Need advice on part Kibble and part Raw diet.

[Spunky&Gizmo]

I am new to the Raw Diet and want to start my 1 yr old labs on it.
I want to do a morning Kibble and evening raw diet to keep it affordable and easy in the mornings.

What brand of kibble would be the best choice?
What quantities or ratio of food should I do?
Would i have to add any supplements because i am doing raw food?

[Belles mom]

I feed my kids kibble 2 to 4 mornings a week, and raw the rest of the time (evening meals and the other breakfasts). I feed Nature's Variety as kibble. For the raw, I have been doing the dehydrated stuff (Honest Kitchen) but am now going more "home made" as I am gaining confidence I am what I am doing. I added supplements for awhile, but am sure that I really did not have to. The improvement in my dogs appearance was significant once I went primarily raw. I personally like to feed kibble once in awhile, just to keep my dogs used to it 'cause I am really lazy in the morning and do forget to thaw stuff once in awhile

[Canyon Labradors]

I heard you can't mix raw and kibble in one meal. Is that true? Otherwise, it's OK to do an AM raw meal and a PM kibble meal?

[tuckersmom20]

its best to wait 8 hours between a kibble and a raw meal.

The reason being because kibble digests slowly and raw digests quicker.
So if the kibble slows the raw down, it could trap any bad bacteria in him.....
Its just safer to feed either kibble or raw.

[Zoë-M]

its best to wait 8 hours between a kibble and a raw meal.

The reason being because kibble digests slowly and raw digests quicker.
So if the kibble slows the raw down, it could trap any bad bacteria in him.....
Its just safer to feed either kibble or raw.

i thought this was 12 hours..?

[Nallah06]

i thought this was 12 hours..?

8-12 hours is fine. Many people, myself included have fed raw & kibble together with no ill effects.

You want to take the normal amount of each product you would normally feed and cut it in half. Say you feed 3 cups per day of kibble, so you'd just want to feed 1.5 cups in the morning. And lets say you fed 1.5 lbs of meat per day so you'd want to feed .75 lbs for the evening meal.

Guideline is 2-3% of the ideal body weight for an adult for raw meals. Adjust accordingly.

For kibble I would probably suggest grain free, but feed whatever you are comfortable with and what your dog does well on. For raw, I'd start with chicken backs or quarters. Good Luck!

[Matsuro]

I've read about the half raw/half kibble thing before. That is what my plan is until I can find a supplier and a good freezer (still no plans for a dog yet), but what do people do who have very young puppies? My understanding was that puppies had to eat three times per day until a certain age and than can be switched to two meals per day?

What about those puppies that eat strictly raw? Do they still get three meals per day to that cut off age?

[LubLabs]

We just got a lab puppy about 2 weeks ago and she didn't like the food the breeder had her on. After a lot of research I didn't like the food he'd been feeding her either. I went to a local pet store (not the big chain kind that promote crappy foods like Science diet) and she recommended Nature's Variety or Precise holistic dog foods. I like to use the frozen raw foods from Nature's Variety and for on the road you can buy the freeze dried raw. I also do Precise Holistic large breed puppy kibble.

[Tuxtable28]

I have used the Nature's Variety freeze dried raw and the frozen medallions, my dogs love them and had wonderful results as far as body condition and weight!