Could the raw feeders who have switched an older dog to raw food please tell me whether they think there is an age limit to start and any issues I should consider.  My six month puppy has been on raw virtually from the start and is doing very well on it.  My old retriever who is now 13 and very fit for his age has had raw veg mix added to his food for a while now and I have also been giving him a cup of raw meat recently with one meal with no ill results so am wondering whether to go the whole way with it now.  I think the RMBs are probably my main concern - he has good healthy teeth  though.  At the moment, he is on one meal of Burns and one of mainly cooked meat or fish with veg mix.

I think if he is fit then there shouldnt be a problem. If he was missing teeth, or had some serious digestive problems i might think twice (id probably do it anyway though!).

I certainly didn think twice about sticking abby straight onto raw when she arrived here, and she was 9, had horrendous teeth and being a saluki x, VERY fussy, everything i offered her for the first four days was obviously POISON! Her old owner said she was fussy and wouldnt eat anything but xxx brand of food.

I saw that as something of a challenge tbh, and it worked, she now eats damn near everything put in front of her, she doesnt like pear, and thats about it really!

Em

Thanks Em - I know I won't have the problem of him not eating it as he eats anything!  I'll try him on a boney piece of breast of lamb this evening and see how he gets on.  Judging by the response I got when I switched one of his kibble meals for fresh food, I should imagine he will be ecstatic :-)

Just to update - my 13 year old has taken to raw feeding very well so far.  He took to a chicken wing like a pro (I did hang on to the end to make sure he didn't try to swallow it whole and he crunched away happily) and has been tucking into the raw meat like all his birthdays have come at once :-).  The only thing that an experienced raw feeding friend has suggested is that maybe I should give the bones every other day rather than every day in case he gets constipated and strains too much.  Maybe it really is never too late to teach an old dog (or owner) new tricks. :D

I feed sardines or pilchards for breakfast and bones in the evening and most days they have veggie mush with the fish, which takes care of any constipation problems.

Feed the RMBs every day but do include other things for the breakfast meal, fish (tinned sardines and pilchards n tomato sauce are great), muscle meat, veggie mush, raw egg etc etc.

Em

Thanks Em - he does have the veggie mix every day but I will try adding the sardines/pilchards - shouldn't be any problems there as he used to love those as part of his cooked diet :-)  I generally fed the ones in spring water rather than tomato though - is the use of tomato significant?  He also has things like raw egg and safflower oil.

Think tomato is pretty good for dogs and i reckon the glenryck pilchards in tomato are the cheapest you can get also!
Certainly not had a problem feeding all of mine on them.

Em

Annie - just wondering, the veg you feed is that raw too? do you pulse it or just chop it up? :-) To get the goodnes, the veg needs to be mushed, but you probably know this right? :-)

Hi shanti  Yes the veg is raw and mushed in a food processor.  Thanks for the advice though.  I've had to take him off raw food at the moment because he has the runs - talk about from one extreme to the other :-) although he seems very well in himself and is anxious to eat the raw food.  I wonder if he could be detoxing.  Anyway, I'm going to keep him on cooked chicken or fish and pasta for a couple of days.

I think you are doing the right thing, I am a 'newish' big fan of RAW, my Goldie was 11 when I switched her and we haven't looked back, her story is in the other thread going at the mo about RAW, along with My pup GSDs, both these dogs had problems which to RAW feeding seems to have sorted out incredibly quickly. I don't think it is coincidence, I now truly believe that I am doing the best I can for my dogs, the results speak for themselves.... x

Hi shanti,  Yes I saw your other post - thought it was quite inspiring :-).  I tend to agree that an awful lot of skin and digestive problems are caused by giving the wrong food and I'm so pleased your Goldie recovered so well when you switched her food.  How awful that you ended up rehoming your parrot unnecessarily as it turned out.

Isn't it sad though that conventional vets always seem to go down this lengthy (and expensive!) allergy testing route rather than suggest just changing food in the first place?  I personally find it sad that people put so much trust in their vets food-wise as they have very little nutritional training.

Yes, to some vets raw feeding is a definate no no, but that is because alot of them are making money from backing the premier brands such as iams etc. My vet advised me against in both cases but I'm glad to say I never took it, would probably still be paying for 'cures' that don't work if it was left to him!

PS yes it was sad about Ziggy, but he is well settled and we see phone video clips of him everytime the owner' s dog comes in to be groomed and I know he is happy by the way he behaves on the clips x

When I took Angus to the vet for his puppy vax, the vet was horrified I was feeding him raw and said "why don't you cook it?"  I asked her if she had half an hour so I could explain - understandably, she declined :D but probably added copious notes to my records cos when I took him back a few weeks later to be microchipped and saw another vet at the same practice, he was over the moon how well Angus looked and sounded really surprised!!  Maybe at least he will be more open minded in future :)