Adding lamb (chops)

[Cindy M, Zachary & the Frenchies]

I am transitioning my dogs to raw. I have three french bulldgos and my doodle baby will be joining us on the 30th of this month. One of my kids has allergies and has been on a prescription diet for over a year now. It does not cover everything that she reacts to and she still has to take an antihistamine, but she no longer needs steroids and is definately much better than she was. The problem is that it is AWFUL food and she gets no variety and it is not meeting her nutritional needs. So, I am looking for a raw protien that she can tolerate. We did a two week trial of beef and although she was not as itchy as she was before the Rx food she did start chewing and licking her feet again. Now I am trying lamb, it's not really been long enough to tell if it is helping - I think that she is licking less, but it has only been 2 day. The question is -if lamb works for her, can she eat lamb chops (is that bone okay)  I know that she can have the lamb rib bones, But they are kind of short and I would like to give her something with more meat on it so she can have more of chewing ripping experience. Thanks for your thoughts and expertise.

[LucyR]

I think it depends upon what kind of eater your doggie is.  A gulper might have a problem with the lamb bones.  Ozzie is a very prissy eater so I give him whatever kind of lamb with bone I can find on sale.   He is very precise and I don't worry about him choking on a bone since he eats slowly.  If you are concerned, you could get a mallet and bash the bones before giving the food.  For chewing, if you can find lamb shanks on sale, that would work.  But they are VERY expensive.  Ozzie gets one every now and then and loves them.

[Cindy M, Zachary & the Frenchies]

Thanks, she is my slowest eater of the three. She finishes everything at one sitting but she truly savors her food and takes her time with it.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I agree that it depends on the eating habits of the dog. Here is a site the gives some general guidelines to feeding raw and raw bones. They discourage the smaller bones because of the choking hazard. But I still go with the case by case basis approach:

 

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:zjzsI8vR9T4J:k...

 

Hope the new diet works out well for your baby!

[Cindy M, Zachary & the Frenchies]

Hi Andrea, I have some vague memory of her failing a chicken based  food prior to switching to the perscription diet a couple of year ago. She was definately getting worse on the beef, so that had to stop after 2 weeks. I tried the lamb next because I read that it is one of the least allergic protien sources. She is like a puppy today - I have not seen her this happy and playful in a very long time, still a bit of foot licking but less than 3 days ago. If she does okay with several weeks on the lamb, I will try the chicken. I know that I still need a good source of bone, but  I am just trying to find a protien first so I am still mixing the raw with the Rx diet so she has her regular food as a fall back. Thanks for your help. I'll keep you posted. I sure do hope she succeeds with the lamb and can also eat chicken. I would love her to be able to have some of the variety that my other two dogs can enjoy.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

chicken and beef are the 2 most common allergies. Lamb is usually a good protein to try

[Cindy M, Zachary & the Frenchies]

Just an update. Gracie has had 4 days on lamb (no chops - just the meat) and one day of ribs - and has done great - no excessive paw licking and her face wrinkles look good (which is the other place where she shows inflammation) keeping my fingers crossed!.

 

Another question - what are peoples thoughts about raw pork? - thanks

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Well, to be honest the thought of pork makes ma a little squeamish!!  We don't eat it at our house but aside from THAT it appears to be included as part of the canine raw food diets that I see on the web. The main concern with pork is the trichinosis parasite and it has all but been eliminated in the US. so I guess it really isn't an issue. I read that you can kill the parasite by freezing the meat so you could do that if you had any concerns. Otherwise it looks to be a good addition to the raw mix.

 

I'm really glad to her that Gracie is improving!! We will keep our fingers and paws crossed for her too!!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Here's the whole scoop on pork.

http://www.askthemeatman.com/pork_Trichinosis.htm

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

F your pushing my squeamishness RIGHT over the edge!!! :( Like I said...no pork will ever set foot in THIS house for human or dog...

[Janice Hammond]

When you feed the shoulder roast do you feed the bone? I have been a chicken feeder and occasionally buffalo and turkey necks but Sadie ate the turkey necks too quickly.I will try the pork hocks though.

[Cindy M, Zachary & the Frenchies]

Thanks everyone for all your help. Gracie is doing really well. Her coat is getting softer, and she is more playful; she is still licking her paws some, but no worse than before. I will reevalute the licking when she is completely off the kibble. The other dogs love the addition of the raw food, and i can see the benefits in their coats and breath. I am tempted to go completely to raw but in all honesty i am just too cheap to throw out the kibble - the economy is rough and so think I will continue the supplementing until I have used up the last of my Kibble supply. Zachary  my doodle baby arrives tommorrow and after giving him some time to acclimate to his new home I will start adding raw meat to his diet also. Hopefully we will be a raw food family by mid september.