Feeding Raw to a Newfie?

pawrick

Hi, just looking to see if anyone else here is feeding a raw or mixed raw and dry kibble diet to their newfoundland?

I've been having difficulty with my one getting bored with her dry food and I'm considering switching to a mix of raw and kibble. I've tried different dry foods and after a few days she gets fed up with them each time. I usually mix half a tin of wet food in with the kibble as it is but she only eats the wet food at this point unless very hungry but I'm not satisfied that she will be getting sufficient nutrition ignoring the kibble and just eating a small amount of the mixer.

Age wise she is 18 months old and otherwise very healthy and looks to be a good weight for her size (43Kg last time I checked, I'd say she is about 47Kg by now but she is tall compared to most other newfies I've met so still has a way to fill out - need to get her weighted again to get an accurate weight). she has always been a very fussy and a light eater. Maybe there is no harm to it as she is obviously eating enough to maintain her weight, I am feeding her the recommended amount for her breed and age profile of the dry food currently so not over feeding.

I've ordered some pre prepared chubs in one of those sample packs from an irish online raw food supplier to try her out on and see if it encourages her to eat more. Anyone else have experience with this or recommend how much raw should be added on a 50/50 basis with dry food? I'm just starting to read up on the raw food threads here but would like opinions from someone with experience of the same breed or size dog. thanks


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tk123

Is she spayed - if not could she be coming into heat and getting picky?

People will tell you not to mix raw and dry because it digests at different rates blah blah blah - it's complete rubbish so mix them if you want! If you're mixing them to save money you'll save a good bit by buying in bulk rather than the prepared chubs so you could switch to all raw once you have your confidence feeding it. I tend to buy in bulk so hard to be exact but I wouldn't be spending any more than 40-50 a month feeding my two retrievers - maybe less because I feed raw meaty bones, wings etc that would make the meat last longer. http://www.slaneypetfoods.ie do bulk boxes of chicken, beef and tripe which I find great value, they also have a better variety of meats and if you're in the right part of the country he usually does runs every other wednesday with no postage

pawrick

tk123 wrote: »

Is she spayed - if not could she be coming into heat and getting picky?

People will tell you not to mix raw and dry because it digests at different rates blah blah blah - it's complete rubbish so mix them if you want! If you're mixing them to save money you'll save a good bit by buying in bulk rather than the prepared chubs so you could switch to all raw once you have your confidence feeding it. I tend to buy in bulk so hard to be exact but I wouldn't be spending any more than 40-50 a month feeding my two retrievers - maybe less because I feed raw meaty bones, wings etc that would make the meat last longer. http://www.slaneypetfoods.ie do bulk boxes of chicken, beef and tripe which I find great value, they also have a better variety of meats and if you're in the right part of the country he usually does runs every other wednesday with no postage

thanks, I was looking at that site last night and have it bookmarked. I need to get a large deep freeze though before I start considering bulk purchases of raw food. It's something I'll be looking into depending on how the chubs go down.

She's not spayed yet, she's been through two heat cycles and it affects her appetite but this is more a long term thing where she goes off her kibble for days. She is hungry but stubborn and will eat anything else on offer instead of the kibble. I think it's time to try a new approach though that's why I'm looking in to the raw food. As a mixer currently i alternate between tins of dog food and tins of mackeral mixed through with the kibble.

tk123

I started with one drawer in the house freezer..then an undercounter freezer...then a shed with an upright freezer and the other smaller one...and an undercounter fridge inside where the freezer used to be It's like we're preparing for doomsday with the meat and bones lol!

pawrick

Anyhow, just a quick update. So far so good.

Tried a sample pack over the course of a week mixed with her dry food and she loved it. She seems to have liked it too much though and completely turned her nose up at the dry food when i ran out.

Got a chest freezer delivered during the week and another delivery of raw food so it looks like long term I'll be sticking to a combination of raw and dry food mixed. I might reconsider having the dry food mixed in once my current bag runs out though.

Might even try raw with the cats as their current food seems to be creating too much weight gain.