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Kahlua's Raw Journey

5K views 50 replies 15 participants last post by  Mel's chi's 
#1 ·
I've decided to create this thread and then just keep putting updates on it throughout her whole raw journey rather than making a new one every time... no need to fill up the whole Raw forum with my ramblings lol. Plus hopefully it'll be a good learning tool for anyone else starting out the raw venture. There's no way I woulda had the courage to start without all of your support; and I sincerely mean that.

Anyway we started Kahlua with a late brunch.

Meet Cornish Hen:


Kahlua meets cornish hen:


Kahlua watches daddy hack up cornish hen lol:


And then I put up part of our xpen panel so that she was confined and couldnt drag chicken parts all over my living room. Started out with a tiny meaty chunk.


Why am I showing you guys a picture of her head over an empty bowl?? To show her enthusiasm. I literally didnt have enough time to turn on the camera to take a picture of the meat because within seconds she completely inhaled it- no hesitation at all. =D She kinda hacked it up a bit back into her mouth (from what I read that was normal so I didnt worry), chewed it up some more and then swallowed again.

Then decided to give her the rest of this mornings meal, a bony wing piece. Instinct kicked in yet again and she went to chewing on it like it was nothing at all new for her.

"Nomnomnom..."



And this is without a doubt my new favorite photo of my primal little babylove:


Will update later with dinner! ;)
 
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#7 ·
I see a retained baby tooth if it's loose it may help pop it out
LMAO!! I wondered if anyone would notice that!! =D She had both of her retained canines a few months ago, somewhere along the line she lost the other one. This last ones stubborn.. she goes in Nov for her vaccines and they get re-evaluated then. She had them both when she was in to be spayed, but her adult ones hadn't even came in yet so they decided not to pull them. I'm keepin my fingers crossed; I don't want her to have to go under anesthesia again!!
 
#10 ·
What a great idea for a thread! You know, getting ready to switch to raw, we worry and fret and second-guess ourselves: are we going to do this right? Is it really the best thing for our dog? What if she doesn't know what to do? What if she doesn't like it? What if we screw it up?!

And then that moment of truth comes where you have to put that bit of raw meat in front of the dog... and all those fears and anxieties melt away in the sheer joy and rightness of watching your pup go to town like they were simply waiting for this moment to get here.

Congratulations! Welcome to raw!!
 
#12 ·
What is the issue about "raw poo`s"?
Raw poos tend to be smaller, firmer and practically odorless. They also biodegrade on their own over a week or so. It can be quite a change if you're going from kibble to raw!

Also, poo-watching tends to be the best way to gauge if you're giving a good amount of bone to meat (squishy poo is not enough bone, crumbly, whiteish poo is too much) so there's a lot of poo talk when swapping over. ;)
 
#15 ·
Awww I love this thread! Look at her go!! She is a champion with that cornish hen. It's almost as big as she is. :)

So happy for you and to see how well she is doing. I will be following this thread every day for updates!

Dahlia's mom - raw poops are awesome. Very small, firm, and nearly odorless. They gradually turn white in the yard after a few days and disintegrate completely after a rain. What I love is seeing the tiny poops and realizing that what they eat is so bio-available that there is so little waste. When you compare it to kibble poops - the difference is astounding! Along with clean white teeth, fresh breath, no doggy odor, more lean muscle mass and less flab - what's not to love about the raw diet. ;)
 
#16 ·
Dinner... quite uneventful lol. It was just meat, the boney part was breakfast so she kinda just inhaled it again. And hacked it up. And ate it again.
But, here's a pic nonetheless of the empty dish and a chi with a mouthful lol..

Haven't seen poops yet but its a big yard so I can't say she didnt have one, I just havent seen it though I've been trying to keep an eye on her so I can monitor them. No gurgley tummies or anything out of the ordinary. Day 1 of raw, a success!
 
#18 ·
Raw Day 2!

Breakfast: boney cornish hen chunk. Rob did the hacking so I couldn't tell you exactly what it is, lol... but since dinner didn't have any bone last night I wanted to make sure to start with something boney this morning. Dearest Robbie bagged up the portions and said he made sure to have each day have one boney and one meaty chunk.

She's chewing and crunching the bones, but I'm worrying she's eating it too fast and keep getting scared that she's swallowing some boney parts. How do I actually KNOW if she's crunching them well enough or not?? She just gets so primal and eats so fast. She didn't do any regurgitating this time either. Anyway without further adieu, breakfast meal, day 2!!


Mommy loves her savage little beast!! <3
 
#19 ·
She looks & sounds great! Great thinking with adding the boney meal first thing this morning. The boneless meal last night made me nervous she'd get runny poo's (only because my crew tends to need more bone than most LOL). How is her poo so far? Has she gone yet since starting?

As for the eating fast. If she's not having any troubles I'd not worry. If she keeps swallowing & horking it back up constantly than I'd hold it for a bit until she gets the hang of chewing a bit better. But it just needs to be small enough to make it down the hatch.

You're both doing awesomely btw....so proud! :D
 
#20 ·
Oh fab!!

I agree with Heather keep an eye on her poos really every meal should be Boney until her poos are small firm compact and stable but if hers are ok carry on the way you are going

Don't worry about speed mine it super fast so I tend not to fully defrost on the first day they swallow big chunks as soon as it hits their stomach it starts to digest
 
#21 ·
To update, we've got last night's dinner:


Aaaand today's breakfast:


So far so good! She does take her time with parts that she knows are boney, the only time she really inhales it and then hacks it up again is when its a big meaty part... I'm just worried that one of these times it's going to have bone in it and she's going to think its meaty and inhale it without realizing the piece is in there lol. I was able to feed her without the pen but with the bonier meals she takes more time obviously.. and now shes getting paranoid and tries to inhale/run when I walk past her as if she thinks I'm going to take it and that she needs to scarf it down immediately... thats what I get for having to go change camera batteries lol. So back in the pen we'll go until she doesn't feel so rushed. Man that instinct kicks in hardcore; with kibble she'd never even care but this raw stuff she's guarding like it's her life lol!

Finally got to see a poo this morning; let them out first thing and was watching them through the back door. Soon as I saw she was pooing I tip toed out into the yard in nothin but a pink blanket on but damnit I was determined to see that poo, LOL.
I was very happy to see that it wasn't loose stool at ALL. Just one skinny turd; medium brown but completely formed. Which was way better than I expected since she can have a sensitive tummy at times.. but yay!
So far I think we're doing quite well...
 
#24 ·
That's fab was her poo smaller??

Shes doing really well. Daisy use to run off with her food she still gets nervous about it lotus is crated to eat and when I take it odd to give it back she starts chomping faster!!! I know it's gross but a couple of meals I'd hold for her so she knows its ok to fir u to hold it!! If se swallows the meat meals hold them then shell tear at them

You're both doing really well ibwas gonna ask about the others are you going to put them on raw too?? I bet they're jealous
 
#26 ·
Thanks all! Yeah we do plan on putting them all on raw, assuming Kahlua's diet change is a success which it seems to be. I would think the hardest part is the first time and at least for her it doesn't look like it was hard for her body to adjust to.
And I'd def say that yes the poo was smaller... it was a skinny lonely turd lol.
We just got a huge bag of Evo so we're going to finish that on Gats and Ellie and then go from there.
 
#28 ·
Well Kahlua's been on raw for almost two weeks now, and so far so good. She's very enthusiastic; and there was only one time that she kept hacking up her bone and couldn't seem to keep it down until we smashed it for her. I think once we're done with our 2nd hen here we're just going to stick with wings for her boney meal as she always chews them up thoroughly. I'm excited to introduce some new meats but I'll do it slowly to avoid upsetting her tummy.
Just a nice shot of her enjoying her new diet...
 
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