Raw feeding and illness

[pitgrrl]

After a very infuriating conversation with a vet tech this afternoon, I'm wondering what other's opinions are on feeding raw when a dog is ill, specifically with something involving the GI system.

The typical advice is ofcourse to fast for 12-24 hours and then slowly introduce cooked rice/meat mush or some sort of prescription gastro food. I've read in a few books that one should feed a cooked diet in cases where the dog is having GI problems.

So I'm wondering what all of you here do in these situations. Do you go straight back to and/or keep feeding raw? Do you feed cooked food or prescription food temporarily?

[Frenchy]

I know my guys have had many problems with upset stomachs .... before I finally found what was wrong. Every time they were put on Medi-Cal gastro for a while. I know , not too good of a kibble , but it did work.

[pitgrrl]

If I thought it would help I would do it temporarily, but it messes Streets up far more than it helps.

Both dogs are fasting right now, I'm just trying to figure out if I should go back to raw tomorrow or feed lightly cooked meat for a day or two first.

[want4rain]

i guess i gotta ask, why lightly cooked? does lightly cooked bother Streets? do you feed bone in or ground? ( i cant remember)

the only reason i could think to blanch a whole piece of meat would be to kill off some of the surface bacteria. if he was on antibiotics, i could see that as a possible good idea since his own digestive flora will have been impacted. be sorta like starting them out new raw BUT he has been raw fed. his body should still be geared towards eating raw meat. its not like each time they get sick they default to a grainy kibble processing body you know??

if it were me, the most i would do is blanch whole, bone in meat for the first day and see how things go. if you are feeding ground, unless you plan on mostly cooking it, you wont impact the surface bacteria much.

if he reacts badly(the runs, vomiting etc) to the LIGHTLY BLANCHED meat, give him just plain raw the next day. is he sensitive enough to cooked meat or has that been ok in the past??

i dont see *any* reason to feed kibble or prescription unless that was something you were feeding before.

you dont have some pictures??? i think we should start a payment plan. those who ask questions or advice have to pay with pictures.

-ashley

[pitgrrl]

Oh, there isn't a hope in h*ll that I'll be using any prescription kibbles. We've been down that road, it was bad.

I was more just wondering if people typically go right back to raw in the case of illness of use any other variations temporarily.

[luckypenny]

Pitgrrl, when my pups are experiencing tummy troubles such as runny poop, I hold off on any organs and feed chicken breast on the bone (just breast bone without the back). By their next poop, everything is back to normal so i normally don't fast them unless they have explosive diarhea (like when I fed them lamb for the first time ).

[want4rain]

perfect timing for a question like that-
http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread....476#post565476

whats your thoughts?? we are still too new to this to really say but if i had to make a decision, id probably fast for 2 or 3 days and then start back up raw, single meat source and tripe, 3 or 4 days later fgo back to how thigns were.

-ashley

[growler~GateKeeper]

Pitgrrl are the boys on probiotics to replace the good gut flora? if not maybe starting might help

[pitgrrl]

Originally Posted by want4rain

we are still too new to this to really say but if i had to make a decision, id probably fast for 2 or 3 days and then start back up raw, single meat source and tripe, 3 or 4 days later fgo back to how thigns were.

-ashley

I would think 3 days is a bit long, I've never had anyone recommend, nor have I ever read about fasting for more than 48 hours tops.

I've talked to a couple of long time raw feeders and they both basically say the same thing, once you start to feed again go with small, single protein meals. Once cooks the meat lightly the other does not, both add something like yams for a day or so.

I went to the middle road, steamed some chicken for all of a minutes, fed that for a couple of meals and then went back to raw.