Mordy Would like your food thoughts

[Bucket]

For the last 10 months we have been feeding our girl Canidae. She has EPI (Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency). Seeing she has not been able to gain a pound we are considering either changing over to One of the Wellness sensitive stomachs or Innova EVO or just going Raw. After reading a bag of EVO it stated you could also add raw along with the EVO. I have read that it takes about 4-6 hours for raw to digest and about 8-10 hours for dry. So with reading that it sounds like the dry would sit and make for a possible stomach upset.

Do you have any info on feeding Raw. I have searched the interent up and down and there are so many different opinions but I truely would like yours. You have been very helpful.

What do you feed your dogs?

Thanks

 

[Mordy]

I have read that it takes about 4-6 hours for raw to digest and about 8-10 hours for dry.

that is a total myth and not true at all. i have read studies that cited a time frame of 5-15 hours of gastric transit time, with the animals reaching 15 hours pointing to dogs that suffer from a gastric motility disorder.

the average gastric emptying time (regardless of the type of diet) is 5-8 hours, anything over 10 hours is considered delayed and abnormal.
(note: the above refers to the timeframe of the food leaving the stomach, not the entire digestion process from stomach to large intestine.)

i have fed kibble mixed with raw for a while before i moved away from kibble entirely, and there were never any problems. likewise for quite a number of people i have talked to.

there can be slight digestive upsets during the time of diet change, but that's more of an issue with the individual dogs rather than a general one. tryi it out, see what works for your dog.

as for a raw diet, i do not recommend you just dive into that without having read at least one or two good books on the topic. it's not rocket science, but you need tobe aware of certain nutrient requirements or you can do a lot of damage.

 

[Bucket]

Thanks Mordy
For the last 3 months I have read books and did visit the BARF site and some others. I checked out some groups on yahoo that were all about Raw feeding.
And your right most say that you have to see what works for your dog.

We know that we cannot afford to go with the already done Commercial Raw diet. We will be grinding our own.
She is a large and very active dog.

I think it will really help her out (EPI-IBD). We have to wait another 6 weeks before we do a food change. She is on a remedy right now and the Vet (Holistic) does not want us to change anything. But we have discussed the food change and she is all for it.

So it gives me another 6 weeks to get prepared. If it goes well for her then we will more then likely change our other girl over to it.

I was wondering if you know anything about some of the mix ins that I have run across on the web for raw. One is called AMixx. Suppose to complete the raw diet. But its pricey

 

[Mordy]

i think it will probably work out great for your dog. and i agree, commercial raw diets are very, very pricy. i prepare my own as well.

the mixer type foods are (in my opinion) better suited for people who just want to feed a relatively limited home prepared diet. you'd be better off adding something like this if you want to round out your feeding plan. i've been using it for a while with great success, and my dog loves the taste. the same company also makes a really good calcium supplement from plant sources, which is healthier than bone meal or many other more common supplements.