Raw diet for dogs, input needed.

So we are going to be switching our almost 3 year old Chocolate Lab over to raw. Going to start off buying it, and will transition into prepping it as much as we can ourselves. Will do as much venison, duck, pheasant as we can. Not going to do Prey Diet, but plan on feeding some bones(deer, duck and pheasant carcass, etc).
Will be giving fish oil pills, Triflex as supplements, add eggs(shell and all) to the Raw, as well as vegetables. What veggies and quantities do you recommend? Tips? Things to avoid?

 

Go to Canine Crossing. Lynn and Josh will help you out.

 

https://www.mypetcarnivore.com
We buy from here and have been happy with the stuff we have gotten.

 

Do a taste test first . We adopted a Pit/ ker mix and she threw up everything she ate. We tried 4 different types of natural diets and then started making home made meals. None of it worked. Had our feed store talk us into trying Pro Pak and I'd be damned it worked.

 

I tried to feed one of my dogs a raw diet, he didn't want shit to do with it. Only way we could get him to eat it was to cook it.

 

I fed my GSMD puppy raw for over three months. It was a royal pain in the ass and really expensive. My vet talked me out of it, life has been much easier and the dog doesn't care one bit.

Since my Shiba went 18 years and two days on cheap kibble and cat turds, I doubt quality kibble is going to be damaging to my new pup.

 

We were doing raw veg treats with our daschund until a recent listeria scare. Now it's still natural but cooked or pasteurized only, no raw.

 

My wife is a Vet Tech and recommends http://www.balanceit.com/ for people preparing their own dog food it has a lot of tips and answers to questions when it comes to making sure your dog is getting all the nutritional value that it needs. Good Luck!

 

We do blue ridge beef (all types they have, but green tripe is always sold out) but it frozen in bulk, thaw portions for 2 days, put it in trays ... Supplemented by cooked sweet potatoes, squash, sometimes rice and carrots - but that just in the mornings.

 

A coworker of mine feeds his blue heeler raw chicken, bones and all. And I think that's it. She seems to be one of the healthiest dogs I've ever met. Great weight, nice soft fur, good energy, etc.

 

Our fur faced idiot gets the beef and organ blend from raws4paws (Swanson meats in mpls). He gets the tailings and bones of the critters we get chopped to bits as well as table scraps that aren't poisonous to dogs. Healthy as a horse.

 

Our gsd has Lupius and her nose gets really raw, swollen and purplish. We had her on steroids and she drank like a fish and peed more then I do on a race weekend. Since we switched her to a raw diet (frozen cubes from a local supplier) her dosage of steroids has gone to a very minimal amount and her nose looks mostly normal. As to what the cubes are, I just know she gets tripe at night with another cube. One cube per day has bone in it. It's my wife's dog lol.

 

Our Aussie cattle dog eats broccoli stems, but only so the chicken can't get them.

 

We do purina one mixed with FreshPet.

I love my dogs, but not enough to buy them better food than we eat... Ours aren't exactly picky eaters though. Kramer (not the one pictured in my profile) has eaten an entire gauntlet motorcycle glove, several pairs of underwear, feminine hygiene products, and enough crayons to make him shit a rainbow for 3 days.

 

Like RK97's case, our Shih Tzu mix ate three dryed up earthworms on her morning walk, does that count? How about cat ralph? Dogs are omnivores, I think that means they can eat about any damn thing they want to.

 

Mine likes to eat fresh or frozen horse poop when I walk him in the morning.

 

Nothing but high quality dry dog food. Never had to spend money on teeth cleaning.

 

He's always been on high end dry, but it doesn't agree with him. Began his raw transition tonight.

 

Have you tried the lamb and rice varieties? Great for coat and easier on digestive system. If your set on a raw diet, just be aware, if you want to do it properly it will require more preparation and planning than a human diet. Talk to your vet. Most of the time people get lazy and their "Raw" diet becomes just feeding them table scraps. Dog gets fat, bad breath, teeth rot, and let's not forget the flatulence. Anyone who can keep their dog on a "proper" raw diet has my admiration.

 

Raw bones keep the chompers clean and breath that won't peel paint.

Can't speak to anyone else's experiences, but the only time my dog has any digestive issues now is when he raids the garbage can.