Nature's menu mince packs

Zeus has been on dry food for all of his life and has constantly had problems (scratching alot, loose poos, flare ups due to his Colitis etc). And I've pretty much had enough of dry food, I've tried around 10 different ones through out his lifetime, trying to find one that sits right with him with no luck.

So I went to my local pet shop, and spoke to the owner who feeds his 4 dogs raw food.. By raw, I mean the Nature's menu mince packs (http://www.naturesmenu.co.uk/product-minced-turkey.aspx) to which he adds vegetables, salmon oil, etc. He swears by it and says he knows a number of people whose dogs have benefitted from this diet.

Has anyone any experience with these Nature's menu raw mince packs, and the diet itself??

Am afraid i don't rate the natures menu, when it's defrosted it turns to slop. Also the veg has no benefit to a dog anyway.

To me the point of a raw diet is to know exactly what your feeding by DIY.

Also you will find using this sort of raw more expensive in the long run

I also feed raw but don't know anything about the natures menu one. Have a read through some of the threads in here to learn more about raw feeding  I only recently changed but would never go back now!

goldie87 wrote:Zeus has been on dry food for all of his life and has constantly had problems (scratching alot, loose poos, flare ups due to his Colitis etc). And I've pretty much had enough of dry food, I've tried around 10 different ones  through out his lifetime, trying to find one that sits  right with him with no luck.

So I went to my local pet shop, and spoke to the owner who feeds his 4 dogs raw food.. By raw, I mean the Nature's menu mince packs (http://www.naturesmenu.co.uk/product-minced-turkey.aspx) to which he adds vegetables, salmon oil, etc. He swears by it and says he knows a number of people whose dogs have benefitted from this diet.

Has anyone any experience with these Nature's menu raw mince packs, and the diet itself??

Hi, I done quite a bit of research into RAW foods before I got Tia n Sky..

I cannot find the site that tested the natures food and it got 5 stars for not only the ingredients but after they analyzed it, they did actually have what they claimed inside.

I use it for Sky along with the tripe mince which obviously doesn't need cooking so doesn't smell..

Very handy the cubes are...get them out the night before, and they are ready to go.

You can get the 12x300g packs which are decent too..

I add some Puppy Arden grange dry biscuits to it as well.. not a lot but just to give it some crunch so shes got the best of both worlds going on..stools are fine and small so I am happy with the mix..

The breeder had all his pupps on the tripe already so it was easy for me to add to her diet..

I'm adding fish oil (not cod liver) to her water and given her some fruit or fish as a treat at supper

Just to add to, Tia was on dry food as I didn't get a chance to do the transition to RAW..

One thing I noticed instantly is the difference in Stools being smaller and firm on the RAW food, no wind either unlike how Tia was on dry food

ella wrote:Am afraid i don't rate the natures menu, when it's defrosted it turns to slop. Also the veg has no benefit to a dog anyway.

To me the point of a raw diet is to know exactly what your feeding by DIY.

Also you will find using this sort of raw more expensive in the long run

Hi Ella, that's a fair point, I thought as much that it would turn to mush. I just really want to change to a raw diet but it seems daunting and time isn't something I have a lot of with my job and nature's menu seemed like the best of both worlds. I also dont have much space to store food. Is there anything else you'd recommend?

Sazzle wrote:I also feed raw but don't know anything about the natures menu one. Have a read through some of the threads in here to learn more about raw feeding  I only recently changed but would never go back now!

Thanks Sazzle, I'm definatly going to read up about it.. just seems like a lot of information and I'm not sure the correct way to go about it.

Jamz wrote:Just to add to, Tia was on dry food as I didn't get a chance to do the transition to RAW..

One thing I noticed instantly is the difference in Stools being smaller and firm on the RAW food, no wind either unlike how Tia was on dry food

Thanks Jamz, that's exactly what I want.. firmer stools and to mainly stop the insane scratching that Zeus does, hes had a cone on for the past 3 days now because hes scratching anything he can get hold of!

It does seem really daunting at first, I was thing about it for ages before I took the plunge! But now were up and running its really easy   

Sazzle wrote:It does seem really daunting at first, I was thing about it for ages before I took the plunge! But now were up and running its really easy   

Just out of curiosity.. what do you feed on a daily basis?

Im using natures menu now for a few weeks with no problems,i find it a great way to start raw feeding for me and maybe great for others,i will order from another place only because it does work out cheaper but due to where live and dates i didnt want to wait so used natures menu and have being happy on it and hes responding well on it

When I first started I was feeding mince that was meat and bone but now I feed mince meat with no bone and something on the bone (for teeth). I feed twice a day, tonight she had minced venison and a goat rib. Other examples would be minced chicken and a duck wing, lamb and a chicken wing, beef and a turkey neck, you get the idea, its a very varied diet. On top of that she has a couple of eggs and some liver each week and tripe every couple of weeks. There are still lots of things we haven't tried yet as we only changed a few months ago.

_Jason_ wrote:Im using natures menu now for a few weeks with no problems,i find it a great way to start raw feeding for me and maybe great for others,i will order from another place only because it does work out cheaper but due to where live and dates i didnt want to wait so used natures menu and have being happy on it and hes responding well on it

Hi Jason, nice to hear that its working well for you! Thanks for the input

Sazzle wrote:When I first started I was feeding mince that was meat and bone but now I feed mince meat with no bone and something on the bone (for teeth). I feed twice a day, tonight she had minced venison and a goat rib. Other examples would be minced chicken and a duck wing, lamb and a chicken wing, beef and a turkey neck, you get the idea, its a very varied diet. On top of that she has a couple of eggs and some liver each week and tripe every couple of weeks. There are still lots of things we haven't tried yet as we only changed a few months ago.

Its definitely a varied diet! Only problem with that is that Zeus has Colitis and I've always been told to keep him on a steady diet, pretty much the same thing everyday so his Colitis doesn't flare up. I do however give eggs to him a few times a week.

I see, don't really know much about that I'm afraid or whether raw will help or not x

Sazzle wrote:I see, don't really know much about that I'm afraid or whether raw will help or not x

Thats ok, you've been a great help.

I just have one last question.. how do I go about switching over to raw? Do I just switch the next day from kibble to raw? Or gradually..? Not sure about gradually as I know raw & dry take different times to digest but just wanted to make sure

goldie87 wrote:

Sazzle wrote:I see, don't really know much about that I'm afraid or whether raw will help or not x

Thats ok, you've been a great help.

I just have one last question.. how do I go about switching over to raw? Do I just switch the next day from kibble to raw? Or gradually..? Not sure about gradually as I know raw & dry take different times to digest but just wanted to make sure

if you fees 3 times daily then make the last meal raw..it really depends on the dog as some take to it better than others.. I add a little bit of dry to raw as I said, if you do that then just keep an eye on the stools and see how they are and guage it from there..

if not I produce 1 meal through the day or even start given her a bit of raw as a treat gradually introducing more. then 2 out of the 3 meals for example in the second week and so fourth..

stick to chicken at first..cubes of the chicken and white fish I went for, then in the second week you could maybe give 2 out of 5 cubes being beef then again introduce more until one of your raw meals is just the beef..

carry on that trend with different foods until you can finally give her what you want when you want after a 3-4 weeka

Just switch the next day no need to fast a dog i know some do some dont but it doesnt seem normal to me to do something like that.

Just go with chicken for a week or 2 weeks untill his stool is normal,you may find theres 1 or 2 messy ones in the first few days and even green but thats all normal and your dogs toxing from the horrible dry food,then after that you can start adding more bland meat like turkey tripe fish etc with every week getting more richer meat such as pork mince etc,thats the standard and correct way to go,in your case however and being told to give him on more or less the same food,i would wait for ella to come on or ring your vet (providing your vet is not agaisnt raw feeding)

Unfortunately my vets are totally against raw feeding (not much of a surprise), so won't be able to ask them for advice.

Ella.. can you help?

Also regarding starting off with chicken first, I was going to start with turkey as apparantly its better for dogs with allergies and chicken doesnt sit right with some staffies with digestive problems etc... is that right?

goldie87 wrote:

Sazzle wrote:I see, don't really know much about that I'm afraid or whether raw will help or not x

Thats ok, you've been a great help.

I just have one last question.. how do I go about switching over to raw? Do I just switch the next day from kibble to raw? Or gradually..? Not sure about gradually as I know raw & dry take different times to digest but just wanted to make sure

We switched Bane on Saturday. We fed the last of his kibble earlier on Friday night about 8pm so he had at least 12 hours to digest and get rid of that kibble before he started raw. He then had his first raw meal for breakfast at 11am on Saturday.
I was under the understanding that you should make the switch without mixing and overlapping the kibble and raw due to the different rates that they digest at. If Zeus already has a sensitive stomach, mixing the two may upset this more. Hope it goes well for you. Bane is also a super scratcher and we are hoping raw will help him

If you want to start of with turkey i see no problem with that,its very like chicken anyway,i ashume your dog doesnt agree with chicken,you may find sometimes that when the chicken is raw it doesnt have the bad affects as when cooked/in kibble,was that way for me anyway

Yeah vet's are annoying lol

Bane wrote:
We switched Bane on Saturday. We fed the last of his kibble earlier on Friday night about 8pm so he had at least 12 hours to digest and get rid of that kibble before he started raw. He then had his first raw meal for breakfast at 11am on Saturday.
I was under the understanding that you should make the switch without mixing and overlapping the kibble and raw due to the different rates that they digest at. If Zeus already has a sensitive stomach, mixing the two may upset this more. Hope it goes well for you. Bane is also a super scratcher and we are hoping raw will help him

Yeah this sounds a good way to me too as i dont want to upset his tummy more with the different type of foods. Looks like we are in the same boat, here's hoping that both Bane and Zeus stop the scratching!

_Jason_ wrote:If you want to start of with turkey i see no problem with that,its very like chicken anyway,i ashume your dog doesnt agree with chicken,you may find sometimes that when the chicken is raw it doesnt have the bad affects as when cooked/in kibble,was that way for me anyway

Yeah vet's are annoying lol

Thats a fair point, I think I'll start with turkey and then introduce chicken at a later stage. If there is a problem then I'd definitely know its the chicken causing it.

Sorry we switched him yesterday not Saturday, I'm getting ahead of myself

I think there is a chance of them getting itchier before they get better as their body will detox at the start I hope Zeus gets better soon, it's horrible watching them scratch so much that they hurt themselves! Bane is part of the cone club too at the moment

Bane wrote:Sorry we switched him yesterday not Saturday, I'm getting ahead of myself

I think there is a chance of them getting itchier before they get better as their body will detox at the start :)I hope Zeus gets better soon, it's horrible watching them scratch so much that they hurt themselves! Bane is part of the cone club too at the moment

You're exactly right, you feel so helpless. He's been scratching his mouth alot an got that really red, his paws are really sore too, along with his armpits! The cone is bad too.. he just lies on the sofa looking sad with it on

All we can do is stop him and then scratch the spot ourselves Bane has some scars on the backs of his ears from where is has cut himself badly.
He had armpit troubles too for a long time! We now put a hoody on him whenever he is left alone and that stops him from getting to them

goldie87 wrote:Unfortunately my vets are totally against raw feeding (not much of a surprise), so won't be able to ask them for advice.

Ella.. can you help?

Also regarding starting off with chicken first, I was going to start with turkey as apparantly its better for dogs with allergies and chicken doesnt sit right with some staffies with digestive problems etc... is that right?

I'm here

A raw diet is meant to be great for collitis, because the protein is easy to digest rather then kibble.

I'd personally still start with chicken, what you need to remember is that a dog allergic to COOKED chicken can still be perfectly fine on RAW chicken, because of the difference in the protein structure.

Have a look at these for guidance on swapping

www.preymodelraw.com
https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t14787-raw-diet


Basically you want to give one meat to start with, so chicken only for the first week or 2 until they settle and get good solid stools, then you add the next meat in and repeat until you've introduced a good number of meats/offal etc

ella wrote:

goldie87 wrote:Unfortunately my vets are totally against raw feeding (not much of a surprise), so won't be able to ask them for advice.

Ella.. can you help?

Also regarding starting off with chicken first, I was going to start with turkey as apparantly its better for dogs with allergies and chicken doesnt sit right with some staffies with digestive problems etc... is that right?

I'm here

A raw diet is meant to be great for collitis, because the protein is easy to digest rather then kibble.

I'd personally still start with chicken, what you need to remember is that a dog allergic to COOKED chicken can still be perfectly fine on RAW chicken, because of the difference in the protein structure.

Have a look at these for guidance on swapping

www.preymodelraw.com
https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t14787-raw-diet


Basically you want to give one meat to start with, so chicken only for the first week or 2 until they settle and get good solid stools, then you add the next meat in and repeat until you've introduced a good number of meats/offal etc

Hi Ella.. thanks for the advice!   My final question is can I swap him straight over to raw? As in, give him his last meal of kibble tomorrow evening and then on Wednesday morning , start with the raw?

Yep that's fine, exactly what I did with Daisy  

yes i always recommend a straight swap, so stop all kibble.

IME it works a lot better and gets less upset bellies

Sazzle wrote:Yep that's fine, exactly what I did with Daisy  

ella wrote:yes i always recommend a straight swap, so stop all kibble.

IME it works a lot better and gets less upset bellies

Thanks both, that's exactly what I want to avoid, an upset belly!

When I'm about to defrost the meat the night before..do I leave it out to defrost at room temperature, or take it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge to defrost?

when i defrost things i just stick it in their bowls which are kept on top of the freezer, but most of the time they eat their food still frozen

Daisy has all her meat on the bone frozen and the mince I just defrost on the side over night or through the day. Like Ella says you can give that frozen too. Or it you want to defrost it and are running out of time, put it in cold cold, it speeds it up.

Thanks for the input, I left his mince out last night and fed him it this morning along with some fruit/veg. He scoffed it down, didn't even give it a second thought. Normally with kibble, I'd have to tell him to eat it and he'd be hesitant too but not a problem with this.

I've got him on Nature's menu turkey mince along with fruit/veg nuggets they do as I wanted to switch him over asap but after researching and checking out DAF & their prices, I'm definitely going to move to them. Brilliant prices, much better food and like Ella stated, I know exactly what hes eating!

We were really pleased with the DAF order we got! The only things that weren't what we were expecting was the size of the chicken chunks and chicken portions. They are huge!

For defrosting, we got a couple of days worth of food out and just put it in one of the drawers in the fridge and just used them when we needed them. The first couple were still pretty solid but soft enough for us to chop up into the portions for the day. The chicken portions and chunks we feed frozen as it takes him longer to eat those THe mince he scoffs down in seconds!
Let us know how Zeus gets on I hope it helps!

I use DAF (along with others) and i've never had a problem, plus they have a good variety if you can't things from butchers etc

ella wrote:I use DAF (along with others) and i've never had a problem, plus they have a good variety if you can't things from butchers etc

Yeah they look really good! There's also Landywoods which are decently priced.

In terms of supplements to add to the food, what do you use?

I've got salmon oil, apple cider vinegar and coconut oil which I add anyway, but I don't want to miss anything else which is important...

I seen one of your previous posts where you stated you use things like turmeric, ground ginger, mint, rosemary & fresh garlic.. do you still do this? If so, do you give it everyday? Or mix it up throughout the week?

yes i give the ones you do already.

You don't need to add anything, but i give things for health benefits.

Garlic i give 3-4 times a week most of the year but ATM being winter once a week, as i use it to flea the boys

Turmeric i give daily see here why:https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t49942-turmeric-for-dogs

I give a mix of herbs - rosemary, ginger, cinnamon etc once or twice a week, just a little spoonful. I just make a mix of the herbs and keep it in a little tub.

ella wrote:yes i give the ones you do already.

You don't need to add anything, but i give things for health benefits.

Garlic i give 3-4 times a week most of the year but ATM being winter once a week, as i use it to flea the boys

Turmeric i give daily see here why:https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t49942-turmeric-for-dogs

I give a mix of herbs - rosemary, ginger, cinnamon etc once or twice a week, just a little spoonful. I just make a mix of the herbs and keep it in a little tub.

That's great, thanks! Looks like I've got some shopping to do tomorrow!   

hope it helps, if you interested in adding herbs for health benefits have a look at this to see if theres anything you'd like to try

http://ottawavalleydogwhisperer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/good-beneficial-and-bad-dangerous-herbs.html

Thanks for that Ella! I think I am gonna take a look into these too