Transitioning from raw to ... something else....

Okay, so I am having to board Charlotte for a week while I go have fun and sun at the beach. She can't ride on my scooter, and no one wants her in the car

I did find a great place to send her though, reasonable rates, and they may consider having me keep her on a commercial processed raw, but not on "just meat"

Me: I feed raw, would you consider feeding this to her?

Them: I'll have to get back to you on that, what kind of raw is it?

Me: Um, meat, you know, like chicken and beef, and pork and stuff.

Them: Can you tell me the brand name and how much room she will need in the freezer?

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Me: Um, she just eats meat, like what you get at the grocery store. I'd have to pack up a small cooler's worth for a week away.


Them: Oh, we can't have that, there's too much risk of transmission, and complaints from other dog owners. We have liability... We may consider a prepackaged raw, some of them have ACV in them to help with that, and I'll talk to my boss about it...



So, I still don't know yet, if they will let her eat raw, so I've bought a bag of patties, ground chicken, beef bone and ACV. At least there is an option without added crap. Should also put the conversation with the pet store guy in here: "This meal is a complete meal, it's been balanced to provide all the nutrition your dog needs..." "Yes, but I don't want any filler..." "Oh, there's no filler in this one, it just has meat, veggies, fruit and some bone for calcium..." "Yes, but I don't want any fillers I said" "But there isn't any filler in here..." "But my dog doesn't digest fruits and veggies, so they are just fillers, as far as I'm concerned..." Finally found a protein only blend at Global, and almost bought some freeze dried food, until I read the ingredient list... yep, vomit diet crap in there too. Almost bought some "freeze dried kangaroo" but it had filler too!!! If I win a lottery, I'm going into the dog boarding/co-op meat business, I swear...



The question remains, if I have to go to canned or kibble, any suggestions? Must be available in Canada...and I would have to start now or soon, so she doesn't get bad diarrhea while she's there making them take her to the vet unneccessarily...

A pet sitter to watch both the house and Charlotte while you're away isn't an option?

That would be my choice.


http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=GCj&q=pet+sitter+canada&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

I always have a petsitter come in. What I would do in this case if I had to board is grind whole pieces of chicken leg quarter or pork, turkey neck, etc and form into patties and freeze. You can buy large hamburger patty makers anywhere I'm sure and the bottom is like a lid that fits on the rim of each other. Then after the patties are frozen, stick some wax paper in between each one and stick the stack in a ziploc bag and pass them off as commercial raw. No one will ever know the difference. Tell them it's NV or whatever you guys have in Canada but the bag got damaged so you had to put them in a different one.

They still haven't said yes to the raw at all though, really hoping that they do. No, a pet sitter isn't an option, Charlotte has separation anxiety, and someone coming in twice a day just to let her out and feed her isn't enough for this length of time. The kennel has 50 acres for her to run around in daily, so really really good, and the same price as the pet sitter quoted.

I did find a good source for commercial raw without extra crap in it, and tried her on it today just in case, she ate it fine, even though the texture was off. Don't expect any gastrointestinal problems if they let me keep her on that...

So, if you had to feed something other than raw, what would it be?

I'd likely go with a canned food if not even prepared raw was available. But if prepared raw IS an option, I'd go that route.. even if there are fillers (fruit/veg), there are in canned foods as well (unless it's the 95% EVO or what have you).

A few weeks of filler won't kill her, and atleast she'd still be getting the raw stuff. HEY! Know anyone with a lable maker and a bag sealer? Make your own "brand" LOL

It was suggested to me to buy canned mackerel and sardines, also canned tripe, and the tripe lamb mix that tripet makes. Those are good ideas, but I won't be making my own pet mince, I have no use for a food grinder, and won't buy one to use for just one week. I may go to a butcher and have them do it for me if all else fails though, still cheaper than the healthy paws that I picked up to test her on.

Any more ideas? keep 'em coming, I'm gone next week!

One of our members here makes ground raw.. I get ground bone from her. Rox.

Maybe she could send some up? It's just in ziploc baggies though, wonder if they would beleive you that it was premade by someone else?

Whatever you feed, STRESS that feeding anything else is likely to cause digestive upset and a lot of mess. We haven't boarded Saxen since the kennels we used decided that feeding the food that we provided was too much hassle and fed him biscuits and tinned food instead. Even handed my OH a bag of food so we could feed our dog something "a bit better". Since then we've either asked a raw feeding friend to feed him or had a friend or family member to stay with him at home.

I don't know about in Canada but here in the UK there are companies selling pet mince that doesn't have fillers in (just meat/bone/organ). They are usually high in bone though. Butchers usually sell pet mince too. It's not everyday food but no butcher is going to be putting fruit or veg in with their pet minces. I would certainly be looking at giving the kennels something like pet mince before considering tinned or kibble.

I kept getting conflicting answers from the kennel about whether they will feed raw, and it turns out that they were thinking about doing it, but only have a staff fridge, so, no freezer space, so no raw, unfortunately. They are still looking into it for the future, so for this time, I put Charlotte on canned Before Grain. At least there is only two ingredients, like, beef and water, chicken and water, tripe and water, salmon and water.... but it is minced so finely, I could spread it on toast with a knife. I've been feeding it to her for the past few days, and she hasn't had a problem with it, but it was the closest to raw without being raw that I could find. I'm sending her with that, and some dehydrated meats, hopefully that will give her some stimulation, she could eat this stuff with a straw, I'm serious!

She has a nice rabbit to come back to, and some rib bones too, let's keep those teeth clean!!