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Puppies & Kittens
German Shepherd Dog, Onyx, happily eating a turkey wing at 8 weeks old.
Meet Onyx! He is my naturally reared German Shepherd. Naturally rearing means to raise an animal as close to natural as possible. This first and foremost means a species appropriate diet and no to limited toxins. Onyx came from a NR breeder who weans pups onto a raw gruel and soft bones. He also came to me without any vaccines or nosodes (at my request), no flea and tick topicals or pills, no synthetic drugs (him and his litter mates got into something to cause some loose stool and the breeder was administering colloidal silver instead of antibiotics), etc.
Gnawing on lamb ribs. Lamb ribs are a bit tough at this age with puppy teeth, but Onyx always got through as much as he could!
If you are starting your dog or cat who is under 6 months of age, you will feed the same amount as an adult. Hopefully you have an estimate of about how much they will weigh as an adult. You can always adjust accordingly, based on if they are still looking hungry or not finishing. Most puppies are very active, so you will feed 3% of their estimated body weight daily. If you have a very mellow, sedentary puppy, you can go down to 2.5%, however, I haven't met many low activity pups!
Onyx is estimated to weigh 85lbs as an adult, so his daily intake is 2.55lbs a day. However, when he was going through major growth spurts, he sometimes ate double that amount. This is okay. You can feed your puppy or kitten extra if they seem overly hungry. We would call Onyx "hangry" (hungry angry)... he wouldn't get angry, BUT he would get antsy and start to pester his humans and fellow dogs until his stomach was full & content. ;)
Onyx is estimated to weigh 85lbs as an adult, so his daily intake is 2.55lbs a day. However, when he was going through major growth spurts, he sometimes ate double that amount. This is okay. You can feed your puppy or kitten extra if they seem overly hungry. We would call Onyx "hangry" (hungry angry)... he wouldn't get angry, BUT he would get antsy and start to pester his humans and fellow dogs until his stomach was full & content. ;)
Onyx's first meal with fur! With my adults, I had to cut their first meal with fur open to expose the meat. Onyx already knew what to do. It's amazing to watch a dog do what they are designed to do.
There is less variability with feeding puppies and kittens. With eating such a large amount of food, you will need to divide this up into more frequent meals in a day.
Under 4 months = 4 meals per day
4-6 months = 3 meals per day
6 months-1 year = 2 meals per day.
Under 4 months = 4 meals per day
4-6 months = 3 meals per day
6 months-1 year = 2 meals per day.
Examples:
3-month-old golden retriever, estimated to weigh 70lbs as an adult:
Moderately active, so we'll use 3%
70 x .03 = 2.1lbs or 33-34oz daily
<4 months = 4 meals per day
28oz divided by 4 = 8-9oz per meal
5-month-old chihuahua, estimated to weigh 5lbs as an adult:
Very light activity-wise, so we'll use 2.5%
5 x .025 = .125lb or 2oz daily
5 months = 3 meals per day
1.6oz divided by 3 = just over .5oz per meal
Again, with growth spurts and puppies and kittens, you may need to go over these amounts. Almost every other raw feeder I know has told me that their puppies ate more than expected during rapid growing phases.
If your puppy or kitty isn't finishing their meals and losing weight, add in another feeding time per day to help creat smaller portion sizes. If they are maintaining weight and not finishing all meals, eliminate a feeding time. If they have abnormal stool, maintaining weight, and finishing meals add in another feeding time. With adding or eliminating feeding times, they are still eating the same daily amount.
3-month-old golden retriever, estimated to weigh 70lbs as an adult:
Moderately active, so we'll use 3%
70 x .03 = 2.1lbs or 33-34oz daily
<4 months = 4 meals per day
28oz divided by 4 = 8-9oz per meal
5-month-old chihuahua, estimated to weigh 5lbs as an adult:
Very light activity-wise, so we'll use 2.5%
5 x .025 = .125lb or 2oz daily
5 months = 3 meals per day
1.6oz divided by 3 = just over .5oz per meal
Again, with growth spurts and puppies and kittens, you may need to go over these amounts. Almost every other raw feeder I know has told me that their puppies ate more than expected during rapid growing phases.
If your puppy or kitty isn't finishing their meals and losing weight, add in another feeding time per day to help creat smaller portion sizes. If they are maintaining weight and not finishing all meals, eliminate a feeding time. If they have abnormal stool, maintaining weight, and finishing meals add in another feeding time. With adding or eliminating feeding times, they are still eating the same daily amount.
Onyx eats a trout. This was a third of the whole lake trout. Remember that fish should be gutted as they do have the potential of containing hooks, especially in lakes where they are caught and then released.
Good starter raw foods
Grinds:
If you have a small-medium breed dog, you can do fine grinds, medium-giant sized breeds, you can do course grinds.
Bones:
Fish are great soft starter bones. Puppies and kittens are thrilled to be able to work their tiny puppy and kitty teeth through the entire piece. Chicken, duck, and rabbit are also easier for them to gnaw through.
If your puppy is trying to gulp or eat bones quicker than the speed of light, like Onyx, you can feed partially frozen. With duck necks, I fed Onyx fully frozen for a while as he his mission was to get them down his throat as quick as he could. This can slow your dog down and force them to take more time.
You can give other proteins like turkey, lamb, goat, pork, etc, however, they may not be able to get through these bones completely until their adult molars come in. It still will give them great physical and mental exercise to try and gnaw their way through these bones. A happy puppy or kitten, sleepy from lots of gnawing = a good puppy or kitten!
Just like with raw bones for adults, be sure that they are size appropriate. You want to aim size of your puppy or kitten's head or larger, so that they do not gulp. They will try and get food down as fast as they can. With Onyx, he learned that some of the chucks he swallowed were too large. He would then regurgitate that piece back up, crunch as fast as he could, and re-swallow. This is a learning process for our pets as well as us.
With puppies and kittens starting on raw, unless they spent some time on kibble, you can typically do much more variety from the very start. Onyx ate mostly chicken the first week he was home and then I began adding in other proteins. He did great with every one, even the fattier ones like duck and lamb. With starting so young, there's no having to get used to raw... their system is already ready for it!
If your puppy or kitten weaned onto a processed food before coming home with you, try to feed their first raw meal 4-5hrs away from their last kibble or canned meal. Then, simply stick to the same protein for a couple weeks. Chicken, again, is a great starter protein. If gas and stool is normal, you can start introducing more variety. Puppies and kittens tend to be better capable of handling more variety earlier as the processed food hasn't had a long time to cause imbalances in their gut. If your puppy or kitten was on a very poor diet previously, their body will purge it out very quickly once introduced to raw, so you may see some interesting stool at the start.
It is also beneficial to have some appropriate chews around your house... split elk antlers and water buffalo horns are what I used.
That's it! Just a few modifications when starting young!
The rest of this area are examples of feedings with Onyx and some helpful tips to go along with the photos. It helped me tremendously to see examples when I first began raw, so I try and include as many as I can for you. I want you to be as comfortable with raw feeding as possible. Remember that with my examples, there is also organ content... some organs are already inside the chunk or whole prey, if not, they get organ from another source... usually this isn't caught on video as it is swallowed up very quickly or given in a bowl inside once done outside. Organ should make up 10-15% of meals. Without organs, the diet is incomplete.
The rest of this area are examples of feedings with Onyx and some helpful tips to go along with the photos. It helped me tremendously to see examples when I first began raw, so I try and include as many as I can for you. I want you to be as comfortable with raw feeding as possible. Remember that with my examples, there is also organ content... some organs are already inside the chunk or whole prey, if not, they get organ from another source... usually this isn't caught on video as it is swallowed up very quickly or given in a bowl inside once done outside. Organ should make up 10-15% of meals. Without organs, the diet is incomplete.
Hmm, I wonder if Onyx is happy about his duck raw meaty bones? ;)
Onyx, king of the deer! Here he is eating a deer neck. He ate so much food during his growth spurts. It was awesome that most of these crazy spurts aligned with deer hunting season as I collect scraps from hunters, which = free food for a puppy who thought he was starving.
I don't buy very much raw food at the grocery store, it's typically not as good quality and more expensive than my other sources. However, I do take advantage of sales on whole chicken and whole duck. In this photo, Onyx is eating a duck. With poultry from grocery stores, make sure you remove any strings, bags containing giblets (they can eat the giblets, but not the bag of course), and preservation pads.
Onyx's first raw meaty bone after coming home... a turkey wing.
Raw lamb bones, again, this is tough for puppy teeth to get through, but he enjoyed nonetheless!
First meal with fur... rabbit. Onyx figured out exactly what to do. Many times adults need a little assistance to realize that there is meat inside. Adults also usually poop frequently after their first fur meal, as fur = fiber. This was not the case with Onyx. Having a young puppy system all ready to go helps with that!
Trout for dinner! Fish bones are nice and soft for puppy teeth to easily get through. However, many meals of fish can = loose stool, so mix it up.
Onyx's first duck neck. I think this is a beneficial video to watch as he is trying to see and test how big of a piece he can swallow at once. You'll see him swallow and then you'll see the duck neck come back up, chomp, chomp, swallow again.
Duck neck next day... he has it much better figured out.
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