# Our Switch to Raw...



## kaitrinn7 (Aug 14, 2009)

First, I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who takes time to post their experiences, thoughts, and opinions on this board. It really is a life saver.

My husband and I purchased a German Shepherd pup about 3 weeks ago and were really torn about whether or not to feed raw or kibble or a combo. I was reading every site I could find about the pro's (and con's) and even asked about it here in the forums. While we both felt it would be way better for Sieger (our pup), we were both tentative to do something that we could potentially totally screw up and cause him more harm than good. Talk about stressed, lol.

We had finally decided we would go for the raw, and then we made the mistake of telling that to our vet. Of course, she promptly poo-poohed the idea and told us the horror stories of improperly developed skeletons etc in dogs she had seen who were fed "recipes from a home kitchen", and so of course, once again, we said, ok, we'll stick to kibble until he is out of puppy stage then switch.

Thankfully, that thought lasted all of 15 minutes for me and I was back here and back on the net looking at raw feeding again, I just couldn't get settled about feeding him kibble. 

Oh, and about his kibble....he was eating Royal Canin Maxi Large Breed Babydog, vet recommended.

In all the looking around I came across a wonderful website that directed me to another website to buy raw dog food, all natural, balanced, with RMB, MM, and OM, plus veggies- pretty much the total package from what I had been seeing as far as recipes goes, and nothing else, no fillers, no yuck, and all human grade, no hormones, no antibiotics, etc..

After reading almost the entire website and really liking what we were seeing, we came across something awful that we didn't know- when kibble is going bad, or is bad- it "sweats" the grease out.

We thought Sieger's kibble was just kinda wet....nope, turns out, we had been feeding our pup rotten kibble. So, kibble is bad enough in my mind, but now we've moved onto feeding him bad kibble.
Guess that would explain why he hadn't been eating much the past 2 days, and why he never ate a big amount any other time either...we had really been concerned, yet the vet was like, oh he's fine, they can be off food sometimes.
I knew he wasn't fine because he didn't seem fine, and didn't look fine. He scratches all the time, he has dry skin, his coat is dull, and he was even a little underweight, even though GSD are supposed to be lean, he was beyond that.

Well, that bit of info about how the kibble goes bad was horrible for us to see, as well as good. Horrible because of course, who wants to find out they have been unintentionally poisoning their pup, but good because we knew then and there no matter what the vet said, he was being switched to raw. Like it could be worse at this point! We found all this out Wed. night.

(Long story!) So, Thursday morning he happily ate 2 chicken necks (we did give him those already from time to time) and we went and bought his new food Steve's Real Food from Whole Foods and he got that for lunch and dinner yesterday. 

Can I just say that for the FIRST time since he came home with us on August 1st, he ate every bite and in about 3 minutes flat! He has never eaten all of anything, and it always took ages for him to eat. He was literally prancing around the kitchen at dinner time and bolted to his dish area when I went to give it to him, it was all he could do to sit for me before he got it!
I called my husband to tell him about the lunch and dinner thrill and he was surprised, I think he thought I was exaggerating, lol. I can't even explain how happy I was, and how at peace I felt watching him eat, and eat something I really felt 100% good about!
He actually got one more chicken neck for a snack after dinner too- couldn't have been happier mom gave him a chicken neck!

This morning my husband fed him so he could see how Sieger acted, again, the "could barely contain himself to get to his breakfast" happened, and he had seconds! He's never eaten all of his "firsts" let alone seconds!! 

Now, I know it's only been barely 2 days, but so far, we have already noticed changes. He eats, which is a huge change. He is happy to eat, and his overall mood/temperment is just more "settled". His breathing seems relaxed, I mean, I know pups breath faster, but he seemed like he was breathing faster and stressed if that makes sense. He just seems to breathe "calmer". He just seems like things are right in his little world.

I hope to see the scratching go away, and his skin and coat improve, and see some weight on him. 

So, again, thanks everyone for all the info and posting. We will be preparing our own raw food for him as we get more sure about the right combinations and such, right now the Steve's is perfect for us, and good for Sieger, at least we can be sure right now he is eating good after the past couple weeks of not.

Thanks for reading! Just had to share!


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## Brightelf (Sep 5, 2001)

Yaaaaayyyy







Kait and Baby Sieger!







Woohoo!!


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## aubie (Dec 22, 2008)

Way to go!! 

Once you get into preparing raw meals you'll see they are not that hard...they take more time to prepare, but I actually kinda enjoy the butchering I do every two weeks or so. It feels good to know I have control over what my dogs eat. 

DH calls it my hobby. I even made an excel sheet with the feeding guides from Lauri's sheet to know exactly how much of what I need to buy every two weeks and the costs. 

And as always there are tons of people here with great help, advice and knowledge to help you out!


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## Tbarrios333 (May 31, 2009)

Good job!
Don't let the vets intimidate you! 
My vets treat me like a dumb bimbo who doesn't know squat about dogs, but at least I try to educate myself!








They just stick to what they know most of the time. Which isn't much when it comes to nutrition hehe.


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## JerzeyGSD (Jun 26, 2008)

Hey, you're braver than me. Our vet knows _nothing_ about Jerzey's raw diet! 

Congratulations to you and your husband for venturing into raw.







Keep us updated on your progress with the diet!


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## kaitrinn7 (Aug 14, 2009)

aubie- any chance there is a thread to Lauri's feeding guides sheet? Or to yours? I would love to see one for an idea. I did see Lauri's post with what and amounts she feeds and of course her website so basically I have a decent idea and foundation. Actually got the most understandable info I have read so far from reading Lauris site, and many of the posts here. Because I am new to all this (in the past I've always just fed my dogs kibble, and it's been about 6 years since last dog) I am probably over nervous.

Another drawback is obtaining the RMBS and MM locally. We bought a 40lb box of chicken necks from one of the meat butchering shops locally, and the majority of the necks I wouldn't even consider feeding to my dog. Most of them look all freezer burnt. We live in Bend, OR and so far from what I can find, there just aren't resources to buy what I need to make my own.


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## aubie (Dec 22, 2008)

Here's the link to the Excel sheet on Lauri's site:

http://www.rawdogranch.com/HowMuchToFeed.htm

Then I took the info from Lauri's spreadsheet and entered it into my own so I would know how much to buy. I can't upload it from where I am right now, but I'll try to get it loaded tomorrow.


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

Our spreadsheet has a sheet that shows totals by week and month.


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## kaitrinn7 (Aug 14, 2009)

I should have seen that when I was on the site ;/ Thanks so much for posting it aubie- appreciate your time!









Lauri, your website is great, I am anxiously awaiting the puppy info pages







Thanks for having such great info!


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## StarryNite (Jun 2, 2009)

I give Lulu pre-prepared (packaged) K9 Kraving for breakfast and chicken quarter and breast for dinner. I add salmon oil to her breakfast but that is about it. She is in perfect form and doesn't scratch at all anymore. She used to scratch a lot before switching to raw, she also drinks a ton less water since the switch. Congrats on the switch! I could never go back to kibble even though I do give her a bit of TOTW here and there as a snack, it is a high quality grain free kibble.


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## aubie (Dec 22, 2008)

Okay, here's a link to my spreadsheet...I don't know if it makes sense, but basically, I take the ounces needed for a two week period of each dog (from Lauri's awesome spreadsheet!), convert to pounds, then add the pounds numbers together so I know how much of what I need to buy.

Then I enter what I buy, like a 10 lb bag of chick quarters and then I know how much more RMB I need to buy, same for OM and MM. The negative numbers you see is how much I have left over that I can carry onto my next feeding schedule. 

It just helps me when shopping since thing come in amounts like 1.46 lbs, this helps me with the math so I have pretty exact amounts. Keep in mind, my dogs are on a 50/50 diet so when I go full raw, this totals will be doubled, that's why they may seem small right now.

http://www.2shared.com/file/7322451/b56b84e3/Meal_Plan.html

(at the bottom of the page under the URL, hit "click here" to open or save the file)


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## DrDoom (Nov 7, 2007)

> Originally Posted By: kaitaubie- any chance there is a thread to Lauri's feeding guides sheet? Or to yours? I would love to see one for an idea. I did see Lauri's post with what and amounts she feeds and of course her website so basically I have a decent idea and foundation. Actually got the most understandable info I have read so far from reading Lauris site, and many of the posts here. Because I am new to all this (in the past I've always just fed my dogs kibble, and it's been about 6 years since last dog) I am probably over nervous.
> 
> Another drawback is obtaining the RMBS and MM locally. We bought a 40lb box of chicken necks from one of the meat butchering shops locally, and the majority of the necks I wouldn't even consider feeding to my dog. Most of them look all freezer burnt. We live in Bend, OR and so far from what I can find, there just aren't resources to buy what I need to make my own.


Well, to be fair, freezer burnt isn't really a problem for the puppers. Bear gets freezer burnt meat from time, to time, and he generally treats it like all the other meat, mainly, "Um, hey! Is there more?" LOL!
Seriously, though. Freezer burnt is fine. In fact, Bear got a treat this week when I found some venison sausage I'd gotten from a hunter friend of mine LAST SEASON, lol. Straight in with the muscle meat, lol! Bear was like "Mmmmm...deer? Out of season? What did I do to deserve this?" LOL!


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