Are eggs good for a raw diet?
I was just wondering! I give my dogs an egg a week or so but I was wondering how that works if feeding a raw diet! Thanks!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Joanna Kimball on
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I feed them a lot - just whole. There's a substance in egg that can block the absorption of biotin, so some people will tell you not to feed them, but the whole egg is such a wonderful little vitamin capsule that as long as you don't overdo it (not a dozen or something, or as the basis of the diet) you're fine. I crack the eggs a little and just put them in a bowl. The dogs finish breaking them, eat the insides, then crunch the shells up.
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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So the shell is ok I am assuming it is high in calcium??? We have our own chickens so I was just wondering if this could be a regular( (maybe 3-4 a week?) part of their diet if I were to start going to more raw!
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Permalink Reply by Sky and Lyla on
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I give my dogs each an egg 2-3 times a week. Just like Joanna says, I crack it a little to help them get started, and then just let them eat the entire thing. I usually feed them on the same day that I am feeding them their raw meals rather than with their kibble meals (some people will tell you not to mix raw and kibble, I don't know how accurate that is though, it's just easy for me to remember to feed an egg when they get their meat, so I do it that way). My Aussie doesn't seem to really like the shell, but my Corgi does! They both love the inside, of course!
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My Aussie is much more finicky than my corgis too! So do you feed the raw diet 2-3 times a week and how do you know how much raw to feed them? Weight wise I mean.
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Yes, I just do the raw a few days a week. I would love to do it all the time, but the pre-packaged raw is hard to find in my area and when I do find it, it is very, very expensive. I know a lot of people make their own as well, which can be a lot more cost effective, but I don't feel like I understand proper canine nutrition enough at this point. As much as I do think raw diets are great, I think an improperly done raw diet can be dangerous, so perhaps one day I will make my own, but not until I've done enough research to know I'm getting in everything they need. I really like the Bravo pre-packaged raw, but I've heard good things about some of the other brands too. Honest Kitchen also has a dehydrated raw which is convenient and a little cheaper (but still expensive) which you measure out more like kibble and then add water to. It makes a kind of doggie oatmeal that mine go crazy for!
The general rule for raw is about 1% of the body weight for less active dogs and closer to 2% for very active or working dogs. Of course, as we all know, you have to adjust for your particular dogs. My Aussie is not a working dog, but has a super high metabolism and he gets about 1.5% of his body weight on our raw days and the Corgi gets 1% or a little less.
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Permalink Reply by David on
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Please correct me if I am wrong. A breeder once told me that the raw egg yoke has Avidin. Avidin can block the absorption of vitamin B in dog's body, which can cause health issues in skin/fur, bone and growth. Can someone tell me if I am correct?
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Permalink Reply by Tauna and Kota on
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I have heard that raw eggs are actually good for their skin/fur and helps to keep the skin moisturized and the fur shiny and more soft. I don't know the basis behind this, but that's what I have heard. Sorry this didn't answer. But, thanks for asking because I was wondering if this was true as well.
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Egg whites do have avidin, which binds with biotin (B7) and prevents it from being absorbed. However, they also have a ton of other good stuff. It's like most things; in moderation it's very beneficial but you can't feed nothing but eggs. Garlic is the same way - lots of people will say to never feed dogs garlic because it can cause Heinz-body anemia. And they're right, if you feed clove after clove after clove of garlic. Keep it within a normal range and the dog gets all the benefits and none of the danger.
I could (truthfully) say that raw liver is hideously unbalanced and has way too much phosphorus to be a good food. Because it does. That's why you feed it as part of a diet that gives the dog plenty of calcium to balance it out, and let the dog get all the wonderful things that are in the liver.
I've had some puppy owners do some fantastically dumb things, so I do understand why breeders and vets start telling people to only feed the dog things that are perfectly safe and perfectly balanced in every bite. But the fact is that the eggs that YOU eat sunny-side up also have avidin, and muscle meat YOU eat also has too much phosphorus, and garlic YOU eat can also give you Heinz-body anemia. Mammals are not all that different and we have the same food-related diseases. As long as you don't eat nothing but egg, steak, and garlic you're going to be just fine and in fact get a lot of good out of each of those foods. Same thing with dogs.
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Thanks for all the info Joanne!
I love garlic and I'm very frugal when giving it to my dogs. How/what do you give your dogs for calcium? I remember reading about tums for females with eclampsia(sp). Would this work or do you give a crushed human supplement or a food high in calcium?
Thanks!
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My dogs get fed a raw diet, so they get calcium from bone. As long as you're feeding at least 10% bone in the diet (i.e., if what you feed for the day totals a pound, a tenth of that should be bone) you should be fine. My dogs get a chicken back almost every day; chicken backs are about 30% bone/70% meat so they actually get "too much" calcium (which is fine; they just excrete it when they pee). Too much phosphorus is more dangerous.
When you're feeding pregnant females you have to make sure they don't get too much calcium; that's the one point in their lives that you can't err on the side of a lot. I switch to a pre-made raw diet by Bravo (Lamb) that has lower calcium than the chicken I normally feed.
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Thanks for the info on feeding pregnant females! I know you have stated this somewhere before also. Since I have a pregnant one now(I think) and will have another one probably about the time these pups leave...I think I will wait till after the pups are all gone. Can a nursing mom have a raw diet? It's just while they're pregnant that you don't want the high calcium? I will also check out what type of raw diet the pet store closest to me has but they're over an hour away!
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Permalink Reply by Lynne Cerny on
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Jane,
I have read that tums isn't the best form of calcium even for humans. "TUMS is an antacid, not a calcium supplement. It contains calcium carbonate as well as aspartame, sorbitol and yellow dye #3. Lowering stomach acid doesn’t do any favors to your body’s ability to absorb calcium, either. Ironically, even the TUMS website states that the absorption of “the calcium source in Tums® is best when taken with meals.” This is because you produce more stomach acid when you eat and you absorb minerals better.
I'm not sure what the (eclampsia?) is, but I get a good organic calcium supplement for my dogs.
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