# Going back to Raw



## StGeorgeK9 (Jan 5, 2008)

Ava was raw fed for about a year, and I went back to kibble about 6 months ago.......dont ask why, I'm not sure why anymore, it certainly isnt cheaper to go to the higher quality brands of kibble. But she has had infrequent diahherea with the kibble, every few weeks or so. Anyway, before, a typical dinner was a chicken quarter, enough burger to bring the weight up to about 20 ounces, some blueberries, a dollop or two of plain yogurt, and I would add a tablespoon of Missing Link. She would get fish a couple times a week and I would add liver, gizards etc. Right now I am building her up and giving her a turkey wing and a little kibble and yogurt for a few days before the complete switch...........
This seemed to work with her before so I have frozen her dinners in complete packages (chicken, beef, chicken gizard, peas, blueberries) and will add yogurt and vitamins and whatever (sweet potatoes, pumpkin, sardines, makeral, etc) as needed to the packages. I did this to make it easier on my family to feed her when I'm not home. Of course not that I put the packages together (there is about a month worth of dinners in the freezer right now) I thought maybe I should have done it differently....Any thoughts? Thanks guys.......I have been gone from this posting board for quite a while.......its good to be back!


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## JerzeyGSD (Jun 26, 2008)

I put the dinners together just like you do, actually. Jerzey doesn't need a very strict bone-to-meat ratio so if I use quarters I just throw in her oz of sh of liver (gizzards is not an OM, I wasn't sure if you were counting them as such) and then adding in enough extra ground beef or turkey to get the weight up to what it needs to be for the day. 

I mean, with Jerzey I would basically just weight out her food and package it up in individual meals. It seems like what you're doing is fine, esp. since you know what worked for your girl last time. I don't know if you want to consider re-starting with one protein source for just a week but if she has been handling the bits of raw you have been giving her and/or think she'd be fine starting off with the quarters and beef than go for it. Just remember to add in variety (more turkey, maybe pork, lamb, bison, etc.) when you can, quarters and beef day-in and day-out is not enough variety (although there is nothing wrong with using them as the staples of her diet.)

Good luck with the transition back! Jerzey will be back on raw when I start law school next year and move into my own place with more freezer storage. I know she will be ecstatic but, for now, it's just a turkey neck here, chicken leg there kind of thing.


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## StGeorgeK9 (Jan 5, 2008)

Thanks Ashley, I actually wondered if raw food did weird things when frozen together......you know, raw chicken and blueberries just sounded like a weird combination to freeze together. I know a dogs stomach can handle things better than ours can, but it just seemed weird. For variety I do throw in different kinds of meat, pork, beef, venison, fish etc.... but for her first month back on, I wanted to keep it pretty consistent so I can be more on top of how things are going.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

One thing I would add to your diet after the transition, is some raw green tripe, so many benefits in that stinky stuff!


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## StGeorgeK9 (Jan 5, 2008)

Right! I gag when I put it in the bowl, but good lord she loves that stuff!


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## StGeorgeK9 (Jan 5, 2008)

Oh, by the way, I did know that gizzards arent organ meat.......they are cheap and I like to give her different things in her bowl.


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## JerzeyGSD (Jun 26, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: BetsyThanks Ashley, I actually wondered if raw food did weird things when frozen together......you know, raw chicken and blueberries just sounded like a weird combination to freeze together.


Well, it's all going to end up in the same place! Lol.



> Originally Posted By: BetsyOh, by the way, I did know that gizzards arent organ meat.......they are cheap and I like to give her different things in her bowl.


Oh, okay.








There have been people before (myself included) that have gotten gizzards confused for OM so I just wanted to double check.


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## StGeorgeK9 (Jan 5, 2008)

Yeah, when I first started the last time I was a bit confused on what was organ meat or not, if I remember correctly hearts arent considered organ meat either.....


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## JerzeyGSD (Jun 26, 2008)

Yeah, hearts are MM. I know kidney and liver and maybe eyes and brain (?) are OM but, like, who can find that kind of stuff?! I just stick with liver.


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## smyke (Sep 24, 2009)

is green tripe OM too?


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## natalie559 (Feb 4, 2005)

I package 1 day's worth of meat per dog per bag so all we do is pull out two bags a day. Makes it really easy for us. At feeding time I add in the fresh potatoes, eggs, canned fish and/or supplements. Then I rinse out the bags and put them back into the freezer until we fill them at the next meat storm, this keeps them from going nasty and we replace them every few rounds.


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## aubie (Dec 22, 2008)

I think some people consider tripe a MM, but I consider it a supplement...like eggs, yogurt, etc. They don't get it every meal and when they do, it's a few tablespoons added to their MM/OM meal. They freakin' love it!


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## aubie (Dec 22, 2008)

I used to package a days worth of meals a bag, but that took too long. Now I just have glad containers full of MM/OM or RMB and set those out to thaw. Then for the week, I just pull out the container, measure on the scale and feed. I do MM/OM in the morning and RMB at night. I usually add things like eggs, tripe, yogurt, and fish oils to the MM in the morning.


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## balakai (Feb 9, 2005)

I only feed raw 3 dinners per week right now, so I freeze RMBs and MM separately, with enough in each container to feed all 3 dogs for one meal. 

~Kristin


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