Hannah's coat is lacking agian on raw

[juliefurry]

Ok so brushing Hannah yesterday I noticed that she is shedding horribly agian and also her coat is not soft as it used to be it's really coarse. Also she has never had dandruff before and now I'm starting to see dandruff on her. Is this her diet, or could it be something else that is causing the shedding, courseness, and dandruff. I don't want to switch her off raw I just want to know what I may be doing wrong, if anything, with her diet to cause these problems. She has no other problems either just the problems with her coat.

 

[Zoom]

Is her fat intake high enough?

 

[juliefurry]

It should be. Pieces that I feed her usually do have a nice quantity of fat. Although I have been slimming it off a little bit maybe I should leave it on. Also I was told that beef has the highest fat content (don't know if this is true) but she does get quite a bit of beef lately she has been getting ribs 2-3 times a week and we just got her some beef neck bones and beef heart. What could I add to make the fat intake higher?

 

[Zoom]

Look for a piece of meat that is heavily marbled would be my guess. Kind of hard to do these days with the emphasis on "lean meats". How much marrow does she eat?

 

[Saje]

How much omega fats is she getting? Do you give fish body oils?

 

[juliefurry]

Look for a piece of meat that is heavily marbled would be my guess. Kind of hard to do these days with the emphasis on "lean meats". How much marrow does she eat?

I'm not sure how much marrow she gets. When she gets her rec bones she will get out whatever her tongue will reach. With the beef soup bones (I get ones that are really long) she can get out almost all of it (just a really thin layer left in the middle).

How much omega fats is she getting? Do you give fish body oils?

She doesn't get fish body oils but she does eat fish (like sardines and mackrel) 1-2 times a week. Although I have lacked with the fish since we came back from our vacation . I should go pick more fish up for her, I think that Wal-mart sells some sort of fish oil pills or something.

 

[Zoom]

Don't go with the cheapy pills, make sure it's fish body oil and of a decent quality. Or just go back to giving her whatever fish you were. I need to do some of that for Virgo, she's got a touch of dandruff from this weather.

 

[Saje]

You might want to start by upping that. Here's some info from mordy's site

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=fattyacids

 

[Saje]

nanook needs it too. She's got dry skin this winter. I've slacked off. I was buying salmon oil in capsules. They were cheap pill but good quality. Often on sale. I'll have to look again. They love them! Apparently you get better bang for your buck if you buy the bottled oil though.

 

[Herschel]

Julie,

I hate to say this, but it sounds like you've had so many problems with raw. Are you sure your dogs wouldn't do better on a high quality kibble with some raw supplements?

 

[Saje]

Maybe it would help if you listed a sample of what you feed her julie? Maybe you'd get more advice.

 

[juliefurry]

Julie,

I hate to say this, but it sounds like you've had so many problems with raw. Are you sure your dogs wouldn't do better on a high quality kibble with some raw supplements?

Herschel, The only problem Hannah has ever had on raw is her coat. The first time we tried it was too greasy from eating a lot of chicken with the skin. That is the only problem that Hannah has ever had.

Holly, on the other hand, had a lot of problems with raw and she does eat kibble.

I have read books on raw and have a couple somewhere here and I also have a couple people to ask for help around me as well. I can not feed kibble and raw to the dogs my husband has told me either you feed them all of one or all of another. If I decided to give Hannah kibble and supplement with raw my husband would say no and they would be entirely on kibble. Hannah does not like kibble anymore anyways. Went she was boarded they said they had a difficult time getting her to eat the kibble we sent and her, at home if I give her meals of kibble I notice she is slow to eat it and does not enjoy it at all. I would rather feed my dog something that she enjoys than have to battle with her at every meal to eat. I'm going to give her what she likes to eat seeing as, besides her coat issue, myself and my vet have noticed improvement in a couple areas of her health we were concerned about.

 

[juliefurry]

Maybe it would help if you listed a sample of what you feed her julie? Maybe you'd get more advice.

Yeah that probably would.

Well for RMB's she will get any of the following (around 11 ounces of any of these): beef neck bones, oxtail, chicken leg quarters, chicken backs (not my favorite but work in a pinch), dove, turkey necks, beef ribs and lamb shanks.

For muscle meat she gets any of the following of these (around 8 ounces of any of them): beef heart, goose, duck, pheasant, ground turkey, ground beef

For organ meat she will get any of these (around 3 ounces): tripe, chicken or beef liver and she did get brain once but I haven't found it agian.

Not sure where these three would fit but I'm guessing RMB's she also will get a rabbit (usually on day before a fast), and also the canned sardines she'll get about 1/2 a can, and mackerel she'll get a 1/4 of a can.

Some, for instance, today she got:
1 chicken leg quarter for her morning meal

for dinner she got pheasant mixed with her tripe and I had an egg that I had not use for so I threw the egg and shell in with everything.

I will sometimes get her just the egg and save the shell but I gave her the shell today as well.

 

[MyGirlsMom]

Hannah is a lab, correct? They are not supposed to have a soft coat. The coat is supposed to be coarse, so don't use that as a criteria.

Edited to add: One other thing ... don't know where you are located, but many labs are shedding now ... almost like an early spring blow. My girl's was really bad about 2 weeks ago. It's because the weather has been so loopy.

 

[Saje]

Oh glad this got bumped. I missed it before. Sorry Julie.

I think her diet looks basically nice but she could probably benefit from some extras like some veggies maybe and definitely more omega fats. The grizzly oil that people are talking about on another thread would be a good choice. Mordy also has a healthy powder mix that includes the egg shell i told you about earlier. You could email her or check her site for the recipe (nevermind I'll go look in a minute).

MyGirlsMom some labs have nice silky coats and Julie knows what Hannah's coat was like before and if it was deteriorated. I know what you are saying though, not all dogs have the same kinds of coats.

 

[Saje]

Sorry Julie I can't find it. Try Mordy's site.

 

[MyGirlsMom]

MyGirlsMom some labs have nice silky coats and Julie knows what Hannah's coat was like before and if it was deteriorated. I know what you are saying though, not all dogs have the same kinds of coats.

All I am saying is this -- we might like a soft coat, but that is not what a lab should have. Therefore I'd not be concerned about a coarse coat on a labrador retriever. Depending on where she lives, dandruff can easily be caused by heat in the house. Shedding, well heck, that IS the labrador standard! Even more so if she's blowing coat due to wacky weather. FWIW, from the AKC standard:

Coat
The coat is a distinctive feature of the Labrador Retriever. It should be short, straight and very dense, giving a fairly hard feeling to the hand. The Labrador should have a soft, weather-resistant undercoat that provides protection from water, cold and all types of ground cover. A slight wave down the back is permissible. Woolly coats, soft silky coats, and sparse slick coats are not typical of the breed, and should be severely penalized.

 

[GipsyQueen]

Our lab just got over shedding, she always sheds around this time of the year. She get alot of dandruff and theres hair everythere.... It may just be what labs do around this time of the year.

 

[ihartgonzo]

hm... based on diet, there should be plenty of fat in there. I would try cutting back on oxtail & beef necks, and feeding more edible, meaty RMB's... have you tried duck? It's pretty fatty. Rabbit is also fatty if you can get any of it. It sounds like her calciumhosphorus could be a little off, with so much bone, but if you make sure to balance that I could be totally wrong.

I would try tweaking that a little, and add a spoonful of salmon oil to her meals.

Fozzie & Gonzo's coats could seriously not be softer, on a similar Raw diet (just with several supplements), but I think she does need some supps. Labs *should* have coarse coats, but they should still be shiny, smooth, and shouldn't be flakey.

 

[doberkim]

actually, rabbit is the least fatty meat there is out there - rabbits are reknowned for having virtually NO fat. i feed whole entire rabbits (with fur) and theres little to no fat in them.