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Puppies & Raw
Puppies should be fed up to 10 % of their body weight. Therefore, if your pup weighs 10 lbs you should feed 1 lb of food divided between 3 or 4 feedings per day. Growing puppies, especially the large breeds, should be kept lean so adjustments to feeding amounts will have to be monitored closely.
Puppies as young as 3 weeks can eat raw food, some breeders even wean their pups straight onto raw food. Some people always keep their dogs on a dry complete food whilst also adding raw at this young age. In the period 8-12 weeks of age, the puppy will not be very good at digesting raw natural food, as you would feed it to an adult dog. Your puppy might eat it, but its ability to extract all the nutrients from it will not be fully developed. It takes a lot of energy for a puppy stomach to digest "real food", so we should feed this to it in the evening, so the puppy can rest during the night, digesting. We can make a ground mush out of the food. This will give the puppy's enzymes the biggest possible surface to attack, and will make digestion easier. Keep in mind that puppies grow at a slower, more regulated rate on raw food than on commercial foods. This translates to less chance of developing the bone and joint problems seen in puppies fed commercial foods. Do not force feed your pup in an effort to make it grow faster or bigger.
The best meat to start with, it’s gentle on the digestion and your puppy will hugely benefit from what chicken has to offer. The best thing is to feed them is chicken legs and wings. The bones are nice and chewy and are great for cleaning the teeth, they also have a good meat to bone ratio.
Chicken wings supply top quality protien, top quality fat, the fat soluble vitamins, some of the B vitamins, plenty of energy and all the minerals your pup requires. The fat in raw chicken wing has an excellent balance of fatty acids plus the fat soluble vitamins your puppy needs. The bone in the raw chicken wings is full of iron containing marrow. This helps build your pups blood and immune system" It goes on to emphasise the importance of the pups eating the bone as this contains all the minerals. Apart from small bones, you must also provide some large bones for the pups to spend their days chewing on.
I would always highly recommend the first raw meat your puppy is introduced to is chicken. Then other birds like Turkey. Red meat like Lamb and Beef is a lot richer and can upset the stomach if not introduced slowly.
A SUMMARY OF PUPPY FEEDING PRINCIPLES:
- Pups need to be fed a diet based on raw meaty bones – about 60 percent
- Pups need a diet based on raw-crushed vegetables – about 30 percent.
- Pups need some offal in their diet – about 5-10 percent
- Pups should be kept lean and slightly hungry, no matter what the breed
- Pups should not be allowed to become fat
- Pups should be grown slowly
- Pups should never be grown at their maximum growth rate
- Pups do not need extra calcium if they eat plenty of raw meaty bones
- Pups do not need processed food
- Pups do not need cooked grain meals – a little bit occasionally is ok
- Pups do not need each meal to be complete and balanced
- Pups DO need their whole feeding regiment to be complete and balanced
- A pup should eat mainly raw food
- Fresh frozen food (thawed) is fine for pups.
- Healthy soil or clay may be part of a dog’s diet
- An occasionally short fast will not be harmful and may be of benefit
- Pups should be exposed in a controlled manner to bacteria
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