Err, Silas, that is.
I know you all are on pins and needles, right?
So am I.
The gold standard for a food introduction is twelve weeks. If you can get through twelve weeks with no issues, then you can consider that food to be safe.
We’re officially at the end of week 12 with pork. So, party!!
But:
Something isn’t quite right.
I have been having misery getting Silas to eat since we came back from seeing my parents. I hope that this is just because I overfed him while we were there. (I didn’t take my scale.) We’ve also been going through a lot of treats since we came home, what with the counterconditioning. Silas is not a dog who loves food enough to overeat. I don’t know, though. Is his stomach just bothering him? I don’t think so–I think he just prefers treats to his food. It’s also reinforcing for him. I can’t let him skip eating, because it makes him throw up. The more I stand on my head, the more he expects me to. I’ve cut his meals down to 5oz each to see if being a little hungrier is all it takes.
He’s also thrown up three times in the last four weeks. Not consistently enough to raise my allergy red flags, and with some extenuating circumstance, but still.
In the past when I’ve tried to talk myself into a food being okay it hasn’t ended well. Since we got through at least two months with the pork, though, I’m hesitant to give it up. Instead, we’ve given up everything else as of the 13th. No grains, no eggs, no nibbles off my plate. We’ve gotten sloppy after eight months of this. I’ve got my fingers crossed. If he throws up one time or less from now until the end of February, I’ll call pork a success.
My Imperfect Dog 
The gal who helps us with our raw told me if it’s too cold, the dog will throw it up. I don’t know how you manage your foods, but I sometimes struggle with it still being slightly frozen when I take it from the fridge, but I don’t want to leave it out for too long. You do the raw all on your own right? See I buy the mix and it comes in a 10 pound block. I’d like to get an idea of how people who do this on their own manage it. Where do you your meat from?
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Silas never, ever throws up when he’s actually got food in his stomach. I think we’re actually trying to manage something like acid reflux. But yes, too cold can be a problem, especially for dogs who gulp their food down.
We have a local specialty raw food store that sells some of the mixed ground foods and all of the “parts and pieces.” I’m very, very lucky. I think I could feed Silas chicken or beef straight from our regular grocery store, if he could eat those, but I never see organs from other animals. You do have to watch for added sodium if you’re buying meat that’s marketed for humans, because it can be too much for dogs.
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I’m coming in late on this, and in fact late on your blog as this is the 1st time I’ve come across it (have read several other of your blogs that interested me until I saw this one).
Lately I have been searching for a good dog food for my 2 dogs. I want a no-grain food that is affordable. What I’ve learned in my research is that fish (like salmon) may be a better alternative than meat for dogs. I think I’d prefer a no-grain food with fish as the #1 ingredient with added veggies and no by-products. I don’t know what your dog’s issues with food are or what you’ve tried, but maybe try a food that is fish based rather than meat. Or if you’ve decided on a raw diet I have no knowledge or experience in this area. But good luck in your quest to find the best answer for your dog’s diet needs.
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There are some very good fish-based kibbles out there. Most of the “good’ brands make one, I think. We used Orijen’s Six Fish for a while, and Acana and Taste of the Wild also make fish-based kibbles. Unfortunately Silas seems to be allergic to salmon. He’s had better luck with other fish, but most of the fish kibbles are primarily salmon.
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