# Raw Diet questions



## Lesley1905 (Aug 25, 2010)

Hi! I'm new to this website so bare with me. I have a 12 week old puppy named Brody. I'm a little confused on the best food for him. I've been pulled in the raw direction and the kibble direction by my vet. His breeder fed him a combo of natures variety rabbit and TOTW kibble. He has Giardia, which seems to be a difficult thing to kick from what I read. Right now I'm feeding him Bravo Chicken and Turkey for breakfast and lunch. And for dinner I'm trying to feed him Solid Gold Large Breed kibble for dinner. He has a some diarreah after the kibble. I want him to get the best nutrition possible. The Bravo tubes are just so expensive and I would like to buy the meat myself, I just really don't know how much and of what to give him. Plus I read about people adding in all these supplements to their dogs raw diets...which makes it seem like it can be expensive. If anyone could help that would be great. I just need a guideline of what I should be feeding him raw wise as a puppy and if supplements are needed, which ones? My vet isn't supportive of the raw diet so he's not a big help!


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

Hi there, 

I know you PM'd me but I find it easier to post here. 

This is what I did with Stark, there are many ways to feed raw but this is how I do it.

First off, I estimate his *adult ideal weight*, so this means that I have to know his sire and dams size, talk to the breeder and look in his pedigree and compare and guesstimate. 

Once I have the adult ideal weight, then I figure out what 2% of that weight it. So, Stark was estimated to weigh 100lbs (which I don't think he is going to get too as he is 17 months and 79lbs). I will use 100lbs for this example though so not to confuse you too much.

So, 2% of 100lbs is 2lbs.

Once I have how much food I need to feed per day, I need to break that down into categories. 

RMB - Raw meaty bones (edible bones with some meat on them)
Ex. chicken backs, chicken quarters, turkey necks, turkey quarters, chicken wings, riblets (pork or beef), etc..

MM - Muscle meat (muscle meats with no bone)
Ex. chicken breast, ground beef, pork or beef hearts, chicken gizzards, etc.

OM - Organ meat 
Ex. liver, brains, kidneys

I use the equation of:

50% RMB
45% MM
5% OM

So, using the 2lbs that I calculated before and putting in the %'s from the above equation I get:

RBM (50%) - 1lbs
MM (45%) - 14.4 ounces
OM (5%) - 1.6 ounces

This is what Stark gets every day. I feed him once per day NOW but with a puppy I tried to feed him 2-3 times per day. I just break up the meal into three small ones. Plus with all the healthy training treats puppies get, that was sufficient.

I am just getting ready for work, so I am doing this in kind of a hurry, if you have any questions or need me to clarify just PM me again.


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## Lesley1905 (Aug 25, 2010)

Thank you sooo much!! I really appreciate it! That makes it so much easier the way you broke it up! Is there anything that I should hold off giving him until he is older? Or is everything pretty much ok?


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## Lesley1905 (Aug 25, 2010)

Oh yeah..one more thing...do you add any supplements to his diet at all? I see people talking about it sometimes, and then I see some people dont!?


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

Lesley1905 said:


> Thank you sooo much!! I really appreciate it! That makes it so much easier the way you broke it up! Is there anything that I should hold off giving him until he is older? Or is everything pretty much ok?



I would start with chicken to begin with, easier on the tummy. After a week or two of say chicken backs and ground chicken then I would add in another MM say, ground beef. You can hold off on giving him the organ meat for a few weeks too if you like.

You usually start with one protein source at a time to allow the body to get use to it and to determine allergies if there is any, but with a young dog I just start off giving everything, that's just my preference though.


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

Lesley1905 said:


> Oh yeah..one more thing...do you add any supplements to his diet at all? I see people talking about it sometimes, and then I see some people dont!?


I give him raw eggs (shell and all) about 4-5 times per week (sometimes no shell) and I just started (a few weeks ago) to give him Vit. C (500mg) twice per day.


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