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Mystery health issues :(

awfarmington

Active Member
One question, its beef suet okay on a raw food diet for allergies? I was thinking of buying that, and putting a small amount in her main food. All her ribs are showing, and I am hoping that will help fatten her up a little.
 

Smart_Family

Dog Food Guru
I don't know about suet but look up satin balls if she's underweight. There's a couple different recipes but they work.
 

angelbears

Well-Known Member
Are you giving her bone and all. You should as that is what is best. However, when feeding bone in meat, never cook it. Big NO NO.

I do want to state that I'm not trying to push raw down anyone's throat. Actually I hate feeding raw but I do feel it is the best thing I can do for my dog with skin issues, since he gets it, the other 2 get it also.

We have been raw for about a year now. The biggest mistake I made at first was not going totally raw. I could not resist feeding him from our plate or a cheese snack, surely that couldn't hurt him. I was wrong, we did not get control of the yeast until I cut out the little extras that I couldn't resist giving him. I feel terrible that I spent almost a year of a little cheating and really delayed his healing.

If you do want to go raw I am willing to help you as I'm sure the others on here will too. If you go raw start with only one meat and stick with it for at least a couple of weeks and even longer. Most people start with chicken, it is the cheapest, easiest to find and most dogs tolerate it very well. The bones are also the softest and easier to digest.

I'm sorry but I don't know anything about beef suet, not sure what it is??? Most raw feeder try to stay away from ground meats, as a rule I try not to feed it but right now beef is so expensive they are getting some raw hamburger. If you can find beef hearts for cheaper I'm sure it is a better option. Right now I can't find any so they are getting some hamburger.

I am no expert, so please take anything I say with a grain of salt. Please feel free to point out anything that I get wrong. I just know how frustrating skin problems are and really do feel for anyone dealing with them.
 

awfarmington

Active Member
The only raw meat she will eat is beef. Tried raw fish and chicken, she actually shoved it away with her nose! Her favorite food hands down is hot dogs. Perhaps if I cut a hot dog or two up, with chopped raw chicken *maybe* she will eat it. Its honestly easier getting my picky five yo to eat than her lol.
 

Oak Hill Farm

Well-Known Member
If you can find affordable beef it is the best thing to feed. As angelbears said chicken is usually more affordable. Beef suet is not bad, I would not feed it solely, but you can add it to the diet. To much fat in a dog new to raw diet may cause extreme diarrhea so start slow with it, and see how your dog tolerates it at first. It sometimes takes dogs a while to get used to the texture and smell/taste of raw. You may have to sear both sides quickly at first and just decreases it as they get used to it. It also helps to cut slices in your meat at first, especially anything with skin or membrane on it, as dogs usually find this objectionable at first as well.
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
Carefull with the suet, but you might be able to add it to the satin ball recipe as part of the fat source (when I was doing satin balls I used an ice cream scoop to form the balls, set them onto a cookie sheet and put them into the freezer. The next day they were solid enough to bag up without sticking to each other).

If she's having trouble getting interested with raw chicken, get your pan nice and HOT (if its cast iron you want it close to smoking) put down just the barest bit of oil, and toss the boneless breast on, flip it quick, and then pull it back off. Gives it the "cooked" flavor without cooking it through.

Definetly cut down on the sources you're feeding from. I understand what you're trying to do, but it does sound like an allergy issue and you've GOT to narrow down your focus to help with that.

Bones: if she won't do chicken raw (and DO NOT cook anything with bones in for her unless you're removing the bones before feeding), try rabbit or even pork. My Tibetan Mastiff (who's a bit smaller, weight wise, than she is) can chew up pork necks with a little work. Just don't over do the pork, the fat might be good for her, but until you're 100% on the rest of her issues it might be bad too. Also look at duck and turkey as alternatives to chicken for both meat and bones.

Watch the hotdogs, even the higher end brands have extra salt and stuff that isn't great for us much less our dogs (and might be contributing to her health issues). A little as a treat is usually ok, but not to much.

Live culture yogurt isn't usually a bad thing, and both my dogs love it.



edited: a satin balls recipe. I modified it a bit, used all oatmeal instead of other cereals, used regular geletin instead of the fancy stuff (that I couldn't get locally), but otherwise followed it for the most part. Apollo loved them.
 
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musicdeb

Well-Known Member
My DDB is fed raw for about 2 weeks now. He's adjusted very well. His skin is slowly improving. He doesn't drink water as much as he used to because kibble is loaded with fillers and crude protein. It's like us human eating beef jerky all the time and not get thirsty. I believe raw is the way to go for all dogs.
 

awfarmington

Active Member
Update: Sadie has been on her raw (mostly) diet for a week now. Also been putting natural and otc meds for the yeast along with probiotics and yogurt, with a touch of garlic puree (vet said is very small amounts it would b okay). Her scratching and chewing is not totally gone, but MUCH less. Also, the water drinking problem is GONE....I'm floored! Her main food is beef. Im hoping once she gets used to eating raw for a while, that she will eat raw chicken, deer, and fish. After she is on beef for a couple more weeks, I will try raw chicken....then fish, etc. Her healthy weight would be around 130 Im guessing. How many pounds of food a day is appropriate? I will prolly try adding some pureed veggies (no corn/taters) to her food in small amounts. ALL meat just seems like to much of a good thing lol.
 

Smart_Family

Dog Food Guru
You can add veggies but they don't digest them totally so don't be surprised to see veggie chunks in the poop. You want to feed her 2-3% of her estimated adult weight a day. So if you think 130 is probably how much she should weigh then 2-3% of that.
 

Smart_Family

Dog Food Guru
2% would be 2.6 lbs a day and 3% would be 3.9 lbs. it would probably be a good idea to stay closer to the 2.6 at first til her system is totally used to it and she's gaining steady weight before moving up to the 3.9 side of the range.
 

awfarmington

Active Member
Have an OT question, if ya'll dont mind. Our toy poodle had a litter over the weekend, is a great mom, no issues. However, Grandma (her mom), has been sneaking in the crate when mom is taking a break to eat, or potty. We JUST noticed Grandma who is 11 years old and not had a litter in years, is lactating. She has always been very maternal. Loves human babies, baby dogs and really any species really lol. She nursed a kitten once, while she had her own litter. The kitten was new to us and prolly at least 12 weeks. So way beyond nursing age. We caught her nursing her daughters babies, cleaning their bums, and just trying to play mom in general lol. Has anyone ever heard of this? BTW, Sadie is also in love with the babies, she plays the big sister role very well lol.

---------- Post added at 12:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:08 AM ----------

You can add veggies but they don't digest them totally so don't be surprised to see veggie chunks in the poop. You want to feed her 2-3% of her estimated adult weight a day. So if you think 130 is probably how much she should weigh then 2-3% of that.

Duh...pardon my math skills! I had it in my mind at 3 or 4%, should have reread that.
 

awfarmington

Active Member
You can add veggies but they don't digest them totally so don't be surprised to see veggie chunks in the poop. You want to feed her 2-3% of her estimated adult weight a day. So if you think 130 is probably how much she should weigh then 2-3% of that.

Duh...pardon my math skills! I had it in my mind at 3 or 4%, should have reread that.
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
Is Grandma spayed? Dogs can have a false pregnancy which triggers many of those symptoms. Becarefull with mom, sometimes they're fine with this sort of behavior, othertimes they'll become aggressive towards the female, even their own mothers, for interfearing with the pups.

---------- Post added at 04:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:42 PM ----------

I'm not sure exactly. It may be how it's processed. I just know and have read about a whole bunch of dogs who couldn't handle chicken in the kibble but were fine with raw.

Thats my assumption too.

On an interesting note my New Guinea Singing Dog pup can tolerate poultry in kibble form (he came to us eating a chicken based kibble) but not raw. Raw chicken (and possibly turkey, though I've not confirmed that) gives him MASSIVE nasty diahrrea.
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
I'm not sure exactly. It may be how it's processed. I just know and have read about a whole bunch of dogs who couldn't handle chicken in the kibble but were fine with raw.

Thats my assumption too.

On an interesting note my New Guinea Singing Dog pup can tolerate poultry in kibble form (he came to us eating a chicken based kibble) but not raw. Raw chicken (and possibly turkey, though I've not confirmed that) gives him MASSIVE nasty diahrrea. We just feed him beef and venison and lamb, so not the end of the world, just weird.
 

awfarmington

Active Member
No, Grandma is not. She has showed no signs of false pregnancy though. She just she obsessed with babies lol. Generally when Mom gets tired her her litter, (about 4 or 5 weeks), Grandma takes over all their care. This is the first time Grandma started wanting them so early, and actually made milk. Grandma is the alpha, then Sadie, and mom is on the bottom. She lets Grandma by her pups, but growls if Sadie comes close, when they are very young. As soon as they are old enough to play, Sadie is allowed to have at it though and loves being big sister! Mom went through 2 months of pregnancy to have them, so we intervened and made Grandma back off, so Mom can have peace and quiet for now.

---------- Post added at 09:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:05 PM ----------

Back to the OT, today I noticed Sadies skin is coming off in big flakes. Like the yeasty part? Im going to bathe her in ACV, and use a little scrubbie, then put more cream on. Hoping that soon I'll see little hairs coming in, and the black part of her skin turn back to pinkish again :)
 

awfarmington

Active Member
Back to the OT, today I noticed Sadies skin is coming off in big flakes. Like the yeasty part? Im going to bathe her in ACV, and use a little scrubbie, then put more cream on. Hoping that soon I'll see little hairs coming in, and the black part of her skin turn back to pinkish again :)