So we've had our 1 year old female Husky for about a month now and she's (sort of) finally eating a little bit I guess. So basically I'm still not happy with how she's eating. The first 2 weeks we had her she wouldn't eat at all, after I tried literally everything. About 6-8 different kibbles, canned food, separately and mixed, grinding the kibble and mixing it with the canned, sprinkling Stella and Chewy's, warm water, raw eggs, you name it I did it. So now she's eating maybe about 1/2-3/4 of her food most of the time but the last few days she's been skipping meals all together. I'm going to take her to the vet just to dig around and see if she has a problem I have missed. She's UTD on all shots, acts perfectly fine, drinks the correct amount of water, will eat treats and any people food, we go on runs and she plays normally. Her poops are normal, no worms or anything. She was a PAWS puppy so she's been tested and treated for everything. I honestly don't think there's anything wrong with her other than she's picky. And besides that she's literally emaciated, not just a little skinny but her spine and hip bones protrude very badly and I can lace my fingers between her ribs. So I'm considering switching to raw, hoping she'd do better with that, actually eat it and maybe get some weight on. I know there's alot of people here pro raw, but it seems slightly intimidating with everyone saying how much of a commitment it is, and the 80% meat, 10% organs, 10% bones or they'll die (basically, is what it seems like; everyone stresses this very much). I've also seen some that say only 5% organs and 5% bones. Alot of things that say bones will either choke them or puncture their stomachs. I'm trying to do alot of research and just use my common sense to make a decision. So far I do believe that raw makes alot of sense, as if I were to let her go in the true wild where no one would take her in and give her kibble she'd be hunting rabbits and foxes and such and eating them. I am a little worried to try yet another food change, as I've tried so many already and I hate to shock her system yet again for her to get bored with this also and have to switch, again. I'm scared to ask a vet after reading everyone's vet's reactions to raw feeding. However I also do believe that vets (much like doctors, who have told me to eat potato chips and french fries and just junk by the pound to increase my salt intake for a condition I have) are not nutritionists. They also have contracts with kibble companies so they push the kibble, or they simply carry it in their office and want to make a sale. I also believe that I do have a little common sense (or so I'd like to think) and my common sense tells me raw may be the way to go. So basically I'm on the fence, have some more research to do and would appreciate any opinions?

heather.jane19 wrote:

So I'm considering switching to raw, hoping she'd do better with that, actually eat it and maybe get some weight on. I know there's alot of people here pro raw, but it seems slightly intimidating with everyone saying how much of a commitment it is, and the 80% meat, 10% organs, 10% bones or they'll die (basically, is what it seems like; everyone stresses this very much).

Hey! For raw feeding, this isn't a do-or-die thing It's just a guideline that seems to work for the majority of the people that feed raw. Plus, it's not something where each and every meal has to have the organs and bone. Some people feed organs once a week, and bones once a week too. As long as you get it balanced out in the long run, your furbaby should be okay. I know with my pup if he doesn't get bones his poop doesn't firm up as well. So he gets organs once a week and bones every day with his meal. Stark wasn't doing very well on any kind of kibble I tried him on, so that's why we ended up going on raw, and although not everybody's story is the same, it's done absolute wonders for Stark. There is a lot of commitment that comes into play, but I buy my items in bulk and portion it out and freeze so when it comes to actual feeding times, it's no more work than setting out their kibble.

There are others who are much more well versed in this than me, so hopefully they'll chime in too.

Hello!

Usually, it's 80% meat, 10% bones, 5% liver and 5% other organs (kidneys, pancreas, spleen, etc.). This is achieved over time, meaning not in every meal (unless you feed a whole prey, like one whole rabbit at a time). Like what UndarthAngipoo said, you can feed organs like once or twice a week. Same with bones.

The key thing is that majority (80%) of their meals should be meat, meat, meat (with fat and skin on).

You can switch your dog to full raw immediately on his next meal. Get a whole chicken. Chicken is a good and cheap protein. Stay with this for a week or so, and if you notice that there are no poop issues. Introduce (some may need to slowly transition) a new type of protein, say pork or beef.

To help with the transition (reduce loose poops), a couple of boney meals can be given, because bones add bulk to the poop, making it firmer. Careful though, as too much can cause very hard poops or constipation.

I'm going to have to follow this thread like a hawk. I get the buying in bulk, just dont know where.

I was told to search for RAW groups, but unsure how that works, and I just dont trust anyone with my money.

Chicken has seen a crazy spike in prices in my area. About 2 lbs of chicken at my local store is about $12 as of yesterday. So feeding RAW without looking into these groups is unsustainable for me.

I did give Meeka a Raw chicken breast, and she devoured it. I only see her eat like that when I give her canned dog food, on Kibble she takes her time. If I cant do it in the long run, will short spurts like given her a chicken breast here and there be bad for her?

Yeah I'm trying to price it as well. Today at a local grocery store I never go to the chicken was outrageous! Gonna check SAM's, hoping they'll have good prices. I have decided to take her to the vet and get an exam done before I change her food again and just make sure there's nothing wrong with her. My sister in law told me today that she thinks her energy level is very low, but I don't feel like it is. She is incredibly calm but when we get up and go somewhere she gets excited, and I've had to work with her alot not to drag me over to anyone within a mile that could pet her. She also plays with any dog she comes across, and she plays alot. Usually the other dog gets bored or tired and she keeps going. All her vitals are normal, no discharge from the eyes or nose, ears are fine, her eyes aren't glossy, her teeth seem okay, her poops are still normal, so no blockage and no worms. She does lay around alot for a Husky I guess, but I can get her up whenever I want. We're in a tiny apartment with nothing to do but sleep. If her energy is low it's probably because she's not eating!! But I feel like I should check it out just to be sure. I almost wonder if her previous owner has given her some disease and her organs are shutting down or something with all the crazy steak and mashed potatoes BS he was giving her. I'm not really sure what's going on but I know for the past month I have done nothing but try and get her to eat and she has done nothing but broken down and eaten the bare minimum amount to keep her alive. Raw was kind of my last resort, hoping she would like it, and me being tired of changing her food and begging her to eat.

One thing I've looked into and been successful with is yahoo raw groups.. There are a few - CarnivoreFeedSupplier is one of them. You can request to join the group and go through their files of providers. There's also CanadaRawSupply (or something like that) that has the same thing (but obviously a Canadian version). You can also try searching for co-ops in your area that you can buy bulk meat with.

sounds like you have a picky eater, if you do stay with kibble I would suggest you buy a good quality one a stick with it for a while before changing using its as treats as well, it can some times take a couple of weeks to get them really into a new kibble and a bit of tough love.

In regards to raw im sure Val will be on shortly and always has great advise on the topic, I feed raw partially and hoping to feed it full-time shortly once I have used the remainder of the kibble. for me it has made a huge difference to the condition of both dogs, our husky can be picky eater with the best quality kibble but has yet to leave a piece of chicken behind.

Col

At this point I'm not sure what to think about her anymore. Never in my life have I come across a dog that treats food like she does. I have given her about 8-10 different kibbles, and finally landed with this one because she actually ate it and ate all of it and looked around for more. So of course I ordered it because I can't get it anywhere near me, $60 later she ate it for a week or so but if this is her getting bored with it, she can kiss my freakin foot on that. I have never had to BEG a dog to eat, and I literally have to BEG with her. Anything I mix with her kibble she licks it off and spits the kibble back on the floor. I have to hand feed her the first few bites of her food and then she'll eat a few bites and walk away. If she even does that, the last few days she's been just looking at her food and then looking at me and walking away without even taking one bite. Quite frankly I'm a little tired of trying at this point, I've bent over as far backwards as I'm going to. I've been trying everything in the book for over a month, if she wants to starve herself to death it certainly isn't going to be because I didn't try. We'll see what the vet has to say..

If it will help in "picky-eating", raw feeding REQUIRES that you VARY the kind of protein you give to your dogs. So you've got chicken, beef, pork, fish, venison, lamb, goat meat, elk, moose and so on.

There's a Facebook group dedicated to Raw Feeding found here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/261761471359/

Check it out.

Great group Jaysen thanks for sharing!! We did go to the vet yesterday. She weighs 36.2lbs and was positive for Hookworms and Whipworms. Negative for heartworms though thank god! She got a dose of treatment and some Supplical to get some weight on her. She still turned her nose up at her breakfast this morning but honestly as crazy as it sounds I don't think she likes eating this early. I don't blame her, I don't like eating this early either. But usually if I wait until 9 or 10 to feed her breakfast she'll eat it but any earlier than that she won't touch it. So we'll try again in a bit, hopefully she's going to start feeling better and eat, and it's not because she's picky.

Okay so what's up with the freezing? Is that part of it or something only some people do? To kill bacteria? I've only just kind of seen this and didn't know what it was about.

The freezing is to preserve the meat if you buy in bulk. If you don't freeze all the extra meat you have it'll go bad and that would be a waste of your money!

Okay that's what I thought but someone worded it like it was wrong if you didn't freeze it and someone else said something about it killing bacteria.

Freezing kills off bacteria as well - i especially freeze fresh venison and fish

Okay good to know. I decided today I will make the switch. Provided she'll eat it, little miss priss thinks she's something special. So in respect that she's 20 lbs underweight and PICKY anyone have suggestions on what's best to give her that she'll like enough to eat all of it and that will get some weight on her in a timely manner? I know to start out with chicken but after the first week on chicken, suggestions on what's best to give her next?

Okay, SOLD!! I'm a believer, consider us switched! Little Miss Priss didn't eat for 2 days. I got a whole chicken and froze it, took it out today and chopped it up and she ate the crap out of it!! She licked the smell off her bowl and the surrounding ground and came and looked at me for more. I gave her more and she still wanted more! Hoping this is a whole new beginning for us and she can gain the weight she needs and be healthy.

Congrats on Getting her to eat. it really helps to stick to raw if you buy a small chest freezer. Home Depot sells a 5.0 cubic ft chest freezer from GE for $180 with free shipping. I live in a large 1 bedroom apartment and have one in my pantry. It gets your meat to below 0 freezing temperatures which is good for killing off bacteria. Just FYI: you need to freeze meat for at least 7 days if your goal is to kill bacteria. Dogs can handle a high pathogen load when digesting food, so freezing isn't always nessesary.

I'll post the link to the freezer later along with some links to raw feeding guides. I'm on my phone right now.

Yeah we're moving within the month so we're waiting to get the freezer, I had already priced one at SAM's. Good to know about the freezing. Until we move I'll just be going to the store every couple of days, which is fine. Plus if we got one before we moved, it may take a month for us to get it, the military likes to take their time bringing you your things.

Maybe it's the "sugar pill syndrome" but I feel like she's already doing better. She's up and doing things instead of laying there asleep. Then again I wouldn't have much energy either if I hadn't eaten in a month.

I believe freezing doesn't kill all bacterias, but does kill most parasites. According to the FB group, salmonids caught in the Pacific Northwest has a fluke that is deadly to dogs. But freezing these for three weeks solid kills the fluke.

For wild game or roadkill like squirrels, freezing it for 3 weeks or so makes it safer to feed.

Those meat good for human consumption such as store-bought pork doesn't really need freezing.

Congrats Heather! Better if you don't chop it up into bite-size pieces. The benefits for feeding large chunks of meat (or in this case, a whole chicken) should be:

1. Jaw, shoulder and neck muscle development.
2. Use of all teeth for cleaner and whiter teeth
3. Takes longer for them to eat their meals, making them more satisfied physically, mentally, and so on.

Your decision to switch is the Best. Decision. Ever.

(Btw, I got all of these information from the FB RF group.)

Good luck!

Yeah I'm getting mixed reviews on the freezing. I did cut big hunks, not huge or the whole chicken, she worked on it for a little bit but the middle of the chicken was still frozen and honestly I didn't want to wait another day to feed her for the dang thing to thaw and I had already started to cut it up.. Meh I'm a newb haha I'll figure it out! I didn't want to give her the whole thing and shock her system from being so empty for so long and then super stuff it. I also was kind of skeptical if she'd even eat it considering everything else I ever gave her she wouldn't eat. It's such a relief she ate!! And honestly I feel very good about this decision. I never thought a whole lot about kibble except its ingredients (got desperate one time and the only feed I could get my horse, the first ingredient was peanut hulls.. wtf?! ever since then I've been super conscious of ingredients) but the raw definitely makes more sense. I mean if I dropped her in the middle of nowhere, 1,000 miles away from any civilization what would she be eating? She'd be hunting down and killing small game and whatever animal she could get. Not kibble. Definitely makes so much more sense and I have the same mentality for what I eat so I might as well extend that courtesy to her.

4% of her body weight right now is only like 1.3 lbs and I don't feel like that's enough. I know she'll self regulate, but literally she's starving I have to get some weight on her. Would giving her 2-3 lbs a day just be a super big no-no or would it be okay until she gains a bit of weight and then cut back?

I'd probably feed more meals within the day if I need to increase my dog's weight. Too much food at one time can cause runny poops as well. So probably add a snack or two within the day.

Honestly, i would only feed 2.5% to start - meat puts weight on much faster than kibble.

I feed only once a day, my 35lb Female gets about 12 oz and my 45lb male eats about 20 oz (because he has to put on weight.

I still freeze everything - better safe than sorry

I've been silently following this thread but thought I'd chime in real quick. At this point I think you'd be okay feeding 3% of her weight a day, preferably split into 2 meals if possible.

Different meats are heavier than others and therefore will put on weight faster. Since weight gain is your goal I would recommend feeding heavier meats like beef and lamb to help her gain weight faster versus feeding massive amounts of the lighter meats like poultry and fish. Perhaps do something like a morning meal of chicken and an evening meal of something heavier like beef (or vice versa) to help pack on the pounds.

As for the freezer, when you are ready to shop for one, I highly recommend you buy the largest freezer that space and budget can accommodate. It saves a lot of money being able to buy in bulk and the more you get into the raw the more you fill that freezer and if you end up feeding multiple dogs raw then all the more need for extra freezer space. I have a 15 cu ft chest freezer and it is filled to bursting. I literally cannot buy anymore meat for at least the next week because I don't have room for it!

How are the prices at cost co? Any better then the regular grocery stores? I have no problem finding chicken for $0.99 a pound, and turkey pretty cheap, but anything else is really pricey. We do have a cost co, but I haven't been up to harlem to check it out yet.

Oh please chime in, no need to stay silent! I'll take all the advice I can get right now!

Good point about the freezer and I'm glad you said something because we're getting another dog as soon as we move... and then another, and another, and another... we're gonna have a whole herd! Looks like I need to go freezer shopping!

I'll get some beef today and freeze it for next week. And some organs for this weekend. I feel like a kid in a candy shop haha I'm just so excited she ate!!! I just want to feed her! And then feed her again!! And again! Lol nobody worry I won't stuff her, I'm just so excited that she actually ate for the first time in a month. I feel like I should phone Katie Couric. Alert the media!


We don't have a costco we have a SAM's. Whole chickens were .99/lb, chicken breasts were 1.89/lb, and I just remember it was around $17 for a huuuuge pack of... drumsticks? I don't remember. I was only trying to get a good idea of prices. The pork was 1.29-1.99/lb and lamb was $11/lb. I want to check the commissary today because everyone says they have the best prices on meat. My friend that lives on post is always telling me that the bacon is super cheap there. She keeps me UTD on bacon sales for some reason? I don't shop there but I'll go look at their prices and find out.