Today is one month since putting Kort on a raw diet......yes, you have read correctly, I said raw :)
About now you are saying WHAT!!, she hates the raw diet & the raw diet pushers , right? ! Wrong!, I did not like the people that feed raw saying that feeding kibble was wrong or bad for my dog, and that raw feeding is the "only" good way to feed a dog.
What I truly believe, is that every dog is different, & you must feed for the dog as an individual. There is no right or wrong when it comes to feeding dogs, it is whatever works for that particular dog.
Tate for instance will never eat a raw diet, he does not like it, so I will not force him to eat it. He is doing perfectly fine eating his kibble with his yogurt, eggs, & oatmeal. He may get veggies one day as well, we'll see.
Back to Kort....since the day he arrived 2.5 years ago, Kort has suffered from diarrhea on & off. At first I thought, of course, new food, new water, new home. Eventually when it didn't stop I tried switching foods, must be the protein source that is bothering him, nope, not it.
I don't even remember how many foods I have tried, nothing has worked.
Kort has been tested for giardia, & coccidiosis. He has been dewormed for everything including tapeworm.
I have tried natural remedies such as pumpkin & slippery elm. He has had probiotics, acidophilis, & digestive enzymes.
He has been on prescription flagyl & tylosine. The tylosine works, but all that it does is mask the problem not get rid of it as far as I am concerned.
He has not been vaccinated since the puppy series that the breeder gave him, so it's not that.
Sure, I could keep him on medication for the rest of his life, he wouldn't have diarrhea, but he'd have no liver either :(
So, all on my own, after exhausting all other possibilities, I decided to try raw. I told no one but my friends here in Lethbridge. ( Dianne found out :) )
I told my vet, she was not pleased. I have no trouble sticking up for my beliefs, so I said to her " well, if you come up with a better idea, you let me know" I don't think that impressed her :)
I started off using Urban Wolf, but cooking the meat. When that didn't work I contacted 2 of my friends here that I knew fed raw, Liz & Kim. Kim said I would be better to follow Liz's advice as she had been feeding raw for a much longer period.
So Liz, from Blazingstar Flatcoats agreed to take on the challenge :) Liz has been feeding raw for over 15 years & she just happens to be the lady from which I am getting my flatcoat from one day.
I am taking it slow, week one I used rabbit, I wanted a new protein source for him. Week two I used chicken & chicken meaty bones. Today for breakfast he got sardines, talk about disgusting !!! Kort seemed to enjoy them however :)
About the 3.5 week mark his stools started to get soft again, then turned to diarrhea, how frustrating! I stopped the sweet potato as that was something new I had added around the time his loose stools began. I also started giving him slippery elm again. His stools are still not super but have improved.
I am so thankful that Liz is close by. We talk each week at obedience club & she helps to reassure me.
I have chosen to use Urban Carnivore for Kort. I do not want to feed him actual raw pieces of meat, I just can't do it, I myself do not like meat at the best of times, so this is much easier for me & I gag way less LOL!
This whole process has not been easy for me, I did not want to feed raw, it scares me, seriously, everyday I worry that I might make Kort sick.
One downfall though, Kort has gotten way too fat!!! In just this short time he has put on the pounds, so I have had to decrease his meals.
I am reading books that Liz has loaned me & surfing the Internet for information as well. So much information, so many different views. I will continue to do what "I" feel is the best for Kort, & right now it is raw.
So that is it for now, my journey to raw, keep your fingers crossed that this will finally be the answer for Kort.
You may be wondering why I haven't told anyone for a month? It's because I wasn't sure if I was still going to be feeding raw in a months time , so now as we enter our second month I can give more updates as to how it is going with us.
I know you are all just beside yourselves to find out ...hahaha!
5 comments:
Glad to hear he is doing well.
As we've discussed before, it's all in how the dog does on the food. Heck I've even met dogs (very FEW dogs) that don't do well on anything but Pedigree (which makes me wince, but if that's the only thing that works i can't argue!). It's clear that the raw is working thus far for Kort.
As for the vets? They may not like it, but most (not all, some are quite stubborn!)will ease up when they see that it is indeed working.
Congrats on finding what works for each of your dogs as individuals, as gross as handling those Chicken Necks may be ;)
Cheers,
Mandy
It took me a while to get over the whole "this is weird, I can't believe I am feeding my dogs raw meat, what if I kill them" thoughts. I have now been feeding raw for 4 years and although it has been some trial and error to find out what works for my dogs (luckily Bosley's breeder is a long time raw feeder and helped me out) I am now very comfortable with it.
My vet doesn't love the idea that I feed raw either, but really, there is not much she can do about it so she doesn't say anything. She also doesn't like that I don't vaccinate, but that's a whole other blog post :)
I really hope that you finally found the diet that will work for Tate.
So, I'm confused. You are feeding raw or you're feeding Urban Wolf? I am misunderstanding your post, as it seemed like you ended up with you will never feed him raw meat....?????
I wonder if it is a collie thing. My mother's first collie had colitis too. She switched him to Canadae and did ok but now she feeds a combination of Canadae and raw. He had been on raw when she bought him as a pup and had diarrhea on kibble before she switched him to Canadae.
Way to do whatever it takes! :)
I hope it works out - I know how frustrating feeding problems can be! (Flynn has this thing where he just plain doesn't like food - there are more interesting things in life. I can't try raw, though, because Bella's therapy organization doesn't allow raw diets for their animals or other animals in the same household. Right now he's on the "eat your plain kibble or starve, you little spoiled booger - I'm tired of throwing away expensive food" diet.)
I agree that the whole gross, potentially germy business is a little worrisome, but with safe handling, I'm sure you'll do just great for him!
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