frankiethestaffie

Admittedly the Staffordshire Bull Terrier is not my breed, but isn't 25kg rather large for this breed? I think you are overfeeding...... but fortunately for you, your dog is not a guts and knows when to stop! Correct... Desirable height at withers 36-41 cms (14 to 16 ins), these heights being related to the weights. Weight: dogs: 13-17 kgs (28-38 lbs); bitches 11-15.4 kgs. He's already at 16kg and isn't overweight, I think it's just his build. He is quite a large Stafford. Although I have seen a Stafford bitch in the show ring that weighed 30kg's! He was easily devouring 700-800g a day which is 3% of 25kg. However he has never been overweight in the slightest. I will reduce his intake though as he probably doesn't need as much now.

He gets a wide variety of food, from chicken frames, to grass fed beef offcuts, raw green tripe, liver etc. I should have said that I haven't added anything different to his diet in the last month. Yep, i'll definitely take away any unfinished food now. Glad my dog can tell me when he's had enough, he must be conscious about his weight lol. As long as it's nothing to worry about!

But he's through the big growth stage and he doesn't need as much food. I'd be cutting him back to one meal a day and lowering the total intake. His body condition will tell you whether he needs more or less. Yeah I was thinking it's because he's gone through his major growth stage so isn't requiring as much food. His body condition is perfect at the moment. You can't see his ribs, but can feel them when rubbing your hand over him. I might try and cut back to one larger meal a day, without a lower total intake. Is it fine to mix different proteins in the same meal?

He gets fed in the backyard. I place the food on the grass and tell him when he can eat it. He will normally be done within 10 mins, so if he does leave some food it will still be within 10 mins. I will take most of everyone's advice and remove any leftovers if it's been more than 10 mins. Thanks for the tip!

Thanks for the reassurance. First time that I've had a dog on raw, so I just want to ensure this behaviour isn't anything I should be worrying about. Haha well i'll consider that a bonus and i'll remove any unfinished food in future!

Hi guys, I have a 7 month old Stafford that has been on raw since the second week we brought him home. He's being fed based on the Prey Model. He eats a variety of meat, bone and offal - if you require his full diet please let me know. He was eating 10% of his current weight until he reached 3% of his ideal adult weight. He's projected to get to about 25kg, so he's been on 700-800g daily split into 2 meals for the last few months. He always used to devour his meals, searching for scraps and wanting more when he finishes. However, there's been occasions now where he doesn't finish his meals. I just find it unusual as he used to want to eat anything and everything. It seems to not matter whether he's had a lot of exercise or not. His intake hasn't changed, and he's being consistently fed the same combination for at least a month or two. His stools are perfect - consistent, minimal and firm. I'm wondering if it's because he's stopped teething and has had his major growth spurt. I've looked into fasting but most of the info I've gathered is that you shouldn't until he's at least a year old. Any info or insights you can provide would be great. Thanks! Matt

Haha sorry I've caused some confusion by what I've said. I'm definitely not going to give him liver treats anymore if this is what's causing it, definitely not worth it! I meant that I'll keep the liver treats out and continue to closely monitor just to ensure that its the actual cause of it. Thanks for the suggestion persephone, I'll give that a try!

hi guys, appreciate the time taken out to provide some insight into what might be causing this! @BullBreedBoy - he's being fed based on the prey model, and it's recommended to start with one protein source with meat and bone only for a couple weeks. When consistent stools form you can start including other protein sources, then offal etc. As it's been a couple of weeks and his stools haven't been consistent, I thought I'd seek some advice! Yep, no skin issues presenting, he does get the occassional red stomach when playing on the grass for too long. But this has reduced a lot compared to the first time. Guys, I decided to firstly cut out the liver treats as you've advised it could be the problem, hoping that this is the cause as it's an easy fix. He hasn't had the liver treats since Saturday. His stool on Sunday night, Monday morning and Monday night were perfectly formed and very minimal. I hope that cutting the liver treats out has alleviated the problem, honestly didn't think a few treats could have possibly caused this. I will keep him off the liver treats for a few days and see if his stools remain the same. Again, appreciate all the help guys!

Hi guys thanks for the replies. Yes, I'm currently feeding based on the prey model. Down the track I will start to incorporate other things in his meal plan, but I wanted to start off with just meat and bone for a week or two as this has been what's recommended. Just worried about including too many things at once as I've heard this can cause some upset stomachs. The only treats he has is beef liver treats. I remove all the skin and most of the fat before I freeze the chicken. I think I'll move onto beef or roo and see how he responds to that. I really want to incorporate offal and supps in his diet but because his stools aren't consistent yet I'm a bit hesitant to start adding things into his plan. Hopefully a change of protein source and maybe reducing meal sizes will help. Thanks for the tips!

Hi guys, So my 14 week old SBT is having some inconsistent stools, some are quite hard, whilst others are completely runny. He was on kibble the first week we brought him in, and then slowly incorporated chicken necks and wings into one of his daily meals. After 3 weeks on that, he's now on completely raw (last 2 weeks). When we switched to complete raw, he was only fed chicken marylands, frames and drumstick fillets. When we had him on frames and some fillet, say about 25-30% edible bone and 70-75% meat, his stools would be quite firm but he did seem quite constipated at times. However, when I reduced the bone content to 10% as per the prey model, his stools are almost always completely runny, like mr whippy runny. This would be feeding him 480 grams of meat (drumstick fillet) and 120 grams of edible bone - with a daily intake of 500g. Although I would prefer to split this into 3 meals, we feed him twice a day, he can easily finish it and spends time looking for more to eat. I have attempted to increase the bone content to around 15-25%, but his stools are still quite inconsistent. He could have a firm poo in the morning and then runny at night. Raw feeders, are there any problems you've noticed with what I've said above? Is it still too early for him to be having consistent stools? Or could I have an unrelated problem on my hands. I really want to start incorporating other meats and offal to ensure he gets all his vitamins and minerals, but because of the inconsistent stools I'm hesitant to start introducing new things. I also freeze the chicken for at least 2 weeks, and thaw it before feeding. Not sure if this is neccessary though, if someone could confirm that would be great! Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone

Thanks for simplifying it for me, makes me feel a lot better about it. I have done quite a lot of research and I'm fairly confident in making the switch, I think I'm just overestimating it and second guessing myself. Thanks for the assurance, i'll start off easy and continue the research as he develops.

Haha thanks! Don't let the photos fool you!

Hi guys I appreciate all the feedback that's been provided, been a big help! Yeah I'm definitely happy with the quality and health of the breeders dogs. He comes from a line of grand champion show dogs and they are of exceptional quality. The diet the dogs are on is a combination of kibble and homemade diets, however I've been intrigued about the benefits of going raw. I have discussed raw with the breeder, and the only issue they have with it is not having the right balance and all the nutrients the dog needs. And if I'm not confident in what I'm doing it's better to feed him kibble. I'm not too paranoid about weights and ratios, and won't be the type that doesn't make the required adjustments based on weight, activity, stools etc. The main thing I'm worried about is that he's a pup, and I want to ensure that I start him off correctly, and that he gets all his nutrients so he grows and develops properly. I have considered the option of keeping him on kibble but reducing the amount, and incorporating RMB's into the diet. Then transition to a full raw diet. The part I was mainly confused about is that I've seen people follow either the 80% meat, 10% bone and 10% offal split; or 40-50% RMB's, 10-15% offal, and the rest muscle meat. However, when I calulated both of them, they seemed to differ by a lot. Essentially if I was feeding my pup say 500 grams daily, broken down to 80% meat, 10% bone, 10% offal. He should be eating 400 grams of meat, 50 grams of bone, and 50 grams of offal. I'm aware this can be spread out throughout the week, but just as an example, that should translate to this: Say a chicken wing is 46% bone and weighs on average 90 grams. 1 chicken wing is already 41.4 grams of bone, and 48.6 grams of meat. Meaning that 1 chicken wing nearly takes up the 50 gram recommended limit. So the rest of his meal should practically be muscle meat? I just thought it sounded too little bone. Then there's the other split which consists of approx 40-50% RMB's (depending on how meaty the part is), 10-15% offal, and the rest muscle meat. Based on this, I'd be able to feed my pup at the very least 2 chicken wings as it would weigh around 180 grams, which is only 36% of his daily intake. Because of this I wanted some advice as the calcium to phosphorus ratio difference between the two is quite significant. Or have I misinterpreted something?

hey persephone I think an incorrect link for that thread was posted. ACK - OK - check the first post again in a second :) Haha cheers. Looks like a might need a few cuppa's

hey persephone I think an incorrect link for that thread was posted.