Dog always hungry on nature’s menu

[Kmf1990]

Hi, looking for some advice about raw feeding.

I currently feed my almost 2 year old mastiff/rottie natures menu complete county hunter nuggets.
I made the change almost a year ago just from advice from my trainer as I mentioned she is always acratching and I’m pleased I did, her behaviour changed dramatically and she came a lot calmer, less itchy and seems to enjoy it.
Problem is, before we switched she was never an early riser and would sleep in until whenever we got up and didn’t really pester to be fed. But now she is up barking waiting by the oven(she knows it’s in there defrosting) by 6am every morning and is usually sitting by the oven by 3/4pm wanting to be fed again which I try to hold out until 6pm. My issue isn’t waking up early it’s that she’s obviously starving and will then only last until late afternoon before she’s starving again. She has 30 cubes per feed twice a day.
I don’t know if she’s just being demanding and we’re falling for it or she’s not getting enough food but she has just over the recommended amount for her size.
I wouldn’t say she’s underweight, she is small considering her breed (she’s 33kg) and her mum was very large. In comparison her brother is a lot bigger and weighs in at almost 50kg and is fed supermarket tinned wet food and pedigree or other branded dry food- just seems strange the difference?
Has anyone else experienced this and if so what did you do?
I’m considering swapping brands or even doing home made but I’m not very clued up on everything raw and also assume it’s more time consuming as I use the nuggets for convenience.

Any advice greatly appreciated as I’m just concerned I’m not feeding her enough

[Dottie]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Although I raw fed for a short while some time ago, I don’t now so I am hoping that someone who has experience of this will come along to advise.

One of the products I used was the same as you are using. I recall some weight loss and having to increase the amount. However, since then the company has made some changes to their lines. It might be worthwhile weighing the defrosted nuggets to see exactly how much your dog is getting  - IIRC some dogs need as much as 3% of body weight.

Regarding a dog’s weight, body condition scoring is a useful guide - there are plenty of videos on YouTube about this.

As this is new behaviour I am inclined to think that the dog  is hungry rather than playing you up but you are in a better position to know for sure. Here are a few ideas:
* Talk to Natures Menu advisors about this to see what they suggest.
* Try giving a topper that will provide some bulk and satisfy the hunger. I am thinking of well cooked brown rice/oatmeal or cooked and mashed sweet potato. However, I appreciate that as a raw feeder you might not feel that this is acceptable.
* Increase the amount.
* Try a different raw complete.
* Increase number of feeds - some hungry dogs may do better on small, frequent meals. That is what I have had to do with my two.

[Tinyplanets]

Hello and welcome to the forum. I have fed the nuggets for a while and found exactly the same. My dog was hungry and lost weight. She is on nutriment now and doing fine. Her stools are much smaller than they were on natures menu. When she was having that, she had large stools that always seemed to be full of hard peas. I emailed the company, and at that time they were adding dried peas.  I would have had to have fed her well over the RDA to keep her sated and her weight stable as so much of it was not being digested.

[Dottie]

I recall that when Tinyplanets and I gave the nuggets the fat percentage was lower than it is now so maybe that was a factor in our findings. The review of the current Country Hunter nuggets is here and it shows the fat is now 28.1%. This should theoretically help to satisfy hunger and prevent weight loss.  My friend has fed this product for some time and had to reduce the quantity when the new recipes came out because the dog began to gain weight.

As Tinyplanets says, another complete raw food could be worth trying. It would be interesting to know if this makes a difference. Whatever you decide, would you let us know how you get on please?

Edit: Just found a similar thread here. Unfortunately the OP did not respond to her or his thread so we do not know the outcome.

[Kmf1990]

Thanks for the replies.

I am going to try and get her weighed this weekend as I haven’t actually done that for a while but she is on over 3% for  what she weighed last time she went to the vets.

I’m not too fussed about mixing it with other things to fill her up but just seems annoying to have to do that when the food she has is supposed to be complete, if I did this I think I may aswel just do the whole meal myself. (Also the cost will rise which I would assume, so again it  is probably cheaper to do the whole meal myself as I am paying for convenience in the nuggets)
I did speak to the person that supplies my food but they suggested adding kibble but obviously this makes her scratch so not ideal either.
I am going to look into some other brands this weekend so will let you know what I end up doing.

[Dottie]

Thank you for the update. I can quite see your point about the cost escalating when feeding more of the nuggets, especially as she is at the top end of the RDA anyway . They are convenient but expensive when feeding a larger dog. My feeling is that they are more suitable for toy and small breed dogs because you don't have to thaw a tub which might not be used up within the prescribed time.  DIY raw is possibly going to be cheaper but needs a bit of study to get the proportions right, particularly the calcium/phosphorous.  Also it is less convenient. Companies like DAF Pet Foods sell raw with the bone added then all you have to do is add carbohydrate/fruit/vegetables as required. 

Have you tried cold pressed food? It is advertised as suitable for raw feeders and should help to sate your dog's appetite. However, I don't know whether there are ingredients that might trouble your dog.  There are grain free varieties and the ones that are not grain free contain brown rice. Personally, I don't care for mixing food, particularly raw so if you went down this route I would advise to maybe give a small meal last thing at night in an attempt to stave off the morning hunger. You could reduce the raw to take account of this.

[Meg]

Hello kmf1990 and welcome to the forum!

Has anyone else experienced this and if so what did you do?
I’m considering swapping brands or even doing home made but I’m not very clued up on everything raw and also assume it’s more time consuming as I use the nuggets for convenience.

I've not fed the Country Hunter nuggets, though I have fed that range from tins and found all was fine. However, I've also fed the Original Raw Nuggets (from the same brand) which are recommended in their "sensitive stomach" range. These have grain, be that either, brown rice or sweet potato, and may, for that reason, be of help to the 'hungrier' dog to feel fuller.

If you do decide to change his diet, then you might examine the particular ingredient of the food he was eating, the 'culprit' that seemed to be a cause of his itching, and then avoid feeding that ingredient as much as is possible.

[Kmf1990]

Very late update but thought it might help someone else.
I switched to a new food called they love it raw.
Honestly the best thing I could have done. It’s completely natural and no additives, the hunger pangs have definitely stopped and I now don’t get woken up at stupid o’clock for breakfast!
And an extra bonus it’s costing me about a third of the price including bones and treats!

[Dottie]

Thank you very much for this useful update. It’s good that the problem is now solved. I hadn’t heard of the company.
Here is the link to their website: They Love It.