A question about switching and buying raw

Steve Doyon · Apr 11, 2016

Hey guy's,

I was thinking about switching Meeka to a raw diet. I don't have the extra time to prep her meals so I was thinking about buying it from Big Country Raw ( Big Country Raw | Food For Dogs ). Has anyone ever used them before ? If so how did you like using them ??

Also on their website they give some guidelines on how to transition from kibble to raw:
-Fast your pet for 8-12 hrs before starting. This allows their digestive system to empty and it also creates hunger which may be helpful for picky or fussy eaters

-Do not feed cold raw food in the first 2-5 days. We suggest bringing the food to room temperature by allowing to sit out of your refrigerator for 1 hr before feeding. If fed too cold and eaten to quickly, your dog my have trouble digesting and even possibly throw it up. Most dogs can tolerate cold raw food 2 weeks after transition.

-Limit the variety of raw choices in the first 2 weeks to just 1-3 proteins. Ideally we suggest starting with Chicken, Turkey, Rabbit or Duck. Beef, Lamb, fish and tripe are best introduced once your dog has made a complete transition to the raw, usually within 1 week.

For those of you who have used raw or are using a raw diet, would you follow these guidelines or what would you do instead ??

MaplesMommy · Apr 11, 2016

I wouldnt do the fasting. I dont know how old your dog is, but puppies should generally not be fasted.
Just switch cold turkey. Stop the kibble and feed fresh the next meal. (Or kibble at night & then start raw the next morning).

I do agree on limiting the proteins at first. If your dog reacts to something in any way, you will know what it is. Generally speaking, Chicken & Turkey are also much easier to digest since they are so lean.

hannah · Apr 12, 2016

We're doing pre packaged raw meals. Started with a beef turkey blend and it's working so sticking with it for a while at least. Don't forget to grab some salmon oil to supplement

we transitioned just to get rid of kibble but we would have also just switched without transitioning. We just didn't want to waste the kibble we had. We did raw in the am and kibble in the pm until kibble was gone now it's all raw! They love it! You won't look back once you switch!

I haven't heard of that company before we buy pets go raw but it's Canadian. I'm sure they are fine as long as they are complete meals! Good luck!

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Steve Doyon · Apr 12, 2016

MaplesMommy said:
I wouldnt do the fasting. I dont know how old your dog is, but puppies should generally not be fasted.
Just switch cold turkey. Stop the kibble and feed fresh the next meal. (Or kibble at night & then start raw the next morning).

I do agree on limiting the proteins at first. If your dog reacts to something in any way, you will know what it is. Generally speaking, Chicken & Turkey are also much easier to digest since they are so lean.

Meeka will be 9 months in a couple weeks and I agree I never liked the idea of fasting her that long. I'm almost out of kibble so I think I will take your suggestion and start fresh the next day with the raw.

hannah said:
We're doing pre packaged raw meals. Started with a beef turkey blend and it's working so sticking with it for a while at least. Don't forget to grab some salmon oil to supplement we transitioned just to get rid of kibble but we would have also just switched without transitioning. We just didn't want to waste the kibble we had. We did raw in the am and kibble in the pm until kibble was gone now it's all raw! They love it! You won't look back once you switch!

I haven't heard of that company before we buy pets go raw but it's Canadian. I'm sure they are fine as long as they are complete meals! Good luck!

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Thanks for the suggestion on the fish oil

Yahh Meeka is such a diva with her food so I figured with all the benefits that raw provides plus it meat she will always eat it lmao. A few times near the end of a bag she will just stop eating it and starve herself.... she's nuts lmao

hannah · Apr 12, 2016

Steve Doyon said:
Meeka will be 9 months in a couple weeks and I agree I never liked the idea of fasting her that long. I'm almost out of kibble so I think I will take your suggestion and start fresh the next day with the raw.

Thanks for the suggestion on the fish oil Yahh Meeka is such a diva with her food so I figured with all the benefits that raw provides plus it meat she will always eat it lmao. A few times near the end of a bag she will just stop eating it and starve herself.... she's nuts lmao

My dogs did the same thing with kibble. Never with raw!

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Steve Doyon · Apr 12, 2016

hannah said:
My dogs did the same thing with kibble. Never with raw!

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Good to know

Just a quick question, how many pounds of raw do you think you use a month ? The site for big country raw has a food calculator and it saying about 10 pounds a month roughly for Meeka. Which is fairly close to what she eats now in kibble which is 8 pounds.

hannah · Apr 12, 2016

Steve Doyon said:
Good to know Just a quick question, how many pounds of raw do you think you use a month ? The site for big country raw has a food calculator and it saying about 10 pounds a month roughly for Meeka. Which is fairly close to what she eats now in kibble which is 8 pounds.

We feed both our frenchies 1/2 a pound a day. So we go through about 30 pounds a month between the 2 of them.

15 pounds is more accurate a month for 1 dog I would say....

But it goes go by weight... supposed to be 2% of their body weight. And more for puppies . We feed Banksy who is 1 2% of his body weight. And Aiko who is 6 months gets the same because she is a puppy.

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Steve Doyon · Apr 12, 2016

hannah said:
We feed both our frenchies 1/2 a pound a day. So we go through about 30 pounds a month between the 2 of them.

15 pounds is more accurate a month for 1 dog I would say....

But it goes go by weight... supposed to be 2% of their body weight. And more for puppies . We feed Banksy who is 1 2% of his body weight. And Aiko who is 6 months gets the same because she is a puppy.

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OK good to know. Meeka just wont eat more then 2.5 cups a day of her kibble and it never matter what brand it was ( which is about 8 pounds of food ). I never knew about the 2% thing, so thanks for the tip

I'm sure once I get her eating the raw I'll find her looking in the fridge for more hehe

MaplesMommy · Apr 12, 2016

Steve Doyon said:
OK good to know. Meeka just wont eat more then 2.5 cups a day of her kibble and it never matter what brand it was ( which is about 8 pounds of food ). I never knew about the 2% thing, so thanks for the tip I'm sure once I get her eating the raw I'll find her looking in the fridge for more hehe

Since she is 9months old you could feed her 2% of her ideal adult weight or feed her 3% + of her current weight.
But these are all just guidelines. It all depends on their metabolism

So jus keep an eye on the weight and adjust as needed.

Cbrugs · Apr 12, 2016

I switched Jax cold turkey from kibble to raw in November and he handled the transition just fine with no issues.

I started him at 2% of his weight which was 10 ounces per day and he lost 2 pounds so now he is getting 12 ounces per day and he gained a pound and seems to be maintaining his weight now. You kind of have to play around with the amount you feed to find what works.

Steve Doyon · Apr 15, 2016

Thanks for all the feedback guys !! Just one more question about all of this

I was feeding her 3 times a day on the kibble 6am 12pm and 6pm. I had a automatic feeder to give her the noon feeding but since shes eating raw I can only give her two meals a day. Is it ok if I divide the three portions she would usually get into two ? so 3oz of raw per meal ?

KimB3384 · Apr 19, 2016

I feed Beezy twice a day, and have done that since she was little. Probably even before I was supposed to, but I had no choice. She did fine. You should totally be cool. Just keep feeling Meeka's ribs to make sure you don't need to up her intake.

Steve Doyon · Apr 19, 2016

KimB3384 said:
I feed Beezy twice a day, and have done that since she was little. Probably even before I was supposed to, but I had no choice. She did fine. You should totally be cool. Just keep feeling Meeka's ribs to make sure you don't need to up her intake.

Ok that's great to know

I'm going to be upping her to 4oz per meal as she's almost lost a full pound since Friday, so I think the 3oz's isn't enough. ( She's also hitting her bowl asking for bowl after each feeding ) Also what do you mean by feel her ribs ? What would I be looking for ?

I noticed her water intake cut in half since feeding her raw. Has this happened to anyone else ?? She 100% herself but just drinks less water which is unusually as the water is getting hotter as well.

Cbrugs · Apr 19, 2016

Steve Doyon said:
Ok that's great to know I'm going to be upping her to 4oz per meal as she's almost lost a full pound since Friday, so I think the 3oz's isn't enough. ( She's also hitting her bowl asking for bowl after each feeding ) Also what do you mean by feel her ribs ? What would I be looking for ?

I noticed her water intake cut in half since feeding her raw. Has this happened to anyone else ?? She 100% herself but just drinks less water which is unusually as the water is getting hotter as well.

You'll have to play around a bit to find the right amount to feed. Jax lost two pounds when I started raw so he went from 10 ounces per day to 12 ounces per day. Last time I weighed him he had gained a pound and he seems to be maintaining his weight now.

It is normal for them to drink less water when eating raw.

Steve Doyon · Apr 20, 2016

Cbrugs said:
You'll have to play around a bit to find the right amount to feed. Jax lost two pounds when I started raw so he went from 10 ounces per day to 12 ounces per day. Last time I weighed him he had gained a pound and he seems to be maintaining his weight now.

It is normal for them to drink less water when eating raw.

Yahh I've been monitoring her weight for the exact reason. She's a very active frenchie so I know she uses a lot of energy. I started with the suggested 3% of her body weight but for her that isn't enough. So I'll up it too 4oz for a week and go from there. It wouldn't surprise me if she ate 12 ounces like Jax haha. Thanks for the reply !

KimB3384 · Apr 20, 2016

Steve Doyon said:
Ok that's great to know I'm going to be upping her to 4oz per meal as she's almost lost a full pound since Friday, so I think the 3oz's isn't enough. ( She's also hitting her bowl asking for bowl after each feeding ) Also what do you mean by feel her ribs ? What would I be looking for ?

I noticed her water intake cut in half since feeding her raw. Has this happened to anyone else ?? She 100% herself but just drinks less water which is unusually as the water is getting hotter as well.

You'll literally feel her rib area on a regular basis to see how prominent they are. Ideally, you should be able to tell they're there, but you should barely be able to feel them. Does that make sense? Like, if you can rub your fingers over the rib area and pick out individual lumpy ribs, there's not enough meat on 'dem bones and you'll want to up the caloric intake. You'll also want to look at her from above to make sure there's some indentation around her waist. It shouldn't be a straight line from her neck to her butt, she should have a little hourglass.

And, yeah, there are days when Beezy doesn't appear to drink any water out of her bowl at all. With real raw meat, there's so much moisture and blood in the food that they get enough liquid to keep themselves hydrated.

Steve Doyon · Apr 23, 2016

I was wondering how everyone meal prep's their raw ? The one I get comes frozen and its a b**** to try and cut it frozen. I like to prep her food for the week so I can just thaw it out the night before and serve her at feeding time. Would it be ok to thaw just a little ( like leave it on the counter for 20 minutes ) then cut it and put it in back in the freezer ?

Cbrugs · Apr 23, 2016

Steve Doyon said:
I was wondering how everyone meal prep's their raw ? The one I get comes frozen and its a b**** to try and cut it frozen. I like to prep her food for the week so I can just thaw it out the night before and serve her at feeding time. Would it be ok to thaw just a little ( like leave it on the counter for 20 minutes ) then cut it and put it in back in the freezer ?

I prepare Jax's food weekly as well and his are frozen patties I mix with canned tripe. I'll pull out enough parties for the week on Friday and put them in the fridge and then on Sunday I mix up each meal and put them into plastic containers I specifically bought for this purpose. I then put the containers in the freezer and will have two days worth in the fridge at a time. So each day I pull out two containers and put it the fridge.

KimB3384 · Apr 25, 2016

Steve Doyon said:
I was wondering how everyone meal prep's their raw ? The one I get comes frozen and its a b**** to try and cut it frozen. I like to prep her food for the week so I can just thaw it out the night before and serve her at feeding time. Would it be ok to thaw just a little ( like leave it on the counter for 20 minutes ) then cut it and put it in back in the freezer ?

I prefer to keep out smaller portions but there are times when the small ones are sold out and I have to get larger 3 lb. packages of rabbit for Beezy. She eats 3.5 oz. per meal so the large package lasts us almost a week, which isn't totally ideal. I just keep it in the fridge, wrapped in a freezer baggie and placed in a plastic bowl to prevent any leakage, and then dole out what I need as I need it. We've never had an issue with it going bad. When I get down to about four meals, I get out another package from the freezer and do the same thing with it.

I guess my point is that you don't have to keep it in the freezer. The fridge is fine and it's probably easier for you in the end.