# More Iron and coppper in my 7 month old boxers diet.



## Jesse (Oct 23, 2010)

My 7 month old boxer was at the vet today to get his skin looked at, he has small balding patches on his chest and front legs. While he was there the vet noticed that his lymph nodes were swollen. He ordered blood work beacause he was scared that he had lymphoma which is very common in boxer but rare in a puppy. The results came back with everything at normal level except for his red blood count and I think hemogloben, which were slightly low. He said that Grady was lacking iron and some copper. I do feed a raw diet so I would love some suggestions on how to boost his iron and copper levels naturally. I am thinking he needs more liver in his diet? We go back in a month to get his levels re checked so I am hoping we can get this corrected. 
Thanks for any advise!


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## twoisplenty (Nov 12, 2008)

How low are we talking here? Boxers are prone to anemia and require more red meats in their diet. I feed a 75% meat, 10% bone, 15% organ ratio diet and havent had any issues. As for the small balding patches on the chest and legs, I would get a skin scraping done because this sounds like it could possibly be demodex.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Can you post up a weekly diet plan you have for your pup? That would be the first step in us helping you figure out what else would be needed.


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## Jesse (Oct 23, 2010)

I don't feed the exact same every week, but here is an average week plan. I do feed a ground meat mix that has chicken, beef, pork, tripe, heart and tongue. it is 50% chicken, 40% beef and 10% pork, its also 70% meat, 20% bone and 10% organ.
Mon - mix
Tues - Mix plus beef or venison
Wed - salmon and mix
Thurs - Chick quarter, boneless beef or venison
Friday - bone-in rabbit, boneless venison
I think where I am goingwrong is the days I dont feed mix, I dont add in organ, and the days I add in beef or venison its througing off my organ percentage. I feed the mix on days that my schedule is very busy just for the ease of it, and my guys take a while to eat there bone in meals so it saves time. I think (and correct me if I'm wrong) I just need to be more aware of my organ percentage, and possibly add in more red meat? I feel so horrible that my guy is lacking in nutrients because of me


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Honestly I would toss the ground mix. I'm not a fan of mixes as there are no regulations on the packaging and nutrient breakdown. Sure...it says that there are certain %ages of certain things, but legally it could be completely different and you'd never know. Plus a lot of nutrition is lost in the grinding process, so even if the precentages are spot on, nutrient loss needs to be taken into account. This loss is nearly impossible to tell as there's no real way of knowing, other than the fact that a lot of vitamins and minerals are oxygen sensitive. And the more they're exposed to oxygen (ie grinding), the more they become degraded. 

I would feed a more balanced diet of whole chunks of meat/organ and raw meaty bones. It is important to feed more red meats than anything else, especially WHOLE pieces of heart meat. This way you know exactly how much they're getting of each thing. 

I know that time is a constraint for you, is it possible to feed once per day on your busy days? I know that one of your dogs is a 7 month old pup but all of my puppies have been on one meal per day after they are 6 months old. He should be able to handle it just fine.


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## DandD (Jan 4, 2012)

twoisplenty, if boxers are prone to anemia and require more redmeats in their diet, do you still recommend starting with just chicken for the first 2 weeks?


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## twoisplenty (Nov 12, 2008)

I agree with DaneMama 100%, get rid of the mix if possible. I dont feed organs on a daily basis either, they get one organ meal per week and it works out well for my crew. That way I know they are getting exactly what I want them to get. 

Feeding chicken for a few weeks isnt going to cause issues, remember raw is over time. When I started out on raw my dogs diet was mainly chicken in the beginning, I only used chicken organs as well. Chicken liver has a higher Iron content than beef liver.


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## funshine (Jan 21, 2010)

You might be able to add iron and copper simply with liver choices :smile:

For iron try to find pork liver ( 26.3 mg per 4 oz. )
For copper, lamb liver seems to be the highest ( 7.9 mg per 4 oz. )

This source lists the minerals (scroll down some)
beef liver
lamb liver
pork liver

And like mentioned, actually pieces hold the nutritional value better than grind. :smile:


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## Jesse (Oct 23, 2010)

Thanks to all who replyed. I am going to cut out the mix, even with my time restraints I have to do whats best for my boy. So I am going to get some fresh liver (chcicken and pork) as well as other organs to go with it, probably pork kidney to start, and I will get some fresh beef heart to get the ball rolling. I think I might do a 10% liver and 5% kidney for a couple weeks to get his levels up, then after his re check see where things are. Do you guys think that would be to much liver?


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## Jesse (Oct 23, 2010)

I took Grady to the vet yesterday for his follow up blood work and......EVERYTHING is NORMAL!!  So I guess we are on the right track, thanks again for all the help.


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## twoisplenty (Nov 12, 2008)

woot woot :rockon: Thats great to hear!


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