Orijen LBP with Raw...Guidance needed!

[marshies]

Hi everyone,

I'm formulating some feeding plans, and the latest one I've been tossing around is feeding Orijen LBP mostly, with raw meaty bones and maybe tripe for the occasional meal/snack.

My main motivation for feeding Orijen is as a student, and next year a young professional, life can get quite hectic. I'm not sure I will be able to guarantee that I'll always have the time to do raw economically and right. I want to be able to offer a complete food for my dog with some sort of nutritional guarantees, especially in her puppy stage.

Ultimately, though, I would LOVE to feed raw. I think it will be most feasible to try and transition next May, when Amaretto will be close to 9 months, and I have reduced "accounting bootcamp" school load. I'll have more time to make sure I'm feeding correctly in the beginning and freezer space to economically do raw.

At the current stage though, I would like to feed at least some raw meaty bones with Orijen to help clean teeth and give Amaretto a good workout during feeding.

I have read through resources for raw feeding...but I'm not sure how to incorporate the meaty bone in and still keep her diet in balance.

I know some of you guys on the board feed raw and kibble together, and would love to hear and learn from your experiences.

Thanks for your time!

[Lucy Dog]

If it were me, I'd go all or nothing with raw. There are very specific ratios you need to incorporate when doing a raw diet. Feeding a kibble that's already on the very upper calcium borderline for large breed puppy and adding even more calcium (bone) to that diet is not something I'd mess around with.

If you're going to add some raw to a kibble diet, i'd just do something like ground beef, turkey, or chicken on top of that kibble. Just feed a little less kibble when adding that extra raw meat, but I'd skip the bones. That's me though.

As for the LBP formula, I'd just skip that and go with the regular adult formula. I think there's even less calcium in the adult formula than the LBP for whatever reason.

Less is more when it comes to calcium - you want a nice slow bone growth.

[marshies]

Thank you!

I'm hesitant to do this for exactly the reasons you mentioned, the proportions of nutrition in diet, and the calcium limit for the breed.

I don't think I want to add anything else raw really. I just want to be able to give maybe a meaty bone every day or 2 to help clean teeth.

Do you think that'll significantly impact the calcium levels?

[Lucy Dog]

I'm not an expert when it comes to the science of dog food, you might want to talk to dr. sable about that, but common sense tells me more bone means more calcium. Orijen already has a lot of calcium (for a pup) and adding more bone is only going to up the amount of calcium that puppy gets. The exact amount of extra calcium... that I couldn't tell you for sure.

As for the teeth cleaning, bully sticks are great. I give lucy one once a week as a treat to chew on. I brush them once or twice a week too. I give her nylabones and deer antlers to chew on at all times and all this stuff helps clean teeth. She'll be 4 this march and eats orijen and her teeth are still pearly white with no tarter and in great shape. No need for added raw chicken bones.

[ChancetheGSD]

Honestly throwing a chicken quarter in a couple times a month isn't going to ruin the dog. If you did it EVERY DAY then of course it would become a problem but if you gave him one like once a week or something it wouldn't hurt anything.

I do agree with brushing the teeth a couple times a week though! Not a fan of nylabones though, the idea of chewing on plastic just doesn't sit right with me. I remember dogs coming into the kennel with half chewed nylabones and it worried me to death that they were going to get an impaction from eating them.

[I_LOVE_MY_MIKKO]

I have Monica Segal's pamphlet for supplementing a kibble diet. She says you can feed up to a 50% raw diet (balanced with meat, bones, and organs)

In regards to the extra calcium in the bones- I think it's the calcium/phosphorous ration that is to be concerned about in growing dogs and the meat has the phosphorous.

[Emoore]

Keep in mind teeth cleaning isn't a huge issue until they get their adult teeth anyway. I wouldn't stress too much over keeping a little puppy's teeth clean.

[mysweetkaos]

No thoughts on raw feeding, however as far as keeping a puppies teeth clean. You'd be surprised how cleansing human flesh is. So if he takes a good nip or two at you every day, which he will, his puppy teeth will sparkle nicely Not too mention the flossing benefits of wearing wool sweaters, Sherman has lovely flossed teeth, I have bruised skin and holey sweaters!

[ChancetheGSD]

Originally Posted by mysweetkaos

No thoughts on raw feeding, however as far as keeping a puppies teeth clean. You'd be surprised how cleansing human flesh is. So if he takes a good nip or two at you every day, which he will, his puppy teeth will sparkle nicely Not too mention the flossing benefits of wearing wool sweaters, Sherman has lovely flossed teeth, I have bruised skin and holey sweaters!

Very true!

Though I do recommend BRUSHING now so he gets used to it for when the adult teeth come in!

[martemchik]

I feed a pre made raw in the morning and a kibble at night. The kibble is fromms gold formula and the raw is made by fresh is best. It comes in tubes that I thaw and give to my dog. A 32 lb box costs about the same as orijen and he eats about a pound a day. I did research and to make DIY raw cheaper than what I pay I would have to order meat in the hundreds of pounds and I don't have anywhere near enough freezer space for that.

The pre made raw has a good balance of nutrients without me having to do all the thinking so to me it's worth it, and I have had no issues with this type of diet from day one.