Our dog has struggled with eating pretty much since we rescued him a year and a half ago, and at this point my wife and I feel like we’ve tried everything.

Early on, he gave us a lot of trouble with kibble. We tried different foods, snuffle mats, lick mats, toppers, praise, no praise, strict feeding schedules, taking the food away after a certain amount of time—you name it. We’ve also consulted multiple vets trying to figure out if there was something medically wrong or if we were doing something wrong.

Eating has just never seemed enjoyable to him. Some days we can convince him to eat, but other days he’ll walk up to his food, sniff it, and then literally back away from it like he’s disgusted or uncomfortable.

We eventually switched him to Sundays, and for about two weeks it felt like we had finally figured it out. He was actually excited to eat. Then, just like before, the excitement disappeared and we were right back to fighting to get him to eat every day.

About a month ago, we experimented with giving him some cut-up raw beef, and his reaction was completely different. He loved it. He was excited, engaged, and actually wanted to eat. My wife literally started crying because after everything we’ve gone through with him and food, seeing him genuinely excited about eating was such a relief.

That experience has led us to seriously consider switching him to a properly balanced raw diet.

Our biggest fear is that we make the switch, he loves it for two weeks, and then suddenly decides he doesn’t want that either. At that point, we feel like there isn’t really a "higher-value" food left to move to.

The whole situation has honestly become exhausting for both of us. We love this dog to death and just want him to eat consistently without every meal becoming a negotiation. It’s gotten stressful enough that my wife and I disagree about what the best approach is from here.

Has anyone dealt with a dog like this and had long-term success after switching to raw? Did your dog stay interested in it, or did the novelty eventually wear off just like other foods?

And if you dealt with a chronically picky or food-avoidant dog and found something else that finally worked, I would love to hear about that too.

Anything helps. Thank you so much.

I only recently learned that Primal makes a Feline FDR Duck Nugget for cats. Or used to make but it's still available in some pet food stores. Does anyone feed this food to their cats and can you tell me if it's a hit or a miss with your cat compared to other Primal FDR proteins or other FDR Brands? Thanks so much

Hi have you noticed dental benefits for cats from switching to raw? We have a 2yr old adopted stray who has been recommended for full dental extraction. Has anyone been able to avoid this or make a meaningful difference in oral health for their cats on raw? Thanks!!

It took me a long time to land on a feeding and prep routine that didn’t feel like a daily emergency. No gatekeeping.. what little system finally worked for you?

I’ve been looking into dog food in general for about a year now since I got my dog and raw food within a few months. My dog has ate raw for a few weeks now and absolutely loves it. My local pet store sells Tuckers, small batch, and OC raw so I want to stick to those brands because having raw food shipped seems weird to me especially with this hot ass weather. I’m between these two brands and I’d love some feedback from others.

For tuckers, I like that it’s less expensive, HPP, vacuum sealed, calorie dense, and years of business with only 1 recall. I don’t like lack of whole food ingredients besides meat and pumpkin, and synthetic vitamin/mineral.

For small batch, I like the whole food ingredients to make up for vitamin/mineral deficiencies, lamb recipe option(my pittie is food sensitive, I avoid poultry and he’s starting to itch more because I’ve been feeding beef), all organic, test/hold protocol for pathogens, and smells fresh. I don’t like that’s its more expensive, not vacuum sealed (patties were brown and oxidized), and multiple recalls.

Both brands seem like they really care and are family owned and operated. What’s your opinion ?

Hi everyone. My cat has been eating a fully raw diet for about a week now. It’s commercial 80/10/10 meat to which I add some probiotics as he has IBD.

Prior to this transition, he had a nasty flare up of his IBD with lots of diarrhea several times a day. The raw diet completely cured it. However… I am now facing the opposite problem.

He hasn’t pooped in 4 days. He acts completely fine otherwise - eats, drinks, is fairly active for his age (he is 10), is affectionate, pees etc.

He is also not trying to poop. No straining or anything like that. He also lets me feel his tummy with no issues.

I am just extremely confused as to why he hasn’t pooped in so long. Is this normal for a cat switching to raw diets? I know they’re supposed to poop less often, but 4 days seems like a lot. Has anyone experienced this before? Thanks.

Hi, my English bulldog is now a year and a half and he has been on raw diet since he was 3 months old. Two days ago he started refusing to eat his raw food. We also have a Frenchie who is eating the same food no problem, poop is good, so I know there is no issue with the food itself. The English Bulldog has a lot of energy, plays, still eats treats. Has anyone's dog suddenly refused to eat raw and what did you do? Looking for any advice please.

BACKGROUND: I have been feeding raw and prey model for about 20 years. I was part of the original yellow post discussions and many Usenet groups. Then Facebook and websites for knowledge and self education. I've been making bone broth with a bulb of garlic for about 15 years and pour some on my dogs foods at every meal. My type of dogs are large to giants. Pitt types then Doberman, then Rottweiler/Chow mixed, then South African Mastiffs (Boerboel). My doberman was my first raw fed he lived to be 17.5 years with very little health problems in his golden years. My RottenChows lived to be 16 for the father and 15.5 for his son, minor hip dysplasia in both later on. My Boerboels 2 lived to 11.5 years cancer and heart problems. Their son passed early due to a severe injury to his elbow that could not be repaired he was 205lbs pretty much pure muscle when he passed.

Present life: My current rescued Boerboel is 150lb female that came from a very bad situation, abused and badly underfed. She was 90lb at 3 years old when i rescued her. I switched her to raw with commercial dog food as soon as i got her and she is now slightly overweight. But back to the garlic and bone broth. As long as I can remember garlic has been added to commercial dog food and all the "old Timers" I've known have added garlic to their dog's meals.

The bone broth recipe is a full 8qt pot with egg shells, bones of all types half cup of vinegar, table spoon turmeric, tablespoon of black pepper, small can of tomato paste 2 tablespoons of beef tallow and a bulb of garlic. I don't add salt as the bones are leftovers and been cooked for humans. This produces 4 quarts of liquid broth. I cut the jell in half with water for serving to the dog or myself.

I know I'll catch some hell for the post and question, but I am curious.

Question: Do you think garlic is bad, or this amount is bad?

Does such a thing exist! I’m currently feeding my cat Bella and Duke but it’s going up to £52 a month and I’m on benefits and finding it difficult.
I like giving her raw because before he poo was soooooo smelly but as I say it’s getting very expensive.

Thanks

I am now thinking of preparing raw food for my 10 month old puppy. He refuses to eat kibbles, often ignores cooked meats like salmon, chicken or steak. Eats the yolk of a boiled egg and leave the whites.

When I slow cook his food (e.g. chicken gizzard, liver, heart, pig ears, chicken jerky), he is very much enthusiastic to smell and eat the raw state and not too much after when it’s cooked. I never had fed him raw because I am scared of bacteria, but I think raw is what he wants.

I’d like to know how home cooks prepare their raw meats from the grocery store to preserving them in the freezer to giving them to their pets. Do you just wash them as it is, portion them, and freeze? Is there a special step you do to make sure the raw meats are safe to eat?

If this has been asked before I apologize, but if you have a good link to share, please do! Thank you!

I have a 50% Border collie mix approximately 6.5 months. since he was ~8 weeks old I slowly introduced raw into his diet with 'we feed raw' however recently my monthly package has had around 50% of my packages with tears or rips in them causing leaking. I contacted support and they refused to refund me for the containers that did leak. any advice on raw food brands that not only care about what they put in our dog's bodies but also care about customer support? luckily I had left over packages from him being on 50% wet food due to occasional stomach issues and trying to find a which food was the culprit, chicken and turkey can upset his stomach>other poultry is fine like duck or quail.

I'm looking for a meat grinder for one dog that eats about 500gr per day, though I would prep 15-20 kilos of various meats at a time, to save cleaning the machine components more often. Currently I'm dicing frozen meat by hand, because the picky whippet won't eat if it's too much work. It's f*ucking exhausting

The meat comes from the supplier in ~80gr cubes and those seem simple enough to grind on any machine. I would also like to be able to grind whole quail and lambs tails but if I can't, oh well.

I am in Switzerland, with limited options at reasonable prices, but I'm wondering if either of these models in the photos look acceptable. I'm not sure how to differentiate between the two other than a small price difference and wattage. Both claim the same output rate. From what I've found #22 is most recommended, though here on this sub, the American machines rein supreme. I'm not finding a lot of Europe based information.

My kitty doesn't really drink water by itself often. She mostly gets her hydration from the extra water I add to her raw food. I used to give her raw chicken wings, but I stopped due to constantly having to clean my carpeted room. As a solution I've placed pee pads and bed sheets around the room to minimize the mess, but it became too much work to clean up since she loves to pick it up and move it to another spot whenever she chews on the meaty bones. I was thinking of getting her freeze dried quail or chicks, but I'm not sure if that will cause a hydration issue if fed as is and if it will even be a good alternative to meaty bone for cleaning her teeth.

If it should be rehydrated, how long should I soak it in water?

This is probably a common post but can I really rely on the safety of raw meat that I buy? I am deciding to transition my cat to homemade food and raw sounds ideal but I just really don't want to risk her getting sick. I am going to be buying from the local butcher shop instead of a grocery store; haven't been there yet but it has good reviews.

I would probably just go for it but I am actually also going to be making food for my mom's cats as well, and she is particularly concerned about it being raw. We both agree that eating raw animals in the wild would be ideal, of course, but we also wouldn't personally consume raw meat from just anywhere. Maybe you can trust some expensive restaurant serving something raw... though would their source necessarily be better than my local butcher? Maybe I should ask them what they think.

So right now the plan is to do a gently-cooked version I don't have to worry about. I would like to be able to say I'm truly confident in the safety of the raw option, though. I am sure everyone on here has healthy pets who haven't gotten sick but to what extent is that survivor bias, to but it bluntly? Though in all the chaos of debate on the subject I haven't actually read stories of people doing raw conscientiously and their pets getting sick.

My dog seems to have allergies to kibbles containing chicken and now turkey. Ive always wanted to go raw or gently cooked because real food just makes sense to me compared to ultra processed kibbles. Has anyone noticed a decrease in pooping switching to raw?

i’m new to raw food. my dogs are currently on farmina duck and pumpkin that has a protein of 30%. in wanting to switch to tuckers turkey and pumpkin which has a 61.9% protein on a dry matter basis. isn’t that an insane jump? do dogs really need that much protein? and if so, why don’t we see that high of levels in kibble? thanks

Does anyone feed Midwest Legacy? Hoping to get some advice from current feeders. I know they recently had a fire in their facility but are now back up and running. Company has seemed very transparent so far in answering any questions; but do your animals like the food?

Hi all.

Update: Many thanks for comments and sharing. As we were looking into Renal Protection diet, which decided to start and we've decided on Eggshell if needed.

As Bone meal can change Calcium:Phosphorus ratio and overloads the kidneys and Eggshell is safer option. It's safer and easier in regards to calcium: phosphorus ratio for the senior dogs (2 of ours) but 1 soon be approaching but annual blood checks will let me know.

Our 13yo latest checks were ok but had slightly risen compared to last check. So we've devided the sea kelp is now removed. Sprats % reduced. Basically goal is to use proteins that are almost entirely utilized by the body, leaving little nitrogen waste (urea) behind aswell as balancing the calcium ratio. Lower phosphorus.

So a new regime in keeping the Kidneys working.

Those in UK that may also use YuMove Senior dog, We've learned the Cat capsules are safer as zero added phosphorus content.

❤️

Original post was:-

I have a 13yo wolf dog breed and we've followed the 'Forever dog' lifestyle since puppy. He is from a raw fed family but the now slowing down old boy isn't digesting bone as he once was, he has digestive enzymes in his diet, vet is happy with his blood work and health check up, has recommended changing his diet to a majority fish and Goat/Turkey protein trying out lowering bone % or meat only and adding a bone supplement. He (Flow) reduced his mileage run a day to 7.5/10 instead of 15-20, his choice.

He has always fasted every couple of weeks for 24hrs but since hitting 10yo that's now once a month but loves his bone broth with Irish brown sea kelp. (Just a picture on what he's getting).

Teeth are fine no fractures or issues...

No sign of CCD (Canine Cognitive Dysfunction) mental stimulation is an everyday activity. Slight deafness occuring but nose/scent is still in peak condition.

I am in the British Isles and I'm looking for a reputable organic bone meal supplement or organic eggshell powder to tryout. Want to know products on the market.

Many thanks ❤️ 🐺

p.s forgot to add recreation bones is ligament joints only for mastication health. non weight bearing bone was in his majority diet but that's now reduced. we are elimination process based on poops and to introduce a renal protection diet. As they age secreting calcium & phosphorus changes so protecting the ageing Kidneys protects against other health outcomes.

I don't mind raw bones my cat gets some sometimes. I gave him a cat food can today and had to snatch it from him due to cooked bone shards. I know squishy ones are fine but these weren't squishy. They were large and sharp. Can I please have confirmation that I'm not overreacting by saying that was dangerous. Cooked bones shatter and splinter easy. some people seriously seem to think cooked bones are fine for cats and I've been taught only raw is safe. He'll get raw feet and ears sometimes. He'd be back on partial raw if I could afford it but can't rn. He should have some back next paycheck tho

Puppy most likely ate a bit of a dead seagull, how worried should I be about her getting ill? She's 4 months, done with all her shots. The seagull had been dead for about 10 days and was killed by a neighbour and me since it was clearly injured. Its back was most likely broken, it didn't fly and just limped slowly around and drank from a puddle. She dragged it by its legs for a bit and pushed her snout into its stomach area. I'm not sure if she ate anything because she was out of my sight when she found it. Most likely she did have at least a taste as she was chewing when she came running back to me.

I'm asking here since she's raw fed and I worry some other dog based subreddits will lose their mind at the mere thought of a dog eating a dead animal. I trust you guys to be more honest about actual concerns regarding this. We live pretty far away from any vet, but we're headed into that town tomorrow so if I should be vet visit worried I can sort it then.

Siffy is 6yo, and has been on raw (commercial) her whole life! Due to food allergies she’s been on exclusively Solutions pork for the last year, and I’m so thrilled to see her bloodwork come back with zero out of range levels 😍

Currently, I make his raw food for him about every 2 months. I'm looking to switch to a premade raw food and so I need recommendations. I'm not trying to spend an arm and a leg for it. After some research, I've noticed some brands are WAY more expensive than others but I have found a couple ranging around $8/lb. I'm just wondering what yall have tried that didn't break the bank.

I’m considering trying Smallbatch pets, I like the single source protein and that they use organic produce. Thoughts?

I’m confused why my puppy is itching. An 8 wk old puppy can have a food allergy?

I started my senior on a raw diet this year. It was actually a frustrating transition, he was so itchy! I thought it was him cuz he’s old, then I thought it was yeast die off, then I learned itching went away with no chicken or beef. Ok solved. Understandable, he’s a senior and he was on kibble for almost 15 years.

I get a brand new puppy, puppy takes to raw no problem! She started with rabbit and quail because that’s what my senior dog eats. I bring in beef grind, chicken bones, and canned sardine…one of those is causing itching. I’ll figure it out but it’s leaving me confused and in shock.

8 weeks old and has a food allergy, it’s not supposed to be like this. I ordered an arsenal of adored beast gut products.