18 replies to this topic

[Erica]

This will not be short

 

We started feeding mid-March 2014 to our then 6 month old boxer puppy Maximus raw shortly after realizing he would not touch his kibble, no matter what 'topper' we would put on it. We were planning on waiting to switch until we moved out of our apartment but decided to run head-on into raw after a week or so of "researching" raw feeding. He did/does not have any health issues we thought that raw could fix, just wanted a more healthy option for our only son

 

Before raw pics - perfectly good looking pup! Right?

 

In short, I read through many, many websites for info and help, "tried" it out with a whole bunch of skinless boneless chicken breasts, and then suffered for the next two weeks with on/off diarrhea and solid poop. During this time and until we got things under control did our once healthy weight looking pup looked skeletal for nearly a month. He weighed around ~45 lbs for nearly a month-month and a half (he was 6 mo old starting out).It was most likely a combo from him still growing taller, diarrhea, stress, and eating lower than what we should have (to prevent overfeeding or too much too soon). I was extremely worried this would effect his growth. However, it was only after a couple days of diarrhea when STARTING did I find the site and learn my mistakes and made every effort to fix them. At 8 months old he now weighs a healthy ~60 lbs.

 

Skinny b days

 

(notice the muscle mass already starting to grow in his front legs!)

 

 

 

 

and then a couple of weeks later, smooth intros to new proteins...

 

 

 

last couple weeks in transition - what a difference!

 

lean green fighting machine!!! ok maybe  not the last part

 

Our mistakes

 

1 - not feeding enough bone in pieces

2 - overfeeding

3 - giving "rawhides" and other not natural treats

4 - read through multiple websites with raw feeding info, which usually have conflicting info

5 - leaving skin on in begining

and throughout transition...

6 - feeding organ meat w/o bone

7 - developing (but currently fighting!) a picky eater; he only wants beef!

'

all thesse mistakes lead to every kind of poop: mucuos/runny/watery/squirting/black/crumbly

 

After the rough two weeks of getting that one solid poop week on chicken, it was smooth sailing from there

 

 

CHANGES WE NOTICED (good and bad)

- coat. his coat was always soft since he never lost that puppy fur, but it was noticeably SHINY after getting settled in. EVERYONE compliments on how beautiful his coat is

- energy;seems balanced ever since we got him he was always mellow ESPECIALLY for a boxer but he had crazy puppy energy aka zoomies and since the switch he has only raced around the house twice, in comparison to every day. he can still play for a while at the dog park though!

- so much more playful! (correlates w/energy but w/e). he used to NEVER play by himself. now all he does at home when hes not sleepng/eating is playing with all his toys

- smaller, less smelly poops (although certain things have an odor, ie whole fish)

- goopy eyes. not as HUGE as before, however they're still there first thing in the morning

- no more stinky breath! only after eating fish

- muscle growth/lean body!! yes he's a puppy and hasn't quite filled out yet/in that lanky phase but has an awesome chest/legs and VERY strong neck (he isn't fixed btw, certainly contributing to that growth)

- shedding. don't know if it's the season/becoming older but increased shedding has been noticed. not necessarily bad/good

- separation anxiety: has a sorta mild severe-ish case. hates being alone period, drools excessively, and would fight us getting into his crate (not to mention all the times he had broken out of his crate and scratched at the windows and pooped everywehre etc) he still drools and occasionally fights us, but now he's not extremely upset when going in the crate, more of an, annoyed emotion on his face. all that mental simulation from chewing bones is de-stressing him????

- weird behavior: after EVERY meal he rubs his face into A BED (yes, dog and human beds both)

 

THINGS NOT DIFFERENT

- teeth (he IS a puppy, so all that kibble hadn't done any damage..yet)

- gas (he usually farts, kinda a sign he has to poop, and boxers are known to be very gassy )

- pickiness! last week into transition he lost the taste for chicken, but after some "tough Love" he is getting back to eating chicken. he was picky on kibble also

 

 

 

 

 

I hope everyone trying to get into raw/doing research/simply curious finds this useful! Of course every dog is unique but this was our story

[holycrapaiofe]

Holy smokes! He is totally ripped! What a beauty!!

[Erica]

Thank you! Some of those after pix don't do any justice for his true manly physique though

[Prey Model Raw]

You've done such an AMAZING job with this handsome young fella! Proud of both of your accomplishments.....keep it up!!! And great story, I love that you included your mistakes as well as your successes. 

[raw_in_malawi]

Gosh, he is gooorgeous! I just want to smoosh his face

[Nicole]

He looks amazing!!  I've been very concerned that my 9 week old APBT is looking thin and his growth might be effected while transitioning.  Seeing how well your boy has done is so inspirational and comforting! Thank you for posting this, you've reconfirmed my resolve to continue on with PMR. 

[Erica]

I'm really glad this helped! We are first time dog owners with Max, and let me tell you I was a worried little wart when he was a skeleton And then I read on here huge growth spurts aren't good at all. And I knew, subtle as it was, that he was growing taller, and just like humans putting on weight is easy

[RawFitGirl]

Our little Shelby (4 mos boxer) is at the "skeleton" stage right now with loose stools.  The detoxing is really doing a number on my nerves....She was the runt of the little, so I am so worried for her, since she was tiny (for a boxer) to begin with.  She eats, drinks and plays just like the day we got her at 8 weeks, but just looks like she is a homeless dog, barely finding enough food to survive.  I have started weighing her everyday and she puts on about a 1/2 lb per day despite all her bones sticking out.  I am researching all the time and the conflicting information is driving me crazy.  It is nice to see an AFTER photo of another boxer that went through the same transition...there is a light at the end of the tunnel. 

[Jordann]

Welcome!

What has your baby eaten so far? Have you been removing the skin and fat?

You can post picture of your baby from the side and looking down at her back, if you are ever concerned. Puppies go through awkward stages.

We are here for support, ask any and all questions!

[Prey Model Raw]

Our little Shelby (4 mos boxer) is at the "skeleton" stage right now with loose stools.  The detoxing is really doing a number on my nerves....She was the runt of the little, so I am so worried for her, since she was tiny (for a boxer) to begin with.  She eats, drinks and plays just like the day we got her at 8 weeks, but just looks like she is a homeless dog, barely finding enough food to survive.  I have started weighing her everyday and she puts on about a 1/2 lb per day despite all her bones sticking out.  I am researching all the time and the conflicting information is driving me crazy.  It is nice to see an AFTER photo of another boxer that went through the same transition...there is a light at the end of the tunnel. 

 

Sometimes I think we put too much emphasis on the bones "sticking out" and not at how much muscle tone and build they have. A well build dog can have bones sticking out but have beautiful amounts of muscle tone. Can you post a picture of her standing up? 

 

Welcome to the group! 

[naturalfeddogs]

Welcome! Some pictures would be great. Shelby may not be a "skinny" as you think. 

 

Erica, Max looks awesome! Great job!

[Erica]

I've made a new post showing Maximus today (Jan 2015); 10 months after starting out for any curious folks

 

http://preymodelraw....ximus-grown-up/

[Iorveth]

He's so handsome! I am one for the flash fawns with tons of white and long white legs but there is something about his lack of white that is very, very appealing to me. He's just one of those dogs that, despite not being my preferred color, still takes my breath away even in his bony pictures. He is avery, VERY handsome son of a gun. If he disappears, don't come looking here!

Our Xolo is just over 2 years old now and STILL gets the crazies (what you called zoomies). They are VERY high energy dogs when they are young but, like you've noticed with your guy, mine is not out of control with energy. 

As far as the face wiping goes, one of ours does that. What strikes me as interesting is that it is only our hound that does it. He doesn't have the Boxer lips but he does have floppy lips. Our other two are clean muzzled and don't wipe their faces on anything after they eat. We have to keep on Buck after he eats for a short time because he tries to use the carpet. I wonder if it's got anything to do with the extra lip they've got. We originally checked his teeth whenever we saw him doing something like that but we never found any evidence of anything stuck. I think it's because he is a wetter mouthed dog and things just get... slobbery while he eats and he feels the need to clean his face.

It only occurred to me the other day how often Iorveth breathes or yawns in my face. Of course there is a smell but it's so mild and not at all like "normal" dog breath that I just never thought about it. I have forgotten how awful it was for my kibble fed dogs to get in my face. I don't know if it's because my dogs are more involved in my life than ever or if it's because of their lack of smelly breath but I love on their faces SO much more than I did when I had kibble fed dogs. I only have one dog who was kibble fed (except for when they were puppies at the breeder's) so I have never experienced dog breath from two of them.

I've noticed a change in the fart SMELL. Kibble fed farts smell really bad and linger for a long time, it seems. Raw farts might smell bad (different, but just as bad) but seem to dissipate faster. I don't know. Maybe it's because we have three dogs and two humans in a very small house but even the farts are different. Like you, we can use the farts to know if they have to go outside!

Maximus looks fabulous. I'm glad you stuck with it and are seeing results you like. He is a stunning guy.

[Iorveth]

He's so handsome! I am one for the flash fawns with tons of white and long white legs but there is something about his lack of white that is very, very appealing to me. He's just one of those dogs that, despite not being my preferred color, still takes my breath away even in his bony pictures. He is avery, VERY handsome son of a gun. If he disappears, don't come looking here!

Our Xolo is just over 2 years old now and STILL gets the crazies (what you called zoomies). They are VERY high energy dogs when they are young but, like you've noticed with your guy, mine is not out of control with energy. 

As far as the face wiping goes, one of ours does that. What strikes me as interesting is that it is only our hound that does it. He doesn't have the Boxer lips but he does have floppy lips. Our other two are clean muzzled and don't wipe their faces on anything after they eat. We have to keep on Buck after he eats for a short time because he tries to use the carpet. I wonder if it's got anything to do with the extra lip they've got. We originally checked his teeth whenever we saw him doing something like that but we never found any evidence of anything stuck. I think it's because he is a wetter mouthed dog and things just get... slobbery while he eats and he feels the need to clean his face.

It only occurred to me the other day how often Iorveth breathes or yawns in my face. Of course there is a smell but it's so mild and not at all like "normal" dog breath that I just never thought about it. I have forgotten how awful it was for my kibble fed dogs to get in my face. I don't know if it's because my dogs are more involved in my life than ever or if it's because of their lack of smelly breath but I love on their faces SO much more than I did when I had kibble fed dogs. I only have one dog who was kibble fed (except for when they were puppies at the breeder's) so I have never experienced dog breath from two of them.

I've noticed a change in the fart SMELL. Kibble fed farts smell really bad and linger for a long time, it seems. Raw farts might smell bad (different, but just as bad) but seem to dissipate faster. I don't know. Maybe it's because we have three dogs and two humans in a very small house but even the farts are different. Like you, we can use the farts to know if they have to go outside!

Maximus looks fabulous. I'm glad you stuck with it and are seeing results you like. He is a stunning guy.

[Erica]

Thank you SO much

 

We've come to learn that he is a bit *dainty* and *prissy* in some manners, ie he wouldn't  dare touch water or his food (other than his mouth of course), but doesn't mind rolling around in dirt all day, so maybe that's why he wipes up on his bed after every meal lol.

 

Oh yeah, I totally get you on the fart thing haha. We recently fostered a science diet fed foster dog, and OMG I had to remove myself from the room every single time she farted it was MIND BLOWING to put myself through that hahha

[Iorveth]

Don't know why that double posted... I think it's because I lost internet connection and I had to try again. I guess it DID work the first time. I'll have to check the other threads I posted on that day because I lost it more than once while I was on here. Dang spotty internet. 

We have one (the Collie) who, unless it's an RMB, will ONLY touch his food with his claws. The other two will use the whole food to solidly hold down their meal but Dude extends those claws and uses the bare minimum to hold a slippery meal in place. He's the dainty one who will also chew EVERYTHING to much before swallowing. He does make raw look delicious though.

 

Ugh, Science Diet farts... I can only imagine. My experience has been with Iams farts and Pedigree farts.

[naturalfeddogs]

Don't know why that double posted... I think it's because I lost internet connection and I had to try again. I guess it DID work the first time. I'll have to check the other threads I posted on that day because I lost it more than once while I was on here. Dang spotty internet. 

We have one (the Collie) who, unless it's an RMB, will ONLY touch his food with his claws. The other two will use the whole food to solidly hold down their meal but Dude extends those claws and uses the bare minimum to hold a slippery meal in place. He's the dainty one who will also chew EVERYTHING to much before swallowing. He does make raw look delicious though.

 

Ugh, Science Diet farts... I can only imagine. My experience has been with Iams farts and Pedigree farts.

Combine the Iams farts and Pedigree farts. Those two together, and you get SD scented farts! LOL! Mmmmmm....

[Iorveth]

Combine the Iams farts and Pedigree farts. Those two together, and you get SD scented farts! LOL! Mmmmmm....

 

Oh yum... *barf*

I do NOT miss kibble farts one bit.

[Michelle08]

Hi everyone, my Gordon setter Duncan went through the Skinny stage too (at 8 weeks when we got him and changed to RPM) and was all ribs and hips. Once he got the hang of it all and his digestive system had adjusted he took off. That's in just the last few weeks actually as he's just getting to 15 weeks. Now he has a little bit of fat in places and doesn't look like a 'rescue' stray! He's growing really well thank goodness.. No way I'd feed kibble! Shiny soft coat, lots of energy but relaxes well when we are home. So, it's not all plain sailing but it's SO worth it!