Raw dog food

iolanthe07

I'm sure this has been covered before, but I can't find any links.

We are adopting a puppy at the end of July, and looking at the various puppy foods available. They all seem to have 'reconstituted meat by-products' or some such in them, together with lots of artificial additives, (which I gather from the internet is not good) and I was wondering about the raw food diet. My sister has a working cocker spaniel with severe food allergies, so much so that she was in despair until the vet advised her to try one of the commercial raw diets. Since then she hasn't looked back, the dog is fit and healthy. An added bonus is that the poo is firm and hard, so easy to pick up without leaving any residue.

Are dogs OK without any cereal or veg? I know they have to have raw lamb's liver or kidney twice a week as a supplement, but apart from that does anyone out there know what is best for a 10 week old puppy? (She is a miniature schnauzer/cavachon x).

Timpu

iolanthe07 wrote: »

Are dogs OK without any cereal or veg? I know they have to have raw lamb's liver or kidney twice a week as a supplement, but apart from that does anyone out there know what is best for a 10 week old puppy? (She is a miniature schnauzer/cavachon x).

I'm sure someone who knows more about these things will be along but there are raw dog food preparations out there that do contain meat, offal and veg all together. https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk appeared on an old thread and could be of help, we found it useful.

Have great time with your puppy!

Sagaris

Dogs don't need cereal or veg - their digestive systems aren't designed to cope with it. We raw feed both our beagles - voracious eaters but quite happy with the raw diet. One of them has a severe wheat allergy but much better now. There are several helpful groups on Facebook that you can join. Raw Feeders UK is one.

The poop is much smaller to pick up and no nasty smells either! Good luck.

sheramber

With a puppy you need to be careful about the balance of the food.

Adult dogs excrete any excess calcium they ingest but a puppy's digestion does not do that. Too much calcium can lead to problems with bone development.

Before feeding a raw diet you need to do your research.

There are kibbles without grain or cereal which contain meat as opposed to meat derivatives or additives.

Have a look at https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/

iolanthe07

Thanks for all the help. I will follow up on the websites suggested.

bugslet

I don't know about how suitable it is for a puppy, but I have recently started using poppys picnic, it came out with 5 stars in the all about dog food website reviews as per Timpu's link.

Their FAQs talk about how much to feed a 2-4 month old pup, so I presume from their pov, it is.

I'm impressed with the quality and intend to keep feeding raw now. I'm sure raw feeding can be done cheaper, but a. I like the convenience and b. I'm quite squeamish about meat ( I don't have it in the hosue for me), so the pre-prepared aspect suits me.

sheramber

Raw feeding which is properly balanced is quite suitable for a puppy.

My dog was fed a raw diet from weaning.

johannalf88

We got a mini schnauzer puppy last year, and weened him off bakers rather quickly and on to Gentle dog food.

I liked the idea of raw food, but several reasons made me think its not a great idea for us. Schnauzer beard means wet food gets everywhere :rotfl: and storage is a real problem for us, let alone cost.

After doing some research (I used the allaboutdogfood site) we decided to try gentle (they will send samples if you go to their website) as it appeared to raw food in pellet form, it is freeze dried, not cooked.

I would advise you to take a look, we were impressed as we couldn't really do raw feeding.

bugslet

that looks interesting johann.

I have a giant schnauzer and a mini schnauzer and tbh, I've not had an issue with their beards. I did have to buy an additional freezer though:rotfl:

iolanthe07

We got a mini schnauzer puppy last year,

My puppy's dad is a pure miniature schnauzer. Do you have any advice about them? Any particular problems I should look out for? Thanks.

PS: I'll have a look at the Gentle web site

johannalf88

Stubborn, clever and loyal! And cute enough to get away with it! :rotfl:

Be sure to socialise them a lot (more than other pups) so they get used to different people. We joke that we oversocialised ours, he loves EVERYONE!