Be Prepared | rawdog

Be Prepared.

The things you may experience when starting.

Poops Have A Purpose.

Source

Apparently, poop/stools can tell many things about a dog's health - or nutritional requirements.

Think of it as a warning bell: If it's normal poop/stool, your dog is in good shape. If not... then it's time to figure out what went wrong.

THE IDEAL POOP

Doesn't stink - come to think of it, why do kibble stools stink?
Small amounts - your dog consumes the raw food; therefore, there's very little to poop out. Kibbles are different. You feed a lot... and the dog poops a lot. So technically, he's pooping your money.
Firm and brownish / tan stools.

LOOSE STOOLS / DIARRHEA

Don't panic. It happens.

Reason 1:

Giving too much raw food on the first meal.

Solution 1:

Divide the meal into two to three meals. If it's your first time, it may seem as if the meal is too small. Trust me, it's not. You're just used with what media tells you: Many is good. It's not. For raw feeding, feeding enough is great.

Reason 2:

Not Enough Bone

Solution 2:

Add a chicken wing or two in the next diet.

BLACK AND DARK STOOLS

Don't Panic. It happens.

Reason:

Too much red meat / organs.

Solution:

Lessen the meat and add some raw meaty bones. Try to find out which stabilizes his poop.

STOOLS WITH BONES

Don't Panic. Seriously. Don't.

Reason:

Their body is still adjusting from a kibble diet to raw feeding.

Solution:

Don't panic. It's best to start with chicken bones as they're easier to digest.

YELLOW STOOLS

Reason:

It's normal. Usually happens when the dog is on a full chicken diet.

Solution:

Give your dog a break. Add some pork, beef, etc. into his diet.

WHITE & CRUMBLY STOOLS

Don't Panic. It happens.

Reason

Too much bone. Not enough meat.

Solution

Add more bone into his meal. Watch his poop until it becomes the ideal poop.

STOOLS WITH MUCUS

It's actually pretty good!

Reason

Your dog's body is detoxifying itself.

Solution

Let him be. Just feed the appropriate meals per day. Let his body do the rest. Don't give him antibiotics, chemicals, etc to "help". Trust me, your dog's body knows what to do.

STOOLS WITH BLOOD

At times, you might see strands of blood on their poop. It happened when I fed them fish.

Reason

They got wounded their body. Unless the blood on their stool happens for a week, then there's no need to panic.

Solution

Try to find out if you fed something that can cause bleeding. Avoid IF necesssary.

Here's general rule of thumb

Loose Stool - add more bone

Dry Stool - add more meat

FOOD QUANTITY / PROPORTION

Source

Don't forget to find out what the appropriate serving proportion is.

80% Muscle Meat

10% Meaty Bones

5% Liver

5% Other Organs

This will be calculated based on your dog's Ideal Adult Weight.

*Note

Once you become familiar with your dog's eating habits, you don't need to be strict with the 80-10-5-5 diet. Instead, you would be feeding based on what your dog needs at that meal.

VOMITING

At times, you will see your dog vomiting the food you gave him. My dogs used to do that. At first, I paniced. Then, I was told there's nothing to worry about! Below are the reasons:

Your dog ate too fast. Result? They weren't able to digest the food properly. This ends up with vomiting. Dogs eat fast when they sense a threat in their area. Are they threatened by you, other people or other dogs? Give him a place where he would feel safe eating his food.
Check out your source of meat. One time, I bought meat from a different butcher. While I noticed the meat wasn't as fresh like the ones from the wet market, I had no choice. My dog vomitted. I stopped buying from that butcher and my dog hasn't vomitted since.
If your dog starts eating his vomit, it's fine if you know it's because they ate too fast. It may look disgusting but honestly, there's nothing wrong with it. If you feel uncomfortable with it, then stop him. Feed him a fresh meal.

DETOXIFYING

Raw feeding is the most cost-efficient way of detoxifying your dogs! Detoxifying is when the body removes toxins from the body. They don't want you to know this because they want you to spend thousands of dollars on chemicals that will make your dog *healthy*.

The process varies per dog. Shpot only dealt with one year's worth of kibble so I barely noticed it. If your dog had many years' worth of kibble, then he's got huge detoxification process to go through. Some stuff he will experience:

Loss of dead hair / unhealthy hear
Vomiting or diarrhea [especially if you've been feeding "vitamins", antibiotics, or any chemicals]
Intense itching and many more.
Sometimes, you won't notice it.

Let him go through the detoxification process. Once he's done, you'll see a happier and healthier dog!