raw and kibble

KotasMommie · #1 22nd August 2011, 07:56 AM

If I fed raw for breakfast how long should I wait to feed kibble? We are doing a partial diet.

**gmacleod** · #2 22nd August 2011, 02:43 PM

A raw meal (with bone) should be digested within about 8 hours - versus about 11-13 hours for kibble. Thus, you should be fine feeding kibble for dinner if raw has been breakfast.

That's for being absolutely safe. In reality, the food is likely to have left the stomach quite a bit sooner than 8 hours later

I would personally be quite happy to feed a kibble meal within 4-5 hours of a raw meal. The other way around (kibble first) I would leave somewhat more time between.

KotasMommie · #3 23rd August 2011, 06:31 AM

Oh ok thanks for your reply. My 3 yr old Boxer doesn't seem to be handling it well. He loves to eat it but he's went #2 in the house twice in the weekend we had. It was also in the middle of the night. Usually he has no problem making it. My husband said this morning that he didn't k ow how long this raw feeding was going to last if they kept this up. Does it just take a while to adjust or do you think that maybe something else causing it? I really want to continue a partial diet and hopefully plan to move on to full raw diet one day.

**gmacleod** · #4 23rd August 2011, 04:17 PM

It can take a while for some dogs to adjust to a change in diet (whilst some others take to instantly). If your dog is having digestive problems, it could be an idea to look at exactly what you're giving him and maybe make some adjustments. Things that can be a bit tough for some dogs (initially only, or in some cases long term) are things like very dense bone, or excessive amounts of skin/fat. Particularly for a dog new to raw, I'd always suggest that the bones fed are not too dense (so no chicken wings, for example - stick instead to limited amounts of things like thigh bones or the rib bones with plenty meat attached) and that only a small amount of chicken skin is left on the pieces (this all assuming its chicken you're feeding - but the same principle applies whatever the meat - go easy on dense bone, and keep the fat content low).

KotasMommie · #5 24th August 2011, 04:58 AM

They get leg quarters with all skin removed and extra fat removed. I don't know what the problem is but they both had runny diarrhea and one rime bloody. So we r cutting out the raw for a little while to see if it continues and hopefully we can try again later with better results. They eat TOTW high orator so they drill get good kibble

KotasMommie · #6 24th August 2011, 10:52 AM

that message was from my phone a such a mess!! the last part is they eat TOTW high prarie so they still get good kibble.