# Am I doing this right?



## stephanie.jackson (Apr 7, 2011)

I started my GSD on raw back in November and that was the only food that put weight on him. He did awesome until I got so excited about his weight gain (he's insanely skinny) that I gave him 5lbs of meat in one sitting and he had explosive diarrhea for 1.5 days. I know it was my fault, but I stopped raw that day. He was 8 months old at that time.

Well now he is almost 16 months and I wanted to give raw another shot, but this time stick to a "menu". He's 66 lbs (26 inches tall) and he is fairly active, but we only go about 3 miles a day, 2 of which are running. Sometimes we walk more than 1 mile though, but that's average. I calculated with the extra he needs to eat, is around 2.2 lbs (35 oz) a day. He's only eaten it yesterday and today so if I am messing up horribly, it won't be harming him too much lol. I don't have a scale yet so these were guestimates.

For RMB it said almost 16 oz a day, so he got 2 turkey necks and 2 drumsticks.
For MM it said 17.5 oz a day, so he got a large chicken breast, 1/2 lb of ground beef.
For OM it said 1.75 oz a day, so he got a liver, but i forgot what animal the liver came from and I am too lazy to open my freezer. it was about 4inches by 4inches and half an inch thick... kinda sounds like more than about 2oz but it was a guess.

So am i doing horrible? I know I need to get a scale or something. These were just rough estimates. I also am adding an egg every other day, as well as a scoop of GNC probiotic digestive "super food complex" daily. Oh, and 2 tablespoons of coconut oil daily.


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## Kev (Sep 11, 2011)

A bit off but, lower the MM and maybe the OM.
I feed my boy 2.35% of his expected adult weight at 85 lbs.
So that would be 2 lbs a day.
16 oz of RMB
14.4 oz of MM
1.6 oz of OM


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## stephanie.jackson (Apr 7, 2011)

K, I can do that.

He just had his first BM in 28 hours and it was diarrhea >.> He usually poops 2x a day so this is odd for him. I am kind of worried that while I am at work for 4 hours tonight, he may have diarrhea in his kennel or something.. ah.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

If you are feeding poultry necks then a higher percentage of MM is fine since they are 80% bone. If you are feeding something like chicken quarters then a lower percentage of MM is better.

I would never feed turkey drumsticks. The bones are very tough and don't digest well. Stick to the necks, chicken quarters/drumsticks. Chickens are butchered at a much younger age so the weight bearing bones are not tough.

The turkey drumsticks might be the cause of the diarrhea.


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## Anitsisqua (Mar 25, 2012)

The diarrhea could also just be caused by the sudden change, and if so, it will improve as he adjusts.

Also, many dogs produce fewer stools when raw-fed, so the decreased frequency isn't too alarming.


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## stephanie.jackson (Apr 7, 2011)

Sorry if it came out confusing, but the drumsticks were chicken.
The only turkey is from the turkey necks.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Jax had explosive diarrhea the first time she had a turkey neck. It was just to much to quickly. I would back off the necks a bit until he's used to the new diet. Maybe start with chicken quarters for RMB instead and in that case, use about 70% RMB, 25% MM, 5% OM because there is so much meat on quarters.


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## Kev (Sep 11, 2011)

Quick question Michelle, is it alright to do 70% RMB 25% MM and 5% OM everyday if I use chicken quarters as my staple diet?


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Kev said:


> Quick question Michelle, is it alright to do 70% RMB 25% MM and 5% OM everyday if I use chicken quarters as my staple diet?


I think it depends on their stool. If it's coming out chalky and light colored then you probably have to much bone. You can tell alot about your percentages by the consistency of the stool. That's why I adjusted the percentage when feeding neck. 

Are they large quarters with alot of meat? Then yes, I would count the quarter as a higher percentage on a daily basis. You need to think about how much MM is on the RMB and take that into consideration. If you stripped the meat off and just weighed the bone, would it be about 10% of the total meal?


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## Kev (Sep 11, 2011)

Thanks
so the menu would look something like this, on a 2 lb/day meal
1.4 lbs of RMB (quarters)
0.5 lbs of MM (hearts)
0.1 lbs of OM (liver)
??


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

If they are large, meaty, quarters then I would feed a higher percentage like that. I would try to mix the pieces up with some backs (higher bone) so I could give a variety of proteins. Maybe cut the thigh and leg apart and mix in a back to get a more even mix of proteins.


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## stephanie.jackson (Apr 7, 2011)

Is it too soon (3 days) to see a difference after feeding raw? Because we go for a 2-3 mile run almost every day and today he tolerated the run/heat way better than he normally would have. I haven't ran him since I started feeding the raw food but we've had a 3 day break in our runs before and he still doesn't do as well as he did today.


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