Hi! As I can see most of you are feeding your hounds with raw food, Norbert have hade complications with his stomach almost all the time. In the begining he was ok, then I change dryfeed and then he have the trots. I waited and he wend well some days and ill some days and after two 12 kgs sacks I give it up. Change dryfeed and he got well emediately. Good I think, both of this feeds where good and expensive. All good to my boy. After two sacks of this he suddenly after the dogshow again have the trots. We have to running out with him at the night and it was really bad for two days. Then I brought some pills at the vet. store and he was ok after two hours. He should have this pills for 24 hours and then eat diet food.

He eaten rice and chicken for one week (fich to) and he was good, I boiled everything and also carrots. From the day I mixed in some dryfeed he hade more loose poo, but not diarrhoea, I continue this and now it is better if I don't take to much dryfeed in the diet food.

In this moment I started to wonder why you give your hounds raw food? Is it better? (of course otherwise you would not give it to them) I have read about BARF in the computer and it looks healthy I think. But if I would try how can I be sure that he is getting enough food and that he is getting all vitamins and that stuff that he needs?

Can someone please tell me for example one week of feeding your hounds, what you give them and how much, day by day. Because when I read about it they always got pincher, german sheppard, or other dogs. Or in % of their weight, but I would like to know how you do.

How you started, how much a puppie eats (Norbert is now 6 months and he weight about 30 kgs.

He is a little bit thin I think but it is no dangerous, and I think he is in good conditions and well grown, that what the judge says at the dogshow. But I started to wonder how he is looking at the inside. He is more happy now I think he jumping and playing around more when we are out and runs more, I don't know if it has to do with the food or other things, but he still is.

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Thanks for your help (hope you understand my english )

Your English is fine!

We had the same problems with Fergal. Since we got him, his poo varied from soft to watery puddles. However, as soon as we got him he had peritonitis (followed by an operation to clean things up), then he had an intussusception (followed by another bigger operation to remove 20 inches of gut), then his stomach just stopped working, and because he's a pig and didn't stop eating, it had to pumped out.

Once that was all over and he left hospital (many thousands of £s later!), he was given a special, hideously expensive, recovery tinned food, which went straight through him. Awful stuff! The usual vet suggestions of cooked chicken and rice, pasta, scrambled egg etc also went through him. We then put him on the same good quality dry food as our other deerhound. This gave a slight improvement, but every time we had a good couple of days (and thought the problems were sorted) he would inexplicably go back to having the trots.

This didn't seem to unduly affect him. He's always been a happy, energetic, strong, idiotic oaf. However, as you may have seen on the other RAW thread, about six weeks ago we decided to go over to a raw meat and bone diet. We got it a little wrong to start with and his poo was like little bullets, but now we're getting there. Absolutely NO soft poo since we started and we're learning what he likes and what he doesn't. Fergal didn't enjoy the fresh sprats I bought him - he tried to revive them by dropping them in his water bowl! and he's not keen on offal, but will eat it under protest.

We found this site (originally recommended by Rob B I think) really helpful www.krisannriorawfeeding.com/index.htm It also gives a formula to work out how much to feed.

It can be really confusing, with every bit of information you read and everybody having a different opinion. But, at the moment it's working for us. His teeth are beautiful, he's put on a little weight (which he needed - he was just a bit too skinny) and he's really enjoying his food.

I don't know if Fergal's problems were due to his early gut issues, or if it's just something that happens to some dogs, but at the moment the meat and bones seem to have sorted him out.

Sue & Spring

Thanks I am glad that Fergal is ok now. I am more and more interested in raw food for my dogs.
And specially for Norbert because this isn't good. Now when he eats diet food he is good.

But i still want to know how much a DH eats in raw food.

The formula we used was 3% of the dog's ideal weight when fully grown. We thought that would be approximately 45kg, giving almost 1.5kg of meat and bones per day. However, as Fergal was a little underweight to start with we've been giving him about 2kg a day but we will reduce that down as it won't be long before he's living up to his nickname of Fatty Fergal!

Hope this helps, but there's a lot more people on the forum with more experience of this than us!

Sue

Is the 1,5 kg including vegetables and all kind of food or is it only bones and meat?
If it is only bones and meat how much of other things do you give?

We don't give any vegetables or carbohydrates (cooked potatoes, pasta, bread etc).Although on the rare occasions we have some vegetable leftovers he shares them with Callie, as an extra.

I know many people do give veg etc and we don't have any great objections to it, but from the research we did there doesn't seem any necessity for it. However, as I have said, we are new to this and are prepared to change as we go along.

So the 1.5kg is purely a mixture of raw tripe, chicken and bone mince, turkey necks, chicken carcasses, beef mince, lamb breast with bone, small amounts of offal (liver, kidney and heart) and the occasional egg in its shell. He also has a couple of spoonfuls of live yoghurt every couple of days - his favourite; and some goats milk when it's on special offer at the supermarket!

Sue

When starting off raw feeding it is mostly trial and error and as Spot says it is about getting to know what Norbert likes/dislikes.

Do what is best for Norbert and don't be pressurised into doing anything that you dont feel comfortable - good luck

We looked into a natural diet but when we had 4 dogs it just seemed a little to much work for mixed results. There is the argument that it's more natural - but our modern day domestic dog does not lead a natural life! The other side is that dog food companies spend millions on research to provide a balanced diet.....
Don't get me wrong - I'm not a firm believer of either!
I do though believe that weekly assessment of your hounds condition is a far better way of deciding how much to feed, it also is an invaluable guide when deciding if you have the right diet.
I pride myself on the fact that my dogs are happy,energetic,have stamina, are shiny and healthy!
We feed our 8yr old 50kg bitch (she is v.tall)Natures menu which is steamed in a pack, meat and veg with no nasties. She has a third of a 400g pack ,Seaweed and and a large handful of James Welbeloved lamb adult twice a day. small handful of welbeloved at bedtime. (If she gets hungry - she goes through stages and is prone to putting on weight - hence continual assessment! She gets oats and bran added to her food for a few days.)She also has a joint supplement.
Our 8yr greyhound who was prone to colitis - mug of james welbeloved adult plus tuna or sardines for taste twice a day.
3yr deerhound bitch 2packets of mince morsels which i HATE feeding but it is the ONLY thing she will eat in the mornings. For variety she gets a cheese sandwich twice a week.
In the evening she has a 400g pk of natures menu and has james welbeloved after both meals depending on how much she wants ( within reason!)
So hardly a balanced diet I would say. We have come to this regime by trial and error and have tried many things.
I think you have to be honest with yourself about how your dog looks and acts and ask about and decide for yourself.
This could be pages long as I have had dogs all my life and never fed just the same thing. I try to go for as free from nasties as possible. I'm sure that hasn't helped at all but it is honest!

Like everyone says its trial and error when you first start off,
out penny has a pound and half of meat a day, then ocasanaly a quater of carcasse or lamb ribs at night, somedays i change it around and will give her offal or fish for morning,
with your lad i would do like i do with any other dog, feed a certain amount and keep a check on his weight and go by the feel of him, if he is starting to feel a little skinny, add a little more if putting on weight drop some,
with raw you can feed almost anything solong as its raw, with mine the only thing i have to steem a little is fish, or it makes them sick,
when you start off, start off with something light for a while till he gets used to it, chicken a bit of tripe stuff like that.

This should help, it gives the ratio for weight to food

www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm#switch

Thanks for all good advices. I think that I will go buying a start-kit with Barf food. And I can test some different things to feed him with. Now he has been eaten rice, spaghetti, boiled chicken, boiled carotts, oil, pancakes, raw liver, boiled fish and some other vegetables wish I mixed. And he is doing well and he is more happy and wild and crazy. I give a little dry food to but now it is no loose poo because of that. In a while I am sure that he only eating raw food because you all have convince me. And I have read about it and it seems to be the right way I think.

Way to go Keijke. We still feed dry food for breakfast but raw for dinner. Works for us.

Ok that is a way to go too I see. Yes in some way I will give him and Ludde to raw food in the future it seems to be the best thing to do.