Bulldogs World

I saved them for myself on my computer. Unfortunately there are no replies and conversations with others, which really has a LOT of more info. You should also search for info from Judy, she is the one that helps the most with raw feeding questions.

 

 

 

Raw diet diary day 1

by Cathy (Login CathyandAudrey)
Bulldogsworld General Forum 1

So far 2 raw meals and no throwing up. YAY! She seems to really like it, all 5 animal noses went up in the air and followed me around with the frozen patties yesterday; the cats were very excited about it. I got salmon oil in a pump bottle because popping a hole in the capsules to squirt the oil out was just not workig for me. So 2 dogs get that oil and my one dog (who'd eat a rock if I put it in her food bowl) gets the capsules, and I gave her a double dose of the digestive aid because it said to double it for stressed animals. I figured all the throwing up she's done, plus a 100% food change AND training class with completely new treats qualified as a stressed tummy. Last night I had to defrost it in the microwave, which I won't do again unless there is no other choice, and this am she ate it cold from the fridge. I let it sit out for about 20 minutes, and she didn't seem to mind one bit that it was cold. The texture of the food is just like raw hamburger after it's been squished up. This lamb formula has 60% meat and 40% produce so it's mostly the meat that you see. The smell is.....just different. I don't have much to compare it to. It's not a bad smell though. No poos yet to compare, she went last night but it was dark so I couldn't see it, and her hiney was defintiely in need of a baby wipe afterwards, but that was only hours after her first raw meal and I thought it was probably still the old food from breakfast in that poo. I honestly am expecting soft poos at first because of the drastic change.
I'll continue to keep you informed!

We have a poo!( later that evening)

by Cathy (Login CathyandAudrey)
Bulldogsworld General Forum 1

and it was normal consistency but much less. She has thrown up in the past few days so could be why. She gobbled her dinner down tonight.

Raw diet diary day 2

by Cathy (Login CathyandAudrey)
Bulldogsworld General Forum 1

Very happy to report still no vomiting! She had her morning poo and it's still significantly less than normal, and very firm. I am using the Primal feeding guidelines and it seems like so MUCH food compared to what she used to get. The woman at the store said in her experience most dogs tone up and lose body fat when switched to raw. I asked the vet, and he said Audrey was at an ideal weight. He was very impressed that you can see a well defined waistline (that Tuck-up I thought meant she was too thin!)on a bulldog because in his experience too many bulldogs don't have that. He said that since she's a year old now and just got spayed her metabolism is going to slow down, so if this diet causes weight loss in most dogs hopefully for her it will help maintain her current weight with her slower metabolism, but if she lost a pound or two it wouldn't hurt her. Her face is still stained, but there is definitely no further, new staining. Her nose rope(under it) was very dirty and stinky yesterday, and it is stained dark reddish brown also. Yesterday her eyes were much dryer than normal, but she had a very lazy sleepy day. My thoughts are that the stain is not going to just disappear until it fades away or new hair replaces the stained hair. I am not going to try to bleach it or chemically change it because I want to be certain that when it's gone it's gone for good because of the food change. Her coat is SO SOFT and shiny! She's still very excited at feeding time and seems to love this food.

 

 

 

Raw diet diary day 3

by Cathy (Login CathyandAudrey)
Bulldogsworld General Forum 1

No vomiting! I think it's safe to say now that her stomach is handling this food and any future vomiting episodes won't be because she can't handle it. I find it very interesting that we abruptly switched to this food, no gradual mixing at all. She does has a sensitive stomach, she tends to vomit vs getting diarrhea, and she was starting it coming off of an upset stomach because of the previous food, so I am very pleased with how it agrees with her. We have started giving her bottled/filtered water,and she is now getting a normal does of the enzymes. Her coat is SO soft and shiny it's like she just had a bath. Her face, on the other hand, is still very brown. Yesterday after she started really playing hard with her ball and her tug rope I could practically SEE it get darker right before my eyes. I don't understand how playing could cause her face to get dark like that, but it did and it's very discouraging. Playing seems to make her eyes water. On a positive note, now her eyes only seem to water when she's playing, instead of the constant stream they did before. And she is absolutely, no doubt at all, NOT scratching her face or licking her paws anymore. Her eye is no longer puffy looking. No poopy problems, still very firm and much reduced. I am looking for a meat grinder to try to reduce the cost.

Raw diet diary day 4

by Cathy (Login CathyandAudrey)
Bulldogsworld General Forum 1

well besides the fact that the cat got caught munching out of her bowl while I was letting it warm up a bit, nothing new to report. Her tummy was growling this morning, she was HUNGRY! Poos are no different, still very firm and much less. My husband commented on how beautiful she looks this am, she is VERY glossy and so soft. I have been looking into the meat grinders, and so far they seem to be in the $300-$500 range. I do realize that long term it will turn out to be cost effective, but short term I don't want to make that investment, so we will buy the pre-made patties for a few more months. Also, the only source of meat available to me is grocery store meat, so I'm not real confident that serving it raw is the best thing to do. There is a slaughter house nearby, but they don't like to sell to the general public, and when my husband was looking for beefhearts for his fish, they only had HUGE bags of frozen to sell. I don't want to thaw then re-freeze either. I wish it wasn't so expensive! I figured out to feed all three of my dogs it would cost $300 a month to feed this food.

  Raw diet diary day 5

by Cathy (Login CathyandAudrey)
Bulldogsworld General Forum 1

sorry it's so late, had a busy day. Went back to the store to get more food, and realized I completely read my original receipt wrong! It's actually going to cost $144 per month to feed Audrey this food. So, the meat grinder will be purchased sometime in January. My husband said the slaughterhouse he got his beefheart from has chicken as well as beef, and he'll look into it. Hopefully they'll have lamb also. He got some huge packs of steaks from Costco today, it'd be cheaper to feed her that! I will still get the Primal for now, we only get one paycheck a month and I have other things I need to pay for. I want to give it some time also to see if it really helps with her face. I noticed her face is really stained again, but the difference between the staining now and the staining before we put her on Angel's Eyes, is this time it doesn't smell bad. Under her nose rope is very gooky now too, I just can't figure out why. That doesn't have that nasty yeasty smell either. I hope that's a sign that it's getting better! We have switched her to bottled water, I need to find a sink filter that will remove chloramines, to help reduce that cost. This dog is turning out to be quite expensive! I look at it as: I was spending the money anyways, but now I am spending it on food and water instead of ear tests and vet bills, and Angel's Eyes. I am still a bit nervous to try to make her food, but I think I will focus on a wide variety to make sure she gets all the nutrients she needs. I have a few months to plan it out and figure out exactly what I am going to do. Or maybe the economy will miraculously improve and I won't have to worry so much about paying for it already made!

 

 

 

Raw diet diary day 6 & 7

by Cathy (Login CathyandAudrey)
Bulldogsworld General Forum 1

Her coat still looks like she just had a bath, very glossy and it's so soft! She really doesn't poo much at all anymore, and no gas either. Her face seems a little bit better, I haven't washed it yet and it's 9:20 at night, I usually wash it in the morning because her nose rope is so gunky. She had another lazy sleepy day today, it is very muddy outside and she HATES her feet to get wet. She has been playing ball inside, in between naps. Her eyes still run when she plays, wether it's inside or outside, and wether it's chasing her ball or playing tug of war with her rope. Still hoping for her face to not be brown! She really LOVES this food! She is SO excited at meal time. I had to give my old big girls some canned food because they really wanted her food instead of their own. They got TOTW Bison along with their cans, so they are happy too. I think she's starting to put some weight on. She doesn't seem to have such a deep tuck up. (What IS that part of their body called? Where their backleg meets their body, right behind their ribcage?)I am going to give her a few more days then take her to the vets to weigh her. I don't want her too heavy at such a young age. I don't want her too heavy at any age for that matter. If she's indeed gained weight, I'll cut her back to 16 ounces a day instead of 18, because that's a very easy change with the way this food is packaged. Overall I have to say I am very pleased. When I realise it's only been ONE week, it makes me appreciate the lack of scratching and the gorgeous coat even more!

raw diet diary days 8 thru 12

by Cathy (Login CathyandAudrey)
Bulldogsworld General Forum 1

She is definitely putting on weight. I am going to start reducing her daily amount by 2 ounces. I'll take her to the vet to weigh her, but I can tell her waistline is getting thicker. Her coat is so beautiful! The color is richer and more red, and it's so soft and shiny still. I have read the ingredients so many times, but it finally dawned on me that there is kelp in it. I was looking into adding kelp for her coat, and for my older dogs arthritis, so now I know I don't need to add extra for Audrey. She doesn't poo twice a day everday anymore, I'd say she goes more like 10 times a week. ALways at least once a day, sometimes twice. Her face is about the same, maybe a little better under her nose rope. I don't think I am going to be able to stand much more of the stains and will try to use peroxide or something else on it. Still NO scratching though and NO smell! Her ears are also much cleaner and there is no smell in them either. I have added a vitamin C tablet in the am. Someone said to try tomato juice, but she has thrown up tomato sauce just about every time she's had it, so i don't know if she'll have the same reaction to tomato juice. Oh, that reminds me, she hasn't thrown up yellow foamy bile in the am since starting this either. I got enough lamb for one month, next time I get food for her I will get beef. One bag lasts 8 days, I think I will get 2 bags each time I go and will switch the proteins every 16 days. The lamb costs more than the beef, so I will save a few dollars. I am going to wait a bit to try chicken and turkey. I'd REALLY like for her face to clear up before I try poultry again.

Raw Diet Diary days 13-21

by Cathy (Login CathyandAudrey)
Bulldogsworld General Forum 1

well, I WISH I could be posting that she has a clean face, but sadly I can not. Still brown tear stains. Good thing however is that there is still no yeasty smell, and no yeasty ears. She has 3 days left of the lamb food, we will get her beef next. We are pretty positive now that it IS grains she is allergic to. My daughter is home from college and completely forgot and gave her a bite of her bagel. Later that evening Audrey was scratching her face on the carpet. We thought, it was only ONE bite of bagel, it could very well be a coincidence. Two days later someone left a sandwich on the low coffee table and one of the big dogs knocked it on the floor. Audrey ate the bread scraps, and sure enough later that evening she was scratching her face on the laundry baskets. Two times it happened is a bit harder to call a coincidence. So we will definitely keep all grains out of her diet. There really is no reason to even try adding different grains back to see if she can tolerate rice, corn, etc. It's not like there is a health benefit to her to attempt it. She has finally gotten outside to play more, and I noticed she is pooping more. Don't know the correlation but I am not worried about it. She still goes at least once a day, and it's very firm. Her coat is still just amazing! The color is gorgeous, and it is SO soft and SO glossy. She had her last bath right before Thanksgiving, and she still looks just as beautiful like she just had one. I have to use the furminator frequently on my other dog Princess who seems to be perpetually shedding, and when I give Audrey a quick brush with it there is only a few hairs. We haven't noticed any difference with her teeth either. That is one selling point for the dry dog food companies, that dry food keeps their teeth cleaner. We have NOT seen any buildup on her teeth or noticed anything different at all. No bad breath either. Which is a good thing too because this dog gets kissed all the time!

 

Raw Diet Diary days 22-25

by Cathy (Login CathyandAudrey)
Bulldogsworld General Forum 1

I know it's only been a few days, but we switched her to the beef formula this am. It's definitely a different color, same basic texture and consistancy, and she LOVED it just as much as the lamb. It is $5 less per bag than the lamb also. I added a double dose of digestive aid/probiotics so she would hopefully not have tummy issues with an abrupt change. So far no problems. We took Audrey with us to the store, and the store owner remarked on how beautiful and soft her coat is. We talked about the tear stains, and she told me about the carbohydrates in the different foods she has. Now I remember why she recommended Primal over Nature's Variety to start with. The Primal has more carbohydrates and she said it would be less of a total change for Audrey from the old dry she was getting. For the tear stains she recommended we try the different higher protein varieties of Primal. We got beef which is lower carbohydrates than the lamb, and pheasant, which is about the same as the beef. She will get each protein source for 16 days, or 2 bags of patties. She still recommends we stay away from chicken and turkey until we know for SURE she doesn't have any problems with it. A food trial should last for 4 weeks, and chicken was the main protein source of the old food she was having problems with. She did recommend we start feeding her plain chicken, cooked if it comes from the grocery store, before we buy a bag of chicken food. A lot of times little bits of a food will be tolerated, but when you feed it a few meals in a row the problem shows up. If that doesn't work to clear up the tear stains then we will try switching to the much higher protein/lower carbohydrates of Narure's Variety. I think she got into some corn chips, because she was scratching her face like crazy last night and I'm sure someone dropped some on the floor while we were munching on them. I am very surprised at how quickly she reacts to grains. The tear stains are still odor free, and her eyes are still not puffy at all. Coat is BEAUTIFUL! We started giving her freeze dried raw beef food as treats. We also started adding back dairy. She has gotten cheese bits and so far no reaction to anything except the grains!

 

 

 

 

Raw diet diary-month 2

by Cathy (Login CathyandAudrey)
Bulldogsworld General Forum 1

Well it's been 40 days since we switched Audrey to Primal raw. She has been on the beef formula for 15 days. She has one more day of beef then we are switching the protein to pheasant. We started giving her freeze dried beef food as training treats at the same time as the Primal beef. The brand is Nature's Advantage. It seemed like a very simple ingredient food, the main difference is it has a LOT of added chemical vitamins. The company claims that freeze drying is far superior to cold freezing raw food, but if that's true then WHY do they add all those chemical vitamins to it? Audrey's nose rope started to smell yeasty again, so we stopped giving her the FD food as treats. The smell went away. Is it the chemicals Audrey is sensitive to as well as grains? Audrey also started having major aggression issues. She seemed to calm down after stopping the FD treats as well. The FD food has a high protein content, 42%, whereas the Primal beef's protein content is 15%. I spoke to a dog trainer that I met here on BDW, and she told me of a study she had read about high protein food and an increased aggression in dogs. She also told me that the adrenaline surge after a fight can last for up to 48 hours, and it's common to see increased aggression during that time. Did Audrey calm down because of the lower protein? Or did she calm down because her adrenaline level dropped back to a normal level? Her coat is still very soft and glossy. We had a guest at our house who told us her friend has a bulldog, but that bulldog's coat is nothing like Audrey's, it's much "dryer and rougher". She couldn't believe how soft Audrey is! Audrey STILL has tear stains, although I KNOW the stains under her nose rope are fading. It's still a gooey mess under there, and now I realize it's because her face is more wrinkly now than when she was a puppy. Her wrinkles have wrinkles now! Right at her nostril openings there is now a wrinkle that prevents moisture from draining down and away from her nose. It stays wet and gooey under her nose rope constantly now. I scrubbed it too hard a few days ago and the next day it was red and raw. I felt terrible! I still have to wash it daily, but now I am extra careful to be gentle. She still gets powdered probiotics with every meal, and she still gets fish oil, which I know plays a huge role in how soft her coat is. I tried cutting back on the fish oil, from every meal to once a day, and within a few days I noticed she wasn't as soft, so I went back to every meal. She has been getting a 500mg Vitamin C tablet once a day also. Could that be why the tear stains are fading? Poops are still very firm and very little quantity, although I think she's going twice a day now consistantly. I noticed also that she drinks less water now than when she was on dry kibble. All in all I have to say still that I am very pleased with this food and have no intentions of switching her back to dry kibble.

 

Raw Diet Diary- update on switch to homemade

by Cathy (Login CathyandAudrey)
Bulldogsworld General Forum 1

 

Well, today was the first day I decided to let my dogs just eat a bone-in chicken breast. They have all been eating ground up home made raw, (and Audery still gets her Primal once a day), for a few days now. All I can say is   Y  U  C  K!!!!!

The big dogs handled it fine, they actually LOVE their raw food, ground or not. BUT....what's the FIRST thing Bridget did? She took hers out of her bowl on the easily cleaned tile and dumped it onto the NOT so easily cleaned carpet. Yes. RAW chicken bits in the CARPET. That is NOT going to work.

Audrey only got half a breast cause she is much smaller than the other 2. She was very happy and started munching right away.

And munching.

And munching.

And STILL munching.

And making no dent whatsoever in that nasty hunk of meat.

It got all foamy.

Then she apparantely managed to turn a bit of the end to a puply enough state to swallow. When the still not so pulpy state on the still attached middle reached her throat, she threw up the whole foamy frothy mess. Where? You guessed it! On the carpet. WTH!

At that point I decided there is NO WAY I am going to expect my dog to eat food that she has to regurgitate repeatedly.    *shudder*                *shudder again*            *ok shudder several more times*

I fully understand that domestic dogs have the same dna as wild wolves and their digetsive systems are designed to get the most nutritional benefit from raw food. They are fully carnivorous. Bones clean teeth and provide much needed minerals to a carnivores diet.

There are just a FEW *little* differences however between my bulldog and a wild wolf.

My bulldog does not live in a cave, or a nice little den she dug herself. She lives in a HOUSE. With PEOPLE. People who were not gifted with a stomach pH of 0 and the short digestive system that can handle an abudance of bacteria.

My bulldog could and NEVER will be a naturally occuring God designed dog. Her jaw is SO NOT like a wild wolf's. She can not bite/chew/tear with her mouth the way a long snouted dog can. I am SURE, 100% positive that there ARE bulldogs out there who's jaw is just enough like a wolf and just enough NOT like Audrey's that they CAN bite/chew/tear a hunk of meat. Just not Audrey. Surprisingly I am OK with that. We will work through it.

It is a common mantra for die hard raw(body)feeders to INSIST that grinding your dogs raw meat and bones is going to be a serious detriment to their health and longevity. Their teeth will rot. Their stomach will have NO idea that food is coming and it will just not be prepared to digest that suddenly appearing lump of food. Their muscles will not get used and atrophy. It won't be any FUN for them at mealtimes.

Hmmm.....

I found this handy little thing called a toothbrush, and surprisingly it works quite well for cleaning teeth. Of course your dog needs to live in a HOUSE with PEOPLE to help them clean their teeth with it, something those wild wolves just don't have the benefit of.

And while I do fully understand that a dog's saliva does not have digestive enzymes in it, and therefore does not start the digestive process in a dogs' mouth, I do believe that when a dog smells food and starts dripping tentacles of it, and then the dogs' stomach starts to grumble, there is SOME sort of communication happening there to the stomach that, Hey! Food's coming! and the stomach somehow manages to still pull at least a few of the nutrients out of it.

My bulldog REALLY enjoys chewing on toys. Honest! I don't think she's faking it just to appease me. She TRULY has a grand time chewing on her toys. Muscles working in the jaw, happy little bulldog smile, contented sigh when she's chewed a while and needs a nap... I am confident that she WILL be able to overcome the disappointment of having her bones ground up for her.

Mu bulldog LOVES mealtimes. She really likes to eat!She likes her ground up raw much more than she liked kibble, she is more enthusiastic at mealtimes, she is seriously focused on me while I am preparing her bowl, and she very greedily gobbles up every bite.

Bottom line is: My dogs are part of a FAMILY and they live in a HOUSE. I do believe it is possible to feed them in a way that they get the absolute highest nutritional benefit possible, and the other, non nutritional benefits can be met in other ways. Wolves don't have any alternatives to keeping their teeth clean and exercising their jaw and neck muscles, but my domestic dogs DO.

coming out and talking about your raw feeding.....everyone has such great ideas and ways of doing things....like you i have two freezers and buy in bulk....so i really only buy dog food once a year....hope to hear more about your experiences

charlie with his favorite chew a pig foot