Can a dog with IBS be fed a raw diet?

I am trying to feed Max on a raw diet and its doesn't seem to be going that well.

I decided to switch as I have always had problems getting my dog to eat. He is constantly under weight and shows no interest in food. When I first got him he was on tinned meat and for a while he was fine then started to not eat it and when he did he was vomiting/diarrhoea. Vet advised I change to dry food, again he was fine for a couple of months then not eating vomiting/diarrhoea started again. After lots of tests Vet said he has IBS feed him JWB or other hypo allergenic food. Was OK on this for about 6 months then same story. Even tried cooking him food but always run into problems.

So in an effort to (a) get him to eat and (b) keep the food inside of him thought I would try raw feeding. I am buying pre-packed ground up meat (its from a good source and I know a lot of other dogs on it and they are all fine) and though Max is now enjoying his food (something that was unheard of before he would only eat when starving now he asks to be fed!) his stomach doesn't seem to be coping.

First he got chronic constapation (thought he would have to have an enema he was in so much pain), so I increased the meat content by mixing tripe with the meat packs. Now he is being sick again. Do I just need to fine tune the mix or is it that Max can't cope with this type of feeding?

How much are you feeding him (g) and how heavy is he in kg please?

I would strongly recommend you look up the yahoo group "rawfeeding" and join. They havea wealth of experiance and will be able to advise on the best way forward for Max.

When starting out raw feeding it's best to introduce one type of meat at a time and give it a week or two before introducing the next new meat. This way you can see how each affects Max and adjust accordingly.

Normally, a lot of bone will make their poos firm, white and crumbly and not pleasant to pass, so best to increase meat.

Alot of rich red meat and/or organs will produce looser stools so careful not to overdo them.

My advice would be to cut it back to one type of meat/bone and remove any skin and fat for the time being. Give him a week or two like that to see how he gets on and move forward from there introducing new things little by little and slowly. Any thing with ill effects can then be removed from his diet easily.

I recommend big bits of bone in meat to eat, rather than minced up stuff, that way you know exactly what he is eating, the ratio of fat/skin/bone/meat/organ he is getting each time. Minced doesn't have the teeth and mental benifits and percentages of the above will vary each time.

I have also heard that minced meat carrys a greater risk of carrying bacteria etc because it's not just the surface area that had been exposed to the air, but every bit of it. Not sure if this creates any risk to dogs, just something i heard and thought it may be of interest to you to look into further perhaps.

Hope this is of some help.

Max is about 31-34kg in weight (dependant on whether he is eating or not). Not sure how much food he is having as I have never weighed the defrosted packs of meat and they don't display a weight on them.

I took Max into the shop when I decided to try raw feeding and the woman there asked about his weight, activity levels and excercise and from that said I should feed him 2 packs of food a day.

Here are some links on how to raw feed (prey model), you may find them of use;
http://www.rawfeddogs.net/
http://www.rawmeatybones.com/

A rough starting pointing for how much your dog needs a day is 2 -3 % of ideal adult weight. Dogs vary and adjust this according to your dogs needs.

My friends breed DDB's, so a big hello from here, she has 6...as for feeding I would try it, my daughters Rottie has a funny tum and since being fed raw she hasn't looked back, it has sorted out all his problems relating to a commercial food diet...
Toro suffered from mucusy poohs for a couple months after having surgery to remove a blockage , through sheer frustration to try to get her back to normal I put her back on a raw diet and she is now totally fine, I also give her half teaspoon manuka honey in the morning as that is good for the digestion, she loves it lol x

If they are lb mince packs, then I would say that for his weight (at 31kg) he is being overfed with 2 packs.

I worked it out that he should be getting about 800g per day. 2 packs if they are lb packs only equate to an extra 108g per day, but this could be causing some of his problems.

Do you feed chicken wings? I find they are a good way to keep the bone content up without constipating.

I am trying to build him up to about 40kg (the weight the vet said he should be around) as he is very thin you can see all his ribs. People think I starve him, until they either come round or I explain he starves himself!!!

He won't eat chicken wings I tried left them in his bowl all day the only things that ate them was the flies. He won't even eat even the minced chicken, he thinks chicken should only be eaten whenits cooked!! The shop I get my meat in does turkey's necks if I can get him to eat them would they do him any good?

If you have tried over a number of days of giving the chicken and removing after 15 min if not touched, giving the same bit again the next meal time, nothing fed inbetween; Then perhaps he just doesn't like chicken.

That's no biggie, there are lots of other protein sources to choose from. Pick one of those and try for awhile.

If you are really keen to get Max eating chicken you could try reintroducing it in a few weeks again, or try it frozen. (for example one of mine will not eat liver or kidney unless it's frozen.

Chicken is handy cos it's cheap an easy to come by, but by no means necessary to a dog's diet


EDIT TO ADD: Turkey necks are good, but very boney. I would feed alot of bone free meat along with them to redress the balance.

Some IBS/IBD dogs cannot tolerate beef and grains which are in most pet foods (even JWB) The tripe may have been beef tripe. Perhaps trying lambs tripe would help. Or sticking to poultry and using a little oil in his food (I know too much is bad for IBS) to ease constipation may help or chicken livers (some more experienced people may be able to advise on that?)

He may take to minced chicken better than whole parts initially?

supplementing with honey and slippery elm bark powder can help with digestion/constipation/diahrea (sp?)