Introduction of RAW food
 

I have a 5 month old yorkie who has been eating Royal Canin Puppy food, he was slim, and when he went to the bathroom it was easy to clean up and drying. I left him for a week with a breeder cause I had to go somewhere and he was eating "Bravo" frozen raw food and apparently liked it.

Anyhow, I think he gained weight from eating not only his portions but also other dogs left overs and his poop is more soft, wet, hard to clean up. Is 5 months a good age for yorkies to eat raw food? I am trying to give him the food (royal canin) he ate before I left but he is not eating it (I guess he will when he gets really hungry).

Opinions?

He is 20 weeks and weights 4.2 lbs

You should wait until a year to start feeding raw because there systems are not completely ready and done developing until a year. There also was just a recall on Bravo raw food.

Ok, I did not know he would be eating raw food for the week I was away, the brand he was eating is not the one recalled (he ate lamb). Anyhow, I want to make sure he goes back to eating his original food, so far he has not eaten any since last night. Eventually he will have too tho. Any ideas on how to get him eating his old food?

Possibly mixing raw food in and slowly withdrawing it, like weaning him off it until hes totally on dry again?
Or using a gravy in with mix? Make it abit more appealing?
Hopefully someone can come up with some better ideas.

You've got a smart puppy! He's very clever to pick a better food and I would listen to him. There's absolutely no reason to wait a whole year before giving him raw food. I'm a raw feeder and Biewer breeder and we routinely wean our three week old puppies onto raw meat and they are extremely healthy. What would wolf puppies eat in the wild? Surely not kibble until they are a year old!!

Join the Raw Feeding (RF) group on Facebook for more information or send me a PM. I'll glad share what I've learned - it took years for me to start feeding this way and I'd never go back. I used to feed RC too and I had to find something else because my dogs hated it. This diet is fun, cheap, easy, healthy, fresh, human grade and my dogs have never looked better.

I'm a raw feeder as well. I have 2 pups - one is 18 months & another is 10 months. One is extremely finicky & he LOVES raw. It's the only thing he'll eat with gusto. I'm soooo happy that he is finally able to enjoy mealtime. I did speak with my vet prior to starting the diet. I had to cook their food once when my boy was taking antibitoics for an ear infection. But my two have been healthy since they have been eating raw & we've even been able to skip a dental. I love it.

Zoey and Jackson eat raw and they LOVE it. Their bowls are clean in about 20 seconds. I started Zoey on raw when she was about 5 or 6 months old and she is 3 now. I am very careful about washing my hands and anything that the raw food touches. No problems at all.

I'm not trying to say raw is a bad choice, but I think it's wrong to suggest that our dogs can pick the best food, this just isn't true. Animals choose high calorie and high fat foods over low fat foods, it's in their genetic makeup. They do not know how to pick a more nutritious food. It's always a bonus when a dog loves it's food, but kibble was made so that it's tasty enough to eat, but most dogs will not overeat it, so you can safely free feed. This just isn't true of raw, the dog could possibly eat itself to death. Again, this isn't to suggest that raw is a poor choice.

This is true. I actually have to hand feed my pups. Otherwise, they eat way too fast & vomit. Unfortunately, I had to learn this from experience. They would eat an entire chicken if I let them. That's why it's important to consult a vet/nutritionist & make sure you are feeding a proper amount of muscle mass/bone/organ in accordance with weight & age.

Research very well, all areas, especially with a vet-nutritionist....I do not feel qualified to even be putting anything on paper here as I do not feed raw....made a litter of babies VERY ill, weaning them onto raw.....vet told me their systems were not equipped to handle the bacteria produced in raw when it hits their guts...if I wanted to feed raw, wait until they were at least 6-8 months old, maybe even a year....... I have not ever had any issues with my dogs eating RC, but I guess it is like rearranging furniture....I just start thinking maybe I want to MAYBE change something up....I was looking at Primal Formulas awhile back...they have formulas, blends and grinds or something like that....and formulas are for people that know nothing about feeding raw...they are complete meals, no need to add anything...the others you need to add supplements, vitamins, etc..... I may take one of my little pets and try this stuff on him/her, just to see if there is some huge, fabulous, unbelieveable improvment in the dog, over the RC it has been fed all its life! I know one thing....I just THOUGHT RC was expensive!!! Step off into the world of Primal, and let them just SHOW you the meaning of EXPENSIVE!!!!!

Lol, you sound like me, Joey's doing so well on RC, but I wonder if there's not something out there that would even be better. Honestly, his teeth are great, his breath is fresh, he never has vomiting or diarrhea, and his coat is shinny and his skin has no white flakes and he never scratches. Oh and he never has tearing which was really bad on another type of food, so what do I expect a new food will do, maybe he'll start talking or stop barking at construction workers? :D I even gave it to my rescue after Wellness did an ingrediant change and this little guy supposedly has lots of allergies and irritable bowel syndrome and for the past two months he’s been doing great on it. Not one bout with IBS, and his skin has improved, he really had problems with dry skin and now no more white flakes. So while it's not a 5 star food according to the dentist, in reality, it does a lot of things I want a food to do, and it's really easy to buy, I never have to worry about running out of it, which I would do if I bought a food online. I think it's a great value for the money.

I say if it's not broke, don't fix it!

I did a lot of research and have decided that RAW would be the most natural way for the dogs to eat in their natural habitat before they were domesticated. Dog's have a completely different digestive system than humans therefore raw food is not a problem as long as the food is maintained in a safe manner.

I chose the Bravo blend but will change/alter it as necessary. I have read of the benefits of raw food and will see if these benefits hold true. Domesticated dogs really don't have a choice in what they get to eat (like humans) therefore I believe that Kibble is not the best option. I as a human don't eat processed foods (unless I have no choice) so I believe I should give my dog the best options that are out there even if the costs are higher.

Thank you for the input on making my decision.

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I am a huge proponent of the RAW diet, especially true RAW instead of pre-made. I think it's a great choice and the benefits are both immediate and long term. Please come back and give an update of how your baby does. :)

If you ever want to start doing RAW yourself instead of purchasing pre-made, feel free to shoot me a PM at any time!

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I also dont know what else I could expect a food to do....if I had even ONE tiny reason, maybe I could feel better about "going exploring"....but if it aint broke, dont monkey with it or you will mess it up for sure! This is just ME!!! Exactly why I do NOT buy expensive purses or shoes that will "last a lifetime"....I like to mix stuff up, change stuff around, .....but I have never wanted to do that with my dogs food....I need to snap out of this and remember how much peace of mind I have not worrying about RECALLS!!! Not worrying about trying all different diets, changing things every month because of itching, vomiting, diarrhea, flakey skin, loosing hair, eye buggers, etc......will just continue to roll along, on an even keel, for another 25 years, GOD WILLING!!!