# Newbie...how often di I feed raw.



## tthrdg2 (Sep 11, 2012)

Im having a hard time keeping weight on my dog, he's 2yrs old & he is playful but he's skinny I am changing his dog food to Dr.Tim's pursuit active, but I want to add some raw to it but not sure how offten or how much i feed them i would like to cut the meat to Med" size and just mix it with dog food...The raw meat will be Chicken Gizzards & Beef Liver & Turkey Hearts, Thank you so much for reading this :0) and if you can give me some ideas that would be great


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## Trammel (Sep 11, 2012)

I swore I read something about not mixing kibble & raw.


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## tthrdg2 (Sep 11, 2012)

Lol, Well I hope It's not true.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

Raw and kibble usually do not mix well together,in the same meal. If you are going to feed both, I would do one in the a.m. and one in the p.m. Otherwise you could be looking at some digestive disturbances.

I also wouldn't make the raw organ meat right off the bat if you are going to do both. Feed chicken, like wings, or drumsticks. Then once the poops are ok for a week or so, you can make some of the raw boneless chicken breasts. I'm not sure how big your dog is, but you said med. size cuts so those are my suggestions.


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## SaharaNight Boxers (Jun 28, 2011)

If you feed half raw it's normally better to choose a grain free kibble as grains take even longer to digest. I personally don't like that formula of kibble though either. There's many better grain free kibbles you can find to do the other half with.


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## tthrdg2 (Sep 11, 2012)

SaharaNight Boxers said:


> If you feed half raw it's normally better to choose a grain free kibble as grains take even longer to digest. I personally don't like that formula of kibble though either. There's many better grain free kibbles you can find to do the other half with.




Hello, I just bought 2/ 30lb bag so of Dr. Tim's Pursuit Active so I can't change dog food right now, but lets just say I want to give my King German 1 chicken breast but cut up med size for starters but mix with the Pursuit Active will one's aweek help?


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

Chicken breast is very lean and nutritionally a poor meat. Quarters would be better for maintaining weight although we stick to the red meats for the most part as they are more calorie dense. Pork is a high calories meat - I would go with that or heart meat.


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## tthrdg2 (Sep 11, 2012)

Liz said:


> Chicken breast is very lean and nutritionally a poor meat. Quarters would be better for maintaining weight although we stick to the red meats for the most part as they are more calorie dense. Pork is a high calories meat - I would go with that or heart meat.


Ok thank you =0)


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

The downside to going with richer meats is that the incidence of digestive upset will increase, compared to adding in something bland like chicken. 

Maybe start with chicken just to see if your dog will even handle raw and kibble mixed, because some dogs just don't do well mixing the two....especially if you start out on a very rich protein.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

Thank for catching that DaneMama - when I read the first post I somehow got that he was feeding raw an adding kibble not the other way around. 

Stick with chicken. To start.


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## tthrdg2 (Sep 11, 2012)

DaneMama said:


> The downside to going with richer meats is that the incidence of digestive upset will increase, compared to adding in something bland like chicken.
> 
> Maybe start with chicken just to see if your dog will even handle raw and kibble mixed, because some dogs just don't do well mixing the two....especially if you start out on a very rich protein.


You do have a good point on the chicken since he has never had raw meat and never had high quality dog food so all this is goin to be new, im going to give him very little chicken with dog food and see what happen ill do that for 2weeks, im am aware of how the stool is going to be so if he looks much better in two weeks ill give him more chicken if not I give up on raw


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

tthrdg2 said:


> You do have a good point on the chicken since he has never had raw meat and never had high quality dog food so all this is goin to be new, im going to give him very little chicken with dog food and see what happen ill do that for 2weeks, im am aware of how the stool is going to be so if he looks much better in two weeks ill give him more chicken if not I give up on raw


If your going to start feeding raw with kibble dont do a kibble swap AND raw addition at the same time. Get him 150% use to the new food, THEN add in raw. Other wise your just begging for a disaster.

Oh and dont give up on raw.....give up on kibble first! :wink: :thumb:


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## tthrdg2 (Sep 11, 2012)

Scarlett_O' said:


> If your going to start feeding raw with kibble dont do a kibble swap AND raw addition at the same time. Get him 150% use to the new food, THEN add in raw. Other wise your just begging for a disaster.
> 
> Oh and dont give up on raw.....give up on kibble first! :wink: :thumb:


Lol ok thx :thumb:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

tthrdg2 said:


> Lol ok thx :thumb:


We are actually serious when we say give up on kibble first. And I 100% agree with Abi....take things slow at first with JUST kibble. Once your dog is doing well with a new kibble, THEN add in raw foods. If he doesn't handle both together well, skip the kibble. Since you're already ok with feeding raw meat to your dog...why not take the full plunge and see how things go? If you transition him over methodically and slowly (there is a tried and true method), chances are you'll find out why so many of us DFC members will NEVER go back to kibble. 

Keep us posted :thumb:


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

DaneMama said:


> tthrdg2 said:
> 
> 
> > Lol ok thx :thumb:
> ...


Ya, I really wasnt joking! :smile:
Everything I said up there was very serious, and highly suggested!


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