So I'm actually going to take my own advice for once. I coach people all the time on not giving in to their dogs and weaning them onto raw, but sadly I have been soft on my chi girls and given in to their preference for kibble, canned and THK food.

This will sound contradictory but today I went out and bought a 24 lb bag of Blue Buffalo Wilderness Duck formula and 61 lbs of raw young chicken thighs. lol I've tried Blue Buffalo Wilderness before in the Chicken/Turkey formula...about halfway through the bag my dogs had horrible reactions so we returned it and never looked back. This will be my first time trying the Wilderness Duck formula though, fingers crossed it agrees with my pack. Bought it because it was at a good price and I like to try new things for variety. I'll update on our experience with Wilderness Duck when we've had some time to try it out...won't be for a few months at the very least since we have a lot of older food to finish first. I'm still excited to try it though!

Now I've tried raw with my chi girls and they refuse it unless they are absolutely starving. Literally it takes 2 days of no food before Faith will eat raw food on the 3rd day. So they are ALMOST as headstrong as me. However I've decided to put my foot down and this time I'm getting serious about getting my chi girls to eat raw at least once a week...preferably 3 times a week like my husky. I'm bound and determined to turn those chihuahuas into REAL dogs. I'm so serious about it that I bought 61 lbs of raw chicken thighs just for them! Ha, 61 lbs is going to last a looooong time for 2 itty bitty chihuhuas who only need 2 oz of raw a day. But anyway, that just shows how committed I am to making this work!

So starting next week I'm going to be practicing some tough love and re-introducing raw to my girls and this time I'm not backing down. I have a feeling I'm going to be seering chicken thighs and covering them with goodies for a while. I'll definitely be updating on our progress as we go along. Wish me luck...I'm probably going to need it!

Good luck, girls can be such the diva! the only raw my 2 have been getting is the left over chicken from the chicken breast i cut up for my self. i really waste a lot of chicken cause i have to get all the fat and blood stuff off of it. im so much better eating chicken that i do not prep cause i don't see it all after its cooked!

LOL Jenn! I don't like messing with fat and skin so when I buy meat for us humans I buy the boneless and skinless version. But when I buy for the dogs I get whatever is cheapest. My sibe gets meat that is bone and skin inclusive. However the chicken thighs I bought for my chi girls today have bone but they are skinless. But at least your dogs get the leftovers you cut up rather than it going into the trash.

Val, i do that on the boneless/skinless version! (there's a reason a was a vegetarian for so long, well still kind of as i only do chicken, turkey, and fish/seafood, no red meat or pork)

Ginger hasn't had raw since I left on Monday afternoon. She'll get a drumstick today. The last time she had a drumstick, she didn't eat all the meat. Then she got a thigh the next time time and didn't eat all the meat (she ate all the bone). But I fed the rest of it to her which in hindsight maybe I shouldn't have because she went soft and mucousy the next day. I think she knows how much meat she should be getting with her bone and will stop on her own!

My two prefer the blue buffalo wilderness duck over thk. Ridiculous. They will take raw over anything every day of the week though

Okay so yesterday was the start for the chi girls. I decided to cut the raw meat off the chicken thigh and save the raw meaty bone for another day. So they had boneless chicken meat that I pan seared and topped with garlic, Nupro, and Perfect Form.

Dinner:



I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive knowing their history with raw and the firm rejection it always meets with these too.

Plopped their bowls on the ground close together to make it easier for me to make a video and take pics. This is what ended up happening...



Well, it gave me a good laugh anyway.

Glory woofed hers down so I didn't get a chance to take pics. Faith on the other hand took a good 30 minutes to eat that little 2 oz of boneless, skinless chicken! I finally got a knife and cut it up into bite size pieces for her because after that 30 minutes she had hardly eaten a thing. I think it's because she's got such a tiny mouth and is missing a lot of teeth (due to her previous owners lack of dental care she had a lot of rotting teeth removed before we adopted her).

A couple pics of Faith trying to eat her partial raw chicken...





Now I am a bit concerned about Faith today because she hasn't eaten a thing and she hasn't had a BM at all today. I don't want to jump the gun and go all paranoid but it is weighing on my mind. She is otherwise fine, acting normal and all. She even plays with the food I've given her today but she just won't eat it....which is very unusual for Faith, normally she would eat until she's ready to burst...she has no self control when it comes to food. I don't think a blockage is likely since it was purely partial raw meat, no bone or anything that could get stuck. I'm hoping she starts eating soon.

Man! They're so little that their serving of food looked as big as their heads!

I hope Faith is OK!

I know, it looks like a lot of food especially next to Dakota's chicken quarter. But I weighed them out and Dakota's chicken quarter is a pound, and each Chihuahua got 2 oz.

Faith is not better, she's actually been vomiting several times. Poor girl is hungry but when she eats it comes right back up so she's back to not eating. Hubby told me no more raw for Faith, ever. He's fine with Dakota and Glory on raw but he wants Faith to stay on THK and/or kibble, etc. Honestly, judging from her reaction, I am inclined to agree. Faith, of course, is our super sensitive one if you remember. Well, can't say I didn't try. I really hope she feels better tomorrow, hopefully since she's not kept anything down that will mean her tummy will have a break overnight. We'll see how she does...poor, poor girl.

I'm thinking of trying the raw meaty chicken thigh bone tomorrow for Glory without searing it. Maybe just sprinkle with Nupro and garlic and let her have it and see how she does.

Hope Faith feels better! I would be paranoid too. That's how us doggie moms are!

Oh poor Faith...I would tend to agree no more raw for Faith and stick to what you know agrees with her. I can't believe how sensitive she is!

I feel so bad for her right now, and you, Val....

I do hope she gets better by tomorrow...

Poor little Faith! You tried, Val... stick with what works.

Poor baby. Hope she feels better soon!

Thanks for all the support and well wishes for Faith. She seems to be back to normal today! She had a normal BM and a very healthy appetite. She ate her normal breakfast and is drinking normally also. No vomiting today which is excellent! Definitely going to stick with what we know works for her from now on, no more raw attempts. I'm so happy she's better, she's so little and fragile it's hard not to worry!

I'll be trying a raw meaty chicken thigh bone with Glory tonight, fingers crossed she eats it okay.

SO happy to hear little Faith is back to normal!

Ginger got a 6" piece of buffalo tendon yesterday, and she decided to also eat Storm's...this morning's BM was good, but she just had another, and 1/3 of it had a mucousy film over it even if it was firm. Not sure if I want to give her that again...

I agree, might want to stay away from that or maybe wait a while and try a smaller quantity. I try to stay away from beef based chews/organs and stuff, more often than not they don't agree with my sibe.

Huskyluv wrote:

I agree, might want to stay away from that or maybe wait a while and try a smaller quantity. I try to stay away from beef based chews/organs and stuff, more often than not they don't agree with my sibe.

She LOVED the marrow bone I gave her today. I bought 1 to try it out. The pet store that I went to had raw marrow bones, which was cheaper than the baked one I just gave her, so if she takes to the raw marrow bone the same (I prefer to give her raw bones), and it agrees with her, I'll be getting those so I can give bones to both and not just one.

It's official, Glory is a real dog! She made her momma proud today! She ate her entire bone inclusive chicken thigh, I couldn't be more proud right now.

Pics!








And a couple vids!

While there was still meat on the bone...


Chowing down on the raw bone, in the last part she actually got the bone stuck in her top teeth. I couldn't stop laughing! But I was nice and stopped the vid and popped the bone out and she took and chewed it up without incident.



I'm so proud of Glory!

Way to go Glory! That last part had me cracking up

That was TOO cute with the bone stuck in her teeth!
I'm so proud of Glory too!

Storm seems to be very interested in the drumstick Ginger gets every dinner. He's very respectful and just watch her. And when she's done, he'll go sniff and lick where she was eating her drumstick....then he'll go eat his dinner.

Awww, GO GLORY!! The videos are just too cute. I love your pack, Val!!