A few weeks ago I decided to change my dog’s diet. Cinderella is 4 years old, and has been eating kibble her whole life; today, October 22nd, we are in the third week of transition. The question I’ve been getting: “Why?” There is no crazy reason behind this change, the answer is simple, I am almost done with my basic canine nutrition course, and based on what we learned along with doing my homework/ research I decided that this was the best diet for my furry baby.
There are plenty of blogs and websites explaining all the benefits of raw food and selling it as the solution to all your problems, but I am not here for that, this post is about my experience transitioning my dog from kibble to raw so you can have a guide to follow and do the change properly in case you are considering raw food as an option.
First, I have to say that I did deep research to find a raw food provider, after some fails (that I am not going to mention here) I found “Raw Paws” they are a small family-owned company located in Indiana, if you are looking for raw food providers I highly recommend them, they have a lot of options available and always run great promotions. So, I ordered the “Intro one time offer” which is 9 pounds of different meats, one bottle of goat milk (16 FL Oz), and free shipping for $69.00 with a discount code they were offering at the moment my total was $62.10. If you decide to give Raw Paws a chance, I just want to tell you that the website can be overwhelming due to all the products available, I had to call them because I didn’t know how to even start LOL which I highly recommend as well if you have any questions/concerns call them, they have the best customer service ever, they walked me through all the process and sent me a bunch of information to my email regarding their food, feeding schedule, etc. Once you order, the box will arrive at your door with dry ice and it should be 100% frozen.
My box arrived on a Thursday afternoon so the three following days I started giving Cinderella the meat as a treat, I made little balls and gave them to her between meals just to see if she liked it, and of course, she loved it!
On Monday we started following the feeding schedule that Raw Paws recommended us which was:
| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 |
| Monday:
-Raw in the morning -Kibble in the evening Tuesday: -Kibble (both meals) Wednesday: -Raw in the morning -Kibble in the evening
And, the same sequence for the rest of the week. |
-Raw food in the morning
-Kibble in the evening
Every day. |
Monday:
-Raw food (both meals) Tuesday: -Raw in the morning -Kibble in the evening
And, repeat the sequence for the rest of the week. |
Change has been done: Raw food in both meals. |
Starting next week Cinderella’s diet will be 100% raw. We could have done all this faster since she absolutely loved the food from day one, she has no allergies nor any health issues, no sensitive stomach, she is not a picky eater, but we still decided to do it slowly to see the process and bring it to you in this post.
During these 3 weeks, we have been monitoring closely her energy levels, water intake, stool, and everything looks absolutely normal. However, this is not always the case, some dogs can have some other reactions like diarrhea or bloating, especially if the process is rushed. So, to conclude, because I don’t want this post to be extremely long if you decide to do the change, I’ll leave you a couple of suggestions that can be of help:
-Don’t rush the process, give your pup time, and introduce the new food slowly.
-Don’t expect your pup to eat every single type of meat from day one.
-Monitor closely any changes in your dog’s behavior, if you notice any allergic reaction suspend the new diet immediately and talk to your vet before making any decision.
-Create a consistent feeding schedule/ routine and stick to it.
