Bane's Raw Food Diary

First topic message reminder :

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

Glad it went well! He'll certainly be after some more

That's brilliant Jamie   

Thanks guys well this morning we went for are walk then i have just fed him he was sat waggin his tail 10 to the duzzen so for this trial of 5 days his on 2% so 180 chicken mince morning and evening along with a chicken wing would you advice more chicken wings or stay with 1 for now once again thank you for all helpibg out

You could try him with a wing at both meals, some can tolerate more bone than others and tbh there's not much bone in a wing, just check his poops if there White reduce the bone if there sloppy increase it

So Friday morning Bane had his 350g mixed minces for breakfast. He slept all day so didn't think he was feeling too good. I gave him 150g minces and a chicken with bone piece for dinner and he ate it fine. Threw up later that night.

Saturday he finally ate breakfast about 2 or 3pm. He just picked out the tripe mince and piece of boneless chicken so probably only ate 150g. His appetite had come back for dinner and he ate about 150g boneless chicken, 50g tripe mince and some puppy milk.

Today he has been sick first thing and had a few runny accidents in the night so am contemplating leaving all food today :/

Probably for the best xx

I gave in to feeding him a bit as he looked so sad...he had probably just under 200g scrambled egg today.

Got some whole Mackeral from Tesco the other day as they were on offer for £2.50 per kg...cant wait for him to be better so he can have some! He loves his fishy friends!

So yesterday he was feeling much better but we didn't want to overload him with food. In the morning he had 2 eggs, scrambled but didn't seem interested so I put about 70g of raw chicken with it and he scoffed it all down!

He had a frozen yogurt Kong during the day and then had another 2 scrambled eggs for dinner with a 120g chunk of raw chicken and a few goats milk ice cubes. No poo but he was back to his usual self!



Today he is having 4 smaller meals, as we try to introduce a bit more of the raw back in. Breakfast he had 120g chicken and 1 scrambled egg. Lunch he will have the same, and then later on will try some chicken mince. Fingers crossed there will be something come out the other end by the end of the day :/

Really glad he's feeling better hun xx

So the day started off well, Bane had a 200g chicken piece and mince breakfast and had a nice firm poo at the park! He then had 200g chicken and fish mince for lunch, buuut had a super runny poo this evening so had 2 scrambled eggs and a piece of chicken for dinner.

Not sure if it was his lunch that gave him a runny bum again today or what but we will be sticking to scrambled egg and chicken again tomorrow He's off to the vets in the morning to see a dermatologist *yay* so will let him know and see what he suggests!

So pretty p****d at the vet, while he was looking over Bane he asked if he had had any diarrhea or upset tummy and I told him about the weekend just gone and his instant reply "Well that's what a raw diet will do to a dog"   I can't believe how dismissive and negative they are about raw feeding. I explained he had actually been fine with the raw food for over a month and it is something else that was causing the sickness and he just dismissed it...so no help there!

I've had a look online and found somewhere that said yogurt and green tripe was best, as a raw diet is already a "bland diet" so no need for the rice and boiled chicken etc. I've fed him chicken meat and 2 scrambled eggs this morning, the same again for lunch and he has just had some tripe and chicken mince for dinner with some natural yogurt. Hasn't been for a poo yet today though so don't know what that end is looking like at the moment! Fingers crossed!

He also weighed in at 18.2kg today, 300g less than Friday He is looking a bit skinny so I really hope he is on the mend so he can get back to being healthy!
Got blood test results coming back next week too to see if he is allergic to any environmental things

Aww poor bane, sorry to hear he's been poorly again   doesn't surprise me about the vet!!

So the OH had a thought Thursday night that maybe Bane was having too much protein from all the eggs hence the canon-butt. He's been acting normal and not been sick all week so thought we'd just try feeding him as normal. Yesterday he had just over 200g of tripe mince and a chicken drumstick for breakfast, the same again for lunch but with a chicken wing (trying to keep the bone content high to get his stools firm) and then 200g chicken and tripe mince for dinner.
He pood this morning and it was normal!!   never thought I'd be so happy about some poo!
Will stick to tripe, chicken and possibly a bit of fish today to see how he goes! Will report back later.

Hope it went OK x

It has done so far Saz, thanks xx

He had just under 400g for breakfast (OH trying to bulk him up after finding out he had lost some weight! ) He had tripe mince, chicken mince and a hunk of mackeral that I got him the other day.
He pooped and it was PERFECT!! He had about 350g for dinner of tripe mince, chicken and oily fish mince and a chicken wing. His tummy has been making some crazy noises but fingers crossed it has settled now Soooo happy! Can start on the beef in a few days and get back on track!

Also did a stock count today and I think we have enough food to last another 2 weeks so gotta get another DAF order ready soon! 

Aww brilliant   

Bleeeh back to runny bum again this morning
He had tripe and chicken and oily fish mince for breakfast with a spoonfull of yogurt I think...my memory is shocking! So not sure if it is the chicken and oily fish mince maybe...or yogurt? that is causing it...I dont know!
He had a chicken drumstick, tripe and chicken mince for dinner so tomorrow I will keep him to that and hope his perfect poops will return. If they do will keep him on just that for a few days and try to add the fish and yogurt again and see if it happens again. I was so excited that he was getting better

Awww   

Yeah you need to figure out which it is, he was OK on the chicken wasn't he?

Yeah chicken seemed to be fine Saz, Friday he had only chicken and tripe and pooped fine, Saturday morning he had the same with a piece of frozen fish and pooed fine that afternoon.
I would imagine the short digestion time of the raw food would mean his breakfast probably came out Saturday afternoon in the good poo...so the fresh/frozen Mackeral was ok.

Which means the suspect would have been the chicken and oily fish mince he had for dinner or the yogurt with his breakfast. I think he had a yogurt Kong Saturday though so maybe just the chicken and oily fish mince...which he has been fine on up until now so not sure what's going on...   
I will go back to Friday's menu and stick to that for a few days! Only thing is I am on my last block of chicken mince so might have to supermarket it!...Do you think having tripe as half of his diet for a few days will be ok? I would add in Turkey again but I want to be absolutely sure.

Yeah it will be fine   

Awesome thanks I am all excited I have just found a raw food company near my parents house and they are due a visit in a couple of weeks...the prices looks great! I am really hoping they are still in business, website looks a bit old :/

So he has had just chicken and tripe today!
About 300g of mince in the morning and 200g tripe mince and a chicken drumstick for dinner.

He went for a poo earlier at the park and it was shapely at least! Little bit of liquid but a big improvement from yesterday Fingers crossed for tomorrows!

Fingers crossed for you   

200g tripe and 120g ish chicken drumstick for breakfast today and he is back to perfect poops!

He will be having some chicken mince and tripe for dinner  forgot to get it out of the freezer so this will be fun!
I will try adding some turkey in tomorrow and then some fresh fish and if it stays good, will add the chicken and oily fish mince and see what happens. Had enough of runny bums now  

Glad it's going better x

I hope it stays that way Saz, very strange if it is now the chicken and oilky fish as he was fine on it for over 2 weeks :/

I hope you get to the bottom of it! Pardon the pun!   

Hahaha Saz I want to stay as far away from his bum as possible!

Yesterday he had some more good poos! A bit stinky though  For Breakfast he had a mixture of tripe and turkey mince and a chicken leg, and then the same again for dinner (about 700g in total) Am waiting for the poops on today's walk but hopefully they are still good with the turkey added.

He had 160g ish of tripe and turkey mince and a chicken leg for breakfast today and if all goes well then for dinner he will be having some turkey and tripe mince and a piece of fresh frozen fish!

Poops were all good!  So he has had a 100g ish piece of frozen fish with 200g of turkey and tripe mince. Lets hope he is ok tomorrow!

So yesterday he had some chicken and oily fish mince...dun dun duuuun!! All poops have been good up until now (although a bit soft today) so fingers crossed his tummy is back to normal and we can get back on track

So yeah yesterday, Breakfast: 100g chicken and oily fish mince, 120g tripe mince + chicken drumstick. Dinner was roughly the same. (Just under 700g in total for the day)

Today he had pretty much the same as yesterday for breakfast and then dinner he had 120g ish chicken and oily fish mince, an egg and half of a frozen mackeral Again about 700g for the day.

He loves his fishy pals!

Aww he's so cute, that face   

Hehe don't let it fool you Saz He is secretly a demondog!  

Yesterday he had a bit of runny poo so not sure if it was the egg or the chicken and oily fish We'll soon find out if it continues with the Chicken and Fish mince though!

So for breakfast he had 100g ish of chicken and fish mince, about 150g tripe mince and a chicken wing. I also chucked in a zested clove of garlic. Dinner he had 100g tripe mince, a small chicken wing and about 130g beef mince.  He seemed to like it and so far so good

Today for breakfast he has had tripe, and chicken and fish mince, and a chicken bit with bone. Tonight I'm thinking maybe his last pigs trotter as he hasn't had pork in a while hmm hmmm

He ended up having that pigs trotter for dinner last night! Was a beast about 500g in total! Took him about 40 minutes to eat as well so kept him busy

This morning he had a weird allergy flare up and got all bumpy legs and nose :/ I hope it wasn't any of his food...he has had pork before so it shouldn't have been that and beef was a couple days ago now so not sure if it would have been that either, and surely it would have been across his whole body?
Dunno if it is related, but he also had yellow poos today o.o I thought that happened with chicken?

Anyway he had about 130g chicken and oily fish mince, 80g tripe mince and a chicken drumstick for breakfast, total of about 330g. I forgot to defrost some more food again  so he is having the last bit of chicken and oily fish mince, and a big piece of fish for dinner! I think it was just under 300g so gonna give him the left over meaty pork bone I got from butchers yesterday so he nibble a bit of that!

And we have also put in our next DAF order, ready for delivery Thursday 

We have got:
- Minced Turkey,
- Minced Chicken,
- Minced Best Tripe,
- Meaty Mince (Pork, Beef, Lamb combo)
- Chicken on the bone portions,
- Venision meat chunks.

Hope he likes the venison and the new tripe and mince

He will love it   

Good good Cos it's more expensive than the rest!
I just hope that his bumps this morning weren't from Beef the other day >.>

They would have come up sooner I would gave thought x

Ok good stuff That's what I had thought! Thanks Saz   

 let's just hope you can get him right xx

So his poos have been a bit crumbly today, I think he ate more of the bone I gave him yesterday than I thought he would... :/
So for breakfast he had tripe mince, beef meat mince and a bit of chicken and oily fish mince to keep the meat ratio higher (total of 400g, OH fed him) and tonight he has had tripe mince, chicken and oily fish mince and the head half of a mackeral, total of about 450g as the OH fed him again...I swear he thinks he is too skinny or something He was weighed the other day actually and is 18.2kg when before he had his sickness bug he was about 18.5kg so maybe hasn't fully recovered yet

Today was delivery day!!!  
Bane had to double check over everything to make sure it was all good! Sadly they had run out of Venison so they sent Beef instead Have called them and they said they can make a swap in 2 weeks when the next delivery date is so no Venison for Banedog until then!



For breakfast he had a mix of tripe mince, beef meat mince and chicken and oily fish mince (350g ish) and then for dinner he has just had about a 400g mix of chicken and oily fish mince, turkey mince, pork meat and a piece of chicken on the bone For once he is starting to look a bit on the big side rather than skinny

Got test results back today that he is allergic to Dust Mites, and we're doing a month or two of trying to minimize his itching. The vets have given us some evening primrose oil to add to his food and I will be looking into other herbs and things to start adding now, try to boost his immune system and give him extra nutrients to help his skin Finger crossed!

I love that pic, look at banes face   

Haha he was being such a poser! Must have thought if he stood nice and looked at me he was going to get to eat the whole lot

Yesterday's meals were a mixture of chicken and oily fish mince, tripe mince, chicken drumsticks, turkey mince and some pork meat. My memory is terrible but he had about 750g in total for the day

Today for breakfast he had about 370g of chicken and oily fish mince, turkey mince, tripe mince and a chicken wing. Dinner he had about 370g again of tripe, chicken and oily fish and his new meaty mince (pork, beef, lamb) and a chicken drumstick I added some apple cider vinegar with his breakfast and grated a clove of garlic into 1 meal yesterday.

He seems to be doing fine again on all of the meats we are giving him so maybe time to try some offal?
Does it count if we give it to him in the form of liver cake? Or baked liver treats? Or will he need extra with his meals too? I've got some kidney out but he doesn't seem very interested   
Visiting home next week too so will try and get some more interesting meats

I think it needs to be raw, I give Daisy hers raw but she also has some dried liver treats too   if he isn't keen on the liver and kidney just chop it up small and mix it in or try it in frozen chunks. When starting liver you only need to give very a very small amount anyway x

Thanks Sazzle! Frozen might be the way to go Will have to read up on good offal and see what I can find! So far I've only been able to get liver and kidney from the supermarket! Boring!

That's all Daisy's had, the shop that sells spleen never has any in!

Hahaha he wasn't impressed by the kidney! He tried licking the blood out of the tub, so I cut him off a small piece, which he licked and tried to eat but kept spitting it out! He kept going back to it every few minutes to try again as if he was expecting it to change into something nice, silly boy!

Today he had 350g mix of tripe, chicken and oily fish, beef and meaty mince for breakfast with a splash of apple cider vinegar. For dinner he will be having the same but with a chicken drumstick instead of the beef I will try and get some liver for tomorrow maybe.

 I think a lot of them rant keen on the offal!

Oh ok so we just have to be sneaky with it then

Do you think the variety he is getting at the moment is good enough for his regular meals? I'll keep looking for other more interesting things to try but it looks like he will be getting Tripe, Chicken, Turkey and meaty mix minces, along with whole fish, chicken bone portions and then odd pork trotters on a regular basis. I wish I still lived out in the countryside!