# Kibble/Raw mix?



## golfbum

Our 4 month old girl is on Orijin LBP right now and she is doing well on it! Her poops are great and her coat looks good. My only concern with it is that she is not crazy about her meals, and although she looks very healthy she is only eating 2.5-3 cups and day at best. She never really finshes her meals and she at times will look at and lay down on the other side of her crate. We tried a full raw diet but I got nervous that I was not doing it right and decided to research it more and move her to full Raw when she is older. She loved her meals and went nuts for them! I miss seeing her get so excited for her food and I know that I want to feed raw can I mix the two so she is getting the benefits of both? Maybe one AM feeding with raw and night with Kibble? Do most dogs not eat the kibble once they know raw is coming there next meal? Should I do a premade raw food so I know that I am getting everything she needs? 

When we tried Raw I fed 3 times a day 10 oz meals,
5.5oz RMB (mostly chicken wings, turkey necks, pork necks)
4oz MM (chicken Brest, venison, or ground beef/turkey)
.5oz OM (Chicken/Beef liver)

How much raw should I feed if I do mix the two, and how much kibble? Also what things should I add to her raw diet? She also gets some pumpkin, yogurt, and two pumps of Sal oil a day. Does she need a veggie mix? Maybe green tripe?


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## VaBeachFamily

I dunno if my answer will be correct... but here goes...

I heard that feeding them Raw and Kibble at the same time ( same meal) is NOT good, but both of my dogs eat kibble ( cullen orijen lbp, gizmo orijen senior) in the morning, and normally a little canned TOTW mixed in since i can't find any canned orijen... then lunchtime Cullen gets a bit of dry kibble, and dinner they get raw...

The way that I calculate it is.. I take their daily kibble needs, cut it in half... thats the kibble they get for the day.. and then with raw, i do the same.. and that's what they get. I am prob. not 100% correct, but it seems to be working for me.


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## RubyTuesday

I feed kibble supplemented with chicken leg quarters, gizzards & turkey necks. I sometimes add eggs, yogurt or cottage cheese. Djibouti, now 2, thrived on it. (He was fed Orijen LBP)

My guys love raw but they still gobble their kibble down. IF I'm out of raw & too busy to pick it up, they devour the kibble & do just fine. (I'm a kibble feeder who supplements with raw & not a raw feeder)

IF she's doing well, don't fret. Seriously. Fretful, nervous obsessive owners make picky eaters out of their perfectly normal, healthy pups. Unfortunately, with fussy eaters you can't gauge health by eating habits b/c those are 'normally' erratic. Selzer knew immediately that one of her dogs had something wrong when he was off his feed for even one meal b/c it was so at variance with his normal vigorous approach to eating.

I read once that food s/b be put down for 20", picked up & not provided again until the next feeding. This trainer also advised feeding persnickety eaters _less_ rather than more until good eating habits are established. Keeping 'em somewhat hungry makes food more appealing. I tried this with a picky eater I once had & it worked like a charm.

The key is developing a massive indifference to whether your healthy dog eats *this* meal or not. Certainly be aware of your dog's eating habits, foibles & preferences, but don't let yourself be emotionally vested in every mouthful s/he takes or declines. When s/he doesn't finish a meal don't rush to add gravy, switch to canned, provide beef instead of fish, sprinkle with cheese, add garlic, salt lightly & warm. 

When my cats dislike a food I listen to them. I can do this b/c they're not picky so I know they either truly loathe the stuff or there's something wrong with it. I'd listen to my dogs as well, but I haven't yet fed a dog food they dislike.

Anyone who's worried there's an underlying problem s/b taking the dog to the vet, NOT bribing it with ever more exotic foods. Dogs, IMO, should not be fussy eaters & really don't need to be. There are more productive ways to love & indulge our dogs than enabling bad eating habits.


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## JerzeyGSD

I used to feed Jerzey half raw and half kibble. I would recommend feeding two separate meals and not mixing the two. If you really want the benefits of a raw diet I wouldn't just supplement here and there, I would literally replace one kibble meal with a raw one.

So, since you're supposed to feed between 2-3% of your dogs expected adult weight I would feed 1-1.5%, or just half of the total you were feeding her before. Keep the proportion of RMB-MM-OM the same, it's just the total percentage your decreasing.

Word of warning, though, this WILL NOT HELP YOUR DOGS PROBLEM WITH KIBBLE. Jerzey was never too excited about her kibble and that only got worse with raw. Some days she would literally starve herself waiting for her raw dinner. I would hear her stomach growling and she would vomit bile from having an empty stomach but I would just leave the kibble on the ground and she wouldn't get raw until she ate it and, if she didn't eat it a few hours before dinner, than that was her only meal. If is very possible that you are simply feeding too much. If her weight looks good and she is healthy than you probably are. Jerzey eats Blue Buffalo and eats over a cup LESS than what the bag recommends for a dog her size.

But back to raw:

Adding a veggie mix is up to you. I don't think it's necessary. If you're willing to go the tripe route I think that that would come more highly recommended than a veggie mix because it's more similar to what a dog would eat in the wild. Remember that it has to be GREEN tripe, not the tripe you can buy at the grocery store.

I know that there are old posts about some kind of supplement that people will mix into their puppy's food just to cover all of their bases but I can't remember what it is. I would just go back and re-read any thread dealing with puppies to figure it out.

As far as pre-made raw, I've never done it so I'm not sure. It might not have the right amount of calcium but I'm not sure. Pre-made is really expensive, though, so you'd need to take that into consideration.


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## VaBeachFamily

Nupro I think it's called? or Nutro? I unno, it's expensive but I heard it's the best supplement you can use!

I am still trying to find Salmon Oil ... cheaper... I am paying 17 bucks a bottle at the pet store!


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## JerzeyGSD

I honestly just use 2 CVS brand Natural Fish oils pills and then supplement with 1 CVS Brand Natural Vit. E pill. 

I know that Fish Oil uses Vit. E to be absorded so I supplement with Vit. E. I've been trying to find a fish oil that already HAS the Vit. E in it but I haven't had any luck so far. At least, not with human pills. I don't bother buying specific dog fish oil because I KNOW it'll just be over priced.


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## RubyTuesday

Ashley, the feeding recommendations on dog food bags are ridiculously excessive. They're clearly designed to sell lots of dog food with no regard for canine health. Show rings parading bloated, over weight pudgesters further promote the notion that chubby dogs are desirable. (I literally cringe at the Labs & Rotties waddling around the rings. Worse, overwhelmingly these are still young dogs!)

I use the bottles of fish oil which are $25/qt. I need to price out if that's cheaper or more expensive than the capsules b/c my guys like 'em both but I've been too lazy. The bottles s/b cheaper but b/c they're specifically for pets that might not be the case. A pet peeve of mine (accidental pun) is the price gouging on products targeted for pets.


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## Anja1Blue

Here is a very good link which will give you info and recipes for mixing kibble and raw. It is very important to add a digestive enzyme to each meal you mix - raw digests very quickly in comparison to kibble (which can take all day), so you need to break down the dry to keep pace with the fresh meat......

www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/mixing-fresh-food-with-kibble/ 
___________________________________
Susan

Anja SchH3 GSD
Conor GSD
Blue BH WH T1 GSD - waiting at the Bridge


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## JerzeyGSD

RubyTuesday said:


> Ashley, the feeding recommendations on dog food bags are ridiculously excessive. They're clearly designed to sell lots of dog food with no regard for canine health. Show rings parading bloated, over weight pudgesters further promote the notion that chubby dogs are desirable. (I literally cringe at the Labs & Rotties waddling around the rings. Worse, overwhelmingly these are still young dogs!)


Oh, I _definitely _agree with you! Sure, Jerzey would probably eat more if I fed it to her but then she'd be HUGE. I don't know where they get these recommendations from.



> Here is a very good link which will give you info and recipes for mixing kibble and raw. It is very important to add a digestive enzyme to each meal you mix - raw digests very quickly in comparison to kibble (which can take all day), so you need to break down the dry to keep pace with the fresh meat......
> 
> Mixing Fresh Food with Kibble | B-Naturals.Com Newsletter


That's why I suggested to just feed it in two separate meals. I just think it's easier that way.


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## natalie559

I believe that raw and kibble digesting at different rates is just an internet myth that hasn't ever been proven. It is fine to feed the two together. I also believe the body makes its own digestive enzymes just fine unless there is a medical problem. No need to supplement those.


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## golfbum

Thanks for all the advice, we moved her back to 100% raw today. She loves her meals eats way better and I know that it is better for them. We are going to stick with just chicken for the first week and slowly add other meats weeks go by. How long should I wait to add tripe or a veggie mix? Today for her am feeding she got 4.5 oz of RMB (chicken wing) and 4 oz of MM (brest with skin) and .3 oz of liver. She has had all these before and done fine. She had an upset tummy yesterday so her meals will be light today and she will only get one more today. If she is good by tomorrow she will get 28 oz total for the day split between two meals and a snack.


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## JerzeyGSD

I would add in tripe or any veggie mix on it's own. Wait until she's settled with a few different kinds of meat, spread out over a few weeks of sllooowww integration, before adding them. I'd just treat it like a new protein source, just to make sure that her system can handle it well.


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## rjvamp

we do raw with some kibble at times....mostly freeze dried raw when we give kibble. Here lately we have had to use more kibble than fresh chicken ....with our small freezer and my schedule it has been a bit of a challenge for me here lately. They have only had about 3 meals over the past seven days that have been all raw. Their teeth are still pearly whites  Love those bones!


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## Lauri & The Gang

Feeding 100% raw is much easier to balance than trying to figure out how to balance raw and kibble.

I don't feed any vegetables except *green *tripe so I can't help you on that.

When I have a good source for *green *tripe I feed it 3-5 times a week at about 10% of their normal muscle meat portion. So Mauser, who gets about 15 ounces of MM at night, gets about 1.5 - 2 ounces of *green *tripe.


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## jjackson.gt

For one meal I give Major : 
1. I stuff my nutra-bullet with mixed greens and a 1/4 cup of plain yogurt and a dash of water. 
2. 1/4 a can of salmon (make sure it is in water with low sodium)
3. 1 cup of all natural kibble 
4. 1/2 cup of white rice 

i mix it all with my hands and he has not turned up his nose to the greens yet! I think the yogurt helps.


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