# Want to switch puppy to RAW-- Mom disagrees



## dystopiamachine (Jul 8, 2010)

Hey, how are you guys.  I have a 14 week male rescue GSD(maybe a mix) that is now the love of my life. His temper is amazing (besides silly puppy stuff) and he trains quickly, just need a little bit more potty training work and I'm gonna claim my Spencer the best puppy out there... but of course everyone says that. 

The only issue I'm having right now is that, as I read up on a lot of puppy stuff, I've been taking a liking to RAW diets since of course dogs are obligate carnivores, no one should expect them to thrive on just a kibble meal. I also hear that the dog's health is better, the coat is shinier, they smell better etc. So I wanted to give it all a try!

Unfortunately my mother disagrees, and she funds most of his meals. She was brought up in the ages where dogs were fed low quality kibble and tied to trees, so she thinks that all this house training and different diets and everything I'm doing to give Spencer THE BEST QUALITY OF LIFE I CAN are nonsense.

Right now, Spencer is fed on plain ol' puppy chow (yikes!) and I'm doing my best to convince her to at the very least put some raw meat into his kibble. The only thing she seems to want to agree to (at least marginally) is raw eggs and what she calls 'crap meat'-- turkey necks, organ meats and such.

My question is, what is the best way to go about this for a 14 week old puppy, and in a way that will at least be somewhat satisfactory for my mother? What meats should he or shouldn't he eat and in what amounts? I don't want to talk about percentages of minuscule elemental properties, fatty acids, phosphates and all that crazy stuff-- I just want to feed my poor puppy something better!

So, that being said, can you guys help me?


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Do a presentation for your mother weighing the pros and cons to the diet she is supplying...then get a job, do chores or whatever to fund what you'd really like to feed. The threads here are full of info on nutrition, you wouldn't have to do much research-its already been done over and over by the board members here!
edit:
Your mom should be proud that you are showing responsiblity in trying to provide the best for your rescue, and thanks for rescuing!


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

Well, the things she's agreeing to aren't so bad. Maybe set up a budget of how much it would cost- chicken leg quarters can be found on sale often, yogurt, sweet potatoes, frozen green beans aren't expensive items. You can get some fairly decent dry foods at feed or bulk food stores and supplement with raw if you can't go all the way raw. Good for you for wanting the best for the best dog in the world! I bet your mom will be willing to meet you halfway, and if she does, great! Halfway is better than nothing, right?


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## dystopiamachine (Jul 8, 2010)

@onyx'girl: I used to have a job but currently I'm on disability for a back injury, most of my money that's not going to school goes to the puppy. Still my mother helps (he really is the whole family's dog) and I'm very thankful for that, but she needs to drop her old school ways! Thank you though.


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## Mac's Mom (Jun 7, 2010)

onyx'girl said:


> Do a presentation for your mother weighing the pros and cons to the diet she is supplying...then get a job, do chores or whatever to fund what you'd really like to feed.


I agree with these statements 100%.

We feed Mac kibble but supplement it with chicken hearts. My cousin's vet said turkey is better. Thats us. Good luck!


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

I would convince her first to switch his dog food to a better kibble with a low-calcium content. 

Then do research on RAW, because while you might not think the percentages matter, they do. A LOT. And you have to be very close to exact with everything or he won't have a balanced diet.


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## dystopiamachine (Jul 8, 2010)

@DJEtzel: Alright, thank you.  I'll do some research.


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## Mac's Mom (Jun 7, 2010)

Mac loves yogurt pops. Also, dog bones with marrow are a great treat. They're around a buck each.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

I'm sorry about your back, from the sounds of it, I was thinking you were a teen, of course I jumped to conclusions, but we have quite a few on the site that are younger, living w/ parents.
I hope your back injury heals, that must really be hard to deal with....and that your new family member will aid you in your recovery!
If you can afford anything better than purina chow, I'd suggest Wellness super5mix large breed puppy or Blue Buffalo. You wouldn't have to feed as much as the pup will utilize the better ingredients, there isn't the filler as in puppy chow. Also, you could supplement with table foods that are healthy to cut down on the kibble amounts if your mom is ok with that.
Some butchers or meat processers have pretty cheap dog food grinds and fresh raw knucklebones for chewing. When you get chewbones at pet stores they are usually pricey, dried out and not a bit of nutritional value with them and some may be dangerous as they splinter-smoked bones a no no. 
I would go with the butcher type stores for these(btw, marrow is rich and can cause runny stools, so knucklebones or soupbones are better for the digestive system)


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## dystopiamachine (Jul 8, 2010)

@onyx'girl: Hah, no problem.  I kinda left room for assumptions seeing how I didn't exactly explain my familial situation, it's really my fault. I keep hearing good things about Blue Buffalo and I'm thinking of giving that a try if all else fails. We do have a lot of healthy food in the house (such as chicken breast) so I'll read up on that too. We have no real quality butcher shops in our area but a couple chain stores I believe will sell a small stock of knucklebones, I'll go check that out. Thank you. 

@Mac's Mom: I hear a lot of good things about marrow bones, and thanks for the price estimate! I'll look around for yogurt pops too.


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## Mac's Mom (Jun 7, 2010)

Dysto - My husband makes the yogurt pops. Buy large containers of plain yogurt, mix in some ground up dog treats for flavor (optional), poor it into ice cube trays or dixie cups and freeze. 

What are knucklebones? We might be interested in those too.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Knucklebones are the cartiledge type elbow or knee cut up. Grocers use to sell soup bones which are the same thing. I am lucky to get a local butcher to sell about 4# for a buck a bag. They also sell dog food grind(beef, pork, liver) for 50cents a pound. I don't feed this often because it is really fatty, but sometimes mix it with other food. Worth checking out the "before-grocery" source to get the renderings!


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## Relayer (Apr 29, 2010)

Just the fact that your mom is allowing the meat as extra good food is pretty cool. The raw supplement he gets is way better than the puppy chow alone. Good work.


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