My 8 month old Samoyed has been fed Simpsons Puppy 80/20 kibble but she's not a huge fan. She's never had a big appetite and her stools are regularly runny. I'm considering changing her diet to RAW. The feeding guidelines online suggest she should be eating between 1 - 1.2kg per day for her age and that should be reduced to 400g once she's one year old. There's is no way she would eat that much food currently. Does anyone out there have experience of feeding a fussy puppy on this diet and can provide guidelines for the amount of food to feed and tip for transition? Thanks in advance
I cannot give you any advice regarding amounts of RAW feeding as I have been raw feeding on much smaller dogs. But I can recommend you have a look at the post by Tarimoor on Dogsey http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=137215 Unfortunately all the photographs are missing due to PhotoBucket removing them all unless users pay to upgrade, but I think just the written information by Tarimoor should be of help to you. Whether it gives amounts I do not know. I do not go by weight any more but as I have been raw feeding since maybe July or August 2011 and have tweaked things according to what I am able to get and the size of my furkids. I only have a small 2-year-old crossbreed now and I weaned her onto what seemed to be acceptable for her. I am sorry that I cannot give you any more advice.
Thanks Malka That is helpful. I think I'm focusing too much on the guidelines and just need to experiment and find out what is right for her.
Jodie - go by instinct and what your furkid wants. From what I read here I think that an 8 month old Samoyed should be eating adult and not puppy food but I do not know. Raw feeding is actually easy and you just tweak things according to what your furkid wants. No runny or smelly stools either. I cannot buy pet raw food so first Pereg and now Tikva have the same meat [poultry] that I eat, bought from my poulterer in town and delivered to me fresh [they live up the road] so I pack and freeze everything. As it is human food I can cook for myself so it is doubly useful. This morning little Tikki Tikva had a half of a frozen turkey neck, straight from the freezer. This evening she will have her supplements and vitamins in a sort of "soup" with some defrosted mixed vegetables, and two defrosted turkey hearts. I buy things according to their size - turkey hearts [yum yum] and gizzards being a better size than chicken ones. You can only try, and learn what your furkid likes and what suits her. You do not have to stick to guidelines, just make sure that she has even just a basic canine multivitamin - you do not have to add all things I do. Slowly slowly - and you will find what she wants. And I will do my best to help you. Please do not misunderstand me. I am not promoting raw feeding. Just what I have learned. And most of that was thanks to @Tarimoor
Thanks so much. I've placed an order with a company who deliver monthly and tried a mixed order for now. They advised to start on one meat and gradually introduce others. She already eats a few raw bones every week and that is certainly her favourite meal so I'm looking forward to trying this out. Hopefully she'll start to enjoy her food more! Thanks for the tips. Much appreciated.
