The Raw Experiment

So, we are a little late on posting the biweekly weigh in results. Dave and Joe got lost in a renovation project and were too exhausted to hold the dogs on the scale. So we are posting them now.

Here are the facts:

Liliani’s Nico Orlando Moore

Weight: Day 1: 99.5 lbs. | 2 weeks: 102  |  1 month: 103  | 1 month 2 weeks: 101.5

Waist: Day 1: 23 inches  | 2 weeks: 24     |  1 month: 24    | 1 month 2 weeks: 24

Rothorm JY Dream Love, Sex and American Express AKA Isis Pig

Weight: Day 1: 97.7 lbs.  | 2 weeks: 95       |   1 month: 99   | 1 month 2 weeks: 99.5

Waist:    Day 1: 24.5 in      | 2 weeks: 22.5   | 1 month: 25     | 1 month 2 weeks: 25

Scandifio’s Tessa di Contessa AKA Tessa

Weight: Day 1: 94  lbs.     | 2 weeks: 95       | 1 month: 96     | 1 month 2 weeks: 100

Waist:     Day 1: 26.5 in    | 2 weeks: 95       | 1 month: 26.5 | 1 month 2 weeks: 26.

Scandifio’s Elizabetta di Contessa AKA Izzie

Waist:    Day 1: 87 lbs.     | 2 weeks: 86 .5  | 1 month: 89     | 1 month 2 weeks: n90.5

Waist:   Day 1: 22 inches | 2 weeks: 21.5   |1 month: 22      | 1 month 2 weeks: 22.5

Nico is the only one to show weight loss. He lost half a pound, not too worried there. We were hoping to see he had bulked up more, he has been looking nice and bulky. But oh well. Not going to sweat over a lost half pound. He looks healthy and is eating his proper proportion. This is his first weigh in with weight loss, each of the girls had previously lost weight. He is still up two pounds since hte start and has gained an inch in his waist that he has stayed steady at.

We were thinking Isis was going to for sure weigh at least 100 pounds, but she came it just shy of that. If Nico doesn’t put on some weight she is going to catch up to him. She has gained two pounds and a half an inch since we started.

Tessa is in the triple digits. She is 100 pounds on the nose. She is up an impressive 6.5 pounds since we made the diet switch however she dropped a half an inch in the waist. She is in heat so Barb thinks it’s water retention.

Izzie is out of the 80s! She is up 3.5 pounds from the beginning, which is now more than she gained in the six months prior to switching to raw diet. That is six weeks compared to six months! And she is up a half inch in the waist. Izzie is also in heat, so water retention could play an issue there too. We won’t be surprised if there is no siginficant change at the next weigh in.

So we are happy with the raw meaty bones diet six weeks in. We have seen our dogs gain weight. We have seen whiter smiles. For the most part we have had no stinky breath, no farts and small poops. However, with the two girls in heat, and Isis on her way, farting and runny poops have returned. But for the most we are seeing the benefits of a raw diet. 

And now the believer story:

We have been saying for a while now that Isis seems to move better since switching to raw. We didn’t want to jinx it ,which is why we didn’t immediately blog about it. But it seems to be improving every day. Barb wasn’t buying it. But she is officially a believer. Isis was over the other day and came running up the steps and leaping through the yeard. She looked like a new dog.

It could be that her growing pains are over. They are supposed to grow out of pano, so could it be coincidence? Yes. But the timing was so perfect it seems like raw must have played some part in this. One of the benefits of raw we were hoping to see most was joint improvement. We had read about dogs riddled with arthritis suddenly turning back into a rambunctious puppy. We wanted our puppy to be a puppy. And now she is a puppy.

Barb hit the phone lines today to source meat. She found a few leads we are hoping to follow up on. Some prices were a little out of line, like $2.69 a pound for tongue that we can get at our regular spot for 99 cents a pound. But we found a few that seem worth looking more into. The meat cubes (a mix of beef and beef organs frozen in a cube) we are currently paying $1.69 a pound are available a half hour away for 50 cents a pound, so we are going to be making a dog food road trip soon. We also found a source where we can get meaty chicken backs for 50 cents a pound, which is the same price we are paying for not-so-meaty chicken carcasses. We have it worked out that the bone content, organ content and 30 per cent of the meat content to make up one dog’s daily diet can be sourced for $62 cents, which leaves us with 38 cents to cover the remaining meat proportion. So we are going to see what we can do. If we can get the dog’s daily diet to cost between $1-1.25, we are happy.

Fingers crossed for us!!! We might have to start looking at frezzers lol!

We did it! We made it to the one-month mark. Our dogs have been enjoying an all meaty bones diet for an entire month. We have braved an entire month of handling animal organs and carcasses to our hungry, happy dogs. And we have a lot to show for it.

Unlike the last weigh in, we had no fears that our dogs would nudge the needle forward. We have noticed weight gain in all four dogs, especially Nico, who is starting to look like a dog and not a little puppy. So we were eagerly awaiting the weigh in, of course, after we enjoyed our steak dinner a la Barb.

So the results are in. One month in to a raw diet all four dogs are showing weight gain. Even the puppies, who at the two-week mark had lost weight, have passed their starting weight. Good news!!

Mind the photos, we had the professional photographer (Amanda) but not the professional handlers. So if you are into conformation, which is what we do with our dogs, mind their stack.

Liliani’s Nico Orlando Moore

Starting weight:99.5 lbs — Starting waist: 23

Weight at 2 weeks into raw diet: 102 — Waist at 2 weeks: 24

Weight at 1 month into raw diet: 103 —- Waist at 1 month: 24

Isis aka Rotherm JY Dream Love, Sex and American Express

Starting weight: 97.7 lbs — Starting waist: 24.5

Weight at 2 weeks: 95.5 — Waist at 2 weeks: 22.5

Weight at 1 month: 99 — Waist at one month: 25

Scandifio’s Tessa di Contessa

Starting weight: 94 — Starting waist: 26.5

Weight at 2 weeks: 95 — Waist at 2 weeks: 25

Weight at 1 month: 96 — Waist at 1 month: 26.5

Izzie aka Scandifio’s Elizabetta di Contessa

Starting weight: 87 — Starting waist: 22

Weight at 2 weeks: 86 — Waist at 2 weeks: 21.5

Weight at 1 month: 89 — Waist at 1 month: 22

All of the dogs are doing great. We can’t say we are disappointed in today’s results. The dogs are happy, healthy and starting to fill out.

Izzie weight 84 lbs. on Sept. 30. When we started this diet, one month ago, Izzie weighed 87 lbs. In the five months that Izzie had last been weighed, in which she was fed a traditional, dry kibble diet, she gained only three pounds. On a raw diet, Izzie has gained three pounds in just one month.

The dogs are still drinking less. They have more energy. They fart and poop less, sorry to be crude, but dog people do talk about poop, it’s an important indicator, especially when feeding raw. They no longer have a lingering fish breath, in fact, they really have no breath smell at all. Their teeth appear whiter. Their eyes are less runny. Their coats are all shiny.

Tessa is still having a hard time with the adjustment. The other day, Barb took both the girls dinner, tripe and carcass. Tessa happily took the tripe out of the dish and ate it. However, when that was done, she looked at Barb in disgust. It was like “what do you want me to do with this?” So Barb came in, noticed Izzie was finished and went to check on Tessa. She was still in the same spot, with the same look, food untouched. So she walked over, flipped it out of the dish and she picked it up and happily finished her meal. She is a princess that dog. She is not quite sure how she wants her table set I guess.

Over the weekend, Tessa had a little incident. She consumed pork bones at both breakfast and dinner, and managed to bring both back up. And we aren’t talking a small puke. They were pretty nasty. Caused us worry, but she appeared to be fine. She was not lathargic or acting strange, she was acting like regular Tessa, happy. Isis had one other incident, a small bile-like puke after eating turkey necks again.

The other dogs, however, all happily dig in.

Isis shows improvements in her movements. We had previously blogged that Isis was limping a lot less then before raw. And that continues to  be the case. Depending on her activities of the day, she can go an entire day without showing any weakness. If she has a play day, when all four dogs are running together, she tends to be slower later on in the evening., But that has lessened. She is quicker to go upstairs, however, she still does her bizarre hop down the stairs. It makes Dave and I so happy seeing her out of pain. She would break our hearts, break everyone’s hearts, when she would limp around. You could always see in her eyes that she just wanted to play like the other dogs. Now she can!

We are coming up to the point when we will be able to do a one-day shop and bag. We realized last time that if we order everything at once we can freeze whole meals for the dog. So we plan to do that one day soon as we are running low on food. Should be a fun afternoon.

Just as we were brainstorming about what else to share, something to share happened.

Barb looked under the table to see a pile of puke. We weren’t exactly sure which of the four dogs it came from, but Isis was pretty frothy and is now gulping down some water. So we are 99 per cent sure it was her. So I guess we should be reporting that she weighs 98 lbs. then. Poor pupster. She is fine though. Just as Tessa was the other day. She is tail-wagging happy. You would never know her entire dinner just came back to haunt her. If only humans could be bounce back as fast as dogs!!

This incident highlights another issue. We go through SO many paper towels. When you feed raw, you get a little paranoid. I mean, you are dealing with raw meat and you want to ensure you aren’t spreading bacteria in your home. And so paper towels become your right hand. You use it wipe the counter down, along with the Clorox, wipe your hands, wipe the floor … and, clean up the puke. So along with needing to continue to source local butchers and grocers, we need to find the best deals on paper towels. Luckily, Amanda is looking into that with her new coupon addiction. If only there were coupons for all the bits and pieces of animals that we feed our dogs!! The search continues for that one. With ongoing renovation projects at both of our homes, finding time to contact local butchers and farmers is difficult. And so has blogging, sorry about that!! We will try to stay on top of it from now on.

To compare the dogs’ current photos to the ones taken at the start of the Raw Experiment, click here http://therawexperiment.blog.com/2012/02/08/hello-world/