Raw meat and kibble?

Hello,

I'll be picking up my new puppy on Thursday and I'm keen to feed him as good a diet as I can.

I'm fairly set on Barking Heads for kibble, but I'd quite like to add a bit more meat into his diet. I've read a few things that seem to suggest raw and kibble shouldn't be mixed, can someone tell me why? Or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

I was thinking of his breakfast being kibble, a wee meat lunch, kibble for tea, and his final wee meal being meat again. Is this reasonable? Once he's down to 2 meals a day I was tempted to add in a bit of tripe or something to the kibble, the kennels dogs I knew when I was wee got tripe and a kibble type food at the same time, so this method has stuck in my head.

Thanks in advance!

First of all it is perfectly possible to feed raw and commercial at the same time despite what some posters on some forums appear to think.

there is no peer reviewed scientific evidence to prove otherwise and thousands of people do it very successfully.

If you feel that the kibble you are feeding does not contain sufficient meat why not feed one that DOES instead of unbalancing a diet and upsetting the calcium and phosphorus ratio?

Feed something like

Applaws
Canagan
Orijen

It is tricky to feed a mixed diet, especially to a puppy, if you do not have the relevant nutritional knowledge.

Thanks very much! Will take a closer look at the Applaws foods, it's higher in meat than barking heads. The other two, too my untrained eye, look to be very similar in meat content to Barking Heads.

I have a bit of a bee in my bonet about supporting local pet shops, so hopefully a local independent one stocks Applaws.

Hi Because the vet told me giving one food,isnt balanced i.e tripe it has a lot of potassium,I do add a dog mixer,but not sure about kibble as you may be doubling up,and could cause tummy upset,just keep it simple,because dogs do have intolerances,mine cant eat chicken or lamb.I think there are advice sheets on the forum crystalgirl

Hello Sarah I feed a mixture of things including meat fish and Kibble as do many here.


Puppies can often get upset tummies with the change of home so I think it is best not to change the food straight away
When you pick up your puppy the breeder may give you some food to get you started. I would stick to the food the breeder has been feeding for the first week then gradually introduce the change of diet.

as minihaha says, change the feed gradually and make sure the food you buy is not just high in meat as you stated but high in quality meat.
try to avoid wheat/maize/corn etc or any non-natural preservatives in the kibble

Thanks folks, the breeder feeds John Birch and wil give me some to get started with, unfortunately there aren't any local stockists to keep him on it permanently.

hi
Try this from titmuss. They deliver
This is similar composition to john birch but has much higher % of salmon (36%)

My hounds love it.

http://www.gjwtitmuss.co.uk/titmuss-...o-dog-food.asp

my adult lurcher has a mix of dry food and raw, never ever had a problem with her despite what people say about feeding both together.

my little dogs just get raw as its easy for them, they enjoy it and they dont need alot of it at all.

my lurcher will be going onto full raw when she finishes her bag of biscuits.

i wouldnt want to mix and match so much with a young pup though i dont think. id go for one or the other. as feeding raw meat with a complete food can cause unbalance.