Hi everyone,

i am looking for any advise for my new litter, i have been feeding my dogs raw now for about 6 months and am very happy with the results and my dogs are very happy too. However this is my first litter since i switched and i wanted to rear this litter onto raw too, but still including some complete as not all new owners may be happy to continue with the raw.

i have spoken to a few people who have reared raw and have had great results, any tips or others experiences rearing onto raw would be great, they are now just 3 weeks so will be starting them anyday.

Thanks :)

I weaned my litter onto raw and kibble for the second week of weaning, so they got a taste for both as, like you say, not all owners want to deal with raw food. They had more raw meat/tripe than kibble in the end by the time they were about 5 weeks old and now the one I'm keeping has no kibble at all - except for treats. The new owners have had no problems feeding them the kibble diet only, as they were used to it aswell.

I raise on raw and have done for a few years now, never had any issues. I feed all my dogs raw so most start by smelling the minced beef in mums bowl. I include 2 diet sheets in my puppy pack.  1 for raw feeding and the other for how to switch to complete food.
Remember with raw meat to freeze and then defrost to kill the bacteria.

Emma

Hi Emma,

i feed all my dogs on raw, but i was going to buy the minced beef from the supermarket for the puppies, do you feed them the same food as your adults or buy in different for rearing pups. if i buy from supermarket i will seperate into portions and freeze then defrost as needed.
Thanks :)

Yep everything the same but you have to chop everything smaller as they haven't got the teeth for it yet.  Which is why minced beef is the perfect meat.  The only thing I do slightly different is to give them cook scrambled egg instead of raw.  Just a personal preference when they are young otherwise they can get in a right mess.

Emma

I agree with malibu, my pups get pretty much everything the adults get but smaller.  I weaned my last litter onto beef mince from the supermarket, rolled into balls and fed by hand for the first couple of days, I then added pulped fruit and veg and AMP minces gradually over the next couple of weeks before moving onto adding chicken wings, bones, etc.  I have been feeding raw for 6 years now and can't imagine ever going back to kibble.  I also give scrambled egg instead of raw whilst tiny.

Hi Zajak,

Thanks for your post, well my babies are 4 weeks today and have been having beef mince from the supermarket and are loving it!  I am going to start adding raw chicken and tripe too in a couple of days and was looking at the chicken wings today, at what age should i try them with a chicken wing and do i let them just chew at it then take it away for mum to finish or let them eat the whole thing?

They look great and i have had no problems with their tummy's so am very happy

Thanks again
Mandy

Glad things are going well.  When they are still small I have a tendancy to give chicken drumsticks as I always think that they probably wont be able to break of a piece like they can with a wing and try to eat it whole.  They usually end up chewing on the ends for ages, the meat goes in minutes.  Funny to see puppy tug of war with a chicken bone at such a young age.
Just give it them for a good while and when they have lost interest in it take it away. I doubt until they are a bit older they will eat more than just the ends off the bone.  But then again your pups will be bigger than mine so they may get through a little more.  I am sure if there is even a scrap of meat left mum will find it.

Emma