# Raw Diet, help? (moved to raw forum)



## BlakeGsd (Mar 2, 2014)

Hi, I have a 1 year old that is 83 pounds and I just switched him to a raw diet about over a week ago. I had also switched to a new kibble called "canidae" which is suppose to have only 8 ingredients. I would feed him that in the morning and raw diet at night. Yesterday he turned down his kibble (Doesn't surprise me because ever since I brought him home he was on Blue Buffalo and we had to take him off because his body wasn't agreeing with it and would refuse to eat it, so we switched him to Natural Balance. He then turned that down after putting broth in it or anything that would entice him to eat. So, I started reading about raw diets and how they're so much better for them. I can't afford raw diet all the time, so I got the dog food Canidae since I read great things about the dog food, but it's happening where he turns it down and wont eat anything.) So I made him a chicken stew, cooked the chicken (without any bones), vegetables, and 1 egg. He wouldn't eat it, I took him outside and he had diarrhea along with eating grass. I gave him kaopectate and shortly after he ate. This morning he turned down his food again and wanted to eat grass. Gave him kaopectate again and shortly after he ate only a little bit of his food which was ground beef with some vegetables and barley. I put the rest away in the fridge for now. Do you think I should only feed him once a day? Or should I wait and see what happens since I took him off kibble totally and his body is trying to figure out whats going on? I'm all new to this so any information is great!  Thank you.


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## wdkiser (May 7, 2013)

Sorry to hear you are having trouble switching, but I went through a similar situation when switching our girl to raw. I too thought it was too expensive to switch completely, but have found better resources and now it is cheaper to feed raw. Once I switched both of our dogs to raw, I no longer even worry about their stools. They are more muscular, healthier, and happier. My mutt wouldn't eat turkey, but my GSD loved it. I decided my mutt was being picky, so I figured he would eat it if he got hungry enough and he did after skipping a couple meals. Now he loves it. 

As far as the cost goes, you'd be surprised what you can find. Figure out how much you pay per pound for kibble, then you know when you are saving money when you buy meat. One good source I have found is WalMart. 10lbs of chicken leg quarters is $5.90 or $0.59 per pound. You can't buy a quality dog food for anywhere near that price. You add in in some organ meat and eggs or whatever else you want to include and you are still well below quality kibble prices.

If it were me, I would switch completely to raw and I would let them settle down to a steady meal composition. That's just me. But that is what worked for me and I don't even have to think about their meals any more and they love it.


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## Flutter (Aug 2, 2013)

You can't compare cost per pound between raw and kibble. They're way too different. Raw is wet, it contains water and blood. Kibble is dry. You can't ignore the moisture content when comparing weights, moisture is heavy. You could compare cost per calorie though even that would be difficult due to bio-availability and digestibility.


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## wdkiser (May 7, 2013)

Compare per serving then.


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## Flutter (Aug 2, 2013)

Depends on the area you live in and the sources available to you  In my area the cheapest sale on chicken right now is leg quarters at $2/lb.


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## katro (Feb 26, 2013)

If you find a co-op or raw supplier you can get much better deals (and variety) than what's at the supermarkets. Don't know where the OP is located, but I buy from MyPetCarnivore and it's cheaper than the Merrick I was feeding + vet visits for the constant "butterscotch pudding" poops Ralphie was having.


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