Raw diet for my pit??

Question

i have a 4 month old male pit he is 35lbs and im wanting to start him on a raw diet. ive never fed a dog raw befor. does anyone know somthing simple and easy i can get started with? how much of what and how often?

Answer 1

A properly fed raw diet can be very good for your dog.  However, there are better places to ask than here.  I do not feed raw, but I have heard that the raw food groups on Yahoo are excellent resource, so try them for great advice!

Answer 2

I highly recommend it. My dogs have never looked better. Bindi's teeth were pretty nasty looking when she was on kibble, they are nice and pearly white again with the raw. She's 2 years old.

Your dog can choke on the bones. But your dog can also choke on kibble, toys, treats, if he can get it in his mouth he can choke on it. There are several cases of dogs choking on kibble and dying, I haven't heard of any raw fed dogs choking on their food and dying.

Here's some information to get you started.

I feed my dogs prey model raw. My dogs currently include a 2 year old belgian malinois, a labrador, and 5 14 week old pups.

This diet cosists of feeding rmb's, offal, organs etc. While its not as simple as throwing a chicken in a bowl everyday, its not that complicated once you get started.

My pups have been getting a raw diet since they were 6 weeks old. They love it. Some breeders wean their pups right onto a raw diet.

They get, game hens, chicken breast, chicken thighs, drumsticks, beef and chicken liver, beef heart, beef skirts, catfish, ground turkey, pork ribs, pork roast, beef cheeck, I buy what's on sale, and in bulk when I can.

I feed them 2% of their expected adult weight daily, so each pup gets about 1.5lbs of food divided into 3 daily meals.

There's a bit more to than what I described it here, but all in all, its pretty simple, and is only as expensive as you make it.

Yahoo has some rawfeeding groups, there's also a group called "rawdogs" on Livejournal, this thread on Dogster http://www.dogster.com/forums/Raw_Food_D... has lots of information about raw feeding. All 3 places are glad to help new raw feeders get started.

Let's also dispel some myths about rawfeeding with this link http://www.rawfed.com/myths/index.html

Some books on the topic include

Raw Meaty Bones by Tom Lonsdale, and Australian vet.

Works Wonders also by Tom Lonsdale

The BARF Diet by Dr. Ian Billinghurst

Food Pets Die For by Ann Martin (the feeding info isn't great, but the look at the pet food industry is)

Also keep in mind that vets are a good source for medical information, a poor choice for nutrition information. In the many years it takes to become a vet they receive little if any nutrition information. What they are offered is elective and taught by major pet food companies such as Hill's the makers of Science Diet. (an icky overpriced food)

And for anyone who says the pet food companies have done extensive research on nutrtion for our pets. Sure they have. But what they concentrated on was how to feed the animals c**p ingredients at the lowest cost without them tipping over right away. If they'd the pets best interest mind the foods wouldn't loaded with things such as corn and soy, which our carnivore pets can't digest. Good nutrition studies eh?

Answer 3

Feed raw three days a week for 3 weeks them after that go 100 percent raw. Your dog's diet should consist of raw meaty bones. If the meal has no edible bone in it(like beef ribs for example aren't edible) supplement with eggshell calcium or bone meal. Also feed organ meats and blue fruit like blueberries and rasberries.  

Answer 4

pay no attention to the prior answer. I've had pits all of my life. I love them. you should tell your vet what you want to do. he can suggest which veggies are best etc. I believe that there are certain ones you should avoid. Good luck.

Answer 5

Meats- Turkey, Beef, Chicken, and Pork.

Carrots - Vitamin A, B, C, D, E, G, K, potassium, calcium. I use carrots as the base and add a few others to vary the juice daily.

Apples - Vitamin C

Greens: Vitamin A, C, potassium, chlorophyll.

Kale - has the same nutrients as cabbage, helps with digestive disorders

Swiss Chard - high in Vitamin A

      

Watercress - intestinal cleanser

      

Mustard Greens - intestinal cleanser

Parsley - an herb, helps with oxygen metabolism with the adrenal and

            thyroid glands, healing for the genito-urianry tract.

Celery - Contains organic sodium (maintains fluidity of blood and lymph). Natural diuretic helpful for arthritis, water retention, urinary problems, chemical imbalances.

Beets - Copper, manganese, potassium. Builds red corpuscles and tones blood. Add only a small slice to the daily juice once a week due to beet's cleansing properties.

Alfalfa Sprouts - The highest source of Vitamin A.

Answer 6

There's tons of websites which can help you out on this.

When I was thinking of feeding my dog's raw, I searched the internet, did a lot of research.

It seemed daunting to me at first. Quite scary, even, because I was scared of making their diet unbalanced...

But after feeding raw for a while, it's so easy. Very easy. And cheap!

Dogs usually require 2.5 - 3% of their body weight in meat daily, puppies require up to 10% of their body weight daily.

Watch your dog, that is the best way to judge. If he is skinny, feed more, if he is a bit too chunky, feed less.

It's easy, you'll get used to it.

There are many great websites that can help, I'll post some.

http://www.rawmeatybones.com/

http://www.dogguide.net/raw-diet-basics....

http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_feeding

http://www.petfriendlyworld.com/chatforu...

Raw really is the best thing for your dog!

Have fun. :]

Answer 7

Pits are great dogs. It's the owner that decides how he behaves. Pits should not be fed vegetables, dogs are carnivores. You shouldn't try to compromise their diets. You could try a prey diet, which is 10% bones, 10% organs (half is liver) and the rest is meat from muscle.