# 8 Week Old Puppy RAW diet?



## AusGSD (Aug 23, 2009)

Hi all, I pickup my first GSD 8 week old pup in a few days, I have been reading non-stop about diets and man their is alot of conjecture out there. Hard to know what to beleive...

My pup is currently fed on a part RAW part kibble (Eukanuba LBP) I beleive, the specifics of which I will ask when I pick her up.

I plan to continue this as it seems like a good mix for a growing pup, can anyone offer any advice or give an example menu of what they would give their pup. 

How many meals per day, i have heard as many as 4?

I have read the http://www.rawdogranch.com/UC.htm site so am familiar with the different percentages of RMB, MM,OM etc.

So let me know if I should be aware of anything else, traps for newbies etc.

Thanks


----------



## Brightelf (Sep 5, 2001)

How about a great book, by, I think, another Australian?







Dr Ian Billinghurst is a veterinarian. he wrote "Give Your Dog a Bone"-- one of my favorites, and an EASY, easy read!









Lots of puppies are even weaned right onto raw, so you can feed an all-raw diet to your new puppy if you want. (I might keep her on the Eukanuba and raw diet as she is used to that for a week or two, until she settled in). Many pups eat 3 raw meals per day until they are a bit bigger.

Sorry I haven't lots of great advice, but I think you'll find tons of support here for raw feeding your sweet new little pup. This is a great forum for supporting raw-feeding newbies... this is where I got started feeding my Grimm raw. I am so grateful! Welcome







to the board, and to raw feeding!







Now, the experts will have more to add I am sure.


----------



## AusGSD (Aug 23, 2009)

Thanks, I was quite amazed by the transition of your dog Grimm as a matter of fact, looks to have thrived beautifully on the raw diet.


----------



## Brightelf (Sep 5, 2001)

To be truthful, I was surprised, too! I had him back on kibble for 2 months because he needed to be boarded. Guess what? He returned to looking thin, weedy, pale, crispy-crunchy ultrashort coat, dull eyes, thin tail. Now that he's been back on raw almost a month, he again is getting heavy slabs of muscle, thicker, denser, darker, shinier, softer coat, bright eyes, and he is again calmer indoors.

Hang in there. Once folks in The States wake up, your thread will get more people posting good info to it. I can only suggest keeping with what your breeder has been doing for a week or two and then gradually switching to the all raw diet. The results speak for themselves. Your puppy will be calmer, healthier when on the all raw diet!


----------



## kaitrinn7 (Aug 14, 2009)

I honestly wish we would have switched our pup to raw the minute we brought him home - he was just under 8 weeks. He was eating Royal Canin Maxi Babydog, and the vet told us to stick with it. He was hyper and never ate much, and wasn't gaining weight as he should. 

After much research, talking with my husband, asking questions here, reading posts here, and totally ignoring the fact that our vet thinks we are crazy, we switched Sieger to 100% raw about 2 weeks ago.

He's going to be 12 weeks old on Thursday so will have been on raw about 2.5 weeks. 

In the short time he's been on raw, we have noticed him calmer, not hyper, he's still all puppy, so lots of energy, just not frenetic. 

He's eating now, regularly, as before he wouldn't even consume half of the recommended amount of the kibble, now he eats all his food, and he's caught up weight wise. Yesterday he weighed 25 lbs! Yay!

His coat is huge different already. We live in a dry area, and he is from a humid area, so he's had dry skin and a dry coat and lots of scratching since we got him. The longer he goes on the raw diet, the less his scratching has been, the less dry his skin is, and his coat is really coming in fuller and much more soft.

We get alot of compliments about him and how he looks and people ask us what we feed him.

Also, I notice he isn't a "mouthy/bitey" now since we also give him a chicken or turkey neck 2 times a day to work on. He does really good at chewing everything up, and it's great for his teeth.

If I would have known then what I know now, I would have switched him over to raw the minute we got him. I know alot of people say to do it gradually, and it might be the best way, and I have also heard that many dogs or pups can handle the switch without any drama so when we did it, we switched Sieger cold turkey. We give him a natural digestive enzyme as well and have since we switched him to help make sure the transition was easier. When we decided to do it, we had health concerns, and just wanted the kibble out of his system asap. He did fine, and actually way better, it was pretty amazing.

Basically the best thing I could tell you since we just started the raw too...really, just go with your gut. Really think about what YOU want your pup to be eating, and what you want for him/her, because unless you are 100% solid with your choice, it's going to be a stressful thing. When we made the decision, it was huge peace for us, and everyday we look at our puppy doing so well, it's even better.

Good luck!









PS. Congratulations on your new pup coming home soon!!!! Post pictures when you get them!


----------



## Bcannie (Jul 8, 2009)

I'm interested in any puppy raw advice also. I have been doing a lot of research and want to try raw. BTW, I ordered "Give Your Dog a Bone" that is recomended by Brightelf and also by one of our local pet stores, as well as "Switching to Raw" by Susan K. Johnson and I have found both very helpful.


----------



## Bcannie (Jul 8, 2009)

Kait, what kind of digestive enzymes did you use and are you still using them?


----------



## kaitrinn7 (Aug 14, 2009)

Yes, I still use the digestive enzymes, the ones I get have both the Prebiotics and Probiotics. I am still going with them because I want to make sure Sieger is digesting well, and that he has enough "good" bacteria with all the raw.

The ones I use are called "Ark Naturals Gentle Digest". Since your in my area too, you can pick them up from Natures next to Rite Aid on the N. end of town.

I would imagine many health food stores would have them or something similar.


----------



## JerzeyGSD (Jun 26, 2008)

I fed Jerzey Eukanuba LBP for breakfast and raw for dinner and she did well on it. I would, however, recommend another kibble. I am convinced that it was all of the cheap fillers that Eukanuba uses that causes Jerz to get a yeast infection in her ear, something pretty rare for a dog with ears that stand up.


----------

