Bane's Raw Food Diary

So we have switched Bane to raw, and just wanted to make a little diary to help us keep track of things and to also hopefully help others who are thinking of changing

So a little information about Bane:
He was on Hills Science Plan Vet Essentials dry food, having 300g a day split into 3x100g meals. He has been on hay fever tablets for the last few months and has been having some real itching problems which we are hoping is down to some kind of food allergy, hence why we want to swap to raw.
He is 5 and a half months old and weighs about 16kg.

Our Plan:
We ordered our first lot of raw meat from DAF (Durham Animal Feeds) as this was a recommended place on the forum. In our first order we got:
- Chicken Mince,
- Turkey Mince,
- Tripe Mince,
- Chicken and Oily Fish Mince.
- Chicken Portions (Wings and Thighs)
- Chicken Chunks (Pure Meat)
(We are really happy with the order! Got 6 boxes full of meat which we just managed to fit into our undercounter freezer )

We plan to feed Chicken first, once his stools become normal, gradually mix in a bit of turkey, then tripe and then the chicken and oily fish. We got the Chicken Wings and Thighs to give him something to chew on and to help clean his teeth, and the Chicken Chunks in case the mince was too high in bone content. (DAF said they try to keep the minces at no more than 15% bone)
We will then move on to pork, lamb, beef and then start to add in some offal and other more exciting things (Each after his stools return to normal)

In terms of how much we are going to feed, we have started with 1 pack of mince per day, which we will gradually increase/decrease depending on how his weight is affected.

I'll try to keep this updated with photos and posts for anyone who is interested

Good luck and Diarys are a great idea look forward to watching your progress

So yesterday was his first raw food day!  
This was our order from DAF when it arrived Thursday:


I've never seen so much meat! We bought over £50 so that we could get free delivery and will be stocked up for a couple of months
We fed the last of his kibble Saturday night at about 8pm so he had at least 12 hours to digest and get rid of it before we started raw Sunday morning.
11am on Sunday he had his first raw meal:


For the first day, we thought we would take it easy and gave him 1 pack of mince split into three meals. Each pack is about 460g. He went out for a few wees during the day but didn't actually poo until late afternoon. He went a few times in one go and the stools got increasingly soft, but not runny. Didn't go for the rest of the day, even before bed He usually goes about 6 times a day and you can smell it from the back door!

Great idea having a diary.. especially for me because I'm about to do the same thing with Zeus and it'd be interesting to see how my results vary from yours. In terms of poos, Zeus too does on average 5/6 poos a day, which I'm hoping decreases with the raw.. along with his scratching!

P.s. that is alot of meat!! If only I had the space to store that amount!

Thanks Jason :)Hopefully we will have no problems!

goldie87 wrote:Great idea having a diary.. especially for me because I'm about to do the same thing with Zeus and it'd be interesting to see how my results vary from yours. In terms of poos, Zeus too does on average 5/6 poos a day, which I'm hoping decreases with the raw.. along with his scratching!

P.s. that is alot of meat!! If only I had the space to store that amount!

Go for it if you have the time to do it Would be great to hear how Zeus gets on and if it helps him!
5/6 times is about the same for Bane although he is younger, so I'm sure Zeus' are a bit bigger
He went for a poo earlier this morning, and it was less than half the size of his usual ones and no smell! It looked mucusy, but was solid! 

It looks like a lot! But we managed to fit it all in. We bought a freezer especially for Bane's meat so he has the whole thing, but it is still only an under counter one with 3 drawers. The meat all stacks really well because it is all in small rectangular blocks (except for wings and thighs that just slot in here and there)

I wish I had the space for another freezer, I just have one with 3 shelves,l started by giving daisy the bottom one but now she has two and I just have the top one!

Sazzle wrote:I wish I had the space for another freezer, I just have one with 3 shelves,l started by giving daisy the bottom one but now she has two and I just have the top one!

Aww   

Sazzle wrote:I wish I had the space for another freezer, I just have one with 3 shelves,l started by giving daisy the bottom one but now she has two and I just have the top one!

  They take over fast don't they! Bane has the whole of the 3 drawer one and we just have the top compartment of our fridge...

So for day two, Bane has had 1x 460g pack of Chicken Mince and a chicken piece of some sorts with bone in. We split the mince into 3 again, a third for breakfast, lunch and dinner and gave him the frozen chicken bit with his lunch:



The frozen bit took him ages to work out what to do with it :DHe started off by just licking it and then ripped off the skin and started to chew. Made a hell of a noise when he got down to crunching up the bones!  
As I mentioned earlier, he has still only been for the 1 poo today and it was firm!
So far so good! He had a bit of a runny nose earlier. Not sure if that's something to do with the change? :)Has gone now and otherwise seems fine so guess it is nothing to worry about!

Glad its going well so far   

glad its going well!

Don't worry about him not pooing much, harvey goes every other day here which is lovely!

That's good to hear Ella! He's been for two today and both were really solid with a few bits of bone in, so he is having his 1x 460g pack of mince split into three, and a 200g boneless chicken chunk for dinner.
He also had his first raw egg this morning :lol:So funny he just licked all the mince off of it then nudged it around...after I cracked it open he scoffed it down!



When he tried to eat some of the shell though, he kinda dribbled a load of egg back up and then re-ate it. Does it take them a while to get used to the texture of the egg shell? I'm guessing a bit got stuck or something.

I think it's just because he's not eaten egg shell before give him time to get used to it

Daisy won't eat the shell unless I smash it all up so she can't pick it out!!

Ooooh she's a fussy one eh How is Daisy getting on?
Thanks Ella! I will try again with another egg next week I think

His eyes have been all gooey the last couple of days and yesterday was scratching like a mad man! I guess it will possibly get worse before it gets better.
He is having 1x 460g pack of mince and a big frozen chicken piece with bone in again today.
His poos seem to be flowing a bit better although seem to be coming out in two different colours

Daisy is doing great on RAW, really pleased  

I'd ignore the colour of his poo ATM unless obviously red... it will settle down as he gets used to it.

Unfortunately dogs with allergies or scratching do tend to get worse before they get better and that can take a month or 2! just keep going with it

Love the pic!

Glad to hear it's going well Saz

His poos are just half tan half dark brown so we're not overly worried. Atleast they are solid! is it recommended to stay on each meat for atleast a week even if his poos are fine? Just wondering when it would be ok to move onto the Turkey?

For food today he has had his 460g pack of mince split into 3 meals and 100g chicken meat chunk with lunch and dinner. He doesn't seem to be losing or gaining weight so I think we are getting the proportions about right!

We've noticed an increased excitement at meal times he goes nuts for his food now! He is scoffing the mince so fast I think we will start feeding it to him frozen like with the chicken bone pieces and meat chunks.

We have found that the itching is still really bad. He is more focused on his ears now which means we can stop him with his cone but he is starting to escape from it over night :/ He's scratched so bad his ears are full of scabs so I've been washing them with salt water and massaging in coconut oil to try and soothe the itching.

We stopped the hayfever tablets as we read somewhere that medication can interupt the 'detox' process of switching to raw...does anyone know if this is true? Or can we carry on with these? As Ella suggested in another post, I think we will be getting some Vitamin C to add to his food to try and help, just haven't had a chance to get it yet.

I kept darcy on chicken only (minced, chunks, neck, carcass etc) for about 10 days then added turkey it obviously goes by your pooch reaction to the switch not sure about the antihistamines Hun ?

I don't know for sure but if possible I would avoid any chemicals in the detox period, its got to be better? And yes I would do a full week on each meat even if poo's are OK.

Daisy gets excited at every meal time now, its so lovely to see  

Thanks guys! We will keep him on just chicken until Monday, and then start adding in the turkey.
Did you guys spend a couple of days introducing the next meat and then switch them to that meat only for a week? Or kept it so they were on part chicken still?

Will keep him off the hay fever tablets :)Poor lil man is living in his cone at the moment! Ears are much better today though, he is still trying to itch but the redness has gone down.

He had his first chicken drumstick today! The bone in it looked huge I wasn't sure he was going to manage but once he got stuck in, he got it crunched down in no time!!  Also had his 460g packet of mince, and the excess blood in the fridge drawer poured on top of his drumstick! Looked like raspberry ice cream sauce



He looks a bit odd in this photo :PVery long...and Saz it is good to see isn't it :)Bane will never turn down food but with raw he just goes nuts! He does this little whiny thing now if we leave him sitting too long 

You keep him on chicken only for a week (ish) because intolerances or allergies can take a few days to show up, so if you feed lots of meats all at once you won't know the cause.

So this applies to when adding new meats in, you still feed chicken but add the NEW meat in so you feed chicken and the NEW meat for a week, because any intolerances that show up you know is the new meat, and so on

Cool, thanks Ella we just got unsure whether you switch completely or just partly! I hope he likes Turkey for next week!

I did alternate days when introducing each new meat   

Saz I didn't recognise you!

He's had 460g chicken mince today and 2x100g chunks of chicken meat as his poos were a bit on the bony side

We went to the market today and got him a couple of cow hooves! Gonna freeze some mince portions in them for dinner one day. Also got some fresh pig trotters from the butchers for 80p each! Can't wait for pork week :p

exciting isn't it

It is Ella! I've been nagging the OH to go to the butchers all week Bane went a bit crazy when he smelt the pigs feet and cow hooves so had to hide them fast!

I missed yesterdays post...he had the same as the day before: his mince (it was a bigger pack about 480g I think! DAF give generous portions seeing as they are supposed to be 454g each) and then 200g of chicken meat. Poos are a bit less bony and look normal today!

His eyes are getting really gooey in the mornings still and he is still scratching at his ears. They have gone very dry, red and flaky inside and have little bald patches around the edge on top...I rub coconut oil into them every other day and clean them out with salt water every few days as he does get a few cuts every now and again. Just waiting for the ACV to arrive to see if that will help!

So today is his first turkey day! We are going to introduce it into 1 of his meals meaning he will have: 2 thirds of his chicken mince (300g ish) split between breakfast and dinner and then 150g of Turkey mince with a 100g chicken meat chunk for lunch and see how he goes...
Just got to work out which pack of mince is the turkey o.o I was away when the DAF order arrived and the OH unpacked the meat...he didn't realise that the boxes were labelled and mixed up the turkey and chicken and fish  

The turkey seems to have gone down well! He had his second egg this morning too! Gave it to him and he carried it outside, cracked it open on the floor and then nudged it all over the place leaving a gooey egg trail to lick up!

Had my first experience of pulling stuff out of his other end too  I noticed he was squirming all over the place and started to yelp...he had a bit of bone stuck to some hair that didn't want to come out >.> Poor little guy must've been in so much pain!
Does this happen very often with boney bits?

I've never had that with bone but today I had to pull a piece of tennis ball fluff out!   

I've never had to pull anything out the other end and that includes the grassy bum. But just cut down the bone if your think he's struggling, as some dogs take longer then others to get used to digesting bones

A great insight thanks, wow that delivery looks amazing wish I had the space. Until I eat the food out of my freezer I am working on week to week trips to P@H although I am keeping an eye on eBay and freecycle for a small freezer for my front room lol

Ella: he does seem to have some biggish bits of bone in his stools at times! We'll stop giving him the chicken bits with bone in for a while to try and let him get used to it more. Should it be that there are no noticeable bits of bone?

Saz: oh dear! Bane decided to shred his tennis ball the other day but nothing got stuck coming back out! he seems to be pretty good at passing most things!

Jshrew: It's a lot easier than it sounds to get started! Did Ledger get raw for dinner? Howd he like it? and that's what we did! You can find a good bargain every now and again on ebay!

He loved it will pick up some chicken feet or wings in town tomorrow to supplement the mince, so gutted I can't stock up from the DAF website yet

And you're not any closer to Durham than we are that you could order smaller amounts and collect

Bane was a little sick last night...so definitely holding back on the bones for a while. Today he is having the same as yesterday: roughly 300g chicken mince and 150g turkey mince with 200g chicken meat chunks.

His ears seemed worse today/this morning. He is usually ok during the day, trying the occasional scratch but when it gets to evening time they just flare up. They go bright red and sore looking, they look all flaky and sort of shiny with a few bumps here and there. This morning he was going nuts with the scratching though, he woke me up a few times. I hope it sorts itself out soon

Seeing bone in his poo is very normal, just cut back the bone a bit and don't give to much all at once

Stools are still all good! They're looking smoother too since we stopped the big boned bits of chicken
So we gave him 2 meals of turkey today and one of chicken. All together I think he had about 460g turkey mince and 150g chicken mince, total of 610g.

He's also been to the vets today. They said he was looking very healthy and he now weighs 17kg shame they didn't offer any help about his ears.

Glad its going well x

So yesterday he had about 460g turkey mince split between breakfast and lunch and then about 100g chicken mince and a 100g chicken meat chunk for dinner. Everything is still going good and I don't know whether it was wishful thinking, but he didn't seem to scratch as much yesterday. His ears still went a bit pink in the eve but not as bad as usual AND I didn't hear any scratching this morning!

Today he is on 460g chicken mince and 150g turkey mince. I will have to try and get a video of his dinner time excitement As soon as his dinner is out, he refuses to do any tricks or training just wiggles around whining and barking haha!

Oooh and the Apple Cider Vinegar arrived today! All 6 bottles of it Also got some Rooibos tea. I read that it's similar to green tea in helping soothe skin irritations Will make up a batch today in case he gets itchy later see if it helps!

glad it's going well hun

Daisy gets mega excited at meal time now too, its lovely to see   

Thanks guys He's certainly enjoying it!

He had 460g turkey mince today with a 100g chunk of chicken meat and 100g chicken mince.
He has been looking pretty miserable today. It may be because of his armpit...he has managed to scratch and lick it raw again! I didn't realise how bad it was until I looked earlier!  

For some good news though, we cleaned his ears out with apple cider vinegar/water mixture last night and he hasn't touched them once today! They've been nice and pale all day and we even managed to clean them again tonight without a struggle  I wish I had gotten some sooner!

Its great stuff, Daisy chews her paws sometimes so I add some to water and clean them. She also has it in her food everyday   

I think we will be putting it in his food too! Do you need to dilute it when you put it in their food? I am still shocked at how quickly it worked!

No, I put a teaspoon in each meal   

Cool, will have to try it with Bane see if it keeps his ears under control

On another note, he is snoozing next to me quite casually letting off some rather stinky smells... What has he managed to scrounge today!?

Oh I don't know, chicken wings always give Daisy smelly wind!

Oh dear Saz! Just the wings or other boney chicken bits too?

So yesterday he had about 200g turkey mince, 250g chicken meat chunks and 150g ish of chicken mince! Poos are pretty normal looking so gonna throw in a chicken bone portion for lunch today! Try and keep him busy a little longer!

He has already had 200g turkey mince this morning and an egg! He's getting the hang of them now! Even gets excited when I get one out of the cupboard :lol:who would've thought! Lunch will be a bit more turkey and the boney chicken portion and then about 200g chicken mince later for dinner!

Just to double check...we feed tripe for a week too don't we? And then once he has been introduced to all meats only have to feed it every so often? Gonna get some out for tomorrow! Oh how I look forward to the smell! 

yes add tripe in for a week, then lamb/pork/beef etc

When everything has been tried then you want to feed the most varied diet you can, so for example today the boys have had (one meal a day)

Venison neck, chicken foot, tripe chunk and egg in one meal

Bane wrote: Oh how I look forward to the smell! 

Hey there,

Is it not uncooked tripe? doesn't smell at all if its not cooked, I give Sky the natures frozen tripe everyday as a add on to her natures raw cubed diet..

I have this stuff on order and should be with me tomorrow which im going to try for a month, il still continue with 100g approx of the tripe with a tube (500g) of this stuff

http://www.basilsdogfood.co.uk/index.asp?m=2&t=Our+Food