Why feed a whole hog at once? Gorge meals are a normal thing for wolves, dogs. Their lives revolve around finding food. Either they find a carcass or they make a fresh meal but either way they eat as much as they can in one sitting because they have no idea when their next meal will come. Obviously our dogs at home know when their next meal is coming, and so do we. So, why do a gorge meals? For several reasons.

First, feeding a meal like this gives our dogs the opportunity to really get a mentally stimulating experience. It takes a lot more mental work for a dog to rip and tear meat off, crunch through bones of this kind of source. The enjoyment alone we watch from our dogs eating is reinforcing enough to do it again.

Second, it allows us to feed large meals to our big dogs. It saves us a lot of work with breaking down a whole hog, just let the dogs do the work!

Third, it may or may not provide any health benefits. There is no research, anecdotal or scientific, stating one way or the other. Many raw feeders do this and it works well for their dogs.

Gorging and fasting should not be attempted by the novice raw feeder. I highly suggest that only dogs who have been raw feeding for a few years do this. It takes some time and conditioning to get a dog’s system capable of handling such a large meal. This can be achieved by gradually increasing the size of a meal once every 2 weeks, and then increasing the space between the larger meal and their next meal. Puppies weaned to or switched to raw feeding early are better equipped to handle gorging and fasting sooner, but I don’t suggest doing it until the puppy is at least 6 months old, unless its a toy/small breed who may never be able to handle a true gorge/fast meal even as an adult. Toy or small breeds who are prone to hypoglycemia should never be fasted for long periods of time, so true gorge/fast meals may never be done with these dogs. Just proceed with caution and always supervise any feeding of any kind with a scrupulous eye!

Our dogs pictured below have been raw feeding for at least 2 years, the exceptions being two Great Dane puppies, 8 and 10 months old. All of them have been conditioned to gorge meals and handle them well!

Picture time….enjoy!

If you feed kibble, and are offended at the fact that I think it makes absolutely no sense, please…. just close this [blog] now, and be on your merry way. If you can appreciate some logical, sound thinking… read on.

Variety is key- in ANY kind of diet. We all know this. It’s common sense. One food, day in and day out, over the course of time- no good for anyone. Processed or not.

When a raw fed dog eats chicken, it looks something like this:

When a kibble fed dog eats chicken, it’s something like this:

When a raw fed dog gets beef, their meal might look like:

Oh, yay! Kibble fed dog is done with chicken! Time to rotate in BEEF!

My dogs love fish. When a raw fed dog eats fish, they might get something like:

Alright! Kibble dog is done with chicken AND beef! Lucky dog! Time for Fish!!

Lamb time, for raw dog!

This kibble fed dog has a sensitive tummy, and my vet convinced me that he’s allergic to chicken, so now he has to have all lamb. You can see how different it is from all the “other” kibbles.

Turkey time for raw dog!!

Kibble dog gets a new food!! Turkey! Yeah!

Mmm, pork ribs. Raw Dog is happy.

Kibble dog loves pork. It’s so… different.

Mmmm, Duck. Raw dog loves duck. The bones are so easy to nom nom nom. Kinda like chicken bones. But better. Mmmmm, duck!

Kibble dog also loves duck. Hoorahhh for variety!

Wow! Mom found a hunter that needed to clean out his freezer of last year’s kills! I get RABBIT! I are happy raw dog.

Woo hoo, sale at the dog food store! Dad sprung for rabbit! And I almost thought he was a cheap ol’ sucker. Only $70 a bag for rabbit. mmm.

Mmm, raw dog loves venison. So… gamey!

Kibble dog likes how…. crunchy… venison is. mmm.

Alright, alright. I’ll be done.
I just think it irks me that people are like: “You feed WHAT?! raw meat?! that’s so weird! Haven’t you heard of DOG FOOD!?”
Yeah, buddy, I’M the weird one.
have you even SEEN what your dog eats.

Merry Christmas everyone, kibble fed dogs and all.

This blog post was wonderfully written by the awesome Linsey Adams Lanman. She runs a very successful dog daycare, boarding and grooming facility in Orem, Utah called Ruff House. Her life was changed drastically when the world of raw feeding opened up to her and her sweet dog Grissom, who was floundering on a kibble diet. He just couldn’t handle the carbohydrates in the food, just like many, many other dogs out there. He was sentenced to a life of overpriced, low quality “prescription diet” kibble and lifelong medications. Instead of pursuing this somewhat illogical path for her dog she did some research on raw diet. After the battle of 7 months of non stop diarrhea with no relief, Linsey started the search for something better….a raw diet devoid of all carbohydrates. Or in other words, what dogs were designed to eat. Two days into raw he had normal bowel movements and had the puppy chipper attitude that he just never had before. Both Linsey and Grissom never looked back to kibble and are now a strong contributor to the raw community.

Knowing that Duncan has this I am now in “must learn as much about this as possible” mode. I have been researching quite a bit the last few days. As sad as I am about his condition, I think that things happen for a reason. He was meant to be with me and I am going to do everything in my power to help him in any way I can.

I would love to share with you all what I have found. I apologize if this is something that some of you already know, but I thought I would share it for any new people to the breed or any new people who don’t know much about Canine Hyperuricosuria (like me).

This is what I have learned so far:

The formation of urate stones occurs because affected dogs excrete uric acid in their urine rather than allantoin. Uric acid and allantoin are waste products from a chemical called purine, thus uric acid is formed from purines. The presence of uric acid (rather than allantoin) is what causes these dogs to produce and form urate crystals or stones. These crystals and stones can become lodged in the bladder or urethra causing a blockage.

Dogs have the ability to produce any purines that they need from other things in their diet. So, for dogs that are affected with Canine Hyperuricosuria you want to limit the purines in their diet significantly. A big key thing to understand is that you don’t want to limit the amount of protein in the dogs diet, but what you DO want to limit is the TYPE of proteins you feed the dog.

I have been in contact with some Dalmatian people since Canine Hyperuricosuria is a prevalent problem in the Dalmatian breed. Every single dog is affected and runs the chance of developing these urate stones. Female dogs are usually less likely to have a problem due to the fact that their urinary tract anatomy is a straight shot from the bladder to the outside. Males are the ones that have a bigger chance of having problems due to the shape of their os penis. There is a bend in their penis where stones have a greater chance of getting stuck, thus causing a blockage.

So moving back to purines, protein and diet. It is very important for dogs that are stone formers to be fed a diet low in purines. Purines are highest in organ meat, red meats, game meats and sardines.

There are a variety of diets you can put your dog on:
-Science Diet UD
-Royal Canin Urinary UC
-Flint River Ranch has several kibbles suited for this condition

-There are a variety of Limited Ingredient Kibbles that would work as well.
-A BARF (raw) diet geared towards dogs with this condition
I feed my dogs a raw diet. However, finding out about Duncan’s condition had led me to decision that I am needing to modify his diet.

I have researched the “Dalmatian Raw Diet” thanks to the advice from some Dalmatian breeders who feed the same and have had for years with great success. The diet mainly consists of chicken and turkey (since white meats are the lowest in purines), a veggie/fruit puree (to replace the nutrients lost from the organ meat and red meat), eggs, and some added supplements that are to be given a few times a week. Some add in dairy products (cottage cheese, yogurt, etc).  A word of caution, some dogs will tolerate dairy while others won’t.  It will depend on your individual dog as to whether you will want to feed any dairy or not.

Along with a low purine diet, WATER is the next most important thing to add to the diet. Stones are less likely to form in dilute urine. Also, emptying the bladder often is another important thing.  Raw diets are high in moisture content (around 80%), however, I still recommend to add warm water to your dogs meals.  If feeding a kibble, float your dogs meals in warm water. Keep the urine dilute and the bladder flushed!

I think it is very important to add that the diet for an HU affected dog must be tailored to that individual dog.  What one dog may be able to tolerate in its diet another may not.  Each dog is going to have a tolerance level to purine content.  If you go over that limit your dog will end up with urate crystals present in the urine, which have the potential to turn into stones.  It is the owners job to carefully adjust the diet to meet the needs of their individual dog.

It is a good idea for dogs who are stone formers to have a routine urinalysis done by your vet as well as testing the urine from time to time with pH test strips. You are wanting to keep the urine alkaline, as apposed to acidic.

There is also a medication called “Allopurinol”. I don’t know much about it, but what I have learned so far is that is it given twice a day at the proper dosage for dissolving urate stones. This is used as a prevention once the dog has undergone a surgery to have stones removed.  It is very important to note that if you are giving your dog Allopurinol you MUST feed a low purine diet or else the dog runs the risk of developing xanthine stones.

So here is the short version:
Purines -> Hypoxanthine -> Xanthine -> Uric Acid -> Allantoin

Dogs with Canine Hyperuricosuria stop at uric acid. The medication Allopurinol shuts down “xanthine oxidase” which is responsible for converting Hypoxanthine to Xanthine and ultimately to uric acid. With out this conversion purines are stuck in Hypoxantine and never make it to uric acid.

So…that’s it! I am continuing my research and will share any more that I learn. I know that I feel much better about Duncan after learning more….and I hope this information can help someone in some way. :0) Knowledge is power!

Resources:

This website had great information and is where I ordered my DNA test for Duncan:

http://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services/Hyperuricosuria.php

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/uric_acid_stones_in_dalmatians.html

http://www.thedca.org/purines.html

http://www.acumedico.com/purine.htm

http://hattrickdalmatians.com/PreventingUrateStoneFormation.html

http://www.britishdalmatianclub.org.uk/health/index.php?action=urinary_stones_detailed

I also got information from a great article in The Whole Dog Journal titled “Cast in Stone” June 2010 issue.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-228995247.html

Raw & Natural Nutrition for Dogs, The Definitive Guide to Homemade Meals written by Lew Olson, PhD has some great information on nutrition as a whole, as well as a chapter on bladder stones.

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781583942949&view=quotes

I also had several exchanged emails with Dr. Tom Lonsdale on the topic of urate stones.

http://www.rawmeatybones.com/

Duncan is a happy, handsome boy and is lucky to have such a caring and devoted dog-mom!

Enjoy  NOTE: this shows how the poop degrades over the course of a week.  Notice how the raw poop dries up and easily crumbles.  This would easily disintegrate into the yard…

Okay I decided to try another round of this. I used two dogs of the same weight

The poop on the left is Lincolns poop (65lb Belgian Malinois)

The poop on the right is Atlas’ poop (60lb Dalmatian)

This is a full days worth of poop. Lincoln only pooped once that day but sometimes he will poop out another piece half the size of the one in the cup.

Day two:

Day three:

Here is Day Four, to show how it crumbles I just squished it with my fingers (with a glove on of course). I could of done this day one but I wanted to leave it to allow people to compare with other poop. I was thinking about doing this to the other poop to show its still wet and gross etc..but I thought I better not LOL

Day five:

Day six:

Day seven:

There you have it! I don’t think I need anymore proof than that. I do not miss picking up sloppy, stinky, disgusting “kibble poo” at all….

If you haven’t yet made the commitment to change, please read through them to help inspire you to make it ASAP!

Here’s one of my favorites:

Our Success Story starts with my girl Casey. Casey is the main reason why I decided to take the time and read up on RAW feeding. I knew she had to have an allergy to kibble. The vet was always saying, FLEA ALLERGY! I didn’t buy it, not when she didn’t have a flea on her.

This is my girl Casey before reaping the benefits of RAW.

As you can see, she is an absolute mess. The poor girl dug herself raw every day, all day. It was horrible to watch her suffer as I continually fed her kibble.

Then one day, I got sick of it and thought, there has to be a better way to feed this dog. I found this place and broke google trying to read everything I could. About 3 weeks later, I decided that I would go for it and feed Casey and her sis Ava a whole chicken fryer cut in two. Poor DH was devistated thinking he was going to get a stuffed chicken for dinner and here I am, feeding it to the dogs! lol

I waited, and waited and waited for her skin to heal. It was a long, slow recovery but well worth it! In the last few months, she has finally healed and now she looks healthy. She doesn’t stink and her hair is so soft! I love touching her butt now and her energy level is through the roof! I love telling her what a pretty girl she is!

She loves RAW and is patiently waiting for me to open her swimming pool so she can go swimming!

-BGBY

If getting started on RAW, breaking down your cost of meat and freezer space is VERY important especially if you have big dogs or multiple dogs.
Here is our breakdown for our dogs (we don’t include the cost of the cat…she gets the scraps LOL)

Finding a freezer is easier than you think, free ones are posted on craigslist all the time so I would say that cost is neglegible.

Here is a guide for determining how much freezer space you will need:

28 cu. ft. of freezer space for ~500 lbs. of meat
14 cu. ft. of freezer space for ~250 lbs. of meat
7 c u. ft. of freezer space for ~125 lbs. of meat

We have an upright freezer that is about 24 cu. ft. and we routinely buy ~300# of meat at a time. We could fit much more considering we package our meat into containers that hold 2-3 days worth of meat.

300# of meat usually will last about a month and a half or two.

We have 4 dogs that weigh:

Shiloh: 65
Emmy: 65
Akasha (currently growing): 65
Bailey: 115

We buy meat that is on average (adding up all the costs of the different meats we buy and dividing by the # of meats) 60-75 cents per pound

Shiloh, Emmy and Akasha all cost us ~ $1 per day to feed

Bailey costs us ~$2 per day to feed

The meats we buy on a regular basis:

chicken backs, turkey necks, beef heart, pork ribs, pork roasts, whole tilapia, pollock fillets, lamb ribs, beef liver, chicken liver, beef kidneys, etc.

This breakdown does not include all the free meat that we have found to come in contact with (trust me its out there, ya just gotta know where and how to look for it

So, looking at the breakdown, is RAW worth it???