Hi guys,

Well i keep hearing everyone on here talk about feeding their dog raw food.

So, the question is, I have a left over, raw, chicken breast. Is this the sort of thing my dog would love?

Again, he is only 12 weeks old, so would it be too much at this age?

Cheers

Chicken breast is fine and chicken is the meat most people start on. I'm not sure how much you should give him though and you may need to chop it up for him as he's still young.

I'm guessing this is as a treat?

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Hi,

Yeah, more as a treat right now, but i am also concerned about his coat...let me explain.

I feed him on Wainrights dry food at the moment, but someone who owns 11 dogs, (but i suppose not necessarily an expert), suggested that just feeding him dry food may dry out his skin.

I brushed him this morning and he did end up looking like he had a bad case of dandruff!

So, i suppose thats gone slightly off-topic but its all related really!

Thanks

Giving it as a treat is fine but I would recommend you give him it as a meal so you're not mixing kibble and raw together. When I was feeding kibble and raw I made sure I left at least 6 hours between them so I usually gave kibble for breakfast and raw for tea.

I don't know much about kibble and wet food for dogs if I'm honest but I think some people have said raw feeding has helped with dandruff and related things. Salmon oil is said to help with their coat. Hopefully someone who knows more about it can help you with that though.

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Kibble doesn't always dry out the coat.

The thing is you can feed whatever you want to feed - be it bad or good in the eyes of others. Louie's coat was shiny on dry food - yet it's gorgeous on the raw food.. Sadie has always been fed cheap nasty tins, yet her coat has always shined.. what works for one dog won't always work for the next.

As for the raw - puppies can be moved straight over to it, chicken is the easiest as it is bland. A chicken breast - will probably do 3 of your pups meals depending on his weight and the weight of the breast, it will also help his jaw muscles work and help with the correct growth (so I believe).

No question is stupid.. some are a bit - "Hmmm" but not stupid

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I am a raw feeder and a chicken breast would probably be enjoyed. I would advise you to look through Raw Feeding: everything you need to know! . Many people here on this forum do not feed "raw" but still give occasional boney meals such as chicken wings (NEVER COOKED BONES) as an aid to keeping their dogs teeth clean.

It's never a stupid question if you do not know the answer. What would be stupid would be failing to inform yourself about what you can do to enhance the well being of your dog. Most of what people feed on this forum is due to people making informed choices. You'll still notice a lot of people feeding different things. Main thing is that people, having researched a bit are trying to do the best for their dog based on this research.

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Its your choice if you go raw, I suggest you look at the threads here and buy (for about £6 on amazon) Dr Billingshurst, give a dog a bone, book. Really plain and simple.

You will also come accross barf, I however tend to go with the prey model, they get the odd table scrap and carrot end when cooking but I dont give it to them every day. Some people don't feed raw everyday, I didnt during the really hot months this year (remember them) I did 4 days raw, 12hrs nothing and then kibble for 4 days.
The flies drove me nuts over the summer.

Any white poultry meat is a good start for raw. I have started a new one on tripe and chicken/ turkey which is going well, he was a fussy eater....not anymore

As for the coat, it could be a number of things, hwoever oily fish will really help, you could mash up some tinned/fresh mackeral or sardines in his dinner. It shoud help his coat if all the scurf is, is a bit of dry skin. The sardines in tomato sauce might be more palatable for him at this age.

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Doglets: Teal, Dylan and Buster

Ponies: Toffee, Samba and Jake

Guinea wiggles: Hector, Herbert and Humphrey

Fishes: Bess, Gerald, Barney and Claus

My dogs coat and skin dried out quite badly on wainwrights dry, adding things like tins of sardine or mackeral in oil or raw eggs to the food should help I now use CSJ which has a higher oil content than wainwrights and my dogs skin is much better.

I also feed raw part time, will be increasing within the next 6 months hopefully!!! It's great for cleaning teeth, my dog gets chicken, rabbit, lamb, venison and will be getting hare soon too, he won't eat pork or pheasant but i'm not bothered

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Owned by Tummel the rottaridgeador and Dante the Italian Spinone

I feed raw so like Goblin said I'm sure it will be very eagerly appreciated! The whole chicken breast may be too much though all at once depending on the weight of it and your pup!

With his fur/skin you could always drizzle a little fish/salmon oil over their kibble to help with the dry skin.

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Harvey - staffy
Chance - american bulldog (rescue)

19 snakes, 5 geckos, phibs, T's, inverts, fluffies and hedgehog.

A whole chicken breast will be fine at 12 weeks old and, depending on the breed and thus size, could be considered either a meal or a treat.