# Emma's Transition into Raw



## SuperPug (Mar 5, 2013)

It's been approximately a month since Emma switched to raw. She is much itchier. I'm suspecting chicken, so this weekend, we're going to be eliminating chicken. She'll also be starting pork this weekend. So pork will be her boneless meals and turkey will be her bone in meals. So far she seems to benefit from 1 bone-in meal a day.

Improvements, her coat is thicker and softer. She's always had a thin coat and didn't have an undercoat. She now appears to be developing an undercoat. Her teeth a MUCH more pearly. Her teeth was pretty white, I didn't think they could get whiter!

Of course her poos have improved too. On kibble they were slightly formed and small. They've gotten even smaller and much more well formed. I didn't think they could get any smaller xD

Emma has also gained weight. Which is what I want. On kibble she was(what I view) at the min weight. She was 14.5 lbs. She is now teetering between 15-16lbs.

In the beginning:









































Now pictures coming next...


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## SuperPug (Mar 5, 2013)

And now: Don't mind the square shaved patch. I shaved the area when she chewed herself raw to see what I was dealing with and to clean it.

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Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
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## BearMurphy (Feb 29, 2012)

murphy had pretty dry skin and a bad coat when we first started raw until I introduced fattier cuts like pork and beef heart. also if it's store bought chicken and turkey it's low in omega 3's. Could this be contributing to her issue? something to consider, although I do think that whatever she has going on may be more than a normal adjustment since she's so bothered by it


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## SuperPug (Mar 5, 2013)

She gets eggs atleast twice a week, I think they have omegas right? I'm also supplementing her with fish or coconut oil.
The chicken isn't grocery store bought. It's purchased direct from a local meat market.


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## lauren43 (Feb 6, 2011)

How old is Emma? Has she ever been itchy on kibble?


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## BeagleCountry (Jan 20, 2012)

Meat markets typically get their meat from a wholesale distributor that also supplies grocery stores and restaurants. Ask the butcher about the source of chicken and pork, the brand, rather it is factory farmed or pastured raised and if it is enhanced (broth or sodium added).

The amount of Omega 3 in eggs depends on what the hen was eating. Eggs from factory farmed hens are not a good source of Omega 3. Pasture raised or feed with ingredients that are high in Omega 3s will result in high Omega 3 eggs. Not all fish are rich in Omega 3. Salmon, mackerel and sardines are excellent sources. Do not buy Omega 3 capsules from a discount store as the industry is largely unregulated. The capsules may or may not contain the ingredients stated on the package. "Preserved with mixed tocopherols" often means soy.

If you find chicken is not causing the itching it may be soy in the fish oil.


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## SuperPug (Mar 5, 2013)

Emma is approx 3-4 years old(she's a rescue from the streets). She showed itching issues on kibble. More so on certain kibbles. She was the least itchy on TOTW's buffalo formula.

Her fish oil capsules are made from Salmon and they have no soy. I searched high and low for the highest quality/no soy fish oil. It forced me to order online, but it's the peace of mind I needed that the supplement I was giving her was the best I could get.

I'll have to ask the butcher where the meat comes from, but I always see them cutting/portioning the meat. Not sure if grocery stores do that as well...


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

my pug has the same problem when he eats anything that eats soy/corn.....be it organic or commercial.

he can eat liz' chickens and eggs. they are not fed soy nor corn. 

but even organic is off limits. he gets yeasty and itchy. so it's liz or no chicken.

bear murphy is right, too. a lack of dietary fat can also cause itchiness....i learned that the hard way with this pug, too.

now when i buy soup bones, i dig out the marrow and give it to him...plus fattier cuts of meat.

make sure your pork is not enhanced....when you intro.....

and how often is she bathed and with what?


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## SuperPug (Mar 5, 2013)

I used to bathe her often. Like once a week or more. But she hasn't been bathed for approx 2-3 months now.
So far every piece of turkey/chicken Emma has been eating has a good amount of skin and some fat on it. I might just need to supplement some more.


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## BearMurphy (Feb 29, 2012)

SuperPug said:


> I'll have to ask the butcher where the meat comes from, but I always see them cutting/portioning the meat. Not sure if grocery stores do that as well...


i should have been more specific instead of saying grocery store poultry. unless the chicken is labeled as being locally raised and true free range it's probably factory farmed which means they are eating soy and corn. If it's affordable it's factory farmed because real free range chicken is expensive. factory farmed meat is high in omega 6's which can promote inflammation so the skin and fat on these products is less effective in promoting good skin and coat. i truly notice a difference in skin and coat when I'm feeding murphy high amounts of locally raised free range heart, organs, and meat but I can't afford to feed everything that way so I do both.

if you are supplementing with fish oil for omega 3's you may causing a vitamin e deficiency so you will need to add in some vitamin e but I think it would be very hard to find that in a soy free version. another thing to consider is that free range animals with high omega 3's are already balanced with more vitamin e. since you have a small dog it might be more worthwhile to feed more free range meat instead of adding fish oil if you can find a way to afford that


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

BearMurphy said:


> i should have been more specific instead of saying grocery store poultry. unless the chicken is labeled as being locally raised and true free range it's probably factory farmed which means they are eating soy and corn. If it's affordable it's factory farmed because real free range chicken is expensive. factory farmed meat is high in omega 6's which can promote inflammation so the skin and fat on these products is less effective in promoting good skin and coat. i truly notice a difference in skin and coat when I'm feeding murphy high amounts of locally raised free range heart, organs, and meat but I can't afford to feed everything that way so I do both.
> 
> if you are supplementing with fish oil for omega 3's you may causing a vitamin e deficiency so you will need to add in some vitamin e but I think it would be very hard to find that in a soy free version. another thing to consider is that free range animals with high omega 3's are already balanced with more vitamin e. since you have a small dog it might be more worthwhile to feed more free range meat instead of adding fish oil if you can find a way to afford that


stay in my brain LOL.....

even organic chickens are fed a totally organic vegetarian diet. and chicken, being such a gentle nutrition, also has gentler fat....

when we were putting hair back on bubba the pug, i would cut fat cubes from beef i was trimming for our own dinner and feed him 1/2 x 1/2 cubes with his food...

i fed him fattier cuts of meat....finding that balance between not enough and too much...i always knew when it was too much for he would get loose stools.

i would also buy organic marrow bones and let them get to room temp and scoop out the marrow to feed him....wow. did he grow fur then. 

even the eggs he eats now are pastured eggs, meaning no soy . no corn. he no longer eats chicken for i cannot get him pastured chicken. 

he only gets 5-6 ounces per day, depending on what the collie flower does to him....along with his regular exercise....so i can afford to get him grass fed/grass finished product.


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## SuperPug (Mar 5, 2013)

During our long afternoon walk, I noticed more color to Emma's coat in the sunshine. Before she had a light tan coat, now I'm seeing a darker more bronze tan to her coat. It's certainly nice to see her make these good changes.

I'll be sure to get some soup bones/scoop out the marrow for her. I think after I scoop out the marrow I can plop them into the crockpot/slow cook them for some broth to go into her meals. I'll use them to effectively mix in her apple cider vinegar. Right now, it's getting mixed in with fish or coconut oil or whatever "jucie" has accumulated in the Tupperware of cut portions.


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## SuperPug (Mar 5, 2013)

Emma's been eating Boston Butts since Monday now. Daddy has given her chicken feet twice when I wasn't home. I'll have to hide them -.-

But here's tonight's din din. Cubed boston butt, marrow half, 1/4 cup of soup bone broth, a dash of ACV and deer blood.


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## Fundog (Oct 25, 2012)

Oh my goodness, where did you get deer blood? My girls get blood from goats and sheep, but I know where that came from, lol. (wink) Deer is not currently in season in the US anywhere, so of course I'm curious. 

Oh and hey: do you treat the deer blood as an "organ," or "other?" Just curious. (this could potentially start another fascinating thread)


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## Herzo (Feb 5, 2011)

I'm not Superpug but I'm guessing from thawing deer meat. Mine had deer liver blood in there's so I can mix it with the ACV so they will lick it up. When I thaw meat and if I have allot of extra blood I will put it in little plastic containers and freeze it so I will have it when some meats don't have allot of blood in them like when I feed them chicken.

I have lots of little containers of blood in my freezer.


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## SuperPug (Mar 5, 2013)

The deer blood came from the Tupperware that I had ground deer meat in. It basically came out when thawing. It's a deer from our hunting property in Georgia.


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## InkedMarie (Sep 9, 2011)

Herzo said:


> I have lots of little containers of blood in my freezer.


If this was anywhere other than a raw dog forum, I'd have episodes of "Criminal Minds" running through my mind!


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## Fundog (Oct 25, 2012)

LOL, me too! When I butchered that ewe a month ago, I had brought along some freezer pints and collected at least a pint and a half of her blood. Then some had coagulated in the main artery, and when I was pulling "things" out of her neck, I was able to pull out a big clot as though it was a chunk of crab meat out of claw. I threw that into my organ bin. Later, I cut it into bite sized bits and wrapped it so they have little pieces of "blood candy," lol.

This ewe also still had a full udder, so I collected two pints of milk. I will probably use it to make cookies for them. The udder I cut up and froze in little bite size pieces too. I figure they are kind of like "ice cream" for doggies. 

Mixing the blood into something like medicine or an herbal remedy is a great idea-- I hadn't thought of that. I will have to remember that for getting them to drink their herbal infusions.


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## SuperPug (Mar 5, 2013)

Im starting to believe Emma's itching was caused by the chicken. She is itching much less than she was at the beginning of this week.


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## Herzo (Feb 5, 2011)

InkedMarie said:


> If this was anywhere other than a raw dog forum, I'd have episodes of "Criminal Minds" running through my mind!


I know, really, maybe I'm a vampire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## SuperPug (Mar 5, 2013)

I saw some hard core improvement today while taking a trip to the doggie park. 

Usually, during the car ride, Emma would be trying so hard to chew the heck outta her rear end. Not once did she even pay any mind to her bum. Didn't even scratch her sides. After playtime at the doggie park, we rinse off the sand at the doggie wash station. They have one of those spraying nozzles. These nozzles usually have Emma doing her "itchy jig" when you spray her rear/sides. But again, she paid no mind to it.

I'm really happy that she's not so notoriously itchy and happy. I've also been seeing more color. She's turning into more of an Apricot Fawn pug.


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## SuperPug (Mar 5, 2013)

She's getting stronger too. Usually she's not very strong. But boy oh boy is she pulling her weight!


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## SuperPug (Mar 5, 2013)

Emma starts beef today. Her dinner tonight was 4oz of boston butt/a quarter of beef neck with a 1/4 cup of marrow bone broth.

I believe I will use pork and beef as her staples and she'll get a piece of turkey every now and then.


I'm not sure if I've posted this before, when Emma was on kibbles she suffered from many UTIs. I eventually had to give her cranberry capsules and flood her kibbles. While on raw, I haven't seen a single bout of UTI and my vet is quite surprised that kibble could have had a hand in her chronic UTIs. She always believed that Emma had bladder stones. But numerous xrays/ultrasounds always showed no such bladder stone. I do think I'm starting to make a believer out of my vet. She's never been for raw diets and always opposed them yet she encouraged me to take my guinea pigs off a pellet diet and onto a complete fresh veggie and fruit diet. She is really enjoying the positive changes that Emma is having.


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## SuperPug (Mar 5, 2013)

Okay, so we're in Month 3 of prey model raw now! Squee!!! Emma is now eating kidney/liver daily. She gets 1 of each organ dehydrated after her potty walks. The pieces are thin and are 1-2" in size. I was advised to do this on a raw feeding group since it was a more simplified and easier way to give her organs. Is this a correct way to give her the organ intake she needs?

I'm also in the process of seeing if my butcher has lungs, tongues, hearts and other organs. Emma's staples are pork/beef. Recently she's been getting small amounts of boneless deer. At 1st I started with giving her 1oz, few days went by and she was pooping normally, so I upped it to 2oz. Shortly after eating she became very restless, hyper and panting like she was running. So for the next week or so I'll go back to 1oz and only increase by a .5 oz.

So without further ado....Day 1 on raw feeding










And Month 3











I should say we're actually STARTING month 3 xD


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## GoingPostal (Sep 5, 2011)

Why dehydrated organs? Will she not eat them normally? I really don't know what the difference would be in nutrients or anything. It's nice to see a fit pug, she looks great.


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## SuperPug (Mar 5, 2013)

Thanks! 

When I asked the group about the nutrient difference, they said they think it would be the same nutrient wise, just the water content removed....
She'll eat it raw, she took to it when I froze it in her kong a few times. Feeding it dehydrated is just so much more easier for me. Less dealing with raw liver/kidney(which is very annoying/gag inducing for me)


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