Raw and dry food?

[ByronsDad]

We have had Byron on raw food for about a week now, and everything seems to be going well. After talking to my wife though, we have realized that there will be times when it will either be difficult or almost impossible to feed him raw food (i.e. when taking him on 3-4 day camping trips). Obviously giving him dry just for those situations will likely upset his stomach. What I’m wondering, is how we could go about feeding him both dry and raw foods. Would it work to make his first two meals of the day raw, with dinner being dry? Or could we do a mix each meal of raw and dry together? As stated, we don’t want to stop feeding him raw, but we want to make sure that dry wont be a problem for the times when it’s all he can have.

[Melei'sMom]

Well i faced the same question about how to feed raw in different places and I found this

http://www.mountaindogfood.com/

they sell it just down the road from work and with this I can feed her anywhere as this doesn't seem to bother anyone, where as throwing down chicken quarters or a fish at work doesn't go over so great

For camping, I would freeze what you need and keep it in a cooler.

[Prin]

They say that kibble slows down the digestion and can lead to infection by E coli or salmonella (they have more time to infect).

[technodoll]

they say it but... in real-life dealings, it's never happened here

better to choose just one or the other though, if the dog's system is not superstrong. just in case!

[Prin]

Techno, not all meats have the bacteria. They say in Canada, around 1/3 of chickens have salmonella, so it's likely you just haven't hit one when you gave kibble. I don't know what the rate is for E coli in beef though...

[technodoll]

i only feed ground beef or ground pork with kibble, never chicken... why risk cannon-butt for nothing, LOL!

[Scott_B]

agreed. Was reading about that today and it is believed that is a rumor started by some of the "raw only" feeders and not true.

Originally Posted by technodoll

they say it but... in real-life dealings, it's never happened here

better to choose just one or the other though, if the dog's system is not superstrong. just in case!

[technodoll]

the concept does makes sense though... but i'm sure the risks are exaggerated.

[Scott_B]

Well yeah, it does, but look at say bone vs liver or some other meat. The meat would break down alot faster then the bone, but you dont hear of people saying done feed bones with meat lol. Everything breaks down at different rates.

[Prin]

Well, it all depends on how much of the meat is contaminated and how much contamination and slowing down are needed for infection.

E coli infection can be deadly.. Salmonella less so, but still as unpleasant as it gets.

[technodoll]

grains can also be contaminated... as can spinach...

everything in life carries a calculated risk, it's all about making intelligent choices IMO. i won't go feed a stinky chicken to my dog, ever, even if it would pose no threat because a dog's system is built to handle stuff like that. i just don't see the point - but others might, it's their business.

[Prin]

Originally Posted by technodoll

grains can also be contaminated... as can spinach...

Maybe so, but those contaminations aren't a general rule, as they are with meats.

[les]

Well .. I'm actually going through this, this weekend! I just started feeding raw on Monday and I'm going away for the weekend so the dogs will be in the kennel for Saturday & Sunday night. Obviously they won't be having raw there!

So I fed them tonight a small raw meal (around 4:30pm) and tomorrow morning I'm going to give them kibble (around 8:30am). I figure the raw should have mostly worked through by then and hopefully their butts will do okay!

Then I'm going to do the same thing on Monday - pick them up, they'll have had kibble for breakfast so I'll feed them a small meal of kibble for dinner and then back to raw on Tuesday morning.

Not really ideal but there are going to be a few times when raw isn't an option (for me anyways )

So I'll let you know how it goes after Tuesday =)

[Scott_B]

I believe Wendy Volhard writes in her book that a raw diet takes about 4hrs to digest, where as a kibble can take 10-14hrs?

[technodoll]

[IMG]a raw diet takes about 4hrs to digest, where as a kibble can take 10-14hrs?[/IMG]

yes, i have often read that too. if a raw-fed dog vomits a few hours after a meal, there's rarely anything but liquid. but a dog can vomit intact kibble many hours after eating it, still in the tummy and not broken down yet

[Scott_B]

For sure. I know we took Rosco to the park one day. We knew we'd be late getting home so about an hour before we left i fed him half a cup of his kibble. Took an hour to get to the city. About another 1.5 before we finished doing some shopping and finally got to the park about 4 hours later. He vomitted once he got out the car and sure enough, full undigested kibble He did this once as well after eating half a mackerel and it came up just as liquid. Im guessing as a puppy he still got a little motion sick.

[technodoll]

awe poor sweetie! does he still get motion sickness in the car?... how do you treat that, besides giving Gravol? we can't bring my friend's dog anywhere cuz he pukes after less than 2 minutes in the car... is it psychological, or really just physical?

[Scott_B]

Its been a few months since hes done it, and its only been the 2 times. Actually I think hes getting better, as he gets treats at training class (usually kibble or liver) and holds them down. I usually just try to avoid feeding if we're going anywhere. Hes usually feed early morning and then after supper, so we work around it.