At What Age Can I Start Duke On A Raw Diet?

[Bear&Duke]

I have a one year old Keeshond Bear who is fed on a raw diet due to problems digesting the high quality biscuits (we tried everything, RC, Advance, Pro-Plan, Eagle Pack, sensitive ect). We have a new addition Duke who is an 8 week old Cocker Spaniel and I am currently feeding him Pro-Plan all life stages biscuits, but I was wondering if a raw diet would also be ok for him? Bear was moved on to Raw at about 9 months so I'm really unsure what is the correct age to move Duke over to raw or should he stay on biscuits?

Any advice people have would be much appreciated! :D

Edited December 22, 2011 by Bear&Duke

[trifecta]

~Midniara~ is a Belgian Shepherd breeder on here & her last two litters were started on raw from weaning.... so they are never too young to start If you do a search I am sure there would be threads on the topic on here or in the Breeders community. A lot of it is commonsense, gradually phasing out the biscuits & substituting with raw meaty bones & whatever else you feed your other dog. Chicken wings are great, lots of nutrients & minerals for a growing puppy, though you may have to smash them up for a while to make them more manageable

Hopefully there will be a raw feeding breeder on here soon to give you more guidance.

[Dr Bruce Syme]

Starting a raw diet for a pup is fantastic We produce a puppy raw formula, with all the needs of a growing dog catered for. Either as a pre-made meal (Premium Choice) or a dry mix (Complete Mix) which you add to the meat/bones you are already feeding Bear.

Or for a home made diet here is an article written by Dr Bruce Syme. As you read through Bruce gives his ideal homemade puppy raw diet. Hopefully it can give you some ideas.

http://www.vetsallnatural.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64&Itemid=80

[oakway]

I have never reared a litter on anything but raw.

All my dogs are weaned onto a waw diet and stay on it for the rest of their lives.

[Bear&Duke]

Excellent, thanks for the advice and link! I much prefer the raw diet, we noticed huge improvements with Bear once we moved him over to the raw diet and he loves it! Duke has been trying his hardest to tuck in to Bear's food so I will slowly make the mvoe over to Raw for him too which i'm sure he'll appreciate

[twodoggies2001]

When we brought our mini schnauzer home as a pup around 3 years ago, he was given a bag of Advance by the breeder.

Because I too also feed raw, he was slowly transitioned over to a fully raw diet and haven't looked back. I didn't want to go straight into the raw in case he would get an upset tummy. I just added a little raw each time he was fed until he was off the dry food completely. Good luck with your pup.

[becks]

I know several people who just made a straight switch from kibble onto raw when they collected their pup at 8 weeks, no taking time to swop over and there were no tummy problems from doing this.

[twodoggies2001]

I know several people who just made a straight switch from kibble onto raw when they collected their pup at 8 weeks, no taking time to swop over and there were no tummy problems from doing this.

I just wanted to be sure with the transition and it only took about a week until my boy was on completely raw, so it didn't bother him and it didn't bother me.

[Bear&Duke]

Ok next question, how much do I feed a puppy? With Bear we kept an eye on his weight for a few months to ensure it was stable but as Duke is only 4kg I really don’t want to see his weight fluctuate too much. Thanks for your help, it’s really appreciated!

[Mason_Gibbs]

My older boy is fed RAW as he has problems tolerating kibble, my pup has been having an upset tummy on kibble lately and each time I feed him the older dogs diet his upset tummy goes away. I'm thinking of feeding him 100% RAW now too but he is only 5,5 months and I worry about him growing properly etc. but in my mind fresh food has to be better for him

[WExtremeG]

We feed 2% of our puppy's expected body weight of a healthy adult. She's a GSD and she gets about 600-700 gms a day.

Hope this helps

[twodoggies2001]

We feed 2% of our puppy's expected body weight of a healthy adult. She's a GSD and she gets about 600-700 gms a day.

Hope this helps

I just googled the Barf percentages fed to puppies and they quote up to 10%. When they grow into adults, 2% is the go. Is your puppy lean. The beauty of the raw diet is that for larger breeds, they grow more slowly and evenly, which is not a bad thing.

[Bear&Duke]

My older boy is fed RAW as he has problems tolerating kibble, my pup has been having an upset tummy on kibble lately and each time I feed him the older dogs diet his upset tummy goes away. I'm thinking of feeding him 100% RAW now too but he is only 5,5 months and I worry about him growing properly etc. but in my mind fresh food has to be better for him

I felt the same way Mason Gibbs, but by the look of the advice given here raw is the best food we can give our babies! We noticed a huge difference in Bear once we moved him on to Raw, no more vomiting and he also calmed down a lot, probably due to the fact that there aren't any preservatives in Raw food.

[Markable]

I was wondering if a raw diet would also be ok for him? Yes it will be and will reduce any danger of Bear getting any dry kibble (in case the pup vomits some up LOL) is the correct age to move Duke over to raw I wean my Curly Coated Retriever pups onto raw from weaning. With Duke you should add a bit of raw to replace some dry start with 1/4 changeover and take about a week to change completly to raw (so his stomach can adjust. I dont know what raw diet you use but assume it must be a fairly good one if Bear is doing well as a large-breed dog.

Email me private if you'd like to know more. Cheers

[Markable]

[How much do I feed a puppy? I would give him an amount equal to his head size NO MORE this is roughly the size of his stomach and is all he can handle. I would feed 4 times a day until 3 months then reduce to 3 times a day increasing the amounts so he is roughly getting the same (just a bit more as he grows) when he is 6 months go to 2 times a day. I feed 2 times a day for life.cheers Ruth

[Markable]

Of course you adjust the food slightly if you think your pup/dag is too thin/heavy. I just do this as I'm serving out the food to my guys. Thinest dog gets biggest bone heaviest one gets smallest. I feed roughly a chicken carcass (with fat and vent skirts on) for breakfast and my special raw meaty bone/meat/offal and viggie mix at night. I add yogurt cider vinegar and a few other things to the nighttime mix.I have Curlies who weigh about 36-42 kg as adults. I still go with the size of their head as the absolute maximum for any meal and as adults it is more half the size for each meal. Thats about 1-1.3 kg a day in total.

[WExtremeG]

We feed 2% of our puppy's expected body weight of a healthy adult. She's a GSD and she gets about 600-700 gms a day.

Hope this helps

I just googled the Barf percentages fed to puppies and they quote up to 10%. When they grow into adults, 2% is the go. Is your puppy lean. The beauty of the raw diet is that for larger breeds, they grow more slowly and evenly, which is not a bad thing.

Thats' 2% of her expected ADULT bodyweight, not 2% of her actual weight. Puppies are constantly growing...it's much more common and easier to feed her this way.

[oakway]

Most of us raw feeders feed by eye.

If the pup looks as it is not up to the weight you require add more,

if looks to fat cut the food back.

[WExtremeG]

Here's just one of the many sites regarding raw feeding.

http://rawfed.com/myths/feedraw.html

[FlissPrideaux]

i feed raw all the time - pups get nothing else but, however I also use the 7 rule. different types of food before 7 weeks.. so chicken, beef, veal, lamb, turkey, kidney, liver, fish etc... all raw..