Raw feeding advice

Considering putting our 15 month old Staffy on a raw diet but don’t have any idea where to start. He was at the vets recently and we were told he was the perfect weight and build at 22kg. Just looking for some advice really. I’d prefer to source the food myself as I’ve read its much cheaper. Could anyone recommend what food to buy and how much? Ideally, I’d like to be preparing his food for the week of a Sunday night so what would I need per week? Any help or info would be really appreciated.

We decided to get our raw from a supplier DAF. It has the correct bone and offfal content. If we find his poo is to boney we feed a bonlesss mix. It’s costing us around £35 a month. They have a huge range of different foods on the website, Gus particularly likes the lamb chops haha.

I'd first of all recommend you join a raw feeding forum or fb page.

I think the way to start is roughly 2 to 3% body weight per day with a ratio of 80% meat 10% bone & 10% offal (with at least half of the offal being liver). Most people start off with a single protein & then gradually add different meats over a few months.

Not all suppliers deliver to all areas - DAF have a good reputation (Durham Animal Feeds) but don't cover the whole country. Whereabouts are you?

Your boy sounds a big lad at 22 kilos, is he pure stafford?

Yeah, he’s KC registered. His dad was huge but he doesn’t actually look especially big in real life to be fair, just really dense or something.

Another supplier to look at is Landywoods. Their quality and range are good, I've been using them for years. I don't know what local suppliers you have but both DAF and Landywoods are pretty good on price.

If you do go down one of those routes, rather than preparing on a weekly basis most people I know have a freezer and buy on a monthly basis. Many products with both DAF and Landywoods are in 1lb packs and you simply make sure you have one to defrost in advance of when you'll need it.

I know the recommendation is 10% liver but I would say to hold off on this when you introduce raw. Offal in general and liver in particular can be very rich and cause upset tums. Start on something easy - chicken/turkey are ideal - then introduce other meats and fish, and make sure he's settled before introducing offal.

LSS23 wrote:Yeah, he’s KC registered. His dad was huge but he doesn’t actually look especially big in real life to be fair, just really dense or something.

Considering the Standard for males is 15-17 kilos, he's HUGE!

LizP wrote:
I know the recommendation is 10% liver but I would say to hold off on this when you introduce raw. Offal in general and liver in particular can be very rich and cause upset tums. Start on something easy - chicken/turkey are ideal - then introduce other meats and fish, and make sure he's settled before introducing offal.

Liver is essential, although the amount can be evened out over a month or 6 weeks. There are vitamins & minerals in liver that can't be obtained by other natural sources. But if you think about it, 10% is a very small amount on a daily basis & shouldn't cause any problems.

I know it 'shouldn't' but I've had two dogs who have reacted to even small amounts of liver when first introduced (very loose!), which is why I say take it slowly especially when in the context of an new transition to raw. I'm not at all saying don't include it in your final diet, just go slowly and wait until the overall transition to raw is ok.

Actually, I typed an error back there - it isn't 10% liver, it's 5% - a very small amount. It won't make any difference when you introduce liver, if you dog isn't used to it there may be soft stools. So increase the bone content slightly to counteract it.

I don't want to be argumentative but I promise you that both Bobbert and Millie really struggled with any liver at all to start off with, Millie even got the squits with liver treats when we first moved her to raw. I know it's down to the individual dog and that generally there shouldn't be a problem but I know from personal experience that there can be, so please don't say categorically it won't make any difference when I've experienced for myself that it can.

What I'm saying is that it won't matter WHEN you introduce it - if they're going to get the squits it'll probably happen no matter when. Most dogs will show a bit of sensitivity to liver, and you've been very unlucky with such a severe reaction. But if you don't try, you don't know. Try it first & if the result is bad then cut back for a while.

I have an odd question regarding raw food.
Isn’t the potential for bacteria and the such in the raw meat a problem ? Particularly thinking of the risks of salmonella and the such in pork and poultry.

As far as I’m aware I could be wrong though. I think the enzymes in dogs saliva breaks the bacteria down so it isn’t a risk.

Most sites will advise that you should freeze meat (and bones) for at least a week, but preferably 2 or even 3 weeks. However, you're right, a dog's stomach enzymes are very strong & their digestive tract relatively short, so that mild bacteria either get destroyed or pass through with little effect.

That's why it's good to have freezer space when you feed raw!

We baught a second freezer for the raw food. We just make sure we wash our hands well after handling the food, the same as with any raw food.