started raw

Dillon had trip to vets due to allergic reaction. Ive been convinced it was the food, found out what ide bought is rubbish. Been toying with idea of raw, so decided 2 go for it. Bought left overs from butchers. Carryl you were right about amount of fat! Cut alot off. Butcher also has a staffy & lot people feed theirs with trimmings. Not sure exactly what was in it, there was def liver. Well, had feeling wud go down well, as Dillon was tryin to get in bag on way home. He absolutely loved it! He was crying for it as i was preparing it. He licked bowl clean and wanted more. He had chicken breast today - gone in seconds! I need to experiment for correct amount. I now feel i'm doing the best for him. Hopefully this will help with his skin. And his poo was normal, they've been quite sloppy of late.

I started feeding Blue it a month ago and I will never go back to commercial food now. So far I have ordered £70 worth in total from this site and it is enough to last 3 months.
http://www.landywoods.co.uk/price_list.html
Blue is 23Kgs I feed him a bone (e.g. chicken carcus) in the morning 9am
and approx 400g of raw meat (e.g. chunked hearts) at about 5pm and he has stayed at the same weight.

It's just a matter of keeping an eye on your dog's weight for a couple of weeks & adjust the food accordingly. Although raw feeding takes a bit of research before you start, it's actually quite easy once you're used to it.

Don't forget to freeze raw meat for a day or two before feeding so taht any bacteria is killed off, and make sure he gets some meaty bones as well.

A lot of people also add half a small carton of yohurt (plain, probiotic & not low fat!) twice a week to help digestion, plus a teaspoon of cod or salmon liver oil a couple of times a week - works marvels for the coat.

Thank you both very much. I already give him cod liver oil and primrose caps for his skin. Remembered reading a previous post you did about freezing Carryl. I've had bones from the butcher. I tied Dillon up before i went in, he said i should have took him in(closing time), I'll have to introduce them, he's already said he's a gorgeous boy, maybe I'll get some good deals. I know I have to give fish as well, but what about egg? So glad I found this site, internet is a wealth of info. I wouldn't have took him if it hadn't been for the research I did! I find it much better getting advice direct from real people than reading text book style pages. Although, I found the website helpful you recommended Carryl. Yep, I'm def doing the right thing for my lovely! Says is all way he ate it, reckon he only ate the kibble, coz he was hungry!

Told someone earlier what I was doing, they owned a Staff for short while. She was "you'll make him viscious, giving him the taste for blood", I was "what like Jaws when he smells blood on someones cut he'll go for them! "

Should of said, its a good job I don' fed him sweaty socks cos he would of gone for you by now yer clampet

LOL

Karen and Max wrote:Told someone earlier what I was doing, they owned a Staff for short while. She was "you'll make him viscious, givifng him the taste for blood", I was "what like Jaws when he smells on someones cut he'll go for them! "

I've heard that a dozen times or more. I started off giving funny comments back ("I'd step back, then if I were you" and "Yes, he just ate three yorkshire Terriers for breakfast", you know the sort of thing), but I just give them a withering look as Dempsey sits there with a child hanging round his neck, cheek to cheek.

Even my boss said the same when I first told him what I feed. He's now about to change his GSD over to raw!

Karen and Max wrote:Thank you both very much. I already give him cod liver oil and primrose caps for his skin. Remembered reading a previous post you did about freezing Carryl. I've had bones from the butcher. I tied Dillon up before i went in, he said i should have took him in(closing time), I'll have to introduce them, he's already said he's a gorgeous boy, maybe I'll get some good deals. I know I have to give fish as well, but what about egg? So glad I found this site, internet is a wealth of info. I wouldn't have took him if it hadn't been for the research I did! I find it much better getting advice direct from real people than reading text book style pages. Although, I found the website helpful you recommended Carryl. Yep, I'm def doing the right thing for my lovely! Says is all way he ate it, reckon he only ate the kibble, coz he was hungry!

Karen sorry for being nosey but what was wrong with his skin?? We have had some problems with Milly

we started Billy on raw about the same time as Blue started, he is doing so much better, although we are still trying things. Billy seems to be fine on chicken and chicken mince, but beef, heart or any red meat seems to give him the runs. We are now trying him on lamb, He is fine on tripe. he also has turkey necks and some bones I have ordered.

Blue - do you give the chicken carcass as a meal in the morning ?

Yeah I do. But he has different bones each day.
Some times he has chicken carcus, chicken necks, turkey necks etc

Sorry I missed your question. He started scratching and biting his undercarriage and armpits. It coincided with me bathing him and changing his food a few days later. I used sudocream and it gave him immediate relief and cleared up. Then when the weather was nice two weeks ago and I took him out on the fields, he came up in a nettle sting type rash and was scratching as well, this time the sudocream did nothing. I took him to the vets who gave him an injection to stop the itching and antibiotics. The first food I gave him he stopped eating, second he didnt seem keen on. When we got him he had a bald patch on top of his head, which is now growing back. I read that primrose capsules were good for skin, general health and allergies. He is still scratching, but not as much and the rash hasn't come back. I thought maybe it was a pollen allergy, but the vet didnt seem convinced and didnt give me any pointers. It wasn't til I did research that I became aware that Staffs do suffer with their skin, could be a time of year thing or a combination of me bathing him and a food change. It was a rubbish one that was all cereal and no meat!

Thanks for that Karen Milly was the same the vet diagnosed a yeast infection this week and is on tablets so fingers crossed

Fingers crossed for you both. Dillon also had another bald patch starting and that's completely grown back. I'd definitely recommend the capsules and I get comments about is coat.