THE QUALITY OF PET FOOD INGREDIENTS

DAY 30 OF RAW MEATY BONES

The kids had their first taste of fish last night...  I bought them "ikan kembung" (spanish mackerel), and surprisingly everyone took to it really well.

Cleo & Lucky's dinner.

Cleo and Lucky had 2 fish and 2 wings each last night, while Belle and Rascal had half of that...

Rascal gobbled up his fish first, and then ate his chicken wing...

Belle ate her chicken first, and then inspected the fish for a bit before deciding to try it.

Cleo - enjoying her fish

Lucky also inspected his fish thoroughly before eating it.

Observations:
Cleo did regurgitate one of her two fishes about half an hour after her meal.  But this was mainly due to the fact that she was prancing about madly after dinner... It was quite hilarious though when the fish came out, cause it was still pretty much intact. Slightly crushed but intact...

Everyone had good poops this morning which was great. I was a bit worried if the new "meat" would upset their tummy, but it didn't.

Thoughts:
I definitely will include fish in their diet from now on... maybe once a week or so depending on when I can go and get really fresh fish. I am still slightly concerned about the possibility of mercury poisoning and the likes though...

DAY 29 OF RAW MEATY BONES

I can't believe we're almost an entire month into raw meaty bones.

And although the kids have only been having chicken so far, they still relish every meal ; and my favourite part is that there really has been zero food wastage since we started.

Belle and Rascal - happy and contented after dinner

Observations:
They all seem very contented after each meal which is just really nice.

Belle's skin is improving - I think it's a combination of the diet and also the application of Orgaderm daily.

Belle has also lost weight which we are ecstatic about. We have been trying to make her lose weight ever since we adopted her in 2010 but we have never been able to, even though we give her really small amounts of kibble and hardly any treats or snacks.

She is beginning to show a bit of a waist and is also fitter than before. She can now manage her walks at a pretty brisk pace and we no longer have to stop for breathers. So this is really great too...

Rascal - looking quite regal

Rascal is doing great. It looks like he has put on some weight and that is also an achievement. Rascal was skin and bones when he adopted us many years ago. And while we managed to get him to look less like a skeleton, he was still the skinniest dog we ever had. His ribs were always visible.

We tried feeding him all kinds of food, supplements etc but to no avail. And now just 29 days into the raw diet, he has filled out a little.

He is still pretty thin but at least now when we stroke him we don't feel like we're stroking a bag of bones, but we actually can feel some meat on him. So hopefully we'll manage to put on a bit more weight on him.

Cleo hoarding all her toys!

Cleo is doing great. She has lost a little weight as intended. Although Cleo wasn't over weight but because of her heart condition, it was important that she lost a little bit of weight.

Her stamina seems to be improving. We are now managing 30-40 minutes walk, and we are no longer walking at a snails pace, but at a steady pace.

She is also alot more alert and active during the day, and her playfulness and silliness is coming back! :-)

Lucky - chomping on his breakfast

Lucky is eating well although he struggles a little with the bigger pieces. So sometimes he wants me to hold on to the chicken while he chews it.

Lucky's tummy seems to have completely rectified itself which is great. His temperament seems to have also improved as reported earlier.

His skin, however, is still not great. It hasn't gotten worse, but it hasn't gotten better either.

I am not sure if this is still part of the detox phase that he is going through or he is actually allergic to maybe the chicken bones. I'll stick with this for a couple more weeks with Lucky and see how we progress...

Mishka has probably been the most problematic in terms of the switch to raw. While he eats his chicken meat, he still prefers his kibble over it. And he will try his level best to hold out from eating until I give him his kibble. So it has been somewhat slow with Mishka.

Mishka's coat however seems to have improved quite a bit. He is not shedding as much as before. I used to have to brush him every day with a slicker brush and I would get 3 or 4 loads of fur. But now I get about half a load of fur a day, which is great.

So I am really hoping that he will take to his raw food properly soon...

DAY 23 OF RAW MEATY BONES

We have passed the three week mark of our raw meaty bones diet and I haven't got much to report from our last posting...

I had a couple of people ask me if I cut the chicken up, if I remove the skin, if I remove the bone?

So I thought I would just post some pictures  of how I feed them their chicken. As mentioned previously, I get them DQ Clean Chicken - which is as organic as you can get in Malaysia I think. And I get the chicken supplier (Good 4U Delivery - they are really reliable in terms of delivery and are incredibly helpful as well) to quarter the chickens for me. And I also get a few extra packets of just chicken wings.

Cleo's breakfast of chicken wings today

Cleo and Lucky's dinner - chicken wing and breast quarter

I take off some of the breast meat when I feed the wing and breast quarters to Belle and Rascal so that it comes to about their ration of 200g for dinner.

Rascal inspecting his dinner

Observations:
Meal times are really great now cause every dog is really happy to eat...

Cleo and Rascal used to take ages on their kibble and now they are the first ones to finish. Belle used to inhale her food but now she needs to take her time to gnaw and crunch the bones. Lucky also eats happily now.

And most importantly, there is no food wastage anymore - I used to have to bin quite a bit of kibble periodically cause they just wouldn't eat it. And as I used to mix their kibble with boiled chicken, I couldn't keep it for the next meal...

Lucky chilling after dinner

Belle's skin is improving slowly... Lucky is still unfortunately itching (not excessively though) and 2 new red spots have developed. Am applying Orgaderm for both of them as mentioned previously, and it seems to be under control.

Cleo getting ready for a post dinner snooze

Thoughts:
Not quite sure what to make of Belle and Lucky's skin issues. They both have always had skin problems. But it improved significantly when we switched to Orijen. So hopefully this will resolve itself soon...

Mishka - not very pleased with chicken that is still on the bone

Have been feeding Mishka (my cat) some raw chicken. He has been quite happy eating the chicken breast meat, but he just will not touch any chicken that is still on the bone...

So at the moment he is still on a small amount of kibble and about 75-100g of raw chicken meat a day. Hopefully, he will come round to eating the bones soon...

DAY 19 OF RAW MEATY BONES

Well we are now on Day 19 of the raw diet.... and generally things have been going well. We have had some minor issues but nothing major which is great.

Cleo & Mishka helping me clean my room

This is basically what they eat now: 

Morning meal:
Cleo (30kg) - a chicken wing and breast quarter (300g)
Lucky (22kg) - a chicken wing and breast quarter (200g) - I take off some of the breast meat for Mishka
Rascal (16kg) - chicken wing / meaty breast bone / feet (150g)
Belle (16.5kg) - chicken wing / meaty breast bone / feet (100g)

Evening Meal
Cleo (30kg) - a chicken leg quarter and a wing/feet (300g)
Lucky (22kg) - a leg quarter and feet (250g)
Rascal (16kg) - a chicken leg quarter (200g)
Belle (16.5kg) - a chicken leg quarter (200g)

Other supplements/additions:
Occasionally, they get 2 tablespoons of pureed apple and yoghurt.
2 tsps of apple cider vinegar in their water daily
Vitamin C, E and Oxyfresh
Hawthorn and CoQ10 for Cleo for her heart

I try to get the weight of the food as accurate as I can, but some days they get a bit more, and some days a bit less, as it's quite hard to get the chicken pieces to conform exactly to the weight that you would like. So Cleo and Lucky would, for example, get the larger leg quarters (with part of the back); while Belle and Rascal would get the smaller ones (without the back).

Also I am trying to keep the chicken pieces as large as possible to ensure that they don't choke and they get a good workout chewing their food!

Observations:
All of them are still enjoying their food thoroughly even though all they have been getting is plain old chicken for the last 19 days. The only variations that they have had so far is that small amount of minced beef last week when I was making a bolognaise sauce, and very small amounts of pureed apple with yoghurt which they have had only 4 times so far.... (I have only given it to them once every few days).

Everyone has also been having really good poos... all well formed and very firm. So it is very clear now that their tummies are doing perfectly fine on the raw chicken meat and bones. 

Cleo seems to be doing quite well. I have nothing much to report on her at the moment, except that she is managing her walks quite well now. We are still not back to the hour plus walks, but we have been managing about 40 minutes on a few occasions, but we can definitely do 30 minutes now.

Lucky is still itching but the redness seems to have gone. I have been applying Orgaderm (this is quite a good organic fruit based spray for skin issues and is non-toxic) on his skin everyday.

He was a bit moody yesterday though and refused to eat his breakfast and refused to go for his walk. His tummy was making lots of gurgling noises and I wasn't sure why. But he had his dinner and was back to normal after that.

Lucky snuggling up to Jan

His temperament seems to have also improved in a way. For those of you who know Lucky, you will know that he has been my most difficult dog to date. He seems calmer and less nervous. And yesterday, for the first time ever, he snuggled up to my best friend Janice!

Usually he would be watching her like a hawk and would occasionally snap at her. So I am quite pleased with that. I am not sure if this diet has anything to do with it, but I am inclined to think that it is contributing in a small way.

Belle's skin is clearing up. I was applying the antibiotic creams from the vet twice a day for 3 days. Then when it started to improve, I switched back to applying Orgaderm on all her spots twice daily.

Rascal is doing great and is definitely enjoying his meals a million times more than his kibble!

Thoughts:
My only concern at the moment is whether or not I am providing them with a balanced diet. As they have only been having chicken and the occasional pureed apple, I know that I need to start varying their diet soon and possibly adding some supplements like kelp and alfalfa as advised by my friend Vicki.

I am not in a hurry to do this yet, but will definitely have to start thinking and planning their meals

THE BEST & WORST FOODS FOR YOUR DOG

The best to the worst food for your dog:

1. A balanced raw, home-made diet
2. Commercially available balanced raw food diet
3. Cooked balanced, home-made diet
4. Human grade canned food (very expensive)
5. Human grade dry food
6. Super-premium canned food
7. Super-premium dry food
8. Veterinarian recommended canned food
9. Veterinary recommended dry food
10. Grocery store canned food
11. Grocery store dry food
12. Semi-moist pouch food (contains propylene glycol which is very unhealthy for your pet)
13. Unbalanced home-made diet: raw or cooked - this is the worst food you can give your dog, but can be easily changed into the best food for your dog!

DAY 13 OF RAW MEATY BONES

Belle

We are now at Day 13 of the Raw Meaty Bones diet...

One thing for sure, I no longer have a problem at meal times with the kids. They eat their food with such gusto and I absolutely love watching them eat. Now meal times are over in 15 minutes (and this includes the time to weigh and dish out the meat and bones for all of them!)

Yesterday, I pureed two apples and added about 2 tablespoons each of the puree to their evening meal. All of them except Cleo enjoyed the apple. 

This evening, I gave them about 50g of Australian minced beef together with the chicken meal. I added some Flaxseed Oil, Vitamin E and Vitamin C to the mince. They gobbled all their food up with no complaints. 

 Observations:

Rascal - chilling

Rascal & Lucky had a blob of mucus in their poo today. This could probably be from the apple. But otherwise their poo is great.

Cleo has generally had increased energy levels. She is more alert during the day and is playing more during the day too. She also looks forward to her meals now which she never used to do. However, she still isn't doing that well in the walking/exercise department.

Yesterday and today, we only managed 20 minutes very slow walk. As mentioned previously, she has been on a number of supplements which I am hoping, together with this raw diet, will improve her condition.

Lucky's fur is looking slightly dry and lacklustre at the moment, compared to when he was on the Orijen 6 Fish Formula. His coat was sleek and glossy then. This was one of the reasons that prompted me to add some flaxseed oil and vitamin E to their meal. I have only added a small amount today and will see how well they all tolerate it before increasing the amount or discontinuing it. 

The other reason was because Belle seems to have had a relapse of her skin problem. Her skin improved significantly when we were on the Orijen 6 Fish Formula, and I just had to watch for any hot spots, and this will resolve quickly with some apple cider vinegar solution on the hot spots.

Currently, she has developed a number of spots on her belly, in between her toes and on her ear flaps and the apple cider vinegar is not helping. Have now been treating it with antibiotic cream, which the vet prescribed previously, as it's getting a bit bad. So hopefully it will improve soon. Otherwise, it'll be another trip to the vet.

Thoughts: 
I am going to try and get some salmon oil tomorrow to replace the flaxseed oil. I am not sure if I can get the one that I want here, i.e. not in a capsule, so that I can just put it on their food and not have to force it down their throats.

It's a pity that alot of the supplements that we can get in the UK are not available here. This makes it so much harder to ensure that the kids get a "balanced" diet as it means that you have to add several things to their meals instead of one or two all inclusive formulas. 

Anyway, will keep updating this as we go along. I am slightly concerned about Belle and Lucky's skin/coat condition. So am hoping that I will manage to remedy it soon cause I do not want to have to switch back to kibble... Wish me luck.