Hi,
New here and just looking for some advice really.
My three dogs (springer, sprocker, border terrier) are all fed JWB fish and rice, after trying many completes this seems to be the one that all three do well on. I had been happy with how they were doing on it but felt it must get a bit boring eating the same food all the time.
I reccently bought some raw frozen blocks (prize choice) and have been adding varying ammounts to thier evening feed. Tripe seems to be thier favourite. However after reading about raw feeding i have seen that it is not reccomended to feed raw with complete food due to the digestion times of each. There have been no advese affects to me doing so, poos still firm and the dogs are wolfing it down.
I was just looking for advice on wether what i am doing is ok or if people would advise against it. I am not planning on changing to a completley raw diet, but if what i am doing is ok then great if not then ill take all comments on board.
I have also ordered a large bag of frozen chicken wings just to see how they go down too, not as a meal just as treats. This may be wrong too lol.

All Comments appriciated

Its true they do digest at different rates. Why don't you feed complete at one meal and then at the other meal given them the raw. But that said, I've mixed and matched and it has not made the slightest difference to any of mine either.

I thought about that rocknrose, but was concerned that just feeding the raw meat would make them loose. Probably wrong.

>There have been no advese affects to me doing so, poos still firm and the dogs are wolfing it down.

There's your evidence. I'm sure it'll be fine. I've been feeding dogs a mixture of complete and 'real' (at the same meal) since the mid-1970s and it's never caused any problem whatsoever. It's no different to people eating protein (meat) and carbohydrate (potatoes) at the same time - and we can all eat shepherd's pie without it making us ill!

Seems to be unanimous!   :-)

I too feed meat with my complete.  For no other reason than, like you, I wanted to give them a bit of variety, instead of boring old plain dry food all the time.

Thanks,
Glad im not doing anything wrong. Suppose its all about what suits your dogs. Ill keep doing what im doing, and see how i get on with the chicken wings lol.

Hi

I don't feed complete and raw together (due to digestion rates, and preference) BUT I've never yet heard anyone say they've had problems if they have combined them.  All in all, I've probably worried much more about feeding the dogs than I ever have over the children's menu!! 

Re chicken wings, you may find the frozen pet food ones have less meat than those sold for human consumption.  You may need to watch the bone content and remember to balance it out with meat or pref some offal.  It's sensible not to feed too many wings in one go and just keep an eye open for problems - I simply check what comes out the other end... 

Prize choice do some great beef chunks too - it's more fun for the dogs as they have something to get their teeth into but it's still simple and convenient to serve.  I find their frozen blocks are a bit too fine (more like mousse than mince!) although the tripe has more texture.  The frozen poultry necks are also very good and my two prefer these to wings - quite good meat to bone ratio.

HTH :)

>I've probably worried much more about feeding the dogs than I ever have over the children's menu!! 

lol, i know the feeling.

An all raw diet would of course be fantastic but tbh i dont have the confidence at the moment. Plus my dogs are not looking bad on complete. Thanks for advice on the chicken wings. I chose prize choice as it is easily avalible to me loacally, but other reccomendations welcome.

> However after reading about raw feeding i have seen that it is not reccomended to feed raw with complete food due to the digestion times of each

I feed complete & raw tripe (50:50). This is what pup was raised on by the breeder & the diet the breeder recomends.. My 'pup' is over 2 years old now, so that's a good amount of time on the diet for me to say it suits him just fine and we've never had any problems with it :)

I have started to feed complete in the morning and completely raw meal at night but this is because it suits me.  Dogs are looking fantastic since adding in majority of raw so wouldnt go back to feeding only complete now. 

I feed only raw, so I don't have experience of feeding complete and raw together. I think I would chose to feed them separately if I did, due to all I have read about it. Saying that, I'm never likely to feed complete, so irrelevant really! lol As others have said, I know people who have mixed it and no (visible) problems as yet, I think it comes down to personal preference in the end.

One thing I would add, if yours have not had chicken wings before, be careful they don't bolt them. Try holding them until they get the hang of chewing them properly :)

>I know people who have mixed it and no (visible) problems as yet,

How long do you think before problems would have shown themselves?

I wouldn't really know to be honest. As I don't feed commercial or complete foods at all, I've never had to make the decision to mix or not. Because of that, I've not looked into it in great detail. My understanding is that mixing the two foods is not so much damaging, as it was uncomfortable for the animal. Similar to when we've had a big roast, or Chinese, and you feel bloated.
Going by what mixed feeders have told me, they've always said they have had 'no problems'. The problem with that is the effects are not always obviously visible, as with all commercial foods, and may not be discovered until too late.
To be honest though, in theory there should be advantages in mixing, as the raw food will have the needed enzymes to break down foods. When food is cooked the enzymes are killed, so the body needs to send other enzymes from other parts of the body to assist in digestion. This obviously stops other organs working as efficiently, and over time can lead to failure and disease. Raw food carries its own enzymes, so it does not need to borrow from other parts of the body.. If you are feeding a mixture of complete and raw it would provide more enzymes, so less need to be borrowed from other organs? I don't know, I don't know the research on this, it may be worth looking into - It may also just be total rubbish lol but just a thought:)

> My understanding is that mixing the two foods is not so much damaging, as it was uncomfortable for the animal. Similar to when we've had a big roast, or Chinese, and you feel bloated.

My dog is a breed where bloat is a worry and if feeding him complete & raw at the same time made him uncomfortable there is no way on earth I would feed it as I would not be able to differentiate between the warning signs of bloat (as in GV/GVD) and the signs of simple bloating from his meal. As it is he doesn't ever show signs of being uncomfrotable after eating his tripe & complete :)

Yeah, many people clearly find no problems, it's up to each owner to find a feeding method that suits both them and their dogs :)

Thanks for all the replys folks,
Im going to keep on doing what im doing for the moment and see how it goes. Seems that many people have not had any problems feeding raw and complete together, but its only been a coupe of weeks since i started adding the raw so we'll see.