Been thinking about it for ages but decided I am not brave enough to go the DIY raw food route, like the idea of meaty bones but still worry a bit about them, but I ordered a small batch of raw ready meals from Nutriment and it arrived today, got a variety of the complete meals (with bone and some veg mixed in) and a bag of chicken necks - hope Dudley doesn't take as long starting to eat the meals as he does with the chicken wings I give him occasionally, he still does the they are too precious to eat thing and either tries to take them off to bury or keeps backing away when I hold them although he really wants them! he starts on them eventually.
Raw food delivery!
DB1
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Ooh keep us posted then, it's like some kind of arcane art this, I'd never even heard of raw until the forum, it just concerns me that I'd over or under do something vitally important through my own lack of knowledge. So can you mix dry as well as raw then? Dry complete? Questions questions!
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Thanks so much to all of you
She loves this food she gobbles it up in no time. When she was on Acana she would eat one day and then not the other. One day she would have just one serving so it wasn't her thing for sure. She is happy and lively so I am grateful for that! I might add stuff to this food to make it healthier like more protein and vegetables. Both vets are against raw but probably cause that would be a lot of protein and certain ones would make her urine more prone to forming stones. I have never had a dog that had this problem before but when she pee'd and cried the other day it broke my heart. I was happy the stone was gone but the look on her face and the scream she made was too much She is my baby and seeing her in that kind of pain was so hard!
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Renee, I would say keep to what the vet has advised for now then, but could you find a dog nutritionist to speak to? a friend of mine over here has done a course on dog nutrition, it was quite a long course - more in depth than the vets would do I think, I don't see her very often but I'll try and find out what she would advise.
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You shouldn't feed dry and raw in the same meal as they digest them at different rates but you can feed as separate meals giving time for them to digest in between (correct me if I am wrong anyone), I'm not sure how long in between you need to wait, will have to look that up but I am planning to feed raw in the morning and dry in the evening at the moment, may change to mostly raw at some time but I want Dudley to still eat dry when we go on hols.
Well he certainly enjoyed his first nutriment meal this morning, no messing about, I'm hoping there won't be any smelly side effects as he has only ever parped about once before!
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I have been considering going Raw for sometime now and have contacted a supplier local to me for a quote. She delivers the natural instinct complete which I have no problems dishing up to Nellie and Meg. What I am worried about is will I have to feed them the chicken wings, necks etc? Being a vegetarian I don't think I can bring myself to do it
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You won't have to if the meals are complete with bone in as well, but they are good for teeth, just give them stag/antler bars to chew on too and keep an eye on their teeth.I have been considering going Raw for sometime now and have contacted a supplier local to me for a quote. She delivers the natural instinct complete which I have no problems dishing up to Nellie and Meg. What I am worried about is will I have to feed them the chicken wings, necks etc? Being a vegetarian I don't think I can bring myself to do it
Dudley has been having his Nutriment meals for a few days now and they are gone very fast! he still seems happy to eat kibble later in the day although I will probably make the change to raw about 80-90% of the time soon, will be interesting if I see any changes in Dudley when he is on mostly raw - only one at the moment is he is more interested when I go to the fridge or freezer for anything now! Only prob is my next order will be bigger and I'm going to have to make more space in my freezer.
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Ah that's ok then! Yes the meals are complete with bone so I'm happy to give them that. They have antler bars to chew on so that's cool
. Will it take up a lot of freezer space? I will have 2 drawers free in my fridge/freezer and will have a delivery once a month. I think I will do raw 100 % of the time when I have done the switch over. Does Dudley get hungry being on the Raw or does it fill him up enough?
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Dawn and Claire - just wondered how you're getting on with nutriment now?
I've been thinking about swapping Tilly over to the complete meals. She would have to have it 100% of the time as she won't eat dry food on its own!
I remember my mum once told me what dogs should have some hard food to crunch because otherwise it's bad for their brains?? Not sure if it was an old wives tale or what?
Also, with the chicken necks etc, do they literally eat the whole thing? Bones and all?? How's Dudley getting on with those?
I've been thinking about swapping Tilly over to the complete meals. She would have to have it 100% of the time as she won't eat dry food on its own!
I remember my mum once told me what dogs should have some hard food to crunch because otherwise it's bad for their brains?? Not sure if it was an old wives tale or what?
Also, with the chicken necks etc, do they literally eat the whole thing? Bones and all?? How's Dudley getting on with those?
Renee I have been looking up stones etc. Apparently dogs develop stones usually due to an infection that causes the PH level in their urine to turn acidic. For a dog the normal PH reading is 6 - 6.5. It should never go above 7. That's when you need to take action. You should be able to buy some PH strips from the chemist and just monitor her pee. This at least gives you the opportunity to monitor Molly yourself. There is a book on Amazon called Raw and Natural nutrition For Dogs. I'm a great believer in arming yourself with as many facts as possible. Knowledge is power. For now Molly is well and happy. We none of us know how long we have with our lovely dogs. We just have to enjoy and treasure each and every day and not let the worry about the future rob us of the joy of today. .
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That quote from your mum made me laugh, never heard that before. There is bone in the meals and you can see little bits of it but probably not enough for a good crunch, yes the necks get munched down bone and all, I only got one lot and the only reason I didn't get more was that it was quite a bundle of them which I found hard to separate, I could thaw them out a little to separate but then I didn't like re-freezing - been meaning to ask the company about it, I ended up throwing a few away as they had been defrosted quite a few days. but Dudley loves the meals, if you want to try just a couple of packs I could meet you somewhere when I'm over that way for agility as I'm officially a stockist for them now! usually have just the complete meals though.
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It's fine to re-freeze the meat/bones dawn. When I have a delivery I part defrost it so I can separate the bones then I wrap them individually in cling film. I cut the chubbs up into 130 g pieces then re-freeze so I can just take a chunk out of the freezer and I know I'm giving barney the right amount.
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Just noticed your question, he seems hungry but i that is just because he loves it so much and would eat too much of it if I let him! his weight has stayed stable I feed him approx 2 1/2% of his body weight, sometimes a little more if there is some to use up. I do it most of the time now, about once a week I feed him orijen which he seems to really like too, switched to that as it seemed closest to raw of the dried foods and wanted to ensure he can still switch to it when we go away. If having dry I feed that in the evening as apparently it takes a lot longer than raw to fully digest and evening to morning gives a longer time between feeds.Ah that's ok then! Yes the meals are complete with bone so I'm happy to give them that. They have antler bars to chew on so that's cool
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Arlo and Savannah are loving it, but I am finding Arlo is much hungrier and is trying extra hard to get in bins and cupboards!! Feeding dried to compliment it I am worried I will be over loading his system and taking away the benefit of raw, so we have been complimenting it with a bit of home cooked. I am sure I will crack it, it is so lovely to see them soooo excited at meal times
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Yes Dudley is far more excited, I didn't put it down to hunger the fact that he is much more food focussed now, but its like he has realised how good food can taste and he wants to keep trying to get more now!Arlo and Savannah are loving it, but I am finding Arlo is much hungrier and is trying extra hard to get in bins and cupboards!! Feeding dried to compliment it I am worried I will be over loading his system and taking away the benefit of raw, so we have been complimenting it with a bit of home cooked. I am sure I will crack it, it is so lovely to see them soooo excited at meal times
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I actually think they are less hungry. They seem more willing to play than trying to eat things. Also I got a whole bunch of bully stick which they will chew on too. I did have to add a late afternoon snack at daycare because I feed them late to prevent Lexi from having that foamy vomit early morning. But I just give them a small freeze dried patty. Works as their fridge is really small. Though I love their faces when I as, " do you want to go eat?" Immediately freeze what their doing and run as fast as possible next to the spot where I prepare their bowls.
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