Problems with Dogs having Diarrhea

[sjpersonal]

I just started my dogs with half raw patties and half organic dry food. Has anyone had problems with their dogs going through this stage of stomach trouble when they first begin eating raw food? I want to stick with this and maybe one day transition them to complete raw.

Also I have two dogs a female mix 59lbs and a pure pittbull 70lbs. It was suggested that if I wanted to give them all raw then I should feed them two 8 oz patties a day. That seems like such a small amount of food, right now they are getting 1 pattie and one full scoop of dry.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[ruffsongraw]

hi,
at the risk of geting flack from vegans here, dogs are carnivores and are designed to eat meat. i know there are vegan dog-feeders that do fine and i guess you will hear from them as well, however, any diet change has to be gradual with new food being introduced in small amts and the old food gradually decreasing and being replaced by the new, whether raw or kibble. i started my gsd puppy with one raw chicken wing as a lunch meal while he still got kibble at breakfast and dinner, then increased as he grew to one chickn leg quarter at lunch with still kibble at breakfast and dinner. (my chi also eats raw chicken wings.) if you are having diarhea or other tummy upsets, remember that flax and ETC that *we* eat fine can cause loose stool in a carnivore. for diar or vom, you can with hold ALL food from them for 24 hours (water at all times!) and then start over. hope this hlps!! you can also give probiotic (dog) supplements until they are settled onto it. (i have been a dog person for 30 yrs but am new to raw HUMAN feeding!!)
jen

[DharmaGirl]

I've learned alot the last few months about the digestive system of the dog.... LOT different than human.... just do not feed raw and kibble in the same meal during the transition... it does not mix well and makes it really hard on their digestive tract..... I would give your dog(s) slippery elm mixed w/water to get it to a pudding consistency, then mix w/raw honey.... they love it and it will coat their stomach and repair all the damage the kibble has done to it..... Good luck!

[sjpersonal]

hi,
at the risk of geting flack from vegans here, dogs are carnivores and are designed to eat meat. i know there are vegan dog-feeders that do fine and i guess you will hear from them as well, however, any diet change has to be gradual with new food being introduced in small amts and the old food gradually decreasing and being replaced by the new, whether raw or kibble. i started my gsd puppy with one raw chicken wing as a lunch meal while he still got kibble at breakfast and dinner, then increased as he grew to one chickn leg quarter at lunch with still kibble at breakfast and dinner. (my chi also eats raw chicken wings.) if you are having diarhea or other tummy upsets, remember that flax and ETC that *we* eat fine can cause loose stool in a carnivore. for diar or vom, you can with hold ALL food from them for 24 hours (water at all times!) and then start over. hope this hlps!! you can also give probiotic (dog) supplements until they are settled onto it. (i have been a dog person for 30 yrs but am new to raw HUMAN feeding!!)
jen

Thanks, I thought that it might just be the change in their diet, but wanted to see if others had this problem on going. I too have had dogs all of my life I am 46, I could not imagine my life without pets since I do not have children. From your posts I believe that your dogs are small, am I correct? I have always only fed my dogs once a day, I put their food down before I leave for work. Usually with the dry they seldom finish all of it, but with this diet 1 pattie and one scoop they tend to finish it immediately then nothing for the rest of the day. I do not want my babies to starve but I also do not want to over feed them. Problems...Problems...Problems...= LIFE (LOL)

[sjpersonal]

I've learned alot the last few months about the digestive system of the dog.... LOT different than human.... just do not feed raw and kibble in the same meal during the transition... it does not mix well and makes it really hard on their digestive tract..... I would give your dog(s) slippery elm mixed w/water to get it to a pudding consistency, then mix w/raw honey.... they love it and it will coat their stomach and repair all the damage the kibble has done to it..... Good luck!

Thanks, do you have large dogs? If so how do you feed them? So you think that I should feed them the Raw alone in the morning and the dry at night? What exactly is Slipery Elm I have never heard of it?

[ruffsongraw]

hi, have to add more of my 2 cents....dogs do better eating smaller meals more frequently rather than one large meal per day all at once, their daily intake in one feeding--not fun and can add to risk of bloat! also, adding a probiotic wil help tummies and yes sippery elm is great but i have never heard of giving honey that way. guts take a LONG time to heal!!! and yes, NOT mixing raw meat WITH kibble at the same meal is good advice.
meat patties might be a good introduction but ultimately they ought to have raw meaty bones (check internet for more detailed info!) and their digestive system is identical to a wolve's. like us, mother nature is the rulebook to follow. feeding them as natural as possible (including fasting one day per week or two!) is best. food is not always readily available in the wild wolf's life and they sure dont need cooked food! think of a dog/wolf/coyote/fox raiding the chicken coop---they eat whole raw eggs and whole raw chickens!! goodluck!
jen

[sjpersonal]

hi, have to add more of my 2 cents....dogs do better eating smaller meals more frequently rather than one large meal per day all at once, their daily intake in one feeding--not fun and can add to risk of bloat! also, adding a probiotic wil help tummies and yes sippery elm is great but i have never heard of giving honey that way. guts take a LONG time to heal!!! and yes, NOT mixing raw meat WITH kibble at the same meal is good advice.
meat patties might be a good introduction but ultimately they ought to have raw meaty bones (check internet for more detailed info!) and their digestive system is identical to a wolve's. like us, mother nature is the rulebook to follow. feeding them as natural as possible (including fasting one day per week or two!) is best. food is not always readily available in the wild wolf's life and they sure dont need cooked food! think of a dog/wolf/coyote/fox raiding the chicken coop---they eat whole raw eggs and whole raw chickens!! goodluck!
jen

Thanks, this morning I gave them each 1 raw pattie, it was gone in less than 2 min. and plan to give them one scoop of dry when I return home. Regarding the meaty bones I know that they sell them at the same pet store where I purchased the raw patties. It just seems as though this is not enough food for them LOL. I know changes, I am trying to change 45 years of eating for myself. I will purchase the bones this saturday since the store is so far away from where I live.

Regarding the raw egg, how do you feed it to your dog? Are you dumping it in their bowl or are you mixing it with other things. I will think about giving them 1 egg with their raw meat twice a week.

Thanks so much for all of your help, and sorry for all of the questions, I just want them to be as healthy as possible and to live as long as possible. I have lost several pets to old age and illnesses and it was devestating to me expecially since I do not have any children, these are my babies.

[ruffsongraw]

hi.
GREAT. i give mine a raw egg (shell too!) onto their kibble 2x a week or 3. bones ideally should be organic. mine will chew on one all day and that counts as a meal. then they get a light dinner. i have issues with my 9month gsd who will barf if fed too much kibble. he gets only a half cup in one feedling. if i give him more than that (and he is on a good homeopathic supp. with slippery elm!), up it comes. he never barfs the raw food!!!! yay!!!
jen

[DharmaGirl]

so ruff,

why do you even feed your gs kibble if you're feeding some raw? why not go ALL raw; seems this is what he likes since he doesn't throw it up!!!

I have a golden shepherd - 70 lbs. that I've just transitioned to all raw and right now, I'm giving her Oma's Pride which is a mix. I actually went to a pet nutritionist to transition her the right way since she has lots of allergies..... she's loving the raw food and I got her off the kibble within two weeks. The PN told me that dogs should only eat 1x day since their stomachs produce so much HCL even if they just have a little snack and that's where the issues come in; little meals, cuz their stomachs produce huge amounts of HCL and this tends to wreak havoc with the intestinal tract if their stomachs aren't FULL enuf to accomodate all the HCL it will secrete.... makes sense to me, so now, I'm only feeding 1 meal a day.... 2 lbs of Oma's Chicken mix (meat, bones, organ meats and some vegs), and meaty bones occasionally. Eventually I will incorporate whole raw foods like wings, necks, etc.......

Hope this info helps.... it certainly has made a difference in my dog's demeanor, eating habits and energy level..... She is 8 y/o and LOVING raw

Oh yeah, and what was said earlier about fasting was also mentioned by PN.... if you think of it, wolves can go days without eating in the wild, once and awhile it's good to just water fast your dog, too!!!!

[Eva]

Sorry if I've missed other responses, I haven't read the whole thread through...

Just sharing my experience. My dog "went raw" about a year and a half ago. Mostly eating raw meaty bones with some green smoothies and carrots, stuff like that mixed in. My mom had him while I was overseas for 6 months. For the last few months, she started feeding commercial food again. When I got back, he was fat and lazy. Within about a week of going back to raw, the weight was gone. He's still lazy.

I am in the process of switching him to eating vegan with eggs mixed in. I think it's less than ideal but far better than kibble. It's for ethical reasons. So far, the only difference is he poops more. I'm working on figuring the best way to keep his teeth clean naturally this way.

I make him dehydrated patties with ground flax, the pulp from juicing veggies, and eggs (including the shell), all mashed up together and shaped like a burger. He loves it, has never not wanted to eat this. And he is a little picky... You can dehydrate it for just a few hours, or you can dehydrate for a loooong time to make it like a dog treat.

I never fed him a mix of raw and kibble in the same meal, so I don't know how that would go down. I know in the very beginning, he did have diarrhea for a few days when I switched him to raw.

[sjpersonal]

Sorry if I've missed other responses, I haven't read the whole thread through...

Just sharing my experience. My dog "went raw" about a year and a half ago. Mostly eating raw meaty bones with some green smoothies and carrots, stuff like that mixed in. My mom had him while I was overseas for 6 months. For the last few months, she started feeding commercial food again. When I got back, he was fat and lazy. Within about a week of going back to raw, the weight was gone. He's still lazy.

I am in the process of switching him to eating vegan with eggs mixed in. I think it's less than ideal but far better than kibble. It's for ethical reasons. So far, the only difference is he poops more. I'm working on figuring the best way to keep his teeth clean naturally this way.

I make him dehydrated patties with ground flax, the pulp from juicing veggies, and eggs (including the shell), all mashed up together and shaped like a burger. He loves it, has never not wanted to eat this. And he is a little picky... You can dehydrate it for just a few hours, or you can dehydrate for a loooong time to make it like a dog treat.

I never fed him a mix of raw and kibble in the same meal, so I don't know how that would go down. I know in the very beginning, he did have diarrhea for a few days when I switched him to raw.

Thanks Eva,

I will feed them a scoop of organic/range Free dry in the afternoon and a raw pattie in the morning. I will pick up some meaty bones which I will give to them when I leave for work in the morning after the pattie, another poster mentioned giving her dogs raw eggs I may start to do this once or twice a week mixed in with their raw meat pattie. I am still trying to get a system going with them and myself for that matter

[barkwheats]

I've been feeding my dogs raw for a while now and feed them twice a day, morning and nite. We feed ground chicken and bone mixed with peas, carrots, sweet potatoes and some greens, and then either a neck or a wing to give 'em a little more crunch. If its summer time and there's more stuff available, we'll put in tomatoes, melon, and other things that the dogs like and can eat.

If the dog is having bowel problems, then it certainly could be the mixing of the dry and raw. One of the greatest things to me about going raw with the dogs is that their poop is realllllllllllly small and literally washes away in the rain! Raw meat is something like more than 90% digestable. I feed 'em about 2% of their body weight a day, broken into the 2 meals a day. And.... they love it! The food is gone lickity split, and we do use one of the slow feed bowls to help slow them down a bit. If you didn't want to get one of those, you could put a ramican upside down in the bowl, so the dogs have to nuzzle around it for the food.

We get our chicken from a local egg farmer, and its SUPER cheap that way.

Anyhow, I've done much, much research into raw dog food as we're currently developing one for our business.