Byron
Mom went for an holiday recently and I volunteered to watch her dog. Fox-red labrador retriever. Just under 100 lbs. Lovable softy. I fed him raw meat every day. A kilo of wild boar or deer a day (incl. some liver/kidney, no bones). Although its known that labs would eat anything (even unedible stuff), he refused to eat raw fish.
Couple of observations I made during the weeks I spent with my new best friend.
1. He drinks 5 litres of water per day. Me at 180 lbs only manage .6 litres. He runs, swims and barks a lot more than I do but I inline skate, do push-ups and sumo deadlifts. And yes, it seems like the water is as indigestable for him as it is for me, he pees alot as I do when I drink most of my water - right after waking up and late at night after my dinner.
2. He drinks most of water straight after eating. Even if it's a suet or ice cream. Perhaps it's some sort of technique to have a clean mouth after eating or perhaps it's just an old habit as he usually only eats dog biscuits.
3. After two weeks he stopped drinking as much water - to about 3.3 litres per day. And he also lost 3 kilos of body weight. He used to poop 4-5 times in a single day, after a week and half he only managed one or max two brownies per day.
4. His mood changed as well, he became very aloof and slept even more (3/4 of a day).
5. Couple of weeks after I handed him over and he returned to a 'normal' diet, he developed a hotspot that he hadn't had for years and he started coughing as well. Byron's vet was afraid that he might have 'something seriously wrong' and he has been filled with antibiotics ever since. The same thing basically happened to my younger brother after he tried the diet for quite a few months, then dropped back drinking and eating sad stuff and as a consequence has had many aches and pains over the years. Might not be such a good idea to go cold turkey and then change your mind.
6. Mom's been little bit more open to the idea of feeding Byron raw meat and bones recently. She promised to look into it seriously after she has moved to Spain end of this year and has more time to find regular suppliers from local markets. Hope so..
