brands of frozen dog food. Some are really expensive, but we use one called prime raw and it’s £1ish per 500g. We also use Nutriment as any alternative