# help wanted: switching my puppy to raw food diet



## maya-newmama (Jul 25, 2008)

Hi! After 2 weeks of being unsure and feeding jager half-kibble-and-half-raw, I've finally decided I want to make the switch and go all the way raw (Jager seems to love raw better!). And guess what, when I asked my vet about it, he recommended the BARF diet too! So anyway, I've done some research but still don't have enough experience. So before I start, I was wondering if those feeding raw could help me out with some questions and comment on my planned diet for jager (3 month old GSD, weighs 8.5 kilos or 19 lbs):

1. Im planning to feed jager 3 times a day of 100 grams of ground beef + 20 grams of blended carrots or brocolli at every meal. (he wont eat the veggies if given separately). THEN for his 4th meal, 1 piece of raw meaty bone which usually weighs about 100 grams. This equals to 450-500 grams of food daily. Is this okay? he's kind of on the thin side so I want him to gain weight.

2. Im planning to blend carrots and brocolli with some water, then pre-pack a week's worth of it into packs of 20 grams each. Is it okay to keep blended veggies frozen for a week? Or better yet, Is it okay to pre-mix the blended beggies with the ground meat ahead, pre-pack it in 120g bags, and freeze it? Will it keep for a week? 

3. Is it okay to feed the liver / kidney / heart just once or twice a week, say every saturday/sunday (instead of a little every meal)? The local butcher requires me to buy the internal organs by "set" or "per animal slaughtered". One "set" could be about 4 to 5 kilos worth of heart+liver+kidneys etc. So if I feed jager a kilo a week... it'll take 4 weeks to consume one "set". I hear they dnt need that much of organs... is a kilo a week of internal organs too much? and How long do these internal organs keep when frozen? If i buy now will it keep till the end of the month?! :-O

4. I don't have a big freezer and work 8 hours a day mon-friday so I rely on our house help to feed jager lunch and dinner. If possible, I would like to make it easier for the house help and pre-pack his meals for the whole week. Any ideas and suggestions?

Thank you, looking forward to getting some great advise from all the helpful people in this forum 

maya franco


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## KCandMace (Apr 8, 2008)

There are going to be a lot to chime in here on this. 
But 500g is not enough. It should be around 900g. You want him to get about 10% of his body weight as a puppy and in the end ratio it down to 2% as an adult. So that would equate to about 900-950g for him. That is what we do for our pups, 5 and 6 months old. But we feed them twice a day.
We freeze our veggies after we have pureed them. They have kept fine. We don't mix the veggies and meat incase one goes bad.
For the organ meats we feed them chicken livers. They are small and easy to store. They get them about every other to every 3rd day and only half a liver each.
I bought a case of chicken livers, as that was the only way to get them. They have lasted the 2 months I have had them.
We bought a separate small freezer just for the dogs food. We bought it used to save money.
GL


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## maya-newmama (Jul 25, 2008)

Hi danielle, thanks for the 10% ratio tip, that makes it easier to compute. And thats right, chicken liver IS a good idea. I guess I just never thought of chicken liver because I keep thinking beef or pork whenever I think of feeding the dog. When I was growing up, we had a dog who died from eating chicken bone... I was only 9 then but I think the vet said something about chicken bones having a tendency to splinter and the sharp edge was poking his stomach (or something to that effect). Ever since then I would never ever feed chicken bone. But I know a lot of people on this forum do feed chicken bone... is this really safe? Jager can't seem to chew thru the hard beef and pork bones (it takes him DAYS) so im thinking now that chicken bone may be easier for him to chew... But Im just a lil worried...


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## tracyc (Feb 23, 2005)

raw chicken bones are entirely safe. it is cooked chicken bones that are dangerous and should never be fed to a dog. (ANY cooked bone is dangerous.) 

That's my assessment of your planned diet--there's no bone. And raw bones are an absolutely essential part of the diet. Much more essential than pureed vegetables. 

Ground beef is fine to feed as muscle meat, but that should be less than half the diet. The other half should be raw meaty bones--chicken, fish, rabbit, turkey, any other game bird---what are the small-animal meats available to you in the Philippines? I'm guessing you have great access to fresh fish--that would be a terrific food for your pup. 

Check out the Raw/BARF section of this board and read through the many threads. Lots of info, and lots of helpful, experienced raw-feeders. 

I also agree that 900 grams is a more appropriate amount of food per day, split into 2 or 3 meals. Of that 900 grams, approximately 400 should be muscle meat, 450 should be raw meaty bones, 50 organ meat. Veggies would be additional, and not more than 100 grams or so.


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## maya-newmama (Jul 25, 2008)

Thank you tracy! Fresh fish is available, but Chicken would actually be the easiest to get. Your advise on ratios of bone-meat-organ-veggie is very helpful, Im excited to start this diet! 

PS. Jager currently has diarrhea, the vet took a sample and found protozoa in his poop... :-( He's on medication and hopefully poop will go back to normal in 3 or so days. Im keeping my fingers crossed. If it doesnt Im gonna have to start another thread on that! :-/ On the bright side... apart from the diarrhea, he's still as active and happy as ever and has gotten over his separation anxiety. (only very little whining when i tell him to "kennel up").


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## KCandMace (Apr 8, 2008)

I just stocked up on chicken and turkey today.







I am thinking your dog had a cooked chicken bone, years ago, not a raw one.
I have give the pups bones from Fish, Rabbit, Deer, Turkey and Chicken. Everything went down find and watched it come out fine. When you read the Raw diet board you will see some people have been doing this for over 10+ years. Never anyone saying that Raw has killed any of there numerous pets. 
I don't give pork due to health reasons for the dogs. And beef will be recreational as they are just to big. Mace and Rex have not had all their puppy teeth come out yet.

I hope Jager feels better soon.


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## bosco146 (Jan 30, 2004)

I have never sat and watched my dogs eat, until I put them on raw. Its enjoyable to watch them tear into a chicken quarter for some reason.


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## mspiker03 (Dec 7, 2006)

> Originally Posted By: maya-newmama
> 3. Is it okay to feed the liver / kidney / heart just once or twice a week, say every saturday/sunday (instead of a little every meal)? The local butcher requires me to buy the internal organs by "set" or "per animal slaughtered". One "set" could be about 4 to 5 kilos worth of heart+liver+kidneys etc. So if I feed jager a kilo a week... it'll take 4 weeks to consume one "set". I hear they dnt need that much of organs... is a kilo a week of internal organs too much? and How long do these internal organs keep when frozen? If i buy now will it keep till the end of the month?! :-O


I keep meat frozen for way longer than a month! You should be fine. Also, for raw diet purposes, heart is considered a Muscle Meat and not an Organ Meat (liver and kidney are Organ Meats).

I am not going to comment on the amount (my conversion sucks).


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## larrydee33 (Feb 25, 2007)

If you are going to a totally raw diet I would add a supplement like Canine Complete at least in the beginning or till you get your dogs raw diet down pat. So you can be assured he is getting everything in his diet he is supposed to get.


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## maya-newmama (Jul 25, 2008)

Thank you everyone for such helpful advise. I've settled on this diet for jager for this week:
2 chicken quarters x 3 times a day
100 grams of chicken offal / liver + 2 spoons of carrot puree - once a day
= total of approximately 900 grams of food per day.

I also give 1 tablet of vitatroy vitamin supplement a day (thanks larrydee).

Oh and bosco146... I love to watch jager tear thru his chicken quarter too! Haha!


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