# Starting on Raw food, suggestions on supplements?



## Ryan Aguirre (Jan 3, 2017)

Hi all,

New to the site and am looking for some guidance on starting a mixed kibble/Raw diet for my girl. Not mixed together, Raw in morning and kibble at night. Sammi usually does 2 cups of Kirkland Nature's Domain Salmon meal kibble twice a day+ training treats. 

Sammi is a 1 year old 75lb GSD that we recently adopted, we have no history for her eating habits in the past- other than the foster family used the Nature's Domain kibble. What I ultimately want to do is to start feeding 1 raw meal/day a few days a week. 

I started with a little bit of hamburger this morning, maybe 1/5th of a lb, and gave another 1/5th about an hour later. I'll give her a total of 4/5th's of a lb throughout the morning/afternoon. My plan is to do her kibble for the nighttime feeding. 

My question is, if I continue this for the first week to get her used to the hamburger, what should I add to give balance to the hamburger meal in the morning? I was thinking egg with shell would help in lieu of bones initially. Is there a supplement that can be given to help balance an initial diet that lacks bones and organs?


Follow up, what protein/fat % ground beef to you feed? 95/5, 90/10, 80/20, 73/27?

Thanks


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## melissajancie (Dec 22, 2016)

Bump! Good question and something that I need to know also!


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Egg shells are not a complete calcium source. The only time they should be used in lieu of bone is for a dog with kidney disease where phosphorus has to be limited.

IMO, you are starting this wrong. First you need to learn more about what is required for the diet. What is a complete source for bone, meat, organ. Second, dogs get their energy from fat, not carbs. But should not be high in fat or it can cause pancreatitis. 

If you want to start a raw diet, start with a commercial brand. I like Performance Dog by Tefco if you can find a distributor near you. It's inexpensive because there are no middle men between the manufacturer to the distributor so less mark ups. There are several other brands out there that are good.

Most people usually start off with chicken. Usually a chicken quarter which has the meat and bone in fairly close proportion. After a week or two, add the organ meat. Another week with no issues? Add a different protein source in.

Dr. Becker has a good book on raw and home cooked diets with recipes. It gives alternative bone sources (bone meals) and supplements.


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## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

Jax is correct.....you are going about this all wrong.

Hamburger is not a "Fresh Kill" so components to make a BALANCED DIET MUST be added.

Dr. Becker's book explains how to make a "meat mix" with fresh meat, organs and vegetables, a "vitamin mix" containing individual supplements that you grind together, eggs and sardines that are give multiple times per week, oils, probiotics/digestive enzymes, and, if bone is not in your meat, you add a bone meal supplement.

So it is not as easy as just giving hamburger at a meal. If you do, the dog will be missing vital nutrients (a complete and BALANCED diet), and could, eventually suffer various effects.

Jax suggested a commercially prepared BALANCED raw diet. That is what you should do until you fully research how to put a raw diet together.

Here are some other quality raw foods:
*Bravo:* Discover Balance Raw Diet | Beef Frozen Raw Dog Food Diet - Bravo Pet Food Find a store: Find a Bravo Retailer - Bravo Pet Food 
*Northwest Naturals: *Beef Recipe Ingredients - Northwest Naturals Find a store: Store Locator
*Primal: *Complete Raw Diets for Pets: Canine Beef Formula Find a store: Primal Pet Foods: Store Locator
*Darwins: *Home delivery: Darwin's Natural Pet Food 

Feeding calculator: Feeding, Transition and Safety for Raw Dog Food Diets

Hope this helps!
Moms


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## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

There is another way you can feed partial raw.

The Honest Kitchen Dehydrated food is 100% Human Food and is the only pet food in the USA that the FDA legally allows to use the words “Human Food” on their advertising and packaging.


They make a BASE MIX to which you add your own raw meat. https://www.thehonestkitchen.com/dog-food/base-mix 


Moms


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## Ryan Aguirre (Jan 3, 2017)

Thank you everyone that replied, I agree that I am going about this in the wrong way, that is why I asked this great community. I think that I need to get over my fear of giving Sammi a whole chicken thigh and just do it. I found a somewhat local store that carries the commercial raw food and will give that a try, thank you for the links.

We're going to stick with mainly Kibble for the foreseeable future and make raw foods a nice meal replacement treat from time to time. Sammi did seem like she was extra hungry yesterday, even after she got her kibble dinner. Her way of telling me that messing around with her diet is not a good thing unless I know what I am doing I guess. I also bought some plain yogurt and gave her a dollop last night to try and help with digestion. Sammi did not poop all day yesterday(read that this is normal with raw food, not as much waste) but she went this morning and I could tell the difference between the initial burger followed by the kibble waste. 

We are on night 5 of sleeping in her crate and she actually tried escaping to the point where she broke her food bowl(type that attached to the crate) and bent the crate wires pretty good. I have a security camera trained on her at night to make sure I can watch her until she goes to sleep. I am afraid that tonight is going to be worse. That is for a different post.

-Ryan


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## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

Ryan Aguirre said:


> I think that I need to get over my fear of giving Sammi a whole chicken thigh and just do it.


The bones in a chicken breast are much softer than a thigh, so I'd try that instead. 

The other thing you could do for added fresh nutrition is to mix some ground meat from your local market, like beef, turkey, or chicken, (about 1/4th cup) with warm water, add kibble, stir and let set for 15 to 20 minutes for kibble to absorb water, then feed. Make sure to refrigerate any leftover's. 

You also may want to try a kibble with higher quality ingredients to satisfy her:
Fromm's: https://frommfamily.com/ (family owned and manufactured)
Acana: https://acana.com/?lang=usa
Nature's Logic: Home - Nature's Logic
Nature's Variety: Nature's Variety


Moms


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