# Raw Diet Indigestion?



## rebeccaandholly (Jan 7, 2010)

I recently switched over my two dogs to a raw diet about 2 weeks ago. Our 5 yr old Chihuahua/Italian Greyhound is doing great on it. He wasn't too fond of the ripping/tearing a carcass (whether it be a chicken neck or back)--it was just too much for him. So we switched him to a packaged ground meat and bones meal and he gobbles it up in no time.

Our 1.5 yr old Standard Poodle is a different story. She LOVES her chicken quarters and will gobble it up--while being smart to chew it before swallowing. Our problem is she is frequently waking up in the middle of the night with indigestion. This includes that icky extra saliva in your mouth before you throw up sound and stomach gurgling. Her stool still hasn't firmed up completely since the switch (it was a cold turkey switch) and she'll often ask to go out in the middle of the night.

Is there anything I can do to help her indigestion? I've tried feeding less at night, tried feeding more at night. Also tried pumpkin which has helped the stool but not the indigestion. 

We will be branching out into supplements (fish oil, alfalfa and kelp being top on the list) as well as offal once I get this figured out.

Many thanks,

Rebecca


----------



## Northern_Inuit_Luv (Aug 26, 2009)

what kind of meat are you feeding right now?


----------



## rebeccaandholly (Jan 7, 2010)

Chicken for the Standard Poodle--all quarters of the whole chicken.


----------



## Nallah06 (Nov 26, 2008)

Are you feeding once a day or twice a day?

Also, I would try to keep the diets as bland as possible until all issues are cleared up. Since you are starting out with chicken, stick to chicken. Nix the pumpkin. Pumpkin can just mask the real issue since it has so much fiber in it. You might find that once you stopped the pumpkin, the stool would be back to runny or loose. You need to give them time to adjust to the chicken by itself before you go adding things.

You say its been about two weeks? Is this all the Poodle has been getting is chicken quarters or is there anything else you can think of??? 

It could just be a chicken intolerance if its only been chicken for the last two weeks and its not adjusted yet. But also remember they go through a detox period. 

Is the stool just slightly loose or is it all out runny?


----------



## CorgiKarma (Feb 10, 2009)

Could be a chicken allergy.


----------



## rebeccaandholly (Jan 7, 2010)

Nallah--we are trying to figure out right now if once a day or twice is better for her. She will eat 1 quarter 2x a day if feed 2 times or 1 to 1.5 quarters if feed once a day. She's definately NOT a big binge eater.

We are feeding her training treats of natural turkey hot dog (no nitrates) and small oven dried liver but that's not every day and her stomach issues happen just about every night.

I'll give her a few more days of just chicken (and maybe just baked chicken treats) and see if she settles down.

The funny thing is we bought 20 chickens on sale for her transistion to a raw diet and I'm a vegetarian so those chickens will be going to waste!

Would a chicken allergy's only symptom be stomach upset? She's not exhibiting any skin issues or anything else.

Many thanks,

Rebecca


----------



## Northern_Inuit_Luv (Aug 26, 2009)

where are you located? I'm sure there are other raw feeders that would buy those chickens off of you.


----------



## rebeccaandholly (Jan 7, 2010)

I'm in Oregon--true I hadn't even thought of reselling. Thanks for the idea! I have a few friends who feed raw and might be interested.


----------



## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Could it just be too much food? Max rarely has gas but the time I accidently gave him a huge chunk of boneless meat instead of a huge chunk of bony meat he had quite a bit of gas.

Try feeding only a pound of chicken for a couple days and see if that improves things. Max gets only 1.6% of his weight daily, not all dogs need the same amount of food.


----------



## rebeccaandholly (Jan 7, 2010)

Kathy--you know I just bought a digital food scale today to start measuring out the raw food per feeding--WOAH I was feeding WAY too much food. What I thought was 1-1.5 lbs a day was actually over 2lbs. I am definintely going to cut back to 1-1.2 lbs and see where that takes us. 
Thanks for the advice!


----------



## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

Digital scales are amazing tools! I have toy breeds so we need to monitor their meals a bit more closely than with large dogs. And it only seems to take a few days of slacking off with the scale and my dogs are either lethargic or noticeably gaining weight. Another good "scale tip" is to weigh your dog monthly and keep a log. It will help you understand their daily food needs better.


----------



## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Ouch! I so depend on that digital scale. Well, you will see if that is the problem or not now. It shouldn't take but a couple days to see if that was the problem. Hope that is all it is.


----------



## rebeccaandholly (Jan 7, 2010)

Me too! I didn't feed her last night and it was the first night that she didn't have the stomach gurgling. She did however throw up after she ate her morning meal so there may need to be some tinkering with portion size--maybe she does best on 2 meals a day of smaller portions. We will see!

I also was feeding my chihuahua too much--no wonder he was turning his nose up at the food.


----------



## NicoleIsStoked (Aug 31, 2012)

I know this is an old thread but has anyone else experienced anything like this?
My dog has been on raw for a month and a half now (premade ground meals). As some of you may know, I've been gathering info to switch him to a home made rmb diet soon. 
But since the switch from kibble to raw he seems to have constant indigestion. His poops are good, skin and coat are great and he was even successful at losing the extra bit of weight we were trying to shake, but he constantly walks around making gross little burps. (Like the kind you get after eating a nasty deep fried meal). He has not been throwing up. 
At first I thought it may just be part of the transitional phase and so I've been adding kefir once daily as a probiotic but it doesn't seem to help. How long should it take his body to adjust?
He gobbles up his meal VERY fast. Usually about 5-10 seconds. Could this be causing him an upset stomach? That's my main reason for wanting to put him on whole parts rather than the ground meal- to help him slow down. 
Any thoughts?


----------



## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

It is possible, hope that is all it is. Max could vacuum up his whole 10 ounces of ground in about .5 seconds, much faster than eating kibble. I smashed the raw around the bottom edge of a pie tin so it took longer to eat after I saw that. Could put it in a kong as well. I add water to Ginger's dish if she is getting any ground stuff to slow her down as she doesn't drink enough water.

How fast did he lose the weight? It took over a year for Max to lose weight and close to a year for Ginger to lose weight but both were very overweight, Max needed to lose 33% and Ginger 25%. Ginger looked and felt like she lost a lot of weight after the kibble gut was gone, I could see quite a nice tuck and beginning of a waist after that last kibble poop but all the bony bits were still impossible to feel. Or it could be he needs more food, keep your hands on him to be sure he isn't getting too ribby!


----------



## NicoleIsStoked (Aug 31, 2012)

he needed to lose 1-1.5 lbs. we've been working on it for a year now. i got the first 0.8 off of him with a low cal kibble and tons of exercise over the past 10 months and then he dropped the last half pound or so over the last month and a half after switching to raw.
at this time last year he was 16.3lbs and now he's about 14.6lbs. He was never obese but a bit chubby. He looks good now. After successful weight loss, how much do you increase food intake to maintain and stop loss?


----------

