And we're off!

[Luvmydog2much]

As of Sunday my 8 year old Rhys will be eating a raw diet, through the generosity of one of my patients, he'll not only be eating raw, but he'll be eating very well on raw!

I just wanted to thank Dana for getting us going, hopefully he'll start to pack on the pounds soon!

It will be interesting for me (and his oncologists) to see how he does on the raw, and if all goes well, I'll consider going with the girls. For right now, he's the only one who really 'NEEDS' it, no issues with the girls right now.

So Sunday will be day 1, I can't fast him, so we'll see how it goes. As of today, Rhys is 54lbs of skin and bones (he's always looked great at 85lbs), and considering he ripped into the boxes as I was putting them in the freezer (naughty Rhys ate part of the plastic bag LOL, that's not organ meat!) he'll probably love it and the girls will stare at him all drooly!

Wish us luck!

[Baloo317]

Good luck Melissa! And have fun!

[Luvmydog2much]

Well, I did an urban carnivore meal for Rhysie this morning, only to be hurked back up about 25 minutes later. I thought maybe it was a bit cool still (I took it out of the freezer last night and let it thaw in a sink of warm water for about 40 minutes, but was still a bit froze in the very center. (Gin was more than happy to eat the regurg.) I figured he'd be hungry, but left him for the next meal.

Dinner he had chicken backs, and this time, it was 40 minutes before (as soon as I let him out of his crate)...OOPPS there comes Rhysie's food again. (and again, Gin was very prompt about eating that up).

So now, I caved, being he's now gone without 4 meals and is still losing about 3lbs a week...I need to get something in him, so I gave him kibble about 45 mins ago. No vomiting.

I know I'm a bad mommy. But if I go to his Dr's appointment on Friday and he's still losing weight and I tell them he's vomiting raw...

Well you get the idea.

So we're going to try again tomorrow.

So tomorrow I am going to crate him for an

[Baloo317]

Well that's too bad, poor Rhysie can't catch a break!

Is he a hoover-er Melissa? sometimes if they swallow big chunks of anything the stomach sends it back up as if to say, "nope too big, try again!"

[Luvmydog2much]

No, he's not a big hoover. He does however tend to swallow things whole, so I held the chicken backs for him to chew, so he had to chew and not gulp it back.

The urban carnivore I didn't do this with, I broke it up, put a raquetball in his dish (like I do for each dog for kibble, just in case) and stuck it in his crate.

He wasn't sure at first what to make of it, so he sniffed and nibbled mostly.

We're waking up early to try again tomorrow. If he doesn't keep anything in tomorrow morning, I'll kibble him again, and get some ginger root for him for about 1/2 hour before he eats tomorrow night.

I think I am going to try chicken backs again tomorrow morning because they stayed down a bit longer....thoughts?

[Baloo317]

What protien is the UC? Ground stuff is generally far easier to digest so I'd be more inclined to try that again (provided it's a bland protien) but make sure it's nice and warmed, as you're very right in that something being cold can hit the eject button as well. Just float in some warm water until it's a little warmer than room temperature.

[Luvmydog2much]

It was the whole chicken. We tried again this morning, and did the ginger root and a bit of tripe which I know he holds down and another UC patty, only 1/2 though.

I left for work 1 1/2 hours after he ate, but I left him crated in case he throws it up...at least I'll know.

[ObedienceLabs4Me]

Melissa, when I first switched Caleb to raw, for about the first month or so I had to give him a digestive enzyme with each meal. Huge difference. I still give a digestive enzyme to each of the boys when I feed--probably not necessary at this point but can't hurt.

[Belles mom]

I do the digestive enzymes also...from Natures Pharmacy

[Luvmydog2much]

Yup, he's going to get that as soon as I receive it, I ordered last week.