Pre-made raw brands

JacksonsMom

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#1
Compare please!

Jackson has never seemed big on Primal. We've tried a few different flavors in the past and then he just eventually... doesn't want it. And I end up wasting a bag.

I was thinking of trying Nature's Variety Duck since I have a $3 off coupon for it.

Also, was thinking about doing 2-3 days worth of the pre-made stuff in the fridge in containers or ziplock baggies maybe. I've always been sooo bad at putting it in the fridge the night before (I know, I'm so lazy) so I think this will work better for me. Anyone else who feeds pre-made, what's your routine?

Also, would probably leave his kibble out for nibbling if he needs. He usually only eats when he's truly hungry, so do you think it's a good idea to have his Acana sitting out too? I used to hear of issues with different digestion rates, but think most don't have an issue feeding kibble one meal, raw the next, etc.
 

crazedACD

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#2
What about freeze dried to change things up? You wouldn't have to worry about freezing/refrigerator and I know Stella and Chewey's said it could be left out for 24 hours. I feed that to the starling but the dogs don't mind it at all.
 

JessLough

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#3
I fed Bravo while at Jessie's. Basically, you'd split a roll in half and place in 2 containers in the fridge, and then take out another roll from the freezer to thaw. Mind you, with 5 dogs a roll lasted like 3 meals or 1 1/2 days, so the roll was never in the fridge for more than 3 days total.

I have some raw coming for Rosey and Ella, but I'll just be thawing as needed as its only for treats (it's horse meat)
 

JacksonsMom

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What about freeze dried to change things up? You wouldn't have to worry about freezing/refrigerator and I know Stella and Chewey's said it could be left out for 24 hours. I feed that to the starling but the dogs don't mind it at all.
Thanks for the tip - unfortunately, S&C is really high in fat and since Jackson MAY have had a pancreatitis issue (unrelated to dog food) and yorkies are kinda pre-disposed to it in general (I've also read stories of a few yorkies getting pancreatitis *from* the S&C). I wonder if any other brand has freeze-dried that's a bit lower in fat.... ? Cuz it really would be the most convenient.
 

JacksonsMom

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I fed Bravo while at Jessie's. Basically, you'd split a roll in half and place in 2 containers in the fridge, and then take out another roll from the freezer to thaw. Mind you, with 5 dogs a roll lasted like 3 meals or 1 1/2 days, so the roll was never in the fridge for more than 3 days total.

I have some raw coming for Rosey and Ella, but I'll just be thawing as needed as its only for treats (it's horse meat)
Thanks! So Bravo was like, in a roll? How do you know how much to feed, or is it more or less guesttimating?
 

JessLough

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#6
Thanks! So Bravo was like, in a roll? How do you know how much to feed, or is it more or less guesttimating?
Yah, have you ever seen like, the rolls of ground beef you can buy for yourself? It's like that, just a big roll. Looks like this:


I'm not sure which she had, I'm assuming the biggest.

I'm not sure how she figured it out, but I just quickly used http://www.bravorawdiet.com/product/feeding/howmuch.html with Emma's weight, and as 2% to maintain weight, and it was right with how much she feeds, so I figure she used something like that.

Basically, 3 chihuahuas got 2oz/day each, Chloe got 3oz/day, and Rory got 16oz/day, all were split into 2 meals.

ETA: No wait, she fed double what it suggested.
 
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#7
My dogs weren't crazy about Primal frozen, either, and I didn't like it much myself. The texture squicked me out, sort of spongy and really watery. I've used the Nature's Variety and like it, although I don't get it that much anymore. (Not because I don't like it, but I found out a local meat packer sells raw whole or grinds (meat/bone/organ) in bulk for a really affordable price, so I've been ordering from there.)

I use the Stella and Chewy's freeze dried for training treats and trail snacks - the dogs go absolutely bonkers for it. I've tried the Primal freeze dried, but due to the shape I find it harder to break up into treats the way I like it, so I don't use it very much.
 

ihartgonzo

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#9
My dogs like Nature's Variety raw the best! Duck is usually what I get when I get NV. If he gets picky about it, try adding warm water and mixing it up into mush, drizzling salmon oil on it, searing it for a few seconds in a pan, or mixing it with a spoonful of canned food.

I wouldn't leave kibble out for him. It REALLY can cause digestive upset. It actually does in my dogs and in every dog that I know of. It takes him longer to digest the kibble, so the raw will also be in his system for much longer, making him susceptible to bacteria. You can feed him one distinct kibble meal a day if you want to, before or after the raw is well through his system. Having kibble available to him at all times is probably what's making him picky. Freefed dogs tend to not be well suited to raw, because it shouldn't be sitting out all day.
 

JessLough

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#10
We've tried a few different flavors in the past and then he just eventually... doesn't want it. And I end up wasting a bag.
Honestly, now he knows that he can get away with refusing his food, so you'll likely have the same problem on every food.
 

Grab

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#11
Well Nature's Variety is the only one I can get locally. But, Nog does great on it. He puts fantastic muscle on when he eats it, which is great, as he runs on the scrawny side,lol. For the past month he's been back on kibble and it's really shown. He's back on NV as of today.
 
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#12
Honestly I don't buy the "no kibble and raw at the same time" thing as an across-the-board rule although I've read it in multiple places. The "digests at different rates" thing makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to me.

I feed them together at the same meal, and that's how many, many mushers feed their dogs, and I haven't personally seen problems or heard about problems from the mushers I know. YMMV. *shrug*
 

SpringerLover

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#13
I've fed NV, Primal, Bravo, Vital Essentials, and Woody's.

My cats like, and do well on the Primal vs the NV. The dogs seem to do fine on any of the above but getting a ground duck with no other ingredients leaves me with Woody's and that's ok. Buzz occasionally eats Primal duck as well, but it has so much extra "stuff" that I don't like paying for!

I never used to, but I certainly do feed raw and kibble in the same meal currently. I've seen no digestive issues because of it.
 

AdrianneIsabel

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#14
We use S&C for training treats. Otherwise all raw I feed is in chunk form.

I do feed kibble and raw together once in a while and my dogs seem fine but I try to avoid it.
 
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#15
I've fed Nature's Variety, Stella & Chewy's, Primal, and Bravo.

With the pre-divided ones (NV, S&C, Primal), every night I take out what they need for the next day. I normally feed raw for dinner, so I empty the container when I feed them dinner, wash it when I wash their bowls, and then put however many nuggets/patties in the container and put it in the fridge. One thing I found helped me remember to take more raw out is keeping the open bag of raw in the freezer above the fridge, instead of the freezer downstairs - out of sight, out of mind sort of thing.

With Bravo, I buy the chub. I'll do a cold-water thaw for a couple hours, and then take my turkey carver to the chub, and divide it into sections that will last two days. I then put each "section" into a seperate tupperware container, and it all goes in the freezer. Then, every night when I empty a container, I take another one out of the freezer and put it in the fridge.

ETA: Oh, and I've fed kibble and raw in the same meal for years. Never had any digestive issues.

(Not because I don't like it, but I found out a local meat packer sells raw whole or grinds (meat/bone/organ) in bulk for a really affordable price, so I've been ordering from there.)
Really? In the Twin Cities? Would you mind PMing me their info? I've been looking for someone that does meat/bone/organ mixes for a while.
 

JacksonsMom

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#16
My dogs like Nature's Variety raw the best! Duck is usually what I get when I get NV. If he gets picky about it, try adding warm water and mixing it up into mush, drizzling salmon oil on it, searing it for a few seconds in a pan, or mixing it with a spoonful of canned food.

I wouldn't leave kibble out for him. It REALLY can cause digestive upset. It actually does in my dogs and in every dog that I know of. It takes him longer to digest the kibble, so the raw will also be in his system for much longer, making him susceptible to bacteria. You can feed him one distinct kibble meal a day if you want to, before or after the raw is well through his system. Having kibble available to him at all times is probably what's making him picky. Freefed dogs tend to not be well suited to raw, because it shouldn't be sitting out all day.
Oh he's not free-fed currently. :) And he eats kibble really well and loves his Acana -- even just dry. He eats one meal dry and the other I mix with wet food.

I was just thinking with feeding the raw, it may be nice to have the kibble available to him to snack on if he desires.

Honestly, now he knows that he can get away with refusing his food, so you'll likely have the same problem on every food.
No, he doesn't do it with any other food except Primal. And since it's only Primal, I'm not going to force him to eat something he truly doesn't like. He does still eat it, he won't flat out refuse it, but he eats it sooo slowly and kinda with a half-disgusted face, LOL. But I agree that usually it would cause a dog to get picky with anything... but in this case, he's a very good eater and hasn't snubbed food in a while (he used to be really picky when he was younger). So I'm just looking for something he may find more enjoyable.
 

JacksonsMom

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#17
Honestly I don't buy the "no kibble and raw at the same time" thing as an across-the-board rule although I've read it in multiple places. The "digests at different rates" thing makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to me.

I feed them together at the same meal, and that's how many, many mushers feed their dogs, and I haven't personally seen problems or heard about problems from the mushers I know. YMMV. *shrug*
This is how I had it explained to me (as to why it's fine to feed at the same time or day):

The stomach can digest both raw and non-raw food at the same time. The stomach doesn't categorize things according to it's raw status; the stomach recognizes whether the substance is a carb, a protein, a fat, a toxin - and then processes and churns accordingly....moving the substances into the small intestine as they're ready.

An analogy for humans would be sushi...it's raw, and it's non-raw...and our tummy handles it as it handles other carbs, proteins, fats - in whatever form they arrive into the tummy.

Even if 2 foods have differing digestion times (whether they're raw or not), the stomach doesn't delay all digestion based upon the slowest food. It releases its enzymes that correlate with the specific food type, and food moves into the small intestine as it's ready to proceed in the process. Digestion doesn't get 'blocked' by one food that is slower, and then the slower food causes some sort of bacteria crisis. If that were the case, we'd sure have a lot of sick people and animals whenever they ate foods w/ differing digestion times, lol! Also, I'd think we see a totally different food pyramid that had to do w/ digestion times, rather than with types of foods.
Which does make sense to me.
 

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