Combined feeding

[Zero]

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Hello,

I am just wondering do many people combine raw feeding with dry? Is it an option?

I currently have an 11 year old dog who is exclusively fed Harringtons grain free. And in a weeks time I'll be getting a coton de tulear puppy. The puppy is currently fed on royal Canin, I'm in familiar with this brand and was thinking of swapping her over to Harringtons? However, I've been having a quick read on the forum and have seen many people recommend raw food. Itooks to be beneficial and would like to try both my adult and puppy on it. However I can't commit to full diet of raw due to freezer space :/

Would I be able to give fresh as a treat rather than as a sole diet. Is there benefit to this?

Thank you xx

 

[excuseme]

Yes of course you can give the raw product as treats, even though you mainly feed a kibble. If you were able to give a chicken wing 2-3 times a week , this would be even better, as it would help with teeth cleaning too.

Please consider changing your puppy from the Royal Canin to a better quality food. I have not checked before making this reply, but it used to be full of grains and fillers!

 

[JoanneF]

Gentle dog food is formulated for being possible to use alongside raw.

Gentle Dog Food, Natural Dog Food

 

[JudyN]

It's often claimed that you can't mix kibble and raw but I know (in the online sense) many who feed a mix and have never heard of anyone having a problem.

 

[Flobo]

Hi, I feed my old boy mainly raw and vegetables, but with his morn meal of raw meat I do give him a small handful of a senior kibble, at the mo he's on 'lily's kitchen', previously he was on 'barking heads' but he gets bored of the same kibble so I change it as and when.. I think any raw, as a treat even, is beneficial, I also think people can think feeding a raw diet is complicated and it puts them off, but as it has been said before on here it is actually quite simple. Sometimes the more you read on a subject the harder it makes it, go back to basics.. We rely on the makers of kibble too much sometimes, I think, to be supplying our dogs with good nutrition but actually it is not always the case.

 

[Caro Perry]

Harri is on a mix of top quality kibble, cooked "real" food and raw. He gets a real mix and it seems to be working just fine. He's a healthy weight and full of bounce. I'd like to ditch the kibble but he likes the texture of it so he has kibble croutons with his meals

 

[Zero]

Thank you for all your replies

I'll most definitely try to introduce raw food into their diet. I haven't done too much research on the food front, but from what I have read the royal canin stuff doesn't sound too good. I believe Harringtons is midrange in quality, in all honesty my old boy has a sensitive digestion these days and seems comfortable on this brand (he's a whole lot less windy lol) so I'm a little reluctant to research his brand in case I'm feeding him the equivalent of 10 MacDonalds a day and feel the need to rush out and change it!

A couple of potentially silly questions, I apologise in advance...

At what age can my puppy start eating food? And can both dogs have chicken wings? I was always under the impression that the bones in wings were no good as they splinter and lodge in their throat? Also, if I bought a bag of wings can I freeze them, and defrost the night before to give to them both?

Thank you for your info, i feel like i've been totally depriving my poor adult pooch all these years lol

 

[Zero]

Harri is on a mix of top quality kibble, cooked "real" food and raw. He gets a real mix and it seems to be working just fine. He's a healthy weight and full of bounce. I'd like to ditch the kibble but he likes the texture of it so he has kibble croutons with his meals

Kibble Croutons, haha, croutons make all meals taste amazing!

 

[Violet Turner]

Hi,

You can feed RAW bones never cooked - Cooked bones can splinter.
Royal Canine is recommended by vet’s along-side hills science plan, but they are really not great brands to be feeding as they are packed with fillers such as corn, maize flour, and wheat. Harrington's is one I have fed in the past but since found out that is not a very good brand. There are some really go dog foods such as I and Love and You Nude Food (Dry)-Dog food reviews.
Raw dog food is a great option, but as you’ve mentioned about the freezer space doing fresh treats can also be a great option. - Treat Ideas. Bone recommendations- feeding raw bones.
Hope this helps – Violet

 

[JudyN]

Not silly questions at all!

If pup is old enough to leave her mum, then she's old enough to eat chicken wings. You can start off by holding them for her to gnaw, which should encourage her to chew them properly rather than gulp them down.

How big is your older dog? There's a risk of big dogs trying to swallow chicken wings whole, in which case it may be better to feed him carcasses instead (basically what is left of the chicken after head, breasts, legs and wings have been removed, so around the size of a fist).

If grain-free Harrington's agrees for your older lad, it's probably best to keep him on it and not worry about it. Most humans don't eat a perfect diet but manage to stay healthy.

 

[Zero]

Not silly questions at all!

If pup is old enough to leave her mum, then she's old enough to eat chicken wings. You can start off by holding them for her to gnaw, which should encourage her to chew them properly rather than gulp them down.

How big is your older dog? There's a risk of big dogs trying to swallow chicken wings whole, in which case it may be better to feed him carcasses instead (basically what is left of the chicken after head, breasts, legs and wings have been removed, so around the size of a fist).

If grain-free Harrington's agrees for your older lad, it's probably best to keep him on it and not worry about it. Most humans don't eat a perfect diet but manage to stay healthy.

My old boy is a mix breed, a mongrel if you like (i hate that word lol) the vet says he has collie in him though. But there really isn't any definite breed that i can discern from him, but then again i've never bothered to look, love him all the same. Weight wise he's about 25kg, but i've not had him weighed in a while.

 

[Aurora Pets]

Personally we would never recommend mixing raw and dried, although you may not have problems the issues arise in the body having to work in different ways to break down the food therefore potentially decreasing your dog's overall life expectancy as they are having to work harder to breakdown and digest the difference in raw and cooked. After feeding your dog raw for a period they will undergo a detox and there stomach acids will become much more acidic, this is much less so with feeding cooked food and the acids are not present to break down the food properly.

We have some blogs on raw feeding with advice etc
- https://www.aurorapets.co.uk/blogs/news

 

[JoanneF]

Gentle dog food has been made to be compatible with raw.

 

[excuseme]

Raw chicken wings are perfectly fine for our dogs and puppies.
All raw bones can be fed, the chicken bones are soft and safe
I have just reared a litter of puppies on a completely raw diet, they started having raw chicken bones at 4 weeks of age their mum has been raw fed all her life and granny since 6 months of age. It's so satisfying watching them thoroughly enjoying their meals. We have no health issues or tummy problems either. And never had a bone get stuck/
I have used the product for 35 years maybe even 40.

Yes if you bought a bag of chicken wings you could take them out the night before and thaw them overnight.
If you buy a bag of fresh wings they will all stick together if you freeze them, it would be best if they were all separated before freezing. I purchase the cheapest economy bags if I get fresh ones then freeze them together.

Have a look at the @excuseme pregnancy diaries. All raw fed!!

 

[Aurora Pets]

Gentle dog food has been made to be compatible with raw.

Yes something like gentle alongside raw that is specifically designed would be better

 

[JudyN]

the issues arise in the body having to work in different ways to break down the food therefore potentially decreasing your dog's overall life expectancy as they are having to work harder to breakdown and digest the difference in raw and cooked.

Do you know of any scientific studies that show this to actually be the case? It's difficult to work out which claims have a hard scientific backing and which have been proposed as a possibility in the past and have become accepted as facts.

 

[Violet Turner]

I also made this mistake on my raw food tips thread @JudyN, then later found out that you can

 

[excuseme]

@Aurora Pets
I have also mixed raw and kibble together in the same meal, with no ill effects.
This is not what Zero was asking though.

 

[Caro Perry]

Do you know of any scientific studies that show this to actually be the case? It's difficult to work out which claims have a hard scientific backing and which have been proposed as a possibility in the past and have become known facts.

This is very much my feelings on the subject. Humans mix all sorts of foodstuffs into a meal and our digestive systems cope. This thing about acidity just smacks of pseudoscience to me. The internet is great at disseminating ideas but they become accepted facts far too easily without a shred of evidence to back them.

 

[Nanny71]

I feed Dudley Canagan It does not seem to be a well known food but it does well on the Dog Food Review sites. Even as a puppy he was sick on Royal Canin and Harringtons. We tried James Wellbeloved but he just refused to eat it. I think at that stage he worried about being sick. Someone suggested I try Canagan small bite and he is fine on it. He does have occasional added chicken as a treat.