Those of you who feed raw . . .

Cherry Blossom

Bit of a strange one!

My dog is intollerant to chicken, in kibble, cooked (boiled or otherwise) and in wet food. I gave her less than a quarter tin of Applaws today with chicken as a minor ingredient (for purposes of getting wormer into her) and shes gone bouncing off the walls as usual, have her closed in the back hall most of the day with 5 minute breaks out as she'd do herself an injury :rolleyes:

Being a small terrier the usual way to get bone into them would be chicken wings etc. Haven't attempted to feed her raw chicken to see what reaction I'd get but not comfortable about trying it! Other than lamb ribs, what other options would their be? Phesant? duck? Fish? It crossed my mind today that something that might be suitable might be snake food :DFrozen mice and such like.:eek: The pet shop where I used to work I would never dream of feeding their stock to her, if I had a snake I don't think I'd feed it from there either. Would have to do a lot of digging to find a good source and I think I'd be too squeemish anyway, not to mention my mother would have a fit! Just wondering if anyone has ever heard of this being done?

The Sweeper

There are quite a few raw-orientated folk feeding reptile food to their cats - specifically the frozen mice. Not sure how it would go with a dog though.

When you say intolerant, what happens? The problem with ruling out raw chicken is that you really can't rule it out until you've tried it and she's reacted to it so it's definitely the chicken, and not any other additive, flavouring or preservative in the food you're using. If her reaction is just hyperactivity it might be worthwhile trying chicken once to make 100% sure it's the chicken. Obviously this is not a good idea if the reaction is more severe.

But yes, you can try other poultry - quail, duck, turkey and so on.

dahat

try lamb hearts,totally cost effective and rwadily availible.
for bone you can use pork ribs,again easily availible.
you can also try duck.............

Cherry Blossom

Thanks! Yes it just hyperactivity, but the amounts i've tried it with since I took her off Royal Canin are tiny, just a small amount of plain boiled chicked breast got the same reaction, maybe I'll try her with a tiny bit of raw chicken breast next time she gets a raw lamb bone in case its the cooking process that's the cause. Is it ok to feed mainly a game type diet with some lamb or is the meat too strong? Or this just a perception I'm getting from my own taste buds!? On thinking more about rodent's it might be just too dodgy! I'm sure there are still working dogs that kill live ones, but not sure if they actually eat them. Seemed like an appropriate diet for a ratter when I thought of it first!

**Vai**

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

Yes it just hyperactivity

Are u sure its not just a terrier being a terrier?

Cherry Blossom

**Vai** wrote: »

Are u sure its not just a terrier being a terrier?

Afraid not! Wish I had a video I could post, I had her on Royal Canin at first at she was a complete basket case, wouldn't even look where she was going and would charge head first into doors and walls and things :eek: If she wanted to get at something and you took her away from it (seemed like I permanently had a lead attached to her for the first while) she'd continually go back to it 50 - 100 times before I gave up and took her out of the room. Massive, massive change in her as soon as I changed her food. Have tried a few little experiments since with tiny bits of chicken in various forms (but all cooked) and she always temporarily reverts back to the Royal Canin effects, which have lasted anything from the rest of the day to 2 or 3 days. So I'm 100% sure that the chicken is the problem. My research on Westies and food since has also dug up several similar stories with a lot of Westie breeders recommending a lamb & rice kibble diet which she does much, much better on.

dahat

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

Thanks! Yes it just hyperactivity, but the amounts i've tried it with since I took her off Royal Canin are tiny, just a small amount of plain boiled chicked breast got the same reaction, maybe I'll try her with a tiny bit of raw chicken breast next time she gets a raw lamb bone in case its the cooking process that's the cause. Is it ok to feed mainly a game type diet with some lamb or is the meat too strong? Or this just a perception I'm getting from my own taste buds!? On thinking more about rodent's it might be just too dodgy! I'm sure there are still working dogs that kill live ones, but not sure if they actually eat them. Seemed like an appropriate diet for a ratter when I thought of it first!

Game meat is fine,i feed mine alot of venison and they love it!
For a westie a lamb heart is nearly a meal size wise,you could feed this and brown rice with some small bone. saving you a bomb on a special kibble from a special manufacturer that proclaims it is the best kibble in the world!.

Rodents can carry alot of disease/bacteria's.i would feeze any kills for a while before feeding.

Cherry Blossom

dahat wrote: »

Rodents can carry alot of disease/bacteria's.i would feeze any kills for a while before feeding.

This is why u I was thinking of reptile suppliers, but probably still impossible to guarantee so think I'll end up passing on this train of thought anyway, got me interested though!

dahat

i feed mine any mice i get in traps n they love em.......
wonder how much the frozen ones are to buy?

Cherry Blossom

dahat wrote: »

i feed mine any mice i get in traps n they love em.......
wonder how much the frozen ones are to buy?

I'd be mostly worried about the fact with wild ones you don't know where they've been or if anyone nearby is laying poision or something!

<ETA> Can't remember what they used to be where I worked, question for the vivarium forum maybe . . .