We have recently switched all of our Cresteds to a raw diet.
While we feel that a high-quality dog food is acceptable, we have chosen to feed our dogs a raw diet. Since mentioning this to people, we have received a lot of questions about raw feeding and what to feed. We are by no means an expert in the subject so we are just providing what we do with our Cresteds. You should always consult your vet regarding choices for your own dogs.
What we feed:
Our Cresteds are given all raw meat. We feed roughly 4% of their actual (or ideal if under or over weight) body weight. This 4% includes digestible bones - no thick bones that cannot be chewed and digested. Examples are pork, beef, chicken, fish and deer meat. With any wild meat, such as deer meat, it is always frozen for a long period of time to kill any parasites. Deer meat should only be given in small amounts as it does not have a very high fat content and is very high in protein. We like to switch around their food ... one or two days with beef, then chicken, etc. so that they benefit from all of the different nutrients in the different meats. We also feed eggs from our chickens. They like them boiled, fried and scrambled! We recently gave them sunny side up eggs and they thought that was wonderful too!
None of the meat is cooked. You should NEVER feed your dog spoiled meat or meat that has been left out - they can die. We feed chicken legs and theighs (bone and all) quite often. Chicken bones have always been fine for us; they should never be cooked as this causes the bones to splinter and could get caught in the dog's throat or intestines.
We also feed our Cresteds fruits and vegetables. We do not include this in the 4% mentioned above. We feed them as treats! Apples (without the seeds), watermelon, green beans, carrots and peas are some of their favorites. We do not cook any of the veggies either. In addition, we sometimes give them brown rice (cooked) mixed with eggs. Pumpkin (canned or fresh) is a great resource for loose stool.
Since switching our Cresteds to raw diet, we have noticed a great improvement with their teeth, skin and weight. Two of our Cresteds were very thin, regardless of how much dog food we fed them, Now they look great!
Again, I stress that you do your research about raw feeding and do not rely on what we do with our Cresteds as your only source of information!
