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loupoppins
Dogsey Senior
loupoppins is offline  
Location: South Yorkshire,UK
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 474
Female 
 
03-03-2010, 11:26 AM

Starting raw feeding - dog scratching??

I have just (1 week ago) switched Bella onto a raw diet.So far she is doing really well. She has had chicken wings,lamb ribs, beef mince,chicken mince,rabbit mince. I am introducing some kidney today,and will try liver in a few days(although last time I tried raw I couldn't get her to eat liver-so fingers crossed as I know she needs this.)She gets about 450g a day-at the moment usually mince for brekkie and rmb for tea,varying amounts depending on poo consistancy!
Anyway,my question is about her coat/skin.I have noticed she has become a bit dandruffy,and is scratching more than usual,and chewing her legs/feet. Now she is due for a fontline treatment-so that could be part of it(though no direct evidence of fleas), but I have also read that this can happen when starting barf/raw feeding ,as the dog sort of detoxes???
I have added in some salmon oil,and she will be getting sardines once or twice a week as she loves them.Will also persevere in getting veggies into her although she's not keen!
Any ideas? Anyone experience this at the start of switching to raw?
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wilbar
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Location: West Sussex UK
Joined: Jan 2010
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03-03-2010, 11:50 AM
No my dogs didn't experience any itching/scratching when switched to raw food. It could be unrelated to the diet change or because something is lacking in the raw diet but I don't think it's the latter if you've only made the change in the last week. In any case you could check this by switching back to the old diet is there's no improvement, to see if the scratching stops.

Salmon oil is a good idea, especially for dry itchy skin ~ my vet recommended plain sunflower oil when one of my cats was a bit dandruffy.

As for the dislike of veggies, one of mine is also reluctant about the veggie part! But I find that mixing the veggies with mince, or cooked coley fish (her favourite) does help them along. I have ended up hand feeding her raw veggies mixed with mince & she does eat it all this way.

If they are not keen on raw offal, I find it makes it much more palatable for the dogs if it is blanched in boiling water. Just cut up the offal into largish chunks, drop it into a pan of boiling water, bring it back to boil & drain. Once it has cooled down you can freeze it in portion sizes ~ it's a bit of a compromise on completely raw food but it's still raw in the middle.
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loupoppins
Dogsey Senior
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Location: South Yorkshire,UK
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 474
Female 
 
03-03-2010, 12:34 PM
thanks for the reply.
Yes,itching could be unrelated of course! I really want to stick with raw though,she wouldn't eat any of the last food I tried her on(orijen)-she is I am convinced the world's fussiest dog !
I'll persevere for a while I think. Great tips about the liver and veggies. May have to try that with the liver for sure!
She has a check up at the vets next week anyway,so will ask then if it's not cleared up too(thankfully think I may have found a relatively pro-raw vet !)
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Evie
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Location: N.Ireland
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03-03-2010, 10:03 PM
When advising people on starting a raw diet I recommend introducing one protien source at a time, giving it a week or two before introducing the next. This way if there is any problems with any one thing you are able to pinpoint what it was.

It could well be non diet related, or a detox moving on from commercial foods; but just incase I would say cut back to one protien source (eg Chicken) stick to it for a week and then introduce the next one (eg: lamb) and stick to those for another week or two etc, etc. If any reactions show up due to diet you can tell what exactly has been causing it.

Hope this is of some help.
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