# Albus' Raw Diet



## Charlie4591 (Jan 6, 2017)

Hi all, I've been reading through the other raw diet threads here and was inspired to post my own.

I made the switch from Kibble to raw for my dogs last year and I love the results. I'm really not comfortable with all the fillers and additives in kibble so I decided to remove the kibble from Albus' diet and raw feed him too.

It's still early stages and I'm playing around with amounts but so far I'm going for 40% bugs, 40% raw and 20% fruit and veg.

As I raw feed the dogs a mix of complete (80/10/10) minces and DIY, I decided I'm going to just borrow some of the dogs premade minces, portion up into hedgie sized portions and freeze so every night I can defrost the right amount. So far in the dogs freezer I have minces of chicken, turkey, duck, lamb and beef. I have a fantastic raw food supplier so I can access other proteins but as they are the main ones my dogs enjoy I'll probably be rotating through these.

In terms of fruit and veggies, I haven't had much success yet, he seems to like raspberries and will sometimes eat blueberries. I've also has mixed success with cooked sweet potato. Once I can get him to eat a good mix of things I'm hoping to make a chop I can add in.

With regards to bugs, so far he will eat meal worms, wax worms and morio worms reliably. He's a bit fussy with calci worms, sometimes he'll eat them, sometimes he wont. I'm hoping to convince him to eat some none worm type bugs like crickets and dubia roaches too. All the bugs I've tried have been live.

I've tried raw feeding him for the last three nights now so hopefully I can avoid going back to kibble. He has eaten all of his bugs every night, some fruit and veggies and some raw meat.

I know it's still early days but I'm hoping he's not going to be a fussy hedgie as I really want this to work!


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

If he stays kind of picky on the fruits/veggies, it may be worth mixing them in with the meat minces, especially if he seems to really like those. That was my back up plan with Bindi, but she's a weird goat that eats almost everything. She's the same with the calci worms, she doesn't always eat them. She does seem to eat them better sometimes when I have live mealworms in the feeder dish with them.

Glad he's doing well so far!  Would you mind if I added your thread to my list on the sticky? I like to make it easy for people researching this, since it's still so new (at least in the western world).


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## Charlie4591 (Jan 6, 2017)

Lilysmommy said:


> If he stays kind of picky on the fruits/veggies, it may be worth mixing them in with the meat minces, especially if he seems to really like those. That was my back up plan with Bindi, but she's a weird goat that eats almost everything. She's the same with the calci worms, she doesn't always eat them. She does seem to eat them better sometimes when I have live mealworms in the feeder dish with them.
> 
> Glad he's doing well so far!  Would you mind if I added your thread to my list on the sticky? I like to make it easy for people researching this, since it's still so new (at least in the western world).


Thanks, that's my plan, last night mixed his veg in with the mince and he has eaten it thankfully. That's fine, you can definitely add me to the sticky.

Usually I feed him the mince and veg in a bowl and his worms in his foraging tray but last night he was being huffy and wouldn't unball for me so he got them in a bowl in his viv instead. I think it definitely helps having them all together. When he has the option to choose from the tray he's been leaving most of the calci worms in there.

So last night he had:

Raw beef mince (complete 80/10/10)
Raspberries with carrots and sweet potato (cooked and mashed).
Meal worms, wax worms, calci worms.


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## Charlie4591 (Jan 6, 2017)

A quick update, Albus is being a picky little beast. Currently he will eat all his insects, cooked chicken and cooked egg consistently. He always eats the calci worms last but will eat them if there's no other bugs left so I count that as a success.

He will occasionally eat some of the raw minces and sometimes he'll will eat a super small amount of fruit and veg. I'm going to keep offering him the raw and fruit and veg in the hopes he'll suddenly decide its delicious  I've also considered sticking some of his bugs in the freezer so I can mix them in with the raw to try and tempt him.


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## Charlie4591 (Jan 6, 2017)

Mixing bugs in with the raw is working! Last night Albus ate almost a whole bowl of chicken mince mixed with mealworms, I'm so pleased!


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## Charlie4591 (Jan 6, 2017)

I just wanted to give an update on Albus raw diet. He will now eat a whole host of things consistently!

Raw:
chicken complete mince
duck complete mince
turkey complete mince
beef complete mince
lamb complete mince
rabbit complete mince
just chicken mince - no bone or offal
just turkey mince - no bone or offal
just beef mince - no bone or offal
chicken chunks
turkey chunks
beef chunks
lamb chunks

Cooked:
eggs
chicken
turkey
beef
lamb

Bugs:
mealworms (aliens and beetles too)
morio worms
calci worms (not a favourite but will eat)
wax worms
tiny crickets (very occasionally)

I'm still fighting the battle with fruit and veg, sometimes he will eat it and sometimes he wont. I also want to try some small whole prey like pinkies.


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