# Distemper Puppy on Raw



## duttlyn (Mar 30, 2011)

Greeting All!

So, yesterday I started adding Primal raw patties to Berghoff's food. He didn't "get" what it was at first so I hand fed him the first one and then he ate it at dinner that night, too. He is about 4 months (not positive of the age because he's a rescue) and he sadly has distemper. We are hoping to nurse him back to health and raw is one way we plan to help. This morning, my husband gave him his regular Wildnerness kibble and Core Wellness mix and he would have NONE OF IT! Once I gave him the raw patty, he wolfed it down so it would seem I have a convert on my hands!  I have a couple of questions:

At what point can I completely stop his old food? I don't want to tax his system because of the illness.

Is he old enough to eat the bones? I saw them in the primal case and they seemed WAY too big for him. Am I wrong? I started with Primal because the learning curve was easy but I'd be willing to switch over to homemade stuff, too. My only issue is I have two 4 year olds and a 5 year old so sometimes I'm strapped for time. The primal stuff is easy so I may keep it on hand and just use that when I'm really busy. Does that seem OK?

Now, he is young and sick and underweight so how much do you think I should feed him? 

Any help you can give me would be really appreciated!

Duttlyn


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

duttlyn said:


> At what point can I completely stop his old food? I don't want to tax his system because of the illness.


Now. The raw food will be better for his system (easier to process) and better for him. 



> Is he old enough to eat the bones?


At roughly 4 months of age he should be able to handle ANY type chicken bone and the smaller (hen) turkey necks. Bigger bones - like ber or pork neck bone - should wait until he is older.



> ... but I'd be willing to switch over to homemade stuff, too. My only issue is I have two 4 year olds and a 5 year old so sometimes I'm strapped for time. The primal stuff is easy so I may keep it on hand and just use that when I'm really busy. Does that seem OK?


Sure, but keep in mind - it's really not difficult or time consuming to feed raw. I manage to feed 7 dogs a raw diet and it takes me about 15 minutes per meal. That includes gathering the bowls, weighing everything out, handing out the bowls and clean up! 



> Now, he is young and sick and underweight so how much do you think I should feed him?


I would start with about 7-8% of his current weight as his daily intake. Check him after a week or two. If he looks like he's gaining - stay at that amount. If he looks like he's getting FAT, cut it back to about 6-7%. If he's LOSING weight increase it to about 8-9%.

Feeding puppies is trickier only because they don't get an exact amount every day. Puppies, just like kids, go through growth spurts and stops. Sometimes you may end up increasing the food mid-week and other times you may feed the same amount for several weeks in a row.

One thing i would highly recommend is getting a good multi-vitamin supplement - just because he's starting with a strike against him (the distemper).

I use B-Naturals products - very good stuff!!


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## duttlyn (Mar 30, 2011)

Lauri & The Gang said:


> Now. The raw food will be better for his system (easier to process) and better for him.


Thanks, I agree. It still wiggs me out a bit (my brain is smoking to get past the "raw meat is dangerous" issue) but he LOVES it.



Lauri & The Gang said:


> At roughly 4 months of age he should be able to handle ANY type chicken bone and the smaller (hen) turkey necks. Bigger bones - like ber or pork neck bone - should wait until he is older.


OK... glad to hear it. We had some chicken breasts that my husband was trimming for dinner and we decided to give Bergs the trimmings with his dinner but it had a couple tiny slivers of bone. My husband WOULD NOT put them in because it scared him so much. I guess the question then would be, does it need to be a "whole bone" so he expects it? We were worried that he wouldn't be ready for a tiny sliver and could hurt himself unexpectedly. Or, does that not matter?



Lauri & The Gang said:


> I would start with about 7-8% of his current weight as his daily intake. Check him after a week or two. If he looks like he's gaining - stay at that amount. If he looks like he's getting FAT, cut it back to about 6-7%. If he's LOSING weight increase it to about 8-9%.


In pounds I'm assuming? Does that include bones or how do you decide the mix of bones to meat?



Lauri & The Gang said:


> One thing i would highly recommend is getting a good multi-vitamin supplement - just because he's starting with a strike against him (the distemper).
> 
> I use B-Naturals products - very good stuff!!


I will definitely look into getting some of those. The vet gave me some vitamins and I stupidly purchased them against my better judgement because when I looked at the ingredients High Fructose Corn Syrup and Wheat were pretty high up on the ingredient list. Sigh.

Thanks for all your help!


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## Zisso (Mar 20, 2009)

I found that once I started feeding raw, my two didn't care much for the kibble either(hmmmm wonder why! LOL) but they are happy and healthy, and I give the credit to Laurie who helped me get started in the right direction. 

Prayer's to you and Berghoff for a fast turn around and many years of happy times together.


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## vomlittlehaus (Aug 24, 2010)

I started my pups on raw diet right away. Dont give the kibble anymore. Doesnt need it. I feed my 10 wk old pups chicken wings too. Just give them the whole thing. You can also do chicken necks. Backs should wait til a bit older. And even then, if they are big, just cut in half.
I also give my pups supplement. I feed the puppy gold, from k9 power products.


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## vat (Jul 23, 2010)

Kudos to you for switching to raw! I am sure this will give him another edge in getting well. Bravo has a great calculator on their website you can use to figure out how much to feed him. Bravo! - Feeding Claculator
I have found this calculator to be pretty standard for raw diet.

I think it is probably better to give him the whole bone rather than slivers. Try a chicken thigh as they are a bit smaller than a breast and see how he does. You will be amazed at the difference in him in just a few weeks.


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

duttlyn said:


> It still wiggs me out a bit (my brain is smoking to get past the "raw meat is dangerous" issue) but he LOVES it.


Here's some facts to help your mind un-wigg. 

I have been feeding raw to my dogs for over 10 years. In that time I estimate that I have fed over ten *THOUSAND *pounds of raw meat and raw meaty bones.

Never once have my dogs gotten sick from eating the raw meat.



> My husband WOULD NOT put them in because it scared him so much. I guess the question then would be, does it need to be a "whole bone" so he expects it? We were worried that he wouldn't be ready for a tiny sliver and could hurt himself unexpectedly. Or, does that not matter?


My guys have eaten all SORTS of bones. Whole (as in unchewed; Sasha can swallow a small chicken leg without chewing), pieces (I cut up chicken wing section for the Cresteds and sometimes the bigger dogs get some cut up as well) and ground and they have never had a problem with any of it.

Well, Winnie does have problems with turkey necks since she tries to swallow them without chewing. Got one stuck once - once. After that I made sure they were either too big for her to swallow whole or small enough so they wouldn't get stuck.



> In pounds I'm assuming? Does that include bones or how do you decide the mix of bones to meat?


Let's say your dog weighs 30 pounds. 8% of 30 pounds is 2.4 pounds. That is NOT 2 pounds and 4 ounces - it's 2 pounds and .4 pounds, which equals 6.4 ounces.

I use the following breakdown - 50% Muscle Meat, 45% Raw Meaty Bones and 5% Organ Meat. I try to vary the type of RMBs I use so the percentage of bone content changes.

If I have alot of chicken necks (which are VERY bony) I will give them less RMB% and increase the MM % to make up for it.

What you are looking for is no more than 20-25% ACTUAL bone in their diets.


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## duttlyn (Mar 30, 2011)

Lauri & The Gang said:


> Here's some facts to help your mind un-wigg.
> 
> I have been feeding raw to my dogs for over 10 years. In that time I estimate that I have fed over ten *THOUSAND *pounds of raw meat and raw meaty bones.
> 
> Never once have my dogs gotten sick from eating the raw meat.


First of all, that's A LOT OF RAW MEAT!!!  Actually, the fear wasn't for the dog because after researching I got over that part real quick. The fear I can't get over is like this little dialogue I have in my head: "Ack, his face and paws are covered in raw chicken! Now, he's walking around the family room!!! Oh Lord, my 5 year old will play matchbox cars there tomorrow.... Gosh, I can't clean the floors every day after Berghoff eats. I'm being irresponsible. I'm gonna make my family sick feeding the dog! Can I really do this every day?!"

I'm totally worried about the transfer of germs. I know we all walk outside and track in germs but I can see him touching the chicken with his paws and then he walks around the house! Help me get over this please! :help:

Oh, and I did give Berghoff his first "real" raw meal tonight (outside on the patio)! I gave him a whole chicken breast and a chicken heart. He LOVED LOVED LOVED it. When he was done, he was snorting around looking for more!

What about chicken wings? They were on special so I got them but then I thought someone said no go on the wings. Thoughts?


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## duttlyn (Mar 30, 2011)

vat said:


> Try a chicken thigh as they are a bit smaller than a breast and see how he does. You will be amazed at the difference in him in just a few weeks.


Ack... I wish I had seen this post earlier. Thighs were on special and I wanted to get some but I thought the bones might be too thick and he wouldn't be able to do it so I passed. I got wings, which I subsequently heard he shouldn't eat and breasts and hearts. He ate a chicken breast and one heart this evening and he couldn't have been happier!


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## duttlyn (Mar 30, 2011)

Berghoff's first raw meal was a total success! I have a video of him first trying it... the heart kept slipping out of his mouth but he didn't hesitate at all. He started off trying to lick it to death! 

Anyhoo, I took a vid of him crunching away and he just couldn't have been more happy. When he was finished he was looking EVERYWHERE for more!

*Berghoff's First Raw Meal Video*


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

duttlyn said:


> I'm totally worried about the transfer of germs. I know we all walk outside and track in germs but I can see him touching the chicken with his paws and then he walks around the house! Help me get over this please! :help:


Well, do you follow him around and wash off his mouth when he licks his anus or penis?

Do you wash his feet every time he comes in from outside to remove any bird poop he may have stepped in? Bird poop is LOADED with bacteria - including Salmonella.

My dogs eat their raw food right from the bowl. There's very little, if ANY, touching of the food with feet. Just goes from bowl to mouth to stomach. 

The only time I ever worried about bacteria was when I was going through chemo. My DH took over feeding the dogs but I still let them lick me - yes, in the face and ON THE LIPS - and I'm still here to post about it.


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## duttlyn (Mar 30, 2011)

Lauri & The Gang said:


> Well, do you follow him around and wash off his mouth when he licks his anus or penis?
> 
> Do you wash his feet every time he comes in from outside to remove any bird poop he may have stepped in? Bird poop is LOADED with bacteria - including Salmonella.
> 
> ...


:laugh::laugh::laugh: Too funny. I do NOT chase after him with wet wipes although now I sort of want to! 

Berghoff pulled the chicken right out of the bowl and started running around with it! I suppose we will have to work on that part. 

Also, off topic but CONGRATS on being a cancer survivor!!


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