my rottie dog-- update and questions about RawMeatyBone diet/other stuff

I don't get it. He had a couple of bad farts after I gave him a whole chicken all at once (he typically gets one half chicken once a day, and then every few days I'll give him one half in morning, and the other half at night-- never the whole chicken all at once.) (sidenote: each chicken is organic so I think has more nutrients, and weighs 4-5.4 pounds total)

So I just figured I gave him too much (he's a bit piggy--)

Then he farted last night and tonight....hmmm... is it just that his system is tired of chicken?

He hasn't gotten much in the way of fruits and veggies (my main go-to fruit was Watermelon which was simple and cheap-- now they're out of season) in the past week and a half-- though he still gets eggs, typically one-two a day. Last couple of days he didn't get any, and tonight he got three medium organic eggs to play with (and to give him a little extra fat from the yolks.)

I'm about to try feeding him pumpkin-- one fresh in the car (though it was sold as a "carving pumpkin." Is that different than one you eat?) and some canned pumpkin of the 365 wholefoods brand.... dear Lord if my dog eats this he's going to have a bit of an oktopooper-fest :D


words of wisdom from the raw crowd?

I've also just posted on craigslist for meat from hunters asking that it be quickly and properly cleaned post-kill to avoid toxins from the digestive tract being released. I also asked that no lead shot be used.


Anything else? Luckily I'm in an area that has a LOT of wildlife to hunt... maybe I'll get a license myself--

Sidenotes:
1. I JUST fed him some canned pumpkin and it was a HIT! He ate almost the whole can, the rest going to some of the other courtyard dogs. He did stop eating it towards the end, which leads me to think the fiber was filling him up really quickly. Now-- I'll just have to be careful for diarreah since his system is not used to it (though the only thing that was not a hit stomach-wise was six pounds of beef shoulder...told you he's a piggy, but to be fair, he's had some fasting periods when I first got him-- which he probably still remembers.) Also, he doesn't have a consistent feeding period-- sometimes he's fed in morning, sometimes afternoon or night, and sometimes both.... I read somewhere on CZ that not having a specific feeding time was good for dogs?? is that right?

2. the humaworm is in the mail for him-- I'm stoked that I can mix that with the pumpkin (as I just mixed in two tabs of glucosamine/MSM when I realized he liked pumpkin.)

3. He's having some skin issues-- which could be fleas (I've only seen two but my neighbor just had them appear out of nowhere yesterday in droves), mosquitos (more my problem than his, I think), or something else entirely. The skin issues are like big bumpy scabs but when I feel through his fur, and look at them, they're roundish, sometimes surprisingly big (like the diameter of a quarter), and look like sebum or dried pus binding his hair together. Any ideas there? He gets washed once a week (or week and a half) and while that helps take OFF the bumps, the bumps are still there. Also-- he itches right after the bath.....I hope humaworm addresses it-- the courtyard dogs also have it to a lesser degree.

4. Iodine is also in the mail-- not so much stoked for Ben (my dog) as I am for a little terrier dog my housemate owns. The dog is old, and is suffering from a lot of age related crud...so I'm VERY interested to see what Iodine does since CZSearch brings up a lot of age-related results for iodine, viz. that old dogs start to act like puppies after Iodine supplementation. Tweet