Feeding advice - mix dry and raw

I have found a lot of contradicting information in regards to food and nutrition for dogs and I just want your opinion on what I am feeding Maxi at the moment since I find this very confusing.

She is fed twice a day and I do half dry food "Earthborn Holistic Costal Catch Grain Free" (http://www.earthbornholisticpetfood.com/international/dog_formulas/coastal_catch/). From what I have read this is one of the best foods that you can get in Australia?
The other half of her daily food intake is raw chicken mince (with bones and everything).
I also put a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar on her food every day and a couple of times a week I mix some raw carrots, eggs or greek yoghurt with the food.
How does this all sound?
And is it best to keep one meal with only dry food and one with only chicken or is it better to mix half dry half chicken each time? And if it is better to separate them which one is best to serve at which meal? I've heard something about the digestion times are different for raw and dry?

Sounds like you are doing great The dry food looks fab too

Definitely feed separately Raw and Dry.. When I mixed raw and dry I fed Raw in the morning and Kibble at night.. It is important to feed separately though as they both have different digestion times

As Kylie says, has to be done at different times as for different digestion rates. Most people feed raw in the morning because it takes less time to digest

Thanks!
So I'll stick to the food I am feeding then but just make sure to separate the dry and raw from now on!

Some dogs do ok with them mixed, but others get really bad stomach upsets.

Raw takes about 4-6 hours to digest (so is best fed in the morning) and dry takes about 10-14 hours (depending on the quality), so is best fed in the evening.

Caryll wrote:Some dogs do ok with them mixed, but others get really bad stomach upsets.

Raw takes about 4-6 hours to digest (so is best fed in the morning) and dry takes about 10-14 hours (depending on the quality), so is best fed in the evening.

Caryll, what do you think of the dry food http://www.earthbornholisticpetfood.com/international/dog_formulas/coastal_catch/
Just curious as to what you think of the content??

Doesn't look bad at all - I've not heard of that one. The only thing I'd be a little wary of is that they don't give percentages of each ingredient, but the first ingredient is fish, & there aren't too many 'fillers', so.....maybe a bit too much in the way of peas & potatoes? That's the problem when they don't give you percentages - you just don't know how much meat/fish is in there.

Caryll wrote:Doesn't look bad at all - I've not heard of that one. The only thing I'd be a little wary of is that they don't give percentages of each ingredient, but the first ingredient is fish, & there aren't too many 'fillers', so.....maybe a bit too much in the way of peas & potatoes? That's the problem when they don't give you percentages - you just don't know how much meat/fish is in there.

Thanks for that Caryll. I don't know too much about what dry foods to get but I have heard that grain free is the way to go (?) that this is one of the best dry food you can get over here. It has a 5 star rating on this page http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=2312&cat=3.

I wouldnt mind feeding raw only but I am worried that I won't be giving her all the nutrients she needs, plus I can't give her big bones because she swallows big chuncks of it.
I have read so many different things about what to feed dogs. Some say dogs don't need vegetables at all, some say they do. Some say they have to be steamed for them to digest it and so on, it's confusing! She seems to be doing really well with the mix I am giving her now though

Caryll wrote:Doesn't look bad at all - I've not heard of that one. The only thing I'd be a little wary of is that they don't give percentages of each ingredient, but the first ingredient is fish, & there aren't too many 'fillers', so.....maybe a bit too much in the way of peas & potatoes? That's the problem when they don't give you percentages - you just don't know how much meat/fish is in there.

Thanks Caryll, it is hard to pick the right dry food to recommend, there are plenty of recommendations on here but not many of them are available here

Annie and Maxi wrote:
I wouldnt mind feeding raw only but I am worried that I won't be giving her all the nutrients she needs, plus I can't give her big bones because she swallows big chuncks of it.
I have read so many different things about what to feed dogs. Some say dogs don't need vegetables at all, some say they do. Some say they have to be steamed for them to digest it and so on, it's confusing! She seems to be doing really well with the mix I am giving her now though

The thing with vegetables is that unless you're going to give your dog a completely home-made diet (ie cooked meat/veg/vitamin & mineral additives etc) you don't need them at all. Dry food is complete so you don't need to add anything & a proper raw diet gives them all the nutrients they need without veg added. Dogs can't break down vegetable cellulose very well, so the only way they gain any nutrition from them is if they're pulped or cooked, and even then they don't get that much out of it!

With a raw diet you don't really give them big bones, they're mainly the smaller bones such as rubs/spines/chicken wings or thighs & chicken carcasses. The larger, weight bearing (marrow) bones are ok for treats but aren't recommended for meals.

If she's doing well with what you're feeding her now, then stick with it!