Transitioning back to dry

[Mum of Ted]

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Our Ted has been on raw for over a year now, Durhams. However, over recent weeks he's begun to leave his food, or at least not finish a meal and needs to be encouraged to start it.
He leaves bits of bones and chunks that are in the meal. Also his poo is very dry, crumbly and sometimes white. Occasionally it's then brown and soft, sometimes loose.
We've decided to change him onto a good quality kibble that we can add water to. He used to eat Harrington kibble from a puppy but was encouraged to go raw by a friend. We've always found it quite frustrating with weighing out, storing, packing, space, contamination when cutting up etc. Ted ate it and had many different flavours.
Also because of storage, weighing, keeping things separate from other kitchen bits, and freezer space it's been something that has not been straight forward.
We've looked at freeze dried food but the cost is too much. So having looked at other options We've decided on Burns dry food.
Any thoughts on our situation, is Burns a good choice? We have to bear in mind costs and don't really want to be spending more than £50 a month.

 

[JoanneF]

I personally think Burns is a bit overpriced for what it is. You're paying quite a lot for what is basically flavoured rice.
I did this search on www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk (I guessed 12 kilos for his weight, you might want to tweak that).

Dog Food Reviews | Find the Best Dog Food - All About Dog Food

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www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk

 

[arealhuman]

We're doing something just like that at the moment - my first post here might help.

 

[Mum of Ted]

He's actually 17kg as due to his operations he has had to rest lots and only very short walks. His normal weight is around 15. Looking for a kibble that is good quality that we can occasionally add water to. Thought Burns was a good choice but not sure now.

 

[Hemlock]

Have you checked out his mouth and teeth in case he has a problem there?

 

[Mum of Ted]

He's fine with teeth and gums, we clean them regularly. Sometimes the raw good can be cold when taken from the fridge, but it cant sit for long at room temperature. Which is why we thought about a good quality kibble and added warm water or even a freeze dried food.

 

[excuseme]

Oh what a nightmare! but having been on a raw diet for a year now I would suggest you try to alter his raw product and not put him onto a kibble.
Are you actually feeding the product raw or are you cooking it first? Hmm.
Very often the reason for white and crumbly poo is because of too much bone in the diet, this can be altered by increasing the meat and using less bone content in his diet. Do look and see if you can find a mince that has no bone in it (but don't go bone free completely)

Sometimes I notice that someone in our lot has done some white or crumbly poo but this corrects itself and is not the end of the world! This is much better than the soft stinky stuff that most of the grain based kibbles produce.

Although we feed mainly wild game, (deer, Fallow, Roe, and Muntjac,) pheasant duck partridge rabbit, my favourite meat supplier is Durham.
I find the product is a good quality with a choice of various mixes.
Have you considered just plain tripe? this can sometimes trigger interest and appetite, it is easy to digest too.

Maybe just very slightly blanch the meat product. This could change the texture and smell but don't cook it as this can alter the benefits of feeding the RAW product

A good quality kibble would have no grain, please remember that RICE is also a grain and does cause digestive problems as many of the other grains do too.
"Millies Wolfheart" is a lovely British made Grain free kibble it has a selection of various mixes and flavours and a good choice of protien levels. Always start with the lowest protien level first! The consistency remains as firm as the raw product.

For advice on the above products I hear that "Millies Wolfheart" customer services will give good knowledgeable advice on kibble, and "Honeys" for the raw meat products.

Cold meat from the fridge is no a problem, some dogs are fed on frozen food with no ill effect.