So many question. I read the thread and it said that I should start her with bone-in chicken. That's fine cause its not expensive and we get ours from a butcher cheap. I know with some foods you have to mix do you with the raw diet? Or can we just go straight to it? Her teeth aren't healthy so can I cut some of the bones in smaller pieces? Cause no way is she going to get a chicken breast in her little mouth. She is too small. Also I would rather mix the food myself than buy pre made. Recipes?

__________________
I playing!

You can get chicken wings instead of bone in breast... They are easy for them to crunch through. You start raw cold turkey because it digests at a different rate than kibble, so you can't feed them together.

__________________


Thanks LS!

I'm not good with a calculator. She is small maybe 2 or three lbs. I think a whole wing would be too much. I can cut and freeze the rest not a problem, but when I start integrating the organs can I also add some carbs? I don't need her losing weight.

__________________
I playing!

Are you referring to mixing the food to gradually make the switch from one to another?

Personally, I've never bought into that theory. In the very beginning, Teddy used to get slightly loose stools when I switched his food, yes. But I kept doing it. I'd wait a week or two until he was used to one food, then switch brands or flavors on him. I did it pretty rapidly for a few months while he was young. Now he doesn't get a stomach ache if I switch his food, just like you don't get a stomach ache if you eat chicken for dinner tonight and a hamburger for lunch tomorrow.

I don't feed raw myself. I tried pre-made raw (Instinct) but Teddy didn't like it. So I can't help as far as recipes.

I don't think that they need to get the entire chicken breast into their mouth. From what I've read, you usually start with chicken or turkey necks and wings. Those bones are much smaller and chewing on the bones really helps with teeth.

Also.. I can recommend a good enzyme dental spray if you're interested. It's called Leba III and it's sold on Amazon.com and GWLittle.com for around $50. Works great and lasts a long time. Just two sprays a day without food or water 30 minutes before and after each spray. It works wonders.

Here's how his teeth look while using the Leba spray consistently:


Here's how they look (today) since I ran out of the spray two weeks ago:


You can see how the top of his canines is turning yellow again. His breath has also been much more sour.

__________________


Thanks to Jan for my siggy!

My Gunner is still a pup. He's 6 months old. I started him on raw about 6 weeks or so ago. I'd say for the past month he's had no carbs. I feed him straight raw and Ziwipeak (which is just a premade dehydrated raw). And he's gaining weight like a crazy man! When we got him at 10 weeks old he was a 2 pounder. He's up to 4.9lbs!! So don't worry about that. She'll gain weight as long as you're giving her enough. Let's just say she's 3 lbs. You should be feeding about 3-4% of her body weight to maintain. If you want her to gain, do a little more. So if she's 3 lbs, then feed her about 1-2 oz of meat daily. If she's not gaining like you'd like, feed a little more. Just adjust as you see it's needed.

Prey model raw is extremely easy. No mixing. The main concern is just getting the right proportions of 80/10/10. Since ur girl is so tiny, you may have to cut big chunks of meat into bite size pieces. And you'll be surprised at how she will be able to chew through bone. Especially smaller ones from a chicken. A leg bone may be harder. Especially with bad teeth. If you find she does have difficulty, just put the meat in a baggie and smash with a hammer. She'll get better with the bones as she gets more experienced with raw and her jaw muscles strengthen.

__________________
Gunner - 9 month old Blue Chi
Hercules - 3 yr old Boston Terrier

Have you read up on it? Does it eat enamel away?

__________________
I playing!

Kaila, wow, those pics are awesome! I need to get some of that. But it will have to wait til after Christmas since it's so expensive.....
So what is the spray? Is it basically just enzymes? If that's all it is, I actually make my own out of fruit. So maybe I could just use that. Now you got me thinking......

__________________
Gunner - 9 month old Blue Chi
Hercules - 3 yr old Boston Terrier

You can cut the wings into 1/3s... That is what I do.

__________________


Thanks LS!