# Curious...Kibble feeding vs. Raw/Real



## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

kind of a crazy question...and I don't want to start the debate on Raw Vs. Kibble but I am curious about something.

For those who went from Kibble to Raw...

How do your guys approach the RAW food? Do they just go nuts and bonkers over it and ravage the bowl?...do they rip off the meat and then start knawing on the bones? 

I know the times I've fed cooked real meat, my guys just woof it down so fast...their eyes literally almost bug out of their heads and its almost a frenzy....I'm not joking, they seem like they've never been fed before. 

I guess the only reason I posted it here was I want a comparison between the Raw/real food feedings w/ kibble.


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

I feed partial raw and have nothing against it, Uno loves it (turkey necks are his favorite) and his teeth are immaculate due to feeding him RMB's. 

I remember when I first introduced it, Uno just kinda walked around, sniffed it, walked away, then came around and ended up burying it in the backyard. He still tries to bury it when he's not hungry, but I think he took to it rather well and I havent had any real issues besides vomiting chunks of bone at one point, but I think ribs are too hard for him because he tries to eat them and breaks little pieces away which then irritate his stomach and he pukes it out.


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## Jester's King (Mar 12, 2010)

I switched my dog to raw just after his first birthday. While on kibble, he was not a picky eater, jut not enthusiastic about food... I would free feed him and at times he would skip a whole day and often only ate one meal a day. His weight while growing up always fluctuated between perfect and slightly underweight (for a puppy).
The first day I gave him a chicken leg quarter, he looked at it briefly with confusion, then after a couple of licks was like he just figured out what real food was all about. He doesn't ravage the bowl or rip meat of like I see wild wolves eat. But he is ALWAYS ready for a meal and will follow me around any time I am carrying a bag of any raw meat... The smell hypnotizes him! How he eats depends on the cut of meat, but he is not a gulper unless eating cut up bits of stuff like liver or heart. Bone-in items get a very thorough chewing before swallowing large chunks with bone and meat going down together. i.e. he doesn't really chew the meat off the bone for the most part. In short, he loves the change!


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## schtuffy (May 17, 2010)

The first time I fed Louis raw, I gave him a chicken wing and it took him 45 minutes to finish it. He would lick it, lick his bowl, pick it up, drag it around, put it down, lick it, move it....he would repeat this for 20 minutes or so before he even started to gnaw at it. Now he dances and bounces whenever I take the sandwich baggie out of the fridge/freezer. He has gotten a lot faster at eating his raw, but he is still figuring it out and will still start out by licking it all over for 5 minutes. Louis was never a picky eater, but he does jump a whole lot faster and higher when I take out his little raw meats! It's definitely a noticeable change in his excitement level. Although he does not wolf his raw down the way he does with his kibble, I think it is obvious that he anticipates his raw meals so much more.

I also feed him partial raw. Sorry to hijack the thread, but I was always curious how other partial raw feeders did their feeding schedules. How many meals a week? Which type of meat do you feed? Do you feed organs too?


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

kevin bradley said:


> kind of a crazy question...and I don't want to start the debate on Raw Vs. Kibble but I am curious about something.


No question is a crazy one :wink:



> For those who went from Kibble to Raw...
> 
> How do your guys approach the RAW food? Do they just go nuts and bonkers over it and ravage the bowl?...do they rip off the meat and then start knawing on the bones?


I switched two of my dogs from kibble to raw about two years ago. At first they had no idea what to do with it. They had lost all concept of what it is to be a real dog and eat real foods. This is an innate behavior that every dog is born with but after years of eating processed kibble puffs they lose. It took about three days of the tough love approach for them to get the hang of it. It took a bit of tough love with every new protein we added in, its like they had to learn how to eat each and every RMB. The whole transition process took a few months. But even after just a few weeks they would go nuts for their food much more than they ever did with their kibble.

Every dog is different in the way that they eat. Akasha is what we call a "gulper" who basically chomps a chicken quarter two or three times and then swallows the rest. Then there are dogs like Emmy who will take her time to eat, maybe 10 minutes for a chicken quarter. I don't think that many dogs will sit there and rip the meat off the bones of a chicken quarter but would with a RMB that the bone isn't really "edible" or consumable like beef ribs or the head of a prey item (lamb or goat, etc).

Using bowls is the thing of the past when feeding raw. There really is no need for a bowl unless you feed something that needs to be in a bowl, like chunked stew meat or canned fish. We hardly use them anymore, maybe once a month tops. But when we do, they lick the bowl clean...



> I know the times I've fed cooked real meat, my guys just woof it down so fast...their eyes literally almost bug out of their heads and its almost a frenzy....I'm not joking, they seem like they've never been fed before.


Its different with raw meat, because in the beginning you NEED to feed raw, bone in meat pieces and the part that boggles dogs is the bone in part. They are not used to eating bones like this so they have no idea what to do with it. 

Cooking of meat brings out a lot of flavor, from the fat, etc. Eventually you'd get the same reaction over raw meats that you do with cooked meats. Dogs just have to figure it out LOL



> I guess the only reason I posted it here was I want a comparison between the Raw/real food feedings w/ kibble.


Typical meal time at our house:

Take the container of meat thawed out from the night before outside on the patio.

All four of the dogs are at my heels waiting for it. 

I hand out a RMB to each one, and they all take it to their corners of the yard. 

They always come back looking for more, just depends on if I give them more LOL

Then they spend some time cleaning their paws and take a nap like they're completely satisfied :wink:

Why are you wanting to compare the two?


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

Natalie,

You know I'm curious....have been for awhile now. 

A friend gave me a mess of freezer burnt chicken(actually wasn't that bad) but she didn't want it. I wasn't completely comfortable just giving them a bunch of raw chicken...I know, don't scold me, I was just hesitant...

So I threw it all(there was a lot) into the biggest pot I had, cooked it up and put it back in the fridge for the last week or so....just adding a bit to their Acana kibble here and there. I also used it for treats. 

My guys love Acana and I've NEVER had them leave anything in their bowl but I have to say...when I give them REAL chicken....it is a feeding frenzy. 

One of my guys..."Harry" likes to play this game when I try to get him inside...at night or when I have to leave the house, he will just sit in the back of the yard. 

Until now...whenever I have chicken in the fridge, all I have to do is dangle one piece of chicken out the door and its a literal straight line SPRINT to the door. 

net/net....Just curious :wink:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

It doesn't surprise me one bit your dog didn't take to the raw chicken right away, mine didn't. Plus you don't want to start off with boneless chicken...that will just be a setup for disaster.

Once my dogs got the hang of eating whole raw foods, they love it 100X more than they ever did with kibble. Plus their body condition is much better now, they were always pretty skinny and lanky on kibble. They have much better lean muscle mass now!


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

Natalie,

No, I never tried to give them RAW....I'm sure they would have ate it. I just wasn't comfortable doing it, haven't read up on it, wasn't sure of the process, etc...

I just cooked it in the pot(seriously, there was mess of chicken in that bag) and put it in the fridge for the last week or so. 

You have to see the eyes of my guys(especially Harry who is super duper intense)...I love it because I know it makes them happy. Coupled w/ what you guys tell me...yeah, I'm sure I'll end up there soon. Heck, I'm already giving them enough real chicken to probably call me a partial real feeder. 

Though admittedly, I'm still feeding lots of kibble.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

What's keeping you from making the switch? Or at the very least reading up on it? I think as soon as you start reading up on raw a little light bulb will go off and you will put it all together yourself. That is what happened to me at least :wink:


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

danemama08 said:


> What's keeping you from making the switch? Or at the very least reading up on it? I think as soon as you start reading up on raw a little light bulb will go off and you will put it all together yourself. That is what happened to me at least :wink:



Nat,

I will....I know I need to. My life is in chaos...just everyday stuff...house is a disaster and summer remodeling.... just one more thing I haven't had time to do. Crap excuses, I know. 

Aside from your and others endorsements, I just can't get over the frenzy my guys go into over real food. That alone has me real jazzed up.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Thats great. I feel ya with life being hectic. We are looking at moving soon, so getting everything ready for that. You have to do things when you feel comfortable doing them...but you're already headed in the right direction!


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