Ruger's Raw Food Struggle

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When I decided to switch Kona to raw when she was around 6 months old, it was easy. I just stopped feeding what she was on prior and then next day fed her raw. There were no struggles to her adjusting to the switch.

Then when Cali came to us, right away I fed her raw, and again she had no issues adjusting to the switch.

Ruger came home with me on a Friday and for a couple days he ate the raw I made for him. He didn’t seem overly interested in food. I rolled up his raw into balls to feed as rewards during each meal time so I could work on training him while giving him his food. As I noticed him appear a bit underweight and it becoming a challenge to get him to eat his full meals, I was concerned. I took him to the vet to make sure everything was ok. Overall, he’s in good health, just a couple pounds under weight. My vet and I decided I would have him eat Primal Pet Freeze Dried Nuggets as he did show more interest in that. He is eating 4 times a day. 20 nuggets a day to get weight on him. I am not facing any challenges to get him to finish off the freeze dried nuggets. 3 times a day he is also eating a raw chicken foot, which he LOVES.

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After some time passes and he gains some weight, gains more confidence and fully adjusts to life here, I will make another attempt to put him on home made raw that Kona and Cali eat.

Having this happened has made me think, for those switching their dog to raw, this is what I would have done differently to make the switch easier. His food prior to coming to me would have been chicken based protein. I would have made all his raw meals chicken based to have made the switch easier on him. The reason I didn’t just switch from the beef raw to chicken raw was because that he was showing so much disinterest I didn’t want his meals to be incomplete. The raw I make is not ground up to have things like liver and kidney mixed in the beef. So if he decided he was done with his food and say the liver or kidney didn’t get touched, that’s him getting an incomplete meal which at this stage, being so young, it’s crucial he gets everything need to grow strong and healthy. 

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Ruger is eating Primal Pet Freeze Dried Nuggets in Pork. You add water and mix. I sometimes will add Primal Pet's Goat Milk or Bone Broth too. This is also what I feed Kona and Cali when we travel or go camping.