From Burns to RAW

cocker5

Guys,

Really sorry if this has been sone to death but here goes..

So as the title suggest my cocker (8.5 years / male) is on Burns and has been for about 6 years or so. While Im very happy with Burns, I also add high quality Salmon oil, Sardines, raw mixed egg (all seperate / one day per week)... his coat is in good condition as are his poo's etc.... but Im seriously considering moving him over to RAW in the coming months.

He is 16KG (he's a big / tall cocker)... and his breath smells (not bad but it does)

Can someone please give me some tips advice?

How do u know how much to feed?

How often to feed (he's get two small bowls of Burns at the mo)?

if i were to buy from digsfirst... for one month how much would i need to order?

Sorry for all the questions....

All points apprecited...

:P

belongtojazz

Hi Cocker5 I moved all my gang over to raw last year and it was a great move for us.

If you have a look at Dogsfirst website he has a calculator for how much you should feed but if I give you an idea with my springer.

My guy weighs a bit more he's about 20kg. He gets gRaw or homemade mince for his breakfast about 100gm and for his dinner he will get around 350gm of something boney, I alternate between sardines and chicken carcasses. My Springer is 11 now and gets regular comments from people on how fabulous he looks for his age. He suffers with colitis but since the change to raw that is much easier to manage now as he doesn't get near as many bouts.

I feed twice a day as one of my Jackers has a very fast metabolism and will vomit if not fed regularly. It works well for me and I find I am spending less now feeding the 4 than I was feeding burns.

cocker5

belongtojazz wrote: »

Hi Cocker5 I moved all my gang over to raw last year and it was a great move for us.

If you have a look at Dogsfirst website he has a calculator for how much you should feed but if I give you an idea with my springer.

My guy weighs a bit more he's about 20kg. He gets gRaw or homemade mince for his breakfast about 100gm and for his dinner he will get around 350gm of something boney, I alternate between sardines and chicken carcasses. My Springer is 11 now and gets regular comments from people on how fabulous he looks for his age. He suffers with colitis but since the change to raw that is much easier to manage now as he doesn't get near as many bouts.

I feed twice a day as one of my Jackers has a very fast metabolism and will vomit if not fed regularly. It works well for me and I find I am spending less now feeding the 4 than I was feeding burns.

Thanks a million for your reply...

Ill check out the dogsfirst website to see how much to feed...

Can i ask you.... do you buy all the ingredients yourself? or do you buy the pre made ones from dogsfirst...

Im not too sure what to do...

cocker5

ok.... so from the website i think 400g for my cocker should be ok...

totally stupid questions... its it 400g of meat? or does this inclide veg also?

sorry

borderlinemeath

Amounts to feed depends on the individual dog, anything from 2% to 4.5% based on metabolism and activity levels. So at 16kg anything from 320g to 720g. But based on your dogs age then I would imagine metabolism to be slowing down slightly so less rather than more. It's trial and error at the start, see how your dog fares on a certain amount and increase or decrease as needed. Alternatively ask on the dogsfirst facebook page what amount might be suitable.

Do you want to feed the chubs or the wholesale meats from Dogsfirst? The meats tend to come in very large quantities, 10 or 15kg frozen packs, great value if you have the space to store it. Best thing I ever did was buy a chest freezer. Deliveries (depending where you are in the country) tend to be once a month but you can order the chubs online anytime. For example, If you're feeding say 400g a day that's around 12kg a month you'll be getting through.

This is the Raw thread from earlier this year..

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=80681796

belongtojazz

cocker5 wrote: »

Thanks a million for your reply...

Ill check out the dogsfirst website to see how much to feed...

Can i ask you.... do you buy all the ingredients yourself? or do you buy the pre made ones from dogsfirst...

Im not too sure what to do...

I do a mixture of both for the breakfast. I occasionally do a big shop in JCs in swords who do all sorts of cheap (human) random meats, Livers, Kidneys hearts etc, and I'll boil up and blend veg and mix it up and thats breakfast for a few weeks.

To be honest the chubbs from Dogs first are easier.

Dog food direct and Slaney meats also do raw but they don't mix in Veg or any of the herbs and extras that dogs first recommends.

borderlinemeath

cocker5 wrote: »

ok.... so from the website i think 400g for my cocker should be ok...

totally stupid questions... its it 400g of meat? or does this inclide veg also?

sorry

The way it works is 80% meat, 10% offal (heart, liver, kidney) 10% veg/fruit/yogurt etc. I don't always feed 10% offal, usually twice or three times a week I'll feed heart or liver as I don't want to overload them. Veg is also optional, I tend to do a spoonful of spud/veg when I'm feeding ground fish and mix it in. My pair won't touch spud/veg on it's own when I put it in the bowl with just meat, it has to be hidden!

Make friends with your local butcher as well. Mine gives me loads of bones (not weight bearing ones, ribs, pelvis, shoulder etc) and sometimes he gives me free hearts and livers. I also give them oxtails as a cheap treat, and again depending on what I'm getting he sometimes throws them in or maybe charges €2 for them.

cocker5

borderlinemeath wrote: »

Amounts to feed depends on the individual dog, anything from 2% to 4.5% based on metabolism and activity levels. So at 16kg anything from 320g to 720g. But based on your dogs age then I would imagine metabolism to be slowing down slightly so less rather than more. It's trial and error at the start, see how your dog fares on a certain amount and increase or decrease as needed. Alternatively ask on the dogsfirst facebook page what amount might be suitable.

Do you want to feed the chubs or the wholesale meats from Dogsfirst? The meats tend to come in very large quantities, 10 or 15kg frozen packs, great value if you have the space to store it. Best thing I ever did was buy a chest freezer. Deliveries (depending where you are in the country) tend to be once a month but you can order the chubs online anytime. For example, If you're feeding say 400g a day that's around 12kg a month you'll be getting through.

This is the Raw thread from earlier this year..

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=80681796

Thanks a million... apprecite it.

ok.... so while i have a large freezer maybe not that large!

So I could possibly do it myself....

Again a stupid question... now i know cooked chicken bones are a no go and with raw feeding chicken bones are recommended, do you think a dog whos never had raw chicken bones be ok eating them?

again stupid question... sorry


Can anyone recommend some sample dinners they made from scratch?

cocker5

borderlinemeath wrote: »

The way it works is 80% meat, 10% offal (heart, liver, kidney) 10% veg/fruit/yogurt etc. I don't always feed 10% offal, usually twice or three times a week I'll feed heart or liver as I don't want to overload them. Veg is also optional, I tend to do a spoonful of spud/veg when I'm feeding ground fish and mix it in. My pair won't touch spud/veg on it's own when I put it in the bowl with just meat, it has to be hidden!

Make friends with your local butcher as well. Mine gives me loads of bones (not weight bearing ones, ribs, pelvis, shoulder etc) and sometimes he gives me free hearts and livers. I also give them oxtails as a cheap treat, and again depending on what I'm getting he sometimes throws them in or maybe charges €2 for them.

Thats perfect Thanks!!

much appreciated!

I have about two weeks of Burns left so ill start when im nearly done.

On a practal level what happens if i have to put him into kennels?
I can provide his food... but is it practical?

toadfly

Hi OP,

I switched Lexi over a year ago and the two Yorkies about a month ago. Up to the other day I have been buying from Aldi (€3/kg for chicken on the bone) first and then my butcher (€2/kg). I got a chest freezer (€160 for a 100L) two months ago but as I live in Galway it’s been harder to get a delivery from DF so I got that the other day. I got 12 Salmon chubbs, 20kg chicken necks and 15kg duck necks. I went a bit overboard to be fair but it will last me about 3 or 4 months for Lexi.

She weighs around 15kg and we feed her around 450g meat, a little liver and a few days a week some veg (spuds, green beans and carrot usually). It’s so hard to keep weight on her and even with that she is lean so I imagine you would feed a good bit less. I give her sardines twice a week and bones at the weekend. Raw egg was the only thing that caused an issue with her so she only got that once. Its very easy to do yourself so I wouldn’t pay for the readymade meals from DF. Try your local butcher until you are more sure of what you are doing.

I mince the chicken legs for the small dogs and I get that from my butcher still. It costs around 20c a day in meat to feed both from the butcher but they weigh less than 5kg each.

EDIT:For kennels I haven't had a problem. She is going in next week to Drogheda for a week but the woman that is taking her feeds raw and has a chest freezer. But have left her several other places and there's no issue I just ask them if they have freezer space when booking. I havent had no refuse to take her because if the food. They just refuse for because of her breed

Any questions just ask.