Dogs feeding raw meat (how much, vet, diet, bones)

[Legeia]

Anyone have any advise?
17 kg working cocker.. i dont work him, i am trying to improve his weight someone suggested raw meat but i am not sure how much to feed him

[foxywench]

for 100% raw feeding you should aim for 2-3% of an adult Pet dogs ideal weight, working dogs can get a little more (up to 5%) but generally for true raw feeding its more of a general idea and adjust as needed method.

however unless your planning on taking hi off his current food and switching him to raw meat i wouldnt suggest this method unless your willing to put in alot of reserch, raw and dry food fed on the same day can cause big problems as dry food takes much longer to digest...

instead if i were you looking to put some weight o your dog id do a search for "satin balls" its a recipie for a dog treat/supliment thats specifically designed to put weight on dogs that are hard to put weight on, hard to keep weight on or from abuse cases that have been severly starved ect.
satin balls work well and they work fast so start out very slowly if using this method.

[chiroptera]

You need to feed your dog more than raw meat....for a complete diet, a dog needs meat, bones and organs. It's not difficult to feed raw, but you need to do some research and understand the thinking behinds it.

By "improve his weight" what do you mean - increase, decrease?

Foxywench meant percentage of the dog's ideal weight per day;* and this will depend on the individual dog, there's no cut and dried formula.

*ie, the dog's ideal weight is or should be about 50 lbs. So a good starting point for amount of food fed PER DAY TOTAL FOOD is very roughly 2-5% of the dog's ideal weight. It's no different than kibble. You have to know roughly whether your dog is an easy or hard keeper, figure out how much your dog is currently getting or ought to get, and go from there.

[Three Wolves In Snow]

I completely agree that if you are going to do the raw meat, (and yes, meat, bones, organ, typically in a ratio of 80% meat, 10% bone, 10% organ = to 2-3% of his ideal adult body weight...it sounds complicated but really, it's not), you should do a whole lot of research.

And if you do decide to switch over, I'd try it cold turkey, don't mix kibble with raw meat unless you want your dog to experience cannon butt. If the dog is picky, do some tough love on that dog and hold out. If he doesn't eat the food you put down, pick it up 15 minutes later, put it in the fridge and bring it back out the next meal time.

Dogs will NOT starve themselves. They can be stubborn, they can act like they're dying, they're not. They will eventually eat.

I would also recommend that you take your dog to the vet for a thorough and complete physical before starting raw.

And finally, if you choose to go for it, after reading up about it, the best meat to use for transition is bone in chicken. That means like leg quarters, drumsticks, wings, (depending on the size of your dog..which 17kg is about 35-40 pounds so a medium dog you have there...unless your dog is way overweight, that is), anything that the dog cannot swallow whole.

Do that for two weeks, watch the stools, (they should be small, they should be hard and with all that chicken, you may see them start to turn yellow, don't worry, that will correct itself), to ensure all is going well.

After the two weeks, alternate with another protein such as turkey or pork. One mealtime bone in chicken, one meal time, pork or turkey. Do this for two weeks. After that two weeks is up, add another protein. (Pick from the turkey or pork, whichever one you did not use the third and fourth week in.)

After that two weeks, try some beef. After that, slowly, slowly, SLOWLY, add in organ. Hearts from beef or chicken is considered meat, not organ, in the dog's diet but, they are RICH and should be added later at the time you are ready to add organ. Liver, kidney, that sort of thing, is organ. Gizzards are meat. Anyway, when you get to that point, liver or kidney, (or if you want to try heart), give a very tiny piece. No bigger than your thumbnail. SLOWLY increase this size, keeping with your 80-10-10 ratio throughout the weeks.

You may also want to look in to chest freezers or some other type of freezer for their foods.

Look for any co-ops in your area to save money. Find local butchers. Much cheaper than at the store.

But most importantly, read, read, read about raw before starting. And find a forum where there are other raw feeders...you can come here if you have questions or you can look on the internet, (I know of one if you want to PM me), that is dedicated to dog nutrition, including raw.

(Disclaimer: The above guidelines are for Prey Model Raw. If you want to do the BARF diet, I cannot help you as I do not feed my dogs veggies or fruits. Dogs are carnivores and in my opinion, do not need such things. But, you feed what you feel is comfortable after you have read, read, read about the raw diet.)