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Sunday, June 13, 2010

Problems

You may encounter problems when switching to raw.  These are a few things that I know people have had to deal with.

You will probably be concerned feeding big chunks of meat and bone to your dog.  This is very common and easily understood.  I still sit and watch my dogs eat.  Not so much because I am afraid of something happening with the food, but just as with young children, things can happen.  A dog is meant to eat chunks of meat and bones.  They can handle swallowing huge bites of meat and bone.  If a dog tries to swallow something that is too large, it will choke it back up, chew it again a bit and try to swallow it again.  It may not go down that time either!!  So, up it comes, is chewed again a bit and swallowed again.  This is a natural process for the dog.   Should a dog get something stuck in its throat, it is good to know the Heimlich maneuver for dogs.  You need to understand that more dogs die from swallowing or choking on tennis balls, toys and the like than die from choking on raw bones food.

A dog that is a gulper can be a problem, especially at first.  You may have to try different things to teach the dog not to gulp.  The only time that it is acceptable to let a dog eat from your hand, is when that dog is a gulper and you are trying to teach it to eat a bit at a time.  Or, you can feed a LARGE hunk that the dog must learn to pull and work to eat.  Usually a gulper gets over this problem and learns to enjoy it’s food.

A dog that has never been protective of it’s food may become so, especially over a bone.  This is natural and as long as it’s not too big of a problem, just watch your dogs when they are eating and be there if one tries to steal the others food.  A raw bone is worth fighting over, when kibble has never been seen that way!!

Some dogs, though rare, can’t eat certain proteins.  If your dog has trouble when a new food is introduced, it may show up in the ’runs’.  Give the dog a while (a couple of days) to adjust to the new protein, but if the problem continues, discontinue the new protein and go to another.  You may find that the dog will be ok with that protein at another time, or it may never tolerate it.  Fat can always be looked at as a culprit in digestion problems, so if your dog has problems and has had a fatty meal, cut back on the fat.  If you are just starting out and using chicken, you may want to skin the chicken at first.  It just depends on the dog.

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