diet help please

Have seen all the positive remarks about feeding natures diet raw food nougats . Thought i might give it a try for Toby. Can anyone tell me ,are these nougats frozen ,and if not can you freeze them to just take what you need day to day,also do they do them in different recipes,i.e different meats etc

Have a look at www.naturesmenu.co.uk which is what I am trying to change to.

I am still learning myself!

The more experienced raw dieters will answer soon!

The Natures Nenu Nuggets are already frozen so you just take out what you need for the day. What I do when I get them is I prepare small bags of six nuggets and put back in the freezer that way I only have to take out a bag each day. Easy peasy. They do come in a variety of meats plus a vegetable and fruits version.Tuppence will only eat the chicken variety and the blended fruit and veg so I do 5 chicken nuggets and one fruit and veg nugget per bag.Nice to see you are interested Brian and Victoria.

I gave R&R some of the chicken pouch with their usual mini bites tonight and roo loved it.....Rox was a little put off but ate it all. It smelled nice!

Will start Pip on the pouches when her original pouches are low so I can mix - is this ok?

So what is the difference between the pouches and the nuggets? I think I will finish the new bag of mini bites and give them some of the pouches as I would with cooked chicken. Then start to introduce the nuggets. I would do the same chicken nuggets and one veg one.

When you say pouches do you mean the cooked Natures Menu then?? Cos the frozen ones come either in pound blocks or nuggets!!!!

Brian the best of the Natures Menu for our little ones is the BANQUET nuggets as they have no rice in them and are a little higher in protein ( smaller dogs only have little tummies and I have always preferred to give a slightly higher protein level) - you just take out how many you need in one go and let it either thaw naturally (which is best) or if like me you forget anytime you can defrost in the microwave. 12 nuggets takes 7 minutes on defrost - to give you an idea. I split my pairs meal into two they have a smaller breakfast and the majority of nuggets for their supper. They have 16 a day each most days (though they don't always eat the full amount) - but when Josh was an only child he only ever ate 10 a day (Guess Isabella gives him an appetite )

http://naturesmenu.co.uk/products/Adult_Chicken/Dog_Food_Pouches/Pouches_for_Dogs/

Ah ok looks like I am going down the cooked route...... I will try to get some nuggets at the weekend!

I won't mix the food!

I thought I remembered you saying Josh ate 16 nuggets a day simbalove.....tuppence must have a really small appetite she can only manage 6 a day.

That sounds like an awful lot to me too. I must say I do give Mali & Tasha about 3/4 Nuggets with their Mini Bites but I think if they were hungry they would never eat 8 each meal without the Mini Bites. I have never bothered to count how many are in a bag, but with 2 to feed I think it would work out very expensive.

Am confused peeps

At the moment I am feeding R&R burns mini bites with some of the Natures menu pouch morning and evening.

I think what i will do now is get some nuggets at the weekend and do what Carol does (mini bites and nuggets) and until I finish off the mini bites see about moving them onto nuggets on their own.

I will discuss Pip later when I get my head round R&R lol!

I think you just have to use your own initiative here Victoria. When you change to the frozen nuggets....if your dog is losing weight then feed more if they are geting fat feed less.,...simples. Although Tuppence is eating considerably less than Josh she is maintaining her weight of 7.2 kg so I wont be feeding her more. There are guidelines on the packet as to how many you need to feed. It is better if you can to feed the nuggets alone but if you have to mix them to get them started then thats fine.Good Luck

tuppence wrote:I thought I remembered you saying Josh ate 16 nuggets a day simbalove.....tuppence must have a really small appetite she can only manage 6 a day.

Josh only ever ate a maximum of 10 (and that was on days he had lots of exercise) until I got Isabella - but don't be misled - they do NOT always eat that many... they might eat them for a couple of days and then not eat them all the next BUT I never know when

Yes I am learning the feeding process as in knowing how much they need. At the moment they do need to lose a little so will be keeping a close eye on them during the transition!

Thanks for all the help from everyone! Main thing at the moment is to get them on the nuggets.

tuppence wrote:I think you just have to use your own initiative here Victoria. When you change to the frozen nuggets....if your dog is losing weight then feed more if they are geting fat feed less.,...simples. Although Tuppence is eating considerably less than Josh she is maintaining her weight of 7.2 kg so I wont be feeding her more. There are guidelines on the packet as to how many you need to feed. It is better if you can to feed the nuggets alone but if you have to mix them to get them started then thats fine.Good Luck

That is so right - and when Josh was only eating 10 max he was heavier than he is now! It depends on their metabolism etc (I would guess Isabella is running rings round him )

I don't think, if you allow your dog to dictate how many nuggets they eat (which I agree might take some trial and error to begin with) they will either lose weight or get fat! The nuggets don't have any junk in them so the weight they put on is muscle rather than fat but because it is a NATURAL diet for dogs - pretty much what they would eat if they could get their own food - they find it quite filling.

Yey! I got some nuggets from the local pet store someone had ordered them and not collected! They were £2.59 for 1kg.

Trial tonight! I have got out three each to try - they are defrosting on my desk at work lol!

They will be eating the mini bites for a while yet so I will include the nuggets and then go all nugget when they are finished.

So what about Pippa?! I have not changed her food since I got her except for introducing mini bites.

I did get her a puppy natures menu pouch which I will give her when orginal food has run out.

Oh I do hope they enjoy their tea tonight ....though it is trial and error, but persevere with it because in the long term its a food that is, by far, better for them than the dried variety.I think it may be worth while offering Pippa one of the nuggets and take it from there.Often tummy troubles are caused by what is in dried food ...preservatives, e numbers and the like....none of these are in the frozen nuggets ...its all natural goodness.

Yes Rooney loves it, Roxy I am not so sure. She is a slow eater anyway so you cant tell if she is enjoying it or not. She ate it all up!

I went for the banquet one which Lesley suggested.

I am giving them two nuggets in the morning and three in the evening along with their mini bites I will then increase the nuggets and lower the mini bites. I like the idea of the food being frozen and getting it out as and when.

I have problems with their skin with itching etc so this is the route to go.

So puppies are ok to have the nuggets at any age?

I also have the natures menu treats....they are ok with aren't they?

I use the Banquet Nuggets too . I changed to Burn's Mini Bites when Mali was only 8/9months old because she was itching and loosing her fur, and was recommended Burns because it had been developed by a local Vet and without any pharmacologically active supplements. Before that she had been eating Proplan which she'd had from being weaned at the breeders. From a few days of eating Burn's Mini Bites she has stopped itching. I have found out today that there are approximately 64 Nuggets in a 1kg bag which if I give mine about 6 each both morning and evening I would get through a bag every other day so is quite expensive.

Isabella ate only nuggets from the moment I had her - why would it not be suitable for a puppy when it is what nature intended for them in the first place?? Go on give them to Pippa too - you won't regret it!

Great! I shall finish the current pouches, I have a natures menu puppy pouch then I will introduce the nuggets.

Thanks for counting them Carol lol!

For me, when nuggets are the only food, I think Roo and Rox would have 4 nuggets each in the morning and 6 each in the evening, 10 x 2 nuggets a day a packet should last me three days = £2.59 about £5 a week.

I will have to work it out again with Pippa when I work out how many she needs.

I actually think that Rooney and Roxy are not scratching that much now! Pip is still scratching so we shall see!

On another point, Its me or the dog always tell people not to leave food down all day. The dog should have its food down for 20 minutes if it is not eaten it is taken away. Is this right?!

Thanks for all your help again, I bet you will be pleased when I am sorted with these nuggets lol!

I might just come round to yours and nugget nap tonight, because I went over to get more this morning and they hadn't any at the warehouse I go to. So I've got the Natures Diet (chicken) which they do eaten as a change so they will have to wait for Nuggets until next week. as a thought with Pippa although I think it is a bit soon it is a possibility that her coat is changing which is why she is itching.

I don't believe in keeping food down more than a few minutes either. When we bought Tasha she was grazing all day which could be the reason that she will never stop eating given half a chance. Mali is so much better at eating now it is remarkable, if I left her food down that she hadn't eaten Fatso (Tasha) would certainly have polished it off.

Rooney, Roxy&Pip wrote:Great! I shall finish the current pouches, I have a natures menu puppy pouch then I will introduce the nuggets.

Thanks for counting them Carol lol!

For me, when nuggets are the only food, I think Roo and Rox would have 4 nuggets each in the morning and 6 each in the evening, 10 x 2 nuggets a day a packet should last me three days = £2.59 about £5 a week.

I will have to work it out again with Pippa when I work out how many she needs.

I actually think that Rooney and Roxy are not scratching that much now! Pip is still scratching so we shall see!

On another point, Its me or the dog always tell people not to leave food down all day. The dog should have its food down for 20 minutes if it is not eaten it is taken away. Is this right?!

Thanks for all your help again, I bet you will be pleased when I am sorted with these nuggets lol!

How will you know how many they will need until you have transferred them and seen how much they need to eat?? The guide line for small dogs was 10 - 15 nuggets a day but it all depends on individual dogs what sort of bone structure they have, what metabolism and the sort of exercise they have .

I don't leave the nuggets down all day especially this time of the year as it soon starts to smell and attract flies YUK!

Also my boy doesn't take too well to rice (which is why I only use the banquet nuggets) - so although burns mini bites are hypo-allergenic they still contain things which some dogs can react to...which might explain Pippa's scratching. Also this time of year is bad for itchy skins because of the grass pollen, insects and other things that bug little low dogs xxxx

How will you know how many they will need until you have transferred them and seen how much they need to eat?? The guide line for small dogs was 10 - 15 nuggets a day but it all depends on individual dogs what sort of bone structure they have, what metabolism and the sort of exercise they have .

Oooooh, it was only a rough guess compared to the amount of food they have at present. 10 might be ok for Rox, but Roo may need to be up to 15.

You all make me feel mean giving Tuppence only six nuggets....but she wont eat more than that ... and she is quite an active dog.

She has ear trouble at the moment and will she let me put the drops in her ears .... not on your nellie, any suggestions welcome, but she is a biter when you interfere in regions she considers sacred . I put the drops in at the vets last night, whilst there was help on hand, but tonight I cant get near her and her ears look even more sore than before the application of drops.Poor love...i'll see what they look like in the morning.

Awww bless! When she is relaxing can you not stroke her ears they pop some stuff in when she is relaxing?!

If she is anything like Josh you won't stand a chance though he is getting pretty good at the eye drops now and only growls a little instead fo the full scale war I used to have

As I keep trying to say the amount of nuggets depends on each individual dog as well as other things like weather/exercise/competition etc. They eat what they need unless you have a particularly greedy one and then you have to keep a check on weight. And unless you are already feeding raw you can't tell from what you are giving now really as they are nothing like dry food or pouches. You just need to wait until you get them on it and play it by ear... trial and error is how I found out hwo many Josh ate on a regular basis... and just when I think I have ti sussed they both change their mind and I end up throwing nuggets away

If it is any help Victoria I use about 3 bags a week