Yes, that was it! Thanks

I switched Reese a week ago today to the NV venison...she has done great so far. Her poop is really small and dry now, which worries me...is this normal?? I started mixing some regular ground lamb meat in (since lamb is an ingredient in the venison meal) to try to help because I read that the high bone content in the NV can be a little much for some dogs..I also have been giving her acidophillus and enzymes, as well as bananas for a small treat. She chews on bully sticks, but I know that I am going to switch to a home prepared model because #1 Reese scarfs down her medallions to the point where I think she might choke..she loves the raw, which I am very lucky for as I see that others dont have such luck...I actually fed her off a FORK tonight to keep her from gulping..#2 I see that there are no benefits for her teeth to eat such soft food..no work for her at all...So I have read about the prey model and know its supposed to be a 80% meat, 10% rmbs and 10% organs (1/2 being liver). Is it basically where you feed meat for every meal for a week and then 1 meal out of the week is rmb's and another is organs?? Or do you mix the organs with a meal?
BTW--This is awesome that we are all starting on a great journey for our dogs together!!

Sorry I keep blabbing, but I need some more advice..so I switched Reese to raw because her allergies are terrible. I had her on Natural Balance Duck and Potato and now on the NV Venison. I know its only been a week, but her itching is terrible still...so I dont know how long its supposed to take to see an improvement..On another forum where I have been doing research, we looked for a common ingredient between both foods and found both have a type of poultry in them, both have flaxseed...so they suggested that i try her on home prepared and non-poultry...what should I do..wait another week and then if no progress, what the heck should I feed her..beef??? AHHHHHHH

I would be more suspicious of the flaxseed as being the culprit. Flaxseed is derived from plant. Your dog is carnivorous.

It can take 6-8 weeks to see the effects of a new food. So it may take that long before the itching stops from the old food

The small dry poops are normal, thats the way their poop is supposed to be. I mean there is a point where it becomes too dry and in that case a higher meat to bone ratio could be in order.

There isn't really and specific ratio for raw, although many work round one, a ratio that works for one dog may not work for the next and vise versa. For my dogs usually feed muscle meat (any meat without bone) for their breakfast and rmbs of some kind for their dinner. Then the breakfast muscle meat is replaced by organ meat once a week, canned/tinned fish once a week as my guys can't 'do' raw fish, tripe 1-2 times a week and once a week I add 1/2-1 egg each to their meat. I also give them the odd bit of live yogurt as they adore it and do very well on it.

Basically there is no set rules when it comes to feeding your dog raw, you have to do it the way it works best for you and Reese.

I would denfinatly cut the flax out of her diet because flax seed oil is derived from a vegetable source and unfortunately can make them itchy as many dogs cannot convert the ALA into DHA/EPA. Salmon oil/fish body oil with vitamin e would be a better choice for Reese IMO.

So we've had some runny poop ... mostly from Codie. :rolleyes: Tia had runny poop once and then the next time her poop came out solid. Cali didn't get runny poop at all, yay.

I ams a little concerned last night because Cali only ate a little bit of her dinner. And then again this morning she wouldn't eat at all. I don't know if we are overfeeding her and that's why she isn't hungry for 2 meals a day but I was sure she'd be hungry this morning. Jim is going to go home on his lunch break at 12 noon and try to get her to eat her breakfast. I worry about her going all day without eating.

Question about vitamin C. How much would I put in their ground meat? Could too much vitamin C hurt them?

I didn't get a chance to buy any raw meaty bones this week. I just want to make sure they get enough vitamin C this week.

As you say it could be that when she is hungry, she is eating loads and therefore isn't hungry for quite a while afterwards. My Indy is a self moderator, she eats as much as she wants when she wants it and maintains her weight perfectly.

I don't supplement with vitamin c at all, so can't help you with that one.

so if I start feeding her myself instead of the premade, what meat should i start with? I was afraid that she had an allergy to chicken or possibly poultry, so that is why i started her on venison to see if she quieted down first, and then i was going to introduce the chicken and turkey again to see how she reacted...does that make sense??

btw..can you get tripe at the grocery store??

Ok well if you think she has an allergy to poultry then you could go with lamb. For the first couple of weeks you could feed lamb muscle meat (any meat without bone, lamb rmb's (any lamb bone with meat, such as lamb chops or meaty ribs) and lamb organ meat (such as lambs liver). If she does great on that then you could begin to add the other meats, such as poultry.

One more thing that i wanted to share..This oil I has some natural vitamin E added. Others who feed raw say its a great product...

http://www.rawdietforpets.com/artic_...marine_oil.htm