Homemade diet poll

[Miztiki]

For the benefit of everyone here, including me ...

 

Please state how many dogs you feed a homemade diet to, for how long they have been on the diet, any positive or negative side effects that have swayed your decision to stay on/get off the diet, and whether you include veggies/supplements. Thank you!

[Miztiki]

As for me, I'm going to get some chickens and let boyden eat them. I might even let him kill them. I'm also going to get some sheep. My husband LOVES lamb, so the two will be out in the field attacking the sheep. I can see them now, out in the pasture fighting over a bone...

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

You're very funny. You might not let Boy kill his dinner or he might kill them all at the same time and then you'd have to butcher/pluck/gut them to freeze.

 

Seriously, I know some raw feeders who literally do just throw their dogs whole carcasses (there was a funny story going around right before I started about a lady who somehow got a moose carcass and just left it in her backyard for her dog to eat - very natural but YUCK).

 

I find that way rather expensive - bulk cheap parts are less so. I buy backs and necks by the 40# case - many processors make these available, you just have to call around. Ask for "frames, backs or necks." Some lucky people even have arrangements with their local abbatoirs to pick up scraps - mine contracts with the dog food mill in town, unfortunately.

 

As for the rest, I think I've detailed my methods ad naseum so I'll just mention that there really isn't one perfect way. And I'll say again that there isn't a single approach that will kill your dog over the short term. So experimentation is safe in general, once you've done some research to get a feel for what dogs need in terms of basic nutrients (this will become obvious as you compare different diets and foods - you'll start seeing patterns you can apply to Boy's diet).

 

I've forgotten whether you mentioned whether you've started him on a bland diet. If you haven't, I'd recommend starting there - cooked rice or oatmeal (can't remember whether rice was on the list) and browned boneless chicken. Then you can gradually brown the chicken less and less until he is eating it raw. Was dairy on the list? If not, then add whole milk yogurt (half a cup per meal) after a couple days.

 

Then get a bag of flash frozen chicken wings and add one wing. Give him a few days of that, then over about two weeks, work him up to a pound of the wings (while cutting back the boneless chicken). Now start cutting back the grain and add whatever carb you are going to use instead, or start working toward whatever model you'll be following. Remember not to get stuck on any one protein or carb source - variety ensures that any little inaccuracy or shortcoming in nutrients is balanced eventually. The only thing I get uptight about is the Vitamin E, just becuase I don't see it anywhere in what I'm feeding.

 

So, I just wrote three paragraphs and didn't answer a single one of your questions. Hope this helped you regardless!

[border_collie_crazy]

I feed RAW to 5 dogs, and have fed to 6. Happy is going on 5 years old and she has been on it since 8 months, changes? she went from gassy, sickly, with and dull flaky coat, to no gas, perfect health, fast healing from injurys,and a very shiney coat with no flakes. Perky is 6-7 years old and she has been on it since we got her at 2-3 years old, not much changes really, she lived on the streets for so long that she can eat anything lol Ripley has been on it since he was 8 months old and he is now going on 4 years old, his change was huge, within days we went from fat, lazy, dull coat, to a literal muscle machine who can outlast the border collies in energy. Blair has been on it since we got him and so has Misty, Blair was the worst pup in the litter, sickly, undershot, weird head etc.. the breeder thought he would benifit from a raw diet, he turned out to be the best in the litter, normal bite, etc. his only faults(he is pyrshep not a BC lol) being that he does not have a brow and he has a slightly roached back. he is also the only pup from both litters that is doing anything, in fact he is competing successfully in agility, freestyle, and is learning flyball. Misty, all ya gotta do is look at her lol sleek shiny coat, full of muscle, extremly healthy... lol now for Shadow, well she had been aging prematurly by age 4 her arthritus was so bad she litterlly could not stand up, we were ready to put her down, the vet said she would not live to be 5, her coat was dull, her teeth were gross, well we switched and...

she is 8 years old in this picture, would you have guessed?

[Bounce]

I ran out of commercial dog food about two weeks ago and started a raw food regime based on Rebeccas research.Here are my findings dog by dog.

TEX cough is gone but he is very picky. Somedays he won't eat canned food or raw meaty bones but he never met a dog cookie he didn't like. Still not very fit, coat is less shiny, no longer scratching his ears.

Bounce really enjoying his food now (never been a big eater) still whippet skinny, glows with health

SARA chronic 3 year ear infection battle is Over (this is a small miracle) gaining weight, not shedding as bad as usual. Spends her days "guarding" the freezer where her meat is kept

RILEY/SPENCER riley is fine and fit/Spencers tummey can't handle Raw at all, is back to pinching the cats kibble.

I am switching cats over to raw slowly. My marble marathon kitty-Iditrod running cat has been on a No food diet for the last month. Poor kitty, I still can't believe she was 35 kms away from home.She will gain weight just from being warm.