Raw chicken vs Kibble chicken

[Kaybie's Mom]

I've heard through the grapevine that sometimes a dog that is allergic to chicken in kibble form will not necessarily be allergic to it in raw form. Does this hold any truth to it? I'm really wanting to switch Kaybie and Atreyu to the raw diet, but Kaybie has chicken allergies in kibble.........I can't afford to do raw without using chicken as the main component.

I was just searching on line about this and found a couple places that it says this:

Frequently animals test allergic to chicken when they are on processed food, but when they get the REAL thing, they are no longer allergic.

[gmacleod]

Yes, it is sometimes true. Cooking changes proteins, so it's not always true that a dog that can't tolerate chicken kibble won't be able to consume it perfectly well in natural form.

If, however, it is still a problem for Kaybie, you could always consider other cheap meat source (such as turkey) as a staple. No individual meat source should make up the majority of the diet, however.

[Kaybie's Mom]

Originally Posted by gmacleod

Yes, it is sometimes true. Cooking changes proteins, so it's not always true that a dog that can't tolerate chicken kibble won't be able to consume it perfectly well in natural form.

If, however, it is still a problem for Kaybie, you could always consider other cheap meat source (such as turkey) as a staple. No individual meat source should make up the majority of the diet, however.

I need to learn a lot about the diet before I take the plunge, but it seems that most people use chicken as their staple and then rotate in other meat sources. Maybe I'm way off with that. I'm thinking of buying a bag of frozen chicken wings and seeing if she has any reactions to those. Do I give those to her frozen or do I have to thaw them first? Also, I don't usually see much turkey around in the grocery stores besides at Thanksgiving???

[gmacleod]

Yes, plenty of people use chicken as the main meat. But "main" does not equate with majority. Or at least, it shouldn't. At maximum it should be about 50% of the RMB portion of the diet (that is, about 35% overall).

Testing the waters with some frozen chicken portions (wings are actually the least useful option - except if you want to hold her food whilst she eats it) seems a good idea. Personally I would choose thighs or drumsticks and defrost them first. Frozen food is more likely to cause near-term tummy upset, and also less likely to be interesting to the dog.

[Kaybie's Mom]

Originally Posted by gmacleod

Yes, plenty of people use chicken as the main meat. But "main" does not equate with majority. Or at least, it shouldn't. At maximum it should be about 50% of the RMB portion of the diet (that is, about 35% overall).

Testing the waters with some frozen chicken portions (wings are actually the least useful option - except if you want to hold her food whilst she eats it) seems a good idea. Personally I would choose thighs or drumsticks and defrost them first. Frozen food is more likely to cause near-term tummy upset, and also less likely to be interesting to the dog.

If I can find thighs or drumsticks, do I let her eat the bones in them as well? I thought bones bigger than those in like a chicken wing are too big?

[gmacleod]

LOL - no, they're not too big. Dogs much smaller than boxers could consume anything in a chicken without any problem.

Actually, the densest and most difficult to digest part of a chicken is the wings (that and the near total absence of meat are why they're the least useful bits of a chicken). Legs are much less dense and hence easier. They're far more meaty too. Other than as part of a whole chicken, I wouldn't ever bother feeding wings to a dog - unless I wanted them for teaching the dog to chew, of course (it's easy to hang onto an end of a wing without getting your fingers munched). They're little more than skin and bone (quite literally).

[ehayes21]

Rowdy is actually allergic to chicken in kibble, but does just fine on raw chicken. Good luck, I have found raw very easy and a great way to feed!

[Kaybie's Mom]

Originally Posted by gmacleod

LOL - no, they're not too big. Dogs much smaller than boxers could consume anything in a chicken without any problem.

Actually, the densest and most difficult to digest part of a chicken is the wings (that and the near total absence of meat are why they're the least useful bits of a chicken). Legs are much less dense and hence easier. They're far more meaty too. Other than as part of a whole chicken, I wouldn't ever bother feeding wings to a dog - unless I wanted them for teaching the dog to chew, of course (it's easy to hang onto an end of a wing without getting your fingers munched). They're little more than skin and bone (quite literally).

Thank you for explaining that. I guess I was confused! LOL! I will look to see if I can find a bag of drumsticks.

[Kaybie's Mom]

Originally Posted by ehayes21

Rowdy is actually allergic to chicken in kibble, but does just fine on raw chicken. Good luck, I have found raw very easy and a great way to feed!

That is sooooo encouraging to hear!!!! Thank you sooo much for telling me this! My fingers are crossed that Kaybie will do ok with raw chicken..........

[bayleighmom]

I don't know if you have a Walmart nearby but at the store here, I can buy a 10 pound bag of leg quarters for under $5!

[Kaybie's Mom]

Originally Posted by bayleighmom

I don't know if you have a Walmart nearby but at the store here, I can buy a 10 pound bag of leg quarters for under $5!

Thanks for the suggestion. Is that a SuperWalmart that has a full grocery store in it? We only have the regular Walmarts around here. They have a very small amount of groceries so I'm not sure they would carry it.....might be worth a look though......thanks!

[bayleighmom]

Originally Posted by Kaybie's Mom

Thanks for the suggestion. Is that a SuperWalmart that has a full grocery store in it? We only have the regular Walmarts around here. They have a very small amount of groceries so I'm not sure they would carry it.....might be worth a look though......thanks!

It's a SuperWalmart.