# 5 week old new to raw, help!



## Deco (May 9, 2013)

I just brought home a 5 week old puppy, he will be 6 weeks Friday. 

His owners were not too great, and I believe they just poured a bunch of Purina Puppy kibble into the yard with a bunch of other puppies and a 7 month old as well. I can feel his ribs pretty easily by running my hand down his side. 

The first day I fed him some of the Purina Puppy chow and he had pretty loose stool, and lots of it! 

I then gave him some raw food and he has been going to town on it, but now his stool is completely runny!

I gave him two chicken drumsticks last night along with an egg, 2 this morning, an egg at noon and 2 tonight. He has not tried gnawing on the bones, he just gets the meat off them and leaves them. 

From doing a little more reading, it seems I may be feeding him too much, as well as not enough bone. He did not eat the egg shells, although he tried a little bit today when I had fed him the shell, but gave up. 

He weighed 7 lbs last night, and the drumsticks are about 4.5 oz each give or take. 

Should I split them up into 4 meals of one each? I was also planning on giving him the bones from tonight for breakfast tomorrow. 

What other cuts of meat would be good for the tiny guy where he might actually eat the bones and get some variety with organs and such?

Any help would be appreciated, I feel a little overwhelmed with all the different types of meat and calculations, although I have seen that it is ok to feed just one type of protein for a week or two before adding more variety. 

I'm not sure if he is just getting used to the raw food instead of kibble, or if I'm doing something terribly wrong! 

Thanks


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## Mrs.P (Nov 19, 2012)

Calculations and ratios are for later you should really research the raw diet to death before you begin it -not much is worse than a poorly balanced/under researched diet -you'd be better off feeding a high-end kibble. But while you begin researching feed only one protein source for a couple weeks and let the stools firm up too much too soon is bad. Why the raw eggs? You started with chicken so feed only chicken (backs, quarters, ect) and no organs and a little more bone, maybe ground bone?,to help firm up stools for a week or two then say only beef for two weeks then pork ect ect. I would feed him 4 times a day because he is very young to be taken away from mom and littermates but that is another can of worms...


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

Have you taken the pup to the vet yet? First you should rule out worms and stomach bugs like giardia and coccidia.

Next for a pup this young, try some pre-made raw with ground bone. I think it is normal for some loose stool when first changing from kibble to raw, but it sounds like your pup came to you with loose stool problems - hence the vet visit. 

Not sure how much a five week old should be eating. For an 8 week old, it would be roughly 2lbs of raw a day, divided into three meals. Hoping that people with experience with such a young pup can help out. 

For variety, I'd stick with chicken: wings and necks would have smaller, softer bones than thighs and drumsticks, but add extra muscle meat. But try the pre-made first, or if you have a heavy-duty meat grinder, try grinding some up yourself. Add in some chicken liver for organ meat, and maybe ground beef for variety. But first have your pup checked out by a vet, then depending on his health, you can tackle the raw variety issue.


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## Deco (May 9, 2013)

Vet appointment set for Monday. Ill try to track down some chicken necks and wings. 

The dog was from an accidental litter, they were going to be sold regardless  

He seems to like the raw egg, could that be contributing to any problems like the diarrhea?


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## Gsdlover13 (Jan 9, 2013)

First of all take him to a vet...
then after just start feeding your puppy chicken
the runny stools is normal at first his stomach has to get used to the change...

just be patient and make sure he gets plenty of bone! the bone source
will help his
stools be less runny...good luck!


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

Hi Deco,

I would get your puppy to the vets today and not wait until Monday. 

You are also introducing far too many things at once. I have found that puppies that have been eating a very poor quality kibble have a harder time switching to raw. I would look into ground raw for awhile until your pup is older and stick to one protein source like chicken for at least a week. When I wean my pups onto raw I grind the foods and don't start introducing crushed whole pieces until close to 6-7 weeks. I don't know what is available in the Flagstaff area, but there might be people on here that could give you suggestions.


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

Personally, I would treat this puppy like I do when I wean mine from Mom to raw. Mine are small puppies but the process is the same.

At 4 weeks my puppies get fresh, UNPROCESSED goat's milk mixed with some ground turkey or chicken and start with that. They get this 4-5 times per day.

At 5 weeks I add in some ground RMBs and start decreasing the goats milk until it's completely gone by the end of the week.

At 6 weeks they get the middle section of a chicken wing (like a little leg) with the skin removed and I cut slices into the meat. They mainly suck/gnaw the meat from the bones. ** _With a GSD puppy you could probably use regular chicken legs._ ** I also start adding a different protein every other day (in the form of a premade ground RMB mix). I also start adding some organ meat.

At 7 weeks they start getting whole RMBs (I use Cornish hen wings for my little guys) along with their ground mixes. 

By 8 weeks they are on a very diverse diet with whole and ground foods (because they are so little I use mainly ground).


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