[golfbum]

I have been back and forth feeding a RAW diet and grainfree kibble.

I decided to go with 100% RAW now that my girl was close to a year old. Things went great, her poop was perfect and she loves her RAW meals. The only problem we had was she was to thin on the amount we were feeding her. You could easily see her ribs and according to our Vet she was slightly underweight. We then spayed her and she has lost more weight since that. She is clear of worms or parasites, so we upped her RAW food by a couple oz a day. She then started to get soft poop. So I tried adding some Natures Variety Instict kibble in the am. (she only eats her raw meals at night) Things started off great. I then cut her RAW from 2.6% of 60lbs to 1.3% of 60lbs and was giving her a cup and a half of kibble. Her poop has been soft for the last two days. I was wondering if the fat % in the instict which is 22% may be to high when mixed with RAW? Would I be better off with a food that has a fat % around 15? Should I cut the cup and half to only a cup? She looks better know and had put on a couple pounds. Just lost on what to do. I kinda like feeding both as I feel she is getting the best of both worlds.

 

[Jax08]

When you upped her RAW, did you do it proportionally to ensure she was getting the right amount of bone to meat?

Also, have you had her checked for EPI? Allergies?

What are you feeding her? How long have you been feeding RAW? How much exercise does she get?

 

[golfbum]

Jax,
Yes I did up it proportionally, I am feeding 45%RMB 50%MM 5%OM

I have been feeding RAW for several months, she gets a mix of about 5-6 proteins.

She is on the duck and turkey Natures Variety. A cup and half.

I have not had her checked for EPI as she has done great on several foods including RAW. She is just a few pounds light. Maybe I need to have her checked huh?

 

[golfbum]

Also as far as exercise she gets a solid two hours of walking/running a day seven days a week. Some of it off leash hiking or dog park, other just leashed walking around the subdivision. As well as play time throughout the day. She is a super active dog that is always on the move. Thanks again!

 

[Jax08]

If she's really losing weight, always has soft stool, then I would have her checked but what you describe sounds like an active, growing puppy going thru an awkward stage.

How much did you increase her RAW? Did you do it slowly or did you add a significant amount suddenly?

Your proportions sound right but you might need to adjust it depending on what type of bone. If it's a chicken quarter then the RMB is more like 75% and decrease the MM to 20%. If it's a poultry neck then I knock the RMB percentage to about 40% and increase the MM.

Do you add any pumpkin, eggs, tripe to her meals?

 

[golfbum]

I jumped her RAW suddenly not slowly. I switch up the RMB and do my best to guess the actual bone %. When I feed chicken quarters I have been giving her more MM then 20% so I will add less MM in the future.

I just started giving some pumpkin as it has been hard to find but I now have some on hand. I do feed green tripe about 1-2oz every other day with some yogurt. I have not added any eggs to her diet yet. I wanted to get the proteins I would be using before adding eggs. Thanks Jax for your help!

 

[Jax08]

If you didn't add any new proteins that could be a potential problem then my guess is that the sudden jump in food may have caused the soft stool.

So, if you want to move back to 100% RAW, then I would slowly add more food and decrease the kibble proportionally to see what happens.

If she did fine before you increased her RAW then I suspect she'll do fine if you increase a bit more slowly.