# Raw Food - Most Digestable



## Kadi Thingvall (Jan 22, 2007)

What are the most easily digested raw foods? And highest concentrations of fat, protein, etc. 

My JRT just had surgery for an obstruction, and lost a large percentage of her intestine. About 60%. She's awake this morning (surgery was last night) so that's the first hurdle, she survived the surgery. Now we have to get her eating, and I need to come up with a diet that will be as easily digested as possible, because nutritional deficiency is the new concern, how much will she actually be able to get out of her food with such a short intestine. 

Bone or any other larger objects can't be part of the diet, chances of things getting "hung up" in there are to high now, something the consistency of cream of wheat will be ideal. So I'll be grinding up any meats or purchasing it preground (hamburger, ground turkey, etc). Does anyone know of a source of bone powder that can be used to replace the bone she'd normally be eating in a raw diet? I'm thinking I'll give her knuckle bones to chew on, way to big for her to actually get any chunks of bone off, but good for keeping those teeth clean.

Any suggestions on a diet for her, and foods that should be avoided as harder to digest?


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## Sam Trinh (Jul 31, 2006)

i don't know what it is like for dogs, but i know for people that we do not get very much protein out of beef. I think eggs are the most easily digestible food (w/ respect to protein)


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

Kadi I use Urban Wolf to supplement my bitches chicken parts and veggies RAW diet. It has Calcium Carbonate to replace any of the bone calcium your dog would be missing as well as veggies that are great antioxidants. The Urban wolf can be mixed with any ground meat beef, chicken, turkey. I mix it with ground chicken carcasses and 20% fish she does get a bit of raw bone with that mixture but even with the calcium carbonate in the Urban Wolf she doesn't overdose on calcium. I just mix in a Chicken back or thighs every 3rd or 4th day to add variety. I really believe in the Urban Wolf product it is good stuff. www.urbanwolf.cc


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Sam, you are correct. Egg protein is the most digestible animal protein for dogs. I'll try to see if I can look up the others a bit later. I personally wouldn't have a dog on a raw diet for a couple things (keeping in mind I'm not a vet yet, so these are just my opinions):

-if the dog was on Prilosec or other stomach acid inhibitor (the acid breaks down the bone and helps with bacterial control)
-if it was on antibiotics recently so the good bacteria can repopulate
-if the bowel was resectioned

I don't mind a raw diet for a healthy dog obviously, but for a dog with those issues, I would pull them off it for a while. The bacterial infection issue is not something I'd mess with, which in a healthy animal shouldn't be a big deal. I'd stick with a complete canned food (Evo 95% chicken, turkey, rabbit, etc, Chicken Soup, Canidae, Wellness, etc). Another possibility is Nature's Variety raw frozen (the chicken, organic chicken, beef, and lamb have all passed AAFCO feeding trials) and cook the patties or medallions in the microwave. If you ask a standard vet, they'd probably say put them on Hill's i/d. *shrug* :roll:

Homecooked diets are a pain the butt because you can't do them whole prey (which makes making sure the calciumhospherous ratios are good) as easily because of the bones unless you grind it down well and then cook it. Bone powder can actually be pretty high in heavy metals, so you can actually use Tums as a source of calcium carbonate, but some calculations are needed. Anyways, if it were my dogs, I'd stick with a canned high quality diet and maybe some cooked commercial frozen raw.


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## Kadi Thingvall (Jan 22, 2007)

The vet already recommended the i/d  I figured a raw diet would be easier for her to digest, so she'd get more out of it, then a prepared diet. If that's not the case though, I have no problems feeding a quality canned food, makes my life easier if I'm not having to try to mix and match ingredients to make a balanced diet for her.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Just be sure if you feed some of the canned foods, look at the label and make sure they have either passed AAFCO feeding trials or are AAFCO formulated are for adult maintenance. Some of the new 95% meat canned diets like Wellness Core are for supplemental feeding only where as others, like Evo or Nature's Variety canned, are AAFCO formulated. Which doesn't mean you can't use them occasionally, of course, just not all the time. Good luck!


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## Christine Chung (Mar 29, 2008)

We feed our golden retriever a combination of a pre-made ground meat, organ, and bone patty that contains beef, chicken, or elk and we give turkey necks, chicken necks/backs, ground hamburger, chicken gizzards (hearts, kidneys, and lungs...but only up to 10% as it is rich), eggs, sardines,, knuckle bones, marrow bones and certain fruits and vegetables. If you are worried about the flora in your JRT's intestinal tract, you could try an acidophilus (sic?) yogurt with live cultures to promote good bacteria (also keeps yeast in check).

We don't give too many fruits and vegetables as it usually causes a softer stool and it is extremely hard for dogs to break down the cellulose in plant material.


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