Kibble + Raw

[shirra]

When my dog was a pup I read somewhere that it is best to feed a diet of either kibble or raw, not both. It stated that kibble takes much longer to digest than raw does and thus it is bad for the dog's digestive system to feed both.

Does anyone know if this is true? Is it bad for the dog?

[luvsdogs]

I have heard of this too. Some say to feed a kibble meal separate to a raw meal eg. kibble for breakfast & raw for dinner. Others say it doesn't matter it just depends on who you believe.

My dogs have mostly raw, my BC gets kibble every other day while the JS is totally raw, that is if someone else in the family don't give in to him & give him the odd treat.

[Sandra777]

Bone takes much longer to digest than meat so by that logic you should never feed bone and meat in the same meal - which kinda defeats the purpose of the raw diet :laugh:

Dry food, requires different acid levels and gut flora to digest to meat/bone so it is possible that a digestively challenged dog could have issues with being fed both at once, and certainly a dog which has been on dry food doesn't tend to digest bone very well, but I have been feeding both together (or separate, or solely) for over 30 years and never had an issue.

If the dog has a specific problem then certainly look at the diet, but otherwise remember dogs' stomach acid is designed to digest bone and kill all sorts of bugs that flourish in decaying *stuff* they like to eat - so a normal healthy dog certainly won't have a problem with a bit of dry food and some meat :)

[luvsdogs]

And I fed my dogs a mix of both years ago before I knew of this without any problems.

[persephone]

I have heard of it , but have never seen probs with dogs fed both.

[julesluvscavs]

Our puppy, well shes now about 10 months old has been mostly on a raw diet right from the start as recommended by her breeder (The breeder has guided us through it all which has been great!)

We did score some free puppy dry food a while back from our vets (I think they want to change our mind about feeding her a complete raw diet lol). I have used a small amount of it as a meal , sometimes with a bit of raw food mixed with it too.. I don't do it every night tho. I have had no issues doing this so far. :)

Edited August 21, 2013 by Jules❤3Cavs

[Salukifan]

Not a problem in my house

[fluff1234]

I have heard its false and it doesnt work that way.

I have read its bone you shouldnt feed but raw meat itself is just fine. My breeder has fed raw and kibble for her show dogs for a long time and my pup was raised this way. He has 2 meals a day of mixed kibble and raw meat. (his 3rd meal breakfast is kibble and lactose free milk)

[puglvr]

I just "asked" my 13 year old pugs and 13 year old GSD allof which have bean on a diet of raw, dry and bones their entire life and they

Don't have a problem with it. :D

[Staffyluv]

I feed kibble and raw these days - because it is convenient.

No issues here at all.

[BC Crazy]

I feed both raw & dry here also without any issues :)

Edited August 21, 2013 by BC Crazy

[sheena]

Raw turkey neck in the morning & kibble at night with either a raw egg, or steak, or fish & topped with homemade chicken, beef or fish stock. No problems & dogs are looking great.

[OSoSwift]

I feed botha dn have done so over 20 years with no issues at all. I often get compliments regarding my dogs condition so I would think if it didn't agree then they wouldn't look as good?

[megan_]

Not a problem in my house

same. And almost everything digests at different rates too. I doubt meat digests at the same rate as bone.

[shirra]

Thanks for the responses

I'll stop worrying!

[halfthewords]

No? All of my dogs are fed a mix of raw and high quality kibble. No issues here!

[westiemum]

No probs here either. Lou don't stress. Feeding dogs is not the difficult highly scientific complex task that some people and the pet food industry would have us believe! Just do what your dogs do well on. Mine eat better than I do!

Edited August 21, 2013 by westiemum

[Yonjuro]

My concern with mixing is one of balance. The questions I would consider are;

Will adding raw to kibble make the meal more nutritious or less than a whole meal of either kibble or raw?

Will raw meaty bones plus kibble result in too much calcium which can in some circumstances create crystals and UTIs? (this happened with my Schnauzer and I unfortunately had to remove bones from her diet of kibble)

Some dogs have sensitive stomachs and a mix may not suit all.

The more I research Raw and mixing the more more different opinions I hear/read, strangely there doesn't seem to be any real scientific evidence supporting either camp. I think there is merit to keeping things simple as long as the dog is getting the right nutrients and ratios.

My view on different rates of digestion argument is that dogs often scarf their food, especially kibble, unlike most of us humans who chew our food. Kibble, ,meat and bones landing in the stomach will digest at different rates purely based on the fact that they are three different solids of varying density and composition and are not mixed well by chewing. I don't think this would be an issue with a dog that has a non-sensitive stomach. A dog with a sensitive stomach may have bouts of the squirts or constipation depending on the foods and bone content.

As others have said there is no single diet that is suitable for all dogs. Mixing may be the ultimate for dog X and be terrible for dog Y.

[Salukifan]

My view on different rates of digestion argument is that dogs often scarf their food, especially kibble, unlike most of us humans who chew our food. Kibble, ,meat and bones landing in the stomach will digest at different rates purely based on the fact that they are three different solids of varying density and composition and are not mixed well by chewing. I don't think this would be an issue with a dog that has a non-sensitive stomach. A dog with a sensitive stomach may have bouts of the squirts or constipation depending on the foods and bone content.

As others have said there is no single diet that is suitable for all dogs. Mixing may be the ultimate for dog X and be terrible for dog Y.

I have never fed kibble, meat and bones in the one meal. My dogs get RMBS or they get some kind of raw meat (not a large amount) added to the kibble to "spice it up". So far, no issues.

Having observed my dogs scarf a range of pretty iffy stuff over the years - poo, decomposing animals, dead carp.. you name it - I'd have to say I don't think any of them have sensitive stomachs. As canines, that's pretty unsurprising.

[Yonjuro]

My view on different rates of digestion argument is that dogs often scarf their food, especially kibble, unlike most of us humans who chew our food. Kibble, ,meat and bones landing in the stomach will digest at different rates purely based on the fact that they are three different solids of varying density and composition and are not mixed well by chewing. I don't think this would be an issue with a dog that has a non-sensitive stomach. A dog with a sensitive stomach may have bouts of the squirts or constipation depending on the foods and bone content.

As others have said there is no single diet that is suitable for all dogs. Mixing may be the ultimate for dog X and be terrible for dog Y.

I have never fed kibble, meat and bones in the one meal. My dogs get RMBS or they get some kind of raw meat (not a large amount) added to the kibble to "spice it up". So far, no issues.

Having observed my dogs scarf a range of pretty iffy stuff over the years - poo, decomposing animals, dead carp.. you name it - I'd have to say I don't think any of them have sensitive stomachs. As canines, that's pretty unsurprising.

I am sure that this is the case for many.