# First raw meal just enjoyed...why am I so nervous????



## ZoesMom (Oct 5, 2010)

I just started my 4 yr old lab hound on raw.....literally she just ate her first meal and I am a nervous wreck. She is a sickly thing with allergies (environmental we're pretty sure) and has a sensitive stomach so I just felt that after researching raw that it's the best diet for a dog. Since we adopted her in 2010 she has been on Acana grain free kibble with a little grain free wet mixed in. I'm doing kibble in the morning and then raw at night for a few days to transition her. Being so nervous I decided that for now I'm going to feed her Small Batch brand pre-made mixes I buy frozen from my local pet store who sells mainly raw food. Once I am more comfortable I will start feeding her like it seems most of you on here do fresh raw food. I started her on chicken medallions which the package said is a complete and balanced diet with free range chicken including muscle meat, bones, chicken hearts and liver. 

Now finally for my question....she is currently very regular so in the AM she goes out on our walk and does her business right away on schedule and again in the afternoon. With her being on raw now will she most likely keep her potty schedule or since it digests so much faster should I expect her to want to go out earlier than normal? I'm not sure what to expect in the potty department or if there is anything else I should expect.

Thanks!


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## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

I didn't transition my guys like that so I'm not sure. We went from kibble one day to raw and I can say their poop is much smaller and they don't have to go as often. Most will poop once a day but sometimes they'll even go a day without pooping. I had a million questions at first and was nervous but I think you'd do best to just jump in there and let your dog have the full raw experience. I have several dogs with health issues and they are all much better. 
Lots of luck though! You've come to a great forum for answers! :smile:


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## DeekenDog (Aug 29, 2011)

I would have a look at this link: Quick Start | Prey Model Raw

Personally, I wouldn't use the mix to transition her. Because it contains chicken hearts and liver, you're more likely to see digestive upset which could definitely throw off her potty schedule. We typically recommend starting with chicken backs with all skin and organs removed and the reason for this is because its really bone heavy without anything rich that might cause digestive upset. If you want to start with ground, I would try to find something that is only chicken and bone without any organ or heart. When I started feeding raw, I also started with ground mixes because I hadn't done any research on PMR. If I were to transition again, I wouldn't bother with them but I totally understand being nervous and wanting to use them initially. 

You don't need to be worried about balancing the diet in the beginning. Balance is achieved over time and using many different protein sources. I would ditch the kibble, its not needed and, again, you might see some digestive upset since she has more things in her system.


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## Makovach (Jan 24, 2012)

I also did not transition that way. I fed kibble, fasted for 24 hours and started raw. 

I would think her habits may change.


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## ZoesMom (Oct 5, 2010)

Thanks for the great reply's....so many knowledgeable raw feeders on here! So should I not give kibble in the morning and just keep going with raw? At the pet store they said I could just go right to raw and gave me some digestion powder to add to the food while she is first starting out on raw. But for some reason I really thought I should transition her with kibble in the AM and then raw in the PM for the first 5 or so days. Depending on how the night goes I guess I could continue raw in the AM. 

Deekendog - I'm most nervous about giving bones. She is kind of a gulper....with her kibble she didn't really chew and the first time I gave her a chicken neck as a recreational bone for her teeth, even after I cut it in two she took it and swallowed it in one bite. I freaked out. I'm not sure how to 'teach or show' her to chew so again I'm nervous. Thanks again for all the great advice. This forum is going to get me through my nervousness with raw!


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## Kat (Jul 12, 2011)

I think everyone gets scared when first feeding raw because its completely new and you dont know what to expect. I held the bone in a death grip the whole time Ruby ate her first chicken drumstick lol. Eventually watching a dog eat raw becomes fun, its cool watching them crunch into the bone and enjoying their meal.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

Part of the problem could be a chicken neck is way too small for a big dog. My shelties don't get chicken necks or wings because they would swallow those whole! My collie will eat a leg or thigh whole but actually crynch well a few time with a whole quarter. If I had a gulper I would freeze his food in a tupperware of water like Abi did so he would have a big frozen chunk of ice and meat to get through.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

I remember when I first started Mol on some raw, she was still eating kibble as well. I remember she didn't poop for a while, like a day or so, and it was quite hard (sorry for the details). Your dog might be the complete opposite of course, but Mol never had a problem. I'm sure if she did want to go out earlier in the morning, she'd let you know, right? I just thought I'd tell you this so if she doesn't poop at all in the a.m. don't panic, she will when she's ready. 
Don't forget the premade foods are generally bone heavy, so that will more than likely contribute to a touch more constipation than normal.


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## DeekenDog (Aug 29, 2011)

ZoesMom said:


> Thanks for the great reply's....so many knowledgeable raw feeders on here! So should I not give kibble in the morning and just keep going with raw? At the pet store they said I could just go right to raw and gave me some digestion powder to add to the food while she is first starting out on raw. But for some reason I really thought I should transition her with kibble in the AM and then raw in the PM for the first 5 or so days. Depending on how the night goes I guess I could continue raw in the AM.
> 
> Deekendog - I'm most nervous about giving bones. She is kind of a gulper....with her kibble she didn't really chew and the first time I gave her a chicken neck as a recreational bone for her teeth, even after I cut it in two she took it and swallowed it in one bite. I freaked out. I'm not sure how to 'teach or show' her to chew so again I'm nervous. Thanks again for all the great advice. This forum is going to get me through my nervousness with raw!


I agree with liz, a lot of the problem probably was that the chicken neck is too small. When I first started feeding whole cuts, I started with chicken leg quarters. I held onto the leg and he had to chew a bit. These days, I toss them on the ground and he gives a few good crunches and swallows. Remember that dogs don't need to chew like we do since their digestion begins in the stomach (ours starts in the mouth). They just need to chew enough not to choke. So its normal not to chew kibble- they don't need to.

If you start with chicken backs, they should be big enough to force your girl to chew. You can hold onto the backs at first if you're nervous but I wouldn't cut them up. Cutting them up just decreases the need to chew and increases the chances of choking.


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

ZoesMom said:


> Thanks for the great reply's....so many knowledgeable raw feeders on here! So should I not give kibble in the morning and just keep going with raw? At the pet store they said I could just go right to raw and gave me some digestion powder to add to the food while she is first starting out on raw. But for some reason I really thought I should transition her with kibble in the AM and then raw in the PM for the first 5 or so days. Depending on how the night goes I guess I could continue raw in the AM.
> 
> Deekendog - I'm most nervous about giving bones. She is kind of a gulper....with her kibble she didn't really chew and the first time I gave her a chicken neck as a recreational bone for her teeth, even after I cut it in two she took it and swallowed it in one bite. I freaked out. I'm not sure how to 'teach or show' her to chew so again I'm nervous. Thanks again for all the great advice. This forum is going to get me through my nervousness with raw!


Don't worry. Most of us were nervous when we first switched our dogs. I switched my 7 year old dog the same day we brought home our 8 week old puppy so I had my old man and my brand new baby with chicken bones in their bellies!

Most of us here did just go from kibble to raw overnight. You WILL have some stomach upset but it is such a drastic change that it is to be expected. The older dogs tend to have more of an issue with the change than puppies so don't worry about it. My 8 week old never had runny poops while my older guy did.

I also have a gulper. Dude, my smooth collie, is my dainty, chew-everything-until it's-mush guy and Buck, my one year old bluetick, has been known to swallow 2 lb chunks of beef heart and chicken quarters whole. They do eventually learn to chew enough to keep themselves from choking (most of the time) and when they do start to choke on it they just hork it back up and start over. I never worry about Buck choking but on kibble I would definitely worry about it.

Dogs don't actually NEED to chew. They just need to get it crunched up enough for it to go down. Most things go down Buck's throat in the "crunch-crunch-swallow" fashion. It only needs to be small enough to fit down their throats. For an adult lab/hound a chicken neck is too small. It's just a bite sized snack. You would do best to stick with chicken backs and frames until you get the poo issue under control and then, for a lot of big dogs, the big tom turkey necks are great. For gulpers though, I recommend beef necks (later down the road when she can handle beef) as well as pork necks (again, not until you get into pork). They are big enough that they absolutely can't swallow them. I gave Buck, my gulper, a tom neck once and he swallowed it whole. So now only Dude gets them.

As far as her poo schedule goes... Well, yea, I would definitely expect it to change. She will still likely settle into a regular "routine" but she may no longer need to poo every day and if she does, the time could change since her food will be digesting so much faster. On the upside, there will be a lot less for you to clean up!

I'm also on the "ditch the premade" side. Organs and hearts are something you want to introduce later once the dog is more used to eating raw. Animal hearts are very rich and organs need to be introduced VERY slowly and later on to prevent cannon butt. Mine still can't handle a ton of organ at a time. Buck regularly eats beef heart for whole meals multiple days in a row. When his poo starts to get a little soft (about 3 or 4 days later) he gets a big bone in meal. Dude, on the other hand, gets soft poo after being given a small chunk of beef heart. All dogs are different.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

I switched my dogs directly from dry to raw without fasting at all and without any stomach problems. 

Cutting a small bone like a chicken neck in two doesn't help a gulping problem - it only helps it along. 

Take the suggestions of the others - don't cut the bones, for one. Get big bones that can't be swallowed like turkey necks or ribs attached together. Freeze them. 

Get rid of the premade. you don't know what's in it but you DO know it has organ meats.

Follow the instructions on this page - they are step-by-step and it's hard to go wrong:
How to Get Started | Prey Model Raw

Don't worry about the poo - she'll go less but will adjust to her time schedule. My dogs didn't need to get up and poop any earlier after they started raw.


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## Noodlesmadison (Sep 18, 2011)

I was nervous at first so I fed Instinct - the raw medallions. Fed her this for about a month before I was brave enough to go into the meat section of a store or even the butcher (I'm vegan and have rarely touched meat in the last 10 yrs or even been near the meat sections). Noodles did absolutely fine on the pre mades, she was waiting patiently for me to get up my courage lol.
Now I buy what seem like, to me, massive amounts of meat. Crap ton of backs because she needs bone in every meal and a lot of beef things (with some goat and pork and turkey). I was nervous the first two meals then got over it as I watched her vomit and then eat it back up. Then she walked away. My only reaction was "Ew...seriously, Noodles?"


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Noodlesmadison said:


> My only reaction was "Ew...seriously, Noodles?"


Don't you find it kind of appallingly fascinating? All that stuff reminds me that dogs are not me. What makes them happy really kind of grosses me out.

Sometimes I wonder if that's why dry food caught on so well. We could kind of convince ourselves that dogs like to eat neatly out of a pretty bowl and are really very much like us - they don't really enjoy being so thoroughly disgusting by doing things like eating their own vomit. That's what wild animals do!


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## Noodlesmadison (Sep 18, 2011)

xellil said:


> Don't you find it kind of appallingly fascinating? All that stuff reminds me that dogs are not me. What makes them happy really kind of grosses me out.
> 
> Sometimes I wonder if that's why dry food caught on so well. We could kind of convince ourselves that dogs like to eat neatly out of a pretty bowl and are really very much like us - they don't really enjoy being so thoroughly disgusting by doing things like eating their own vomit. That's what wild animals do!


I've learned over the years that because of her flattish face, she needs to eat off a plate (so she eats off a regular plate lol). Then I noticed that with raw, she doesn't like to get her pretty ears covered in blood. :der: It's funny watching her swing her ear away to quickly snag a piece before she gets it wet. Doesn't usually work out for her hehe


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## bigbaron (Apr 17, 2012)

I feed raw and the dogs love it. It's amazing how we have become so accustomed to feeding dry little kibbles with who knows what's in them that we think real food might be bad for them. I grew up many years ago ( pre kibble ) and our dogs did fine on left over and scraps of meat and bonesand veggiesetc. Healthy and really no visits to the vet. Plus there was non anywhere near by


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## ZoesMom (Oct 5, 2010)

Just wanted to check in...it's been one week and she's doing great on raw so far. Knock on wood that she's not had any stomach issues at all. I took everyone's advice and after giving her kibble that first morning and then raw that night....I didn't give her any more kibble and just went raw both meals each day. I had thought I should do kibble in the AM and raw in the PM for the first week but you guys were right...she didn't need it. I'm still doing the chicken pre mix grinds for now. Will be buying some chicken backs today at the pet store and then after another week will venture to the butcher to see what I can get. Thanks again for all the great replies and information. I'm so glad I switched her to raw...she loves it!


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