# Switching back to kibble from raw diet - others opinions?



## chichi_mom (Aug 8, 2012)

Hi All! So i'm posting in the kibble section because this question has more to do with those who are currently feeding kibble, then raw. A little background... I started Rio on a raw diet approx 4 months ago. He is 5 years old and healthy. He just hasn't been thriving off of raw, which leads me to believe that raw really isn't for every dog. I won't go into what I"m feeding, since he is eating a balanced raw diet, currently, and this is the kibble form. His poops are nice and firm and doesn't have any tummy upset aside from a mucusy poo hear and there. Have any of you experienced the same thing? When I say isn't thriving off of raw I mean: He's loosing weight (you can see some of his ribs and starting to see a portion of his spine), less energy, and more sleepy overall. I don't like that personality change  Have any of you experienced this? I'm kind of on the fence right now, and don't know what to do. I really do feel like raw is the way to go, but am beginning to think its not for every dog. Another thing I should mention is that he always seemed to do better on a high quality (Fromm) grain kibble then one without grains, for some reason. So torn! Any imput would be appreciated!


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## mheath0429 (Sep 8, 2012)

If you choose to go back to kibble, by all means that is your decision. 

In my experience with raw, this could signify that he is underfed or lacking in fat. I would add fattier meat in your situation. Duck Carcass tends to be good to increase energy with my huskies and I have found that adding coconut oil a few times a week helps mine big time. It's just an idea, but I would definitely think your dog needs some more fat  

As far as kibbles go, I used to feed Acana, Orijen, Blue Wilderness and I keep Zero/G by darford on hand. It's a great, low glycemic food


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## chichi_mom (Aug 8, 2012)

mheath0429 said:


> If you choose to go back to kibble, by all means that is your decision.
> 
> In my experience with raw, this could signify that he is underfed or lacking in fat. I would add fattier meat in your situation. Duck Carcass tends to be good to increase energy with my huskies and I have found that adding coconut oil a few times a week helps mine big time. It's just an idea, but I would definitely think your dog needs some more fat
> 
> As far as kibbles go, I used to feed Acana, Orijen, Blue Wilderness and I keep Zero/G by darford on hand. It's a great, low glycemic food


He's not underfed because I weigh out his food on a digital scale everyday. He was getting 2.5% of his body weight, which was 3.2 oz of food a day. Since I noticed his weight loose (about 2 weeks ago) he has been getting over 3% of his body weight a day -- 4 oz a day. So far, no improvement. And it seems to be getting worse as each week goes by. For examle, a portion of his spine wasn't showing 2 weeks ago, and now it is. Hip bones not visible before, but now i can sort of see em poking thru. He is eatting WHOLE animal course ground mixes from mypetcarnivore. He is on the chicken, turkey, duck, and young beef. I add Grizzly Salmon oil to his food everyday, as well as digestive enzymes/probiotics. I don't think fat is lacking in his diet, to be honest. Especially since the whole animal ground mixes contain EVERYTHING, and are pretty well balanced. 

Thank you for your imput. I guess I REALLY did my research on raw and had my mind set on *raw is the PERFECT diet* for dogs, hands down. Now, i'm second guessing and feel as though i'm doing my dog a disservice by putting him back on kibble. But then again, he did so well on kibble. I'm so torn!


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

The guideline of portions for dogs is just that....a guideline. Most dogs fall in the 2-3% range but there are some that need 5-6% per day. One of my dogs is like that, she gets more food than a dog twice her size gets and she's still thin. 

With that said, we will always respect your decision to feed your boy whatever you think is best. No one will ever try to make you feel bad for your choices


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## chichi_mom (Aug 8, 2012)

DaneMama said:


> The guideline of portions for dogs is just that....a guideline. Most dogs fall in the 2-3% range but there are some that need 5-6% per day. One of my dogs is like that, she gets more food than a dog twice her size gets and she's still thin.
> 
> With that said, we will always respect your decision to feed your boy whatever you think is best. No one will ever try to make you feel bad for your choices


Thank you DaneMama  Maybe I will hold off a bit longer on the raw. I really do want to continue since I just ordered 70 lbs of it!:faint2:
And it would be a shame to see that go to waste. Maybe I should increase his intake to 4% and see how he does on that.

He never had any problems on kibble at all -- some acid reflux, but thats about it. The swtich to raw was purely based on my opinion that raw is the best diet for a dog.

He was just so spunky on kibble - not hyper active, just had a spunk to him. I know, I know...the crabs give him sugar. But I really thought he would be doing better on raw by now. Could be i'm just rushing things since he was a kibble fed dog his whole life, up until 4 months ago. 

IF i do deceide to go the kibble route, do you guys think sojos (or something along the lines of a dehydrated, add water diet), would be a better choice then say Acana or Fromm??


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## GoingPostal (Sep 5, 2011)

I would stick it out for a little bit longer imo, went through a bad phase on my older girl where she was losing weight, fur, she stunk, looked AWFUL. I was close to switching back but I upped the food amount by about 25%, added more fat. Took a month or so to pack the weight back on and she's back to her normal low amount of food now and everything else is great again.


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## chichi_mom (Aug 8, 2012)

GoingPostal said:


> I would stick it out for a little bit longer imo, went through a bad phase on my older girl where she was losing weight, fur, she stunk, looked AWFUL. I was close to switching back but I upped the food amount by about 25%, added more fat. Took a month or so to pack the weight back on and she's back to her normal low amount of food now and everything else is great again.


I think I am going to stick it out for a bit longer. I really want the raw to work for him. He's doing well on it in the aspect of firm poos, great coat, no eye boogers, etc. And then hes not with other things...so i'm like 50/50. And its so hard to not go back to kibble since he was doing great all around.

Since increasing his food amount from 3.2oz a day to 4 oz a day, he poops quite a bit more -- 2-3 times a day vs the once when he was on 3.2 oz. I'm nervous that if I up his food even more, he'll be pooping way to much or more then he's suppose to -- if that makes sence. 

Would it be OK to add tripe in his diet now -- slowly??! Remember, he is getting the whole animal ground mixes - he is already on organ and everything else. I also have goat and rabbit which have not been introduced yet. I am getting in a bigger variety a week from now.. including Llama!


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## mheath0429 (Sep 8, 2012)

chichi_mom said:


> I think I am going to stick it out for a bit longer. I really want the raw to work for him. He's doing well on it in the aspect of firm poos, great coat, no eye boogers, etc. And then hes not with other things...so i'm like 50/50. And its so hard to not go back to kibble since he was doing great all around.
> 
> Since increasing his food amount from 3.2oz a day to 4 oz a day, he poops quite a bit more -- 2-3 times a day vs the once when he was on 3.2 oz. I'm nervous that if I up his food even more, he'll be pooping way to much or more then he's suppose to -- if that makes sence.
> 
> Would it be OK to add tripe in his diet now -- slowly??! Remember, he is getting the whole animal ground mixes - he is already on organ and everything else. I also have goat and rabbit which have not been introduced yet. I am getting in a bigger variety a week from now.. including Llama!


I think feeding tripe would be great - and wonderful for digestion. 

What meats are you feeding?

FWIW, i was feeding Grandma Lucy's with raw added and it was great with mine. Plus, its not highly processed and priced out about the same or less than kibble. I was feeding the Pureformance rabbit line and adding chicken or turkey


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## kathylcsw (Jul 31, 2011)

I have a 7 lb Toy Fox Terrier who eats 5% of his body weight per day. Small dogs seem to need a higher percentage to keep weight on. Buster also eats mostly red meat - beef or deer. Chicken is fed almost wholly for bone content. Buster has been very skinny too and I just kept slowly increasing how much he was fed. Being a little skinny for a while really won't do that much harm.


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

Trust your best judgement, no one here knows better than you what is going on. If you have given raw a proper go and you don't like what you see I'd recommend going back to a dry food. Raw feeding have some pitfalls and is nothing like wolfs hunting and eating whatever mother nature provide. Keeping raw fed dogs balanced and proper can be a tricky proposition, I speak from experience. Small changes here and there can lead to big consequences. No doubt that when you do get it right raw can be a good diet. That's about as much as I will say on that subject. If you want any dry/kibble/canned help I'd be more than happy to help you out. Regardless of what you choose I hope you get Rio back on track


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## CoverTune (Dec 20, 2011)

Is he getting much for red meat? Once I got to beef is when I noticed my pups energy etc improve.

In terms of kibble, I really liked how my dogs did on the Nature's Variety, especially the Limited Ingredient Diet Lamb formula.


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## BearMurphy (Feb 29, 2012)

i've also read that a lot of toy breeds need more than the suggested 2.5%.

I upped my dog to 3.5-4% and started feeding fattier cuts when murphy started to seem lethargic and skinnier than normal. it fixed the situation pretty quickly. i would up the amount of food slowly thought to avoid digestive upset


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## chichi_mom (Aug 8, 2012)

mheath0429 said:


> I think feeding tripe would be great - and wonderful for digestion.
> 
> What meats are you feeding?
> 
> FWIW, i was feeding Grandma Lucy's with raw added and it was great with mine. Plus, its not highly processed and priced out about the same or less than kibble. I was feeding the Pureformance rabbit line and adding chicken or turkey


I think I may add in the tripe soon 
I currently am feeding: Chicken, Turkey, Duck, and Beef. Just started the beef about a week ago. 
In a week I will be receiving:
Ground Whiting 
Goat
Goose
Lamb 
Muskrat
Pork
Rabbit


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## chichi_mom (Aug 8, 2012)

BearMurphy said:


> i've also read that a lot of toy breeds need more than the suggested 2.5%.
> 
> I upped my dog to 3.5-4% and started feeding fattier cuts when murphy started to seem lethargic and skinnier than normal. it fixed the situation pretty quickly. i would up the amount of food slowly thought to avoid digestive upset


Maybe its different with raw, but when he was on a low fat kibble about 2 years ago (I know, I know..there really isn't a need for a low fat kibble unless the dog has health issues - I've bceome much more educated since then . But when he was on a low fat kibble, his energy levels were always way up there, dispite that. To give an idea of the values I'm feeding...here is what the 2 lb container of whole chicken states: 
Crude protein: 16% 
Crude fat: 15%
Moisture: 70%


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## chichi_mom (Aug 8, 2012)

DaViking said:


> Trust your best judgement, no one here knows better than you what is going on. If you have given raw a proper go and you don't like what you see I'd recommend going back to a dry food. Raw feeding have some pitfalls and is nothing like wolfs hunting and eating whatever mother nature provide. Keeping raw fed dogs balanced and proper can be a tricky proposition, I speak from experience. Small changes here and there can lead to big consequences. No doubt that when you do get it right raw can be a good diet. That's about as much as I will say on that subject. If you want any dry/kibble/canned help I'd be more than happy to help you out. Regardless of what you choose I hope you get Rio back on track


Thank you  If i do deceide to go the kibble/canned route....which is better kibble or canned? I've read that it takes more of canned food to equal nutrients in kibble. Not sure if that's true...i didn't dig too deep into my research with that. He's never had canned before...but canned seems so much less processed then kibble (again, could be wrong, idk). And when i talk about kibble vs canned i'm talking about high quality such as Acana kibble vs a quality 95% meat canned food.


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## mheath0429 (Sep 8, 2012)

acana is goood. Honestly, you do what is right.  

Tripe is great. 

Do you order through My Pet Carnivore?


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## chichi_mom (Aug 8, 2012)

mheath0429 said:


> acana is goood. Honestly, you do what is right.
> 
> Tripe is great.
> 
> Do you order through My Pet Carnivore?


I do order from my pet carnivore  

I"m just worried about the toll kibble takes on a dogs body after a while being that it's dry and harder to digest.

I really want to do a kibble in the am, raw in the PM regimen, but i do believe that if your going to do one, do it fully. I think doing the kibble in the am and raw in the pm may overwork the digestive system. Not for sure about this, but i'd prefer to stick to one.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Just FWIW, my 5 year old Dixi(Mini Doxie) is 8.5lbs and eats 10-14oz per day. That is at a minimum 7.5% of her body weight, which we cant feed for more then 3-4 days in a row before she starts looking too thin...so then thats where the 11-14oz comes in! She has been eating this much for 10 months and is still lean and healthy looking!:wink:

If your going to go back to processed foods(which I hope you dont because you hold off longer and see how to make raw perfect for your boy) I would highly suggest finding a canned food that would work for you. I would far rather see dogs on a canned food diet(with maybe a wing or something thrown in 1-2x per week) then a kibble only diet!:thumb:


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## chichi_mom (Aug 8, 2012)

Scarlett_O' said:


> Just FWIW, my 5 year old Dixi(Mini Doxie) is 8.5lbs and eats 10-14oz per day. That is at a minimum 7.5% of her body weight, which we cant feed for more then 3-4 days in a row before she starts looking too thin...so then thats where the 11-14oz comes in! She has been eating this much for 10 months and is still lean and healthy looking!:wink:
> 
> If your going to go back to processed foods(which I hope you dont because you hold off longer and see how to make raw perfect for your boy) I would highly suggest finding a canned food that would work for you. I would far rather see dogs on a canned food diet(with maybe a wing or something thrown in 1-2x per week) then a kibble only diet!:thumb:


WOW! 8.5 lbs and 10-14 oz a day?! Rio's healthy weight is about 8 lbs..so maybe he may need to eat that much as well! But feeding that much to such a small dog...it makes me wonder CAN their metabolism really be that fast?! or what's going on? 

How big are her Poops? and how much does she poop a day?? 

My concern with Rio is, when I upped his food (for about 2 weeks now), he's pooping has increased to 2-3 times a day vs once. If a dog is utilzing all he/she can, shouldn't they be pooping less??


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

chichi_mom said:


> WOW! 8.5 lbs and 10-14 oz a day?! Rio's healthy weight is about 8 lbs..so maybe he may need to eat that much as well! But feeding that much to such a small dog...it makes me wonder CAN their metabolism really be that fast?! or what's going on?
> 
> How big are her Poops? and how much does she poop a day??
> 
> My concern with Rio is, when I upped his food (for about 2 weeks now), he's pooping has increased to 2-3 times a day vs once. If a dog is utilzing all he/she can, shouldn't they be pooping less??


All of her blood work came back perfect, and she is the picture of a perfect healthy dog...just as long as you feed her enough!:wink:

She poos less then my Pug/x who is 17lbs and eats 5-8oz/day. 2x per day...it was more in the start of raw, but now less, because she needs less bone to keep her stool solid!:thumb:


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## chichi_mom (Aug 8, 2012)

Scarlett_O' said:


> All of her blood work came back perfect, and she is the picture of a perfect healthy dog...just as long as you feed her enough!:wink:
> 
> She poos less then my Pug/x who is 17lbs and eats 5-8oz/day. 2x per day...it was more in the start of raw, but now less, because she needs less bone to keep her stool solid!:thumb:


Great to hear  That's another question I have..About blood work. How long would you suggest waiting to get blood work done after switching to raw just to make sure everything is going ok?? Rio's annual checkup isn't until January. I'm thinking then is a good time. If i continue to do raw, he would be on raw for about 8 months.

I was just reading that in toy breeds, their blood glucose level can drop if there aren't enough calories being consumed. This may be the cause of his lack of energy. I think I will keep on with raw for a few more months (until I can get his food level consumption up there since I don't want to do that overnight).

Mypetcarnivore seems to be very well balanced (their whole animal ground mixes) so I do feel comfortable to say its not the food source.


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## Roo (Oct 17, 2010)

> I currently am feeding: Chicken, Turkey, Duck, and Beef. Just started the beef about a week ago.


I wonder if the lack of red meat could be a possible reason to any lethargy or lack of energy. The organs in the chicken, turkey, and duck would supply some B vitamins, but it's possible it's not enough. You just added in Beef recently, if you decide to continue to feed raw, it may take some time for the addition of the red meat to take effect. Yes the diet is more balanced when you provide whole prey, however the nutrient composition of the each whole prey is different, so feeding the variety of different whole prey is where the nutrient values can complement each other and create a balance. When I figured out my nutrient numbers of my dog's diet, I had to have more than one source of red meat to get some of the numbers to balance out better along with a couple different types of liver, especially with my zinc, copper, and iron, ratios.

When I was about 4 months into raw, I almost quit, Lola wasn't having much improvement with her colitis issues and Ronny's coat looked terrible, he had gone through several cycles of dandruff and shedding. I wanted the shiny coats I had seen in photos and the dogs acting and looking younger. For some reason I kept with it, and by the 6-8 month mark is when my dogs started to really change, Lola's chronic colitis got better and eventually went away completely, and both of their coats started to get softer and really shiny. Now when I'm at the dog park I get tons of compliments and people telling me my dogs don't look or act like they're 7 and 11. After the first year on raw, I had their blood taken and my regular (non holistic) vet said that their blood work was better than most of his kibble fed dogs as their liver enzyme values were very low (in normal range) and that it meant that the raw diet was creating zero effort, strain, or work on their bodies to digest and use, he was really impressed. Needless to say coming up on 2 years of feeding raw soon, and am very happy so far with the improvements I've seen with both my dogs over feeding them years of supposed higher quality kibble.

I really believe diet changes can take a fair amount of time to see the effects or improvements. I know when I changed my own diet it took up to four months to really start to see a difference (when I cut out supposed food sensitivities), when my cousin found out she had celiac's disease it took her almost a year to recover and really start feeling better after cutting out all gluten.

All that said, I agree with what DaViking said you known your dogs best, you know the situation best, and you have to make the right decisions for your dogs, no matter if it's kibble or raw or some combination of both.


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## mheath0429 (Sep 8, 2012)

How do you not go broke buying from MPC? ha, if I had to pay that amount I would be in the poor house. Have you checked dogaware.com - they have an extensive listing of Raw Co-Ops.

Please keep us updated on your pup


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## BearMurphy (Feb 29, 2012)

mheath0429 said:


> How do you not go broke buying from MPC? ha, if I had to pay that amount I would be in the poor house. Have you checked dogaware.com - they have an extensive listing of Raw Co-Ops.
> 
> Please keep us updated on your pup


you forget she has one tiny dog! if I had a dog that small I'd probably splurge on a lot more higher priced items as well


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## chichi_mom (Aug 8, 2012)

mheath0429 said:


> How do you not go broke buying from MPC? ha, if I had to pay that amount I would be in the poor house. Have you checked dogaware.com - they have an extensive listing of Raw Co-Ops.
> 
> Please keep us updated on your pup


One, 8 lb dog, that's why I don't go broke  plus, I have a huge chest freezer, so I just bought in bulk, about 7 months worth to save on shipping.


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## chichi_mom (Aug 8, 2012)

Roo said:


> I wonder if the lack of red meat could be a possible reason to any lethargy or lack of energy. The organs in the chicken, turkey, and duck would supply some B vitamins, but it's possible it's not enough. You just added in Beef recently, if you decide to continue to feed raw, it may take some time for the addition of the red meat to take effect. Yes the diet is more balanced when you provide whole prey, however the nutrient composition of the each whole prey is different, so feeding the variety of different whole prey is where the nutrient values can complement each other and create a balance. When I figured out my nutrient numbers of my dog's diet, I had to have more than one source of red meat to get some of the numbers to balance out better along with a couple different types of liver, especially with my zinc, copper, and iron, ratios.
> 
> When I was about 4 months into raw, I almost quit, Lola wasn't having much improvement with her colitis issues and Ronny's coat looked terrible, he had gone through several cycles of dandruff and shedding. I wanted the shiny coats I had seen in photos and the dogs acting and looking younger. For some reason I kept with it, and by the 6-8 month mark is when my dogs started to really change, Lola's chronic colitis got better and eventually went away completely, and both of their coats started to get softer and really shiny. Now when I'm at the dog park I get tons of compliments and people telling me my dogs don't look or act like they're 7 and 11. After the first year on raw, I had their blood taken and my regular (non holistic) vet said that their blood work was better than most of his kibble fed dogs as their liver enzyme values were very low (in normal range) and that it meant that the raw diet was creating zero effort, strain, or work on their bodies to digest and use, he was really impressed. Needless to say coming up on 2 years of feeding raw soon, and am very happy so far with the improvements I've seen with both my dogs over feeding them years of supposed higher quality kibble.
> 
> ...


This was an extremely informative post, thank you  I have been feeding duck for a month now and I believe duck is classified as a red meat..but definately not as rich as beef. I think I'm going to stick with it for another couple months at least. And if it doesn't improve, back to kibble and possibly canned it is. I've heard from others it really does take a while to see good results. I hope that's the case with Rio


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## lauren43 (Feb 6, 2011)

I just wanted to add that from what I've read your feeding all ground, correct? That may effect the amount of poo your seeing.


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## chichi_mom (Aug 8, 2012)

lauren43 said:


> I just wanted to add that from what I've read your feeding all ground, correct? That may effect the amount of poo your seeing.


Yes, all ground. Why would that effect the amount of poo? 

He poops 2-3 times a day, but each time it's not a lot...way less then when he was kibble. I also feed him 4 times a day. Once in the morning, once around noon, again at 5, and then around 7:30. He also poops at differnet times each day sometimes. When on kibble, he would always poo once in the morning and once in the evening..very consistent. But definately more volume of poo on kibble.

Something just doesn't seem right since he's started raw. Like today when I was playing with him (and he's done this before since starting raw)... He just out of nowhere after I threw his toy for him..acted like something was wrong,and went to lay down with his ears down and looked scared. That is SO out of character for him.


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

I think the amount of pooping he does when you increase his food isn't really a concern considering you are feeding him more.  

My 7lb chi eats about the same ratio as Scarletts small dog. It is a well known fact that many small dogs require MORE than the guideline ratio. Perhaps he just needs more food? 

I think that if you feed him more, in a very short time, you will find that he will gain weight. I do believe that the young beef that is in your grind, MAY be low in fat. I personally, don't put much faith in grinds that you don't make yourself due to not knowing exactly what is in them and what ratios of meat vs bone vs fat are in them. 

I hope you stay on raw as it is the best diet I have ever fed and I am speaking from experience


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## chichi_mom (Aug 8, 2012)

Sprocket said:


> I think the amount of pooping he does when you increase his food isn't really a concern considering you are feeding him more.
> 
> My 7lb chi eats about the same ratio as Scarletts small dog. It is a well known fact that many small dogs require MORE than the guideline ratio. Perhaps he just needs more food?
> 
> ...


I never knew small dogs would require that much more food while on a raw diet! This is the first time I'm hearing that from yourself and Scarlett. Very good to know though  I am going to start increasing his amount slowly..by .5 oz every three days or so. Hopefully this helps


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

I have one IG who eats around 4% of her body weight, and one that is normally on 10%- but she was really active this summer and burned off a lot of weight! So she is on 15 till she bulks up a bit. She is 9 pounds and should be around 10, she's getting around 1.5lb right now, normally 1lb. They barely go outdoors in the winter, so she will eat less then. The 2-3% is a guideline, just like 2000 calories is for people. Some may need much less, some much more. 

I feed a lot of fatty meat and very little chicken or turkey to her. The bulk of her diet is pork bone in and beef heart. Some oily fish and lamb when I can get it cheap. The others get more white meat.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

chichi_mom said:


> I never knew small dogs would require that much more food while on a raw diet! This is the first time I'm hearing that from yourself and Scarlett. Very good to know though  I am going to start increasing his amount slowly..by .5 oz every three days or so. Hopefully this helps


That sounds like a good plan!:thumb:

Ya its kinda crazy...granted right now I also have 2 pups who should mature to about 60 and 45lbs...they are eating 5lbs and 4lbs per day, that is about 8.5% of each of their projected adult weights ...so nothing surprises me at this point!LOL

Oh and these three(along with the 2 adult boys who easily get fat) get fed mostly hearts(turkey, pork and beef,) lamb(lungs and organs,) beef and pork scraps, game meats and foul, along with some turkey and chicken(mostly for the bone in stuff.) I find the hearts along with lamb and beef/pork scraps really help keep their weights up!:wink:


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

Scarlett_O' said:


> That sounds like a good plan!:thumb:
> 
> Ya its kinda crazy...granted right now I also have 2 pups who should mature to about 60 and 45lbs...*they are eating 5lbs and 4lbs* per day, that is about 8.5% of each of their projected adult weights ...so nothing surprises me at this point!LOL
> 
> Oh and these three(along with the 2 adult boys who easily get fat) get fed mostly hearts(turkey, pork and beef,) lamb(lungs and organs,) beef and pork scraps, game meats and foul, along with some turkey and chicken(mostly for the bone in stuff.) I find the hearts along with lamb and beef/pork scraps really help keep their weights up!:wink:


I feel sorry for your wallet.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Caty M said:


> I feel sorry for your wallet.


It IS quite the change...going from 5.5lbs per day to around 11.5lbs! :lol: But hey, we do what we need to....and then its just about looking and getting the best deals!:wink:


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

That is Rhett and Keeva, right? Thankfully our second iggy doesn't have Tessie's metabolism, she is 12 pounds and eats a pretty reasonable 1/2 pound a day. BUT, she's also fixed and a bit older.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Caty M said:


> That is Rhett and Keeva, right? Thankfully our second iggy doesn't have Tessie's metabolism, she is 12 pounds and eats a pretty reasonable 1/2 pound a day. BUT, she's also fixed and a bit older.


Yup, my 19 month old baby boy and Jesse's 10 month old baby girl....Rhett should be "growing out" of this stage around 24-30 months, and it only started about 2 months ago....but who knows with Krazy Keeva!LOL


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## lily (May 16, 2011)

I've been having problems with my chi who wieghs 3lb 8oz ,it's like she's never full,I've had problems getting her poops right and her amounts right ,I was feeding 3oz per day but now she's up to between 5/6oz per day she was on the thin size but seems to be settling ok on these amounts as long as its fed in 3 meals a day,I think with toy dogs it's getting the fine tuning right,I even went back to basics again ,I have found it much more difficult raw feeding this toy dog opposed to my bulldog,I too thought about going back to kibble but I'm just too uncomfortable feeding it,but we all have to do what's is best for our dogs,karen


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

chichi_mom said:


> Thank you  If i do deceide to go the kibble/canned route....which is better kibble or canned? I've read that it takes more of canned food to equal nutrients in kibble. Not sure if that's true...i didn't dig too deep into my research with that. He's never had canned before...but canned seems so much less processed then kibble (again, could be wrong, idk). And when i talk about kibble vs canned i'm talking about high quality such as Acana kibble vs a quality 95% meat canned food.


Canned foods are a great alternative for smaller pet dogs and are complete and balanced unless they say otherwise on the label. Some are meant for supplemental feeding only. It will be a little more expensive but not that bad for a smaller dog.
Yes, kibble is more nutrient dense and contain only about 10% water. Canned foods are about 80% water. However, daily energy requirements of course remains the same so all you have to do is to look at the can and see how many calories there is in 1 can and adjust feeding amounts accordingly.

Canned foods you can look for: Fromm, Evo, by Nature, Go! and Precise.


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

chichi_mom said:


> I"m just worried about the toll kibble takes on a dogs body after a while being that it's dry and harder to digest.


I don't think there is any reason to worry about long term effects because kibble only contain 10% water. In some cases PH levels down towards 1 (extreme acidity, we'r talking close battery acid levels!) in the stomach will start the digestion just fine. If not served in water, served (partly) soaked or the dog doesn't drink (or trained to drink) immediately after eating he/she *could* go into *mild* dehydration for a short short while. I emphasize mild because it's really zero to worry about and he/she will instinctively drink not long after feeding if needed. Dogs knows whats up and figure things out themselves


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