Raw Egg- Question

[RobinM]

Ollie eats raw. We had a problem last Thursday. We don't know if this was the cause of his problem or if it were a red flag. He swallows his diiner without chewing and that includes the bones. This time it was a problem. I'm wondering if we are cutting the duck into pieces that are too small. But I'm doubly afraid of him trying to swallow even bigger pieces.

 

So to make a very long story short, he choked and apparantly caused an inflammed esphogus (esphogusitis) so no bones for a few weeks.

 

I am giving him his ground duck with ground organ and bones., ground beef with ground organs and bones. I want to add in raw egg.

 

Question about the egg. Do most raw eaters tend to like the raw egg? I need to crumble the shell well as not to irritate his esphogus which should be easy since I can mix it into the chopped duck/beef.

 

How ofter can you give egg? Do you give regular store bought eggs or organic? Is there an advantage to brown eggs?

 

I don't eat eggs so I'd like to get him the best.

Edited September 28, 2010 by RobinM

[Guest mcsheltie]

Organic is always better. But if you are not feeding organic on a daily basis, it is not worth the cost. What I buy when available are the high Omega 3 eggs. The chickens are free range and fed a proper diet so the Omega 3 content of the egg is quite a bit higher than the normal egg. This in turn increases the bio-availability of Omega 3. It is a good option for dogs that can not tolerate fish oil.

 

If he has an inflamed esophagus I would dry the egg shells in the oven and crush them into powder.

 

I feed a balanced raw diet. I am not into guessing, I have taken the time to crunched the numbers. Part of our diet is an egg a day. The egg is as close to the perfect food as you can get. It is one of the most easily digestible proteins. It is on top of the list of bio-available protein. Ca/Phos ratio is balanced if you feed the shell. You could easily balance a diet where egg is the only protein source.

 

As far as bones in Ollie's future... Not every dog can eat bones. You would think they should be able to because how else would they survive in the wild. But... they would have been brought up eating chunks of prey that were bigger than their head and learned the natural way how to eat. Domestic dogs raised on kibble follow their instinct to gulp. Now he has to relearn this.

 

I feel the bigger the piece the better. I also feed dogs new to raw frozen RMBs. They can not break those in half and swallow them. They have to chew. They have to work on it a while until it is thawed enough to even start to eat it. It helps teach them to slow down and chew.

 

Another alternative is that BIG chunks of meat will also help clean their teeth. My cats eat raw gizzards, they chew on those for a long time and their teeth are spotless. Since Ollie can eat beef you might buy a 1/2 cow from a local farmer (cheaper, look on Craigslist) and ask that they cut the muscle meat into 2 lb pieces. You can continue to feed his bones ground.

[GeorgeofNE]

Robin, around here we have a commercial where the jingle is "Brown eggs are local eggs, and local eggs are fresh!" I don't think it means a thing other than the type of chicken who layed it.

[kjw]

Brown eggs and white eggs are the same, for sure.

 

A dog's jaw is actually designed to tear off big chunks of food and get them down their throat quickly so no one else in the pack can get it, so how your dog is eating is instinctual and natural. The only way to slow him down is to feed big meat, so that he has to chew it. If he tries to swallow a piece that's too big, it will come back up and he'll get another shot at it.

 

When he starts back on bone, you may have to hold onto one end of his RMB to ensure he chews it up properly.

 

If your dog is getting his 10% bone ground up in his food, he doesn't need the shell from the egg.

 

We feed raw egg 3 or 4 times a week, and it is a perfect protein. The dogs love them, too!

[Guest Swifthounds]

Most dogs like eggs and you can feed a whole one (whole as in yolk and white- you can feed the shell or leave it out) every day if you want. Some people feed more than one egg per day. Some dogs have bowel tolerance for a daily egg (or more), so seem to do better with less. It's much like introducing a new meat or fish oil - when you first introduce it, start slow and work up, letting bowel tolerance be your guide.

 

If you want to include the shell for the calcium, it's better to let the shell dry and then pulse it in a coffee grinder into a powder. They can eat the shells whole, but fed that way they mostly just pass through - so not the way you want to feed them if you want to feed them as the calcium source.

 

It doesn't really matter what kind of egg you feed. People have different favorites. Just don't fall for the "vegetarian fed" nonsense. Chickens aren't vegetarian.

 

As far as eating, the general rule of thumb for feeding raw pieces is to feed pieces roughly the size of the dog's head to ensure proper chewing. Smaller than this and it's too easily swallowed without chewing. That's part of the reason I'm like a broken record when warning against chicken necks and similarly sized/shaped items - too easily swallowed.

[Guest Vers]

I can only answer part of your question, but you've probably seen mine here about Stella the picky eater. Raw is hit-or-miss with her, but she likes raw eggs, no question. They are, as said above, a perfect protein, 100% digestible for dogs IIRC. Also agree that if Ollie (sweet Ollie!) is getting ground bone in his mix, the shells are extraneous unless you want to dry and pulverize them so his esophagus isn't further irritated. Also kjw above has a really good point about the size of raw, especially this, "When he starts back on bone, you may have to hold onto one end of his RMB to ensure he chews it up properly." With Simba (similar in size to your Ollie; sounds like their eating habits match too), I'm very careful that the pieces are large enough that actual chewing is required; freezing first helps even more.

[Guest Swifthounds]

Just adding that holding the food is a good tips to prevent gulping if you can do it. The best tip is to get a pair of pliers and use them to hold the food - no accidental hand chomping, and no struggling to keep a hand of slippery parts.

[Guest Ola]

I think some (many?) dogs like eggs but not the shell, so you may want to try it without that first if you're not sure. My two both avoid even small pieces of shells. That doesn't get them to reject the egg though, they just eat around it and will spit out any shells that they get in their mouths by accident. The other egg tip is to start slow as it often results in some gas at first - go with one and none the second day to see how he does, then increase if you'd like.

[Guest taylorsmom]

I think some (many?) dogs like eggs but not the shell, so you may want to try it without that first if you're not sure. My two both avoid even small pieces of shells. That doesn't get them to reject the egg though, they just eat around it and will spit out any shells that they get in their mouths by accident. The other egg tip is to start slow as it often results in some gas at first - go with one and none the second day to see how he does, then increase if you'd like.

Ditto on this from me as well. If I haven't fed raw eggs in awhile, my dogs will have a day or two of really nasty gas as they get used to it again. So go slow initially. The funniest thing I have ever seen is feeding a raw egg in the shell to my Lab Lucy when she was a 4 month old pup--she did not know what to do with it and chased it all around the back patio until she finally was able to get a canine tooth through the shell, and looking like she was in heaven when she finally slurped up the insides

I have also actually found that holding one end of the RMB while the dog tries to eat it actually encouraged gulping in my dogs, as soon as I tried to let it go. I think they thought I was going to take it away from them. I agree with everyone else--just make sure you feed larger pieces that encourage the dog to chew off pieces. When I was feeding raw more regularly, a great option was cornish game hens--I could give the whole hen for a meal and it took them a while to chew through it, no way they were going to get a whole hen down the needle-nose snout in one gulp!

[RobinM]

Ok, we have been using a meat cleaver and cutting the duck into pieces that are waaaaaaay too small. We take a duck drumstick and cut it into 2 pieces.. Duck drumsticks are a lot smaller than chicken.

 

My mistake. We'll give it another try when we get the go ahead from the vet. But I still have another 2 weeks of cut duck that is frozen.

[Guest mcsheltie]

Ok, we have been using a meat cleaver and cutting the duck into pieces that are waaaaaaay too small. We take a duck drumstick and cut it into 2 pieces.. Duck drumsticks are a lot smaller than chicken.

 

My mistake. We'll give it another try when we get the go ahead from the vet. But I still have another 2 weeks of cut duck that is frozen.

Send it to me, I'll feed it to the Shelties.

[GreytNut]

Mine love raw eggs. They get one in their breakfast once a week. They avoid eating the shells, even ground up, so I've given up on that part. Organic free range eggs are better than factory-farmed on all counts... taste, nutrition (Mother Earth News did extensive research on the nutrition aspect) humane treatment of the birds and safety. Backyard eggs are terrific if you can find them. There's no real difference between brown, white, cream, green or blue eggs... shell color is dependent upon the breed of chicken and in some cases upon its diet.

[Guest KennelMom]

Egg color has to do with the breed of hen. There's no difference in quality. We get a rainbow of egg colors from our local producer. Eggs from pastured hens are the best, from a taste and nutrition standpoint (they get to eat lots of bugs!). Good luck finding them. After that, my second choice would be the omega-3 enriched eggs. There's a lot of debate on what free range means...there's no legal definition (the gov't only regulates the certified organic label) so everything else is just marketing. Unless you know the egg producer, I'd take "cage free" and "free range" with a grain of salt. Great if you can afford it....at least you know the hens weren't in battery cages.

 

Our dogs will trip over each other to get the shells from pastured hens. I've actually tested this with our crew and tried giving out shells from mass produced eggs and eggs from pastured hens and the dogs will always spit out the mass produced shells and chomp down happily on the pastured hen shells. I've always found that interesting. Anyhoo...if you want to use the shells for their nutritive value, I'd dry them out and grind them up in a spice grinder.

 

I've never encountered a dog that didn't like raw eggs (or cooked). Eggs are a nearly perfect food, IMO. But, I'm sure there are dogs who don't like them.

Edited October 2, 2010 by KennelMom

[Guest RWM]

I've always had good luck with eggs. I mash the shell; the lunatics don't mind it a bit. Recently, I went with mozzarella cheese omelettes for variety. They loved it!

[Guest Sunset123]

Most dogs like eggs and you can feed a whole one (whole as in yolk and white- you can feed the shell or leave it out) every day if you want. Some people feed more than one egg per day. Some dogs have bowel tolerance for a daily egg (or more), so seem to do better with less. It's much like introducing a new meat or fish oil - when you first introduce it, start slow and work up, letting bowel tolerance be your guide.

 

 

 

I made this mistake yesterday. I thought it was such a good idea to add an egg to my girl's meal because I'd read about it on GT... and she ended up with bad diarrhea. My husband ended up sleeping on the couch for a while last night so that he could more easily get up to take her out every half hour or so. Guess we know now that the raw egg thing isn't for every dog!

[Guest Swifthounds]

I made this mistake yesterday. I thought it was such a good idea to add an egg to my girl's meal because I'd read about it on GT... and she ended up with bad diarrhea. My husband ended up sleeping on the couch for a while last night so that he could more easily get up to take her out every half hour or so. Guess we know now that the raw egg thing isn't for every dog!

 

Some Slippery Elm Bark will calm down the GI tract and make your girl more comfortable.

 

Next time you give it a try, try cracking open the egg and blending it a bit with a fork and then put it in a sealable container. You can just give a teaspoon with each meal and work up slowly from there without wasting the rest of the egg. I've also just left out a portion of egg for the hounds and added the rest into my omlette or scrambled eggs.

 

The most interesting thing about feeding dogs is how over time their systems adjust to variety and adjust to new foods. My hound who would get horrible tummy upset from a different flavor of the same brand of food when I fed kibble now eats a random variety of chicken, fish, turkey, beef, tripe, pork, venison, lamb, elk, goat assorted organs and fish oil and eggs.

[Guest Sunset123]

I made this mistake yesterday. I thought it was such a good idea to add an egg to my girl's meal because I'd read about it on GT... and she ended up with bad diarrhea. My husband ended up sleeping on the couch for a while last night so that he could more easily get up to take her out every half hour or so. Guess we know now that the raw egg thing isn't for every dog!

 

Some Slippery Elm Bark will calm down the GI tract and make your girl more comfortable.

 

Next time you give it a try, try cracking open the egg and blending it a bit with a fork and then put it in a sealable container. You can just give a teaspoon with each meal and work up slowly from there without wasting the rest of the egg. I've also just left out a portion of egg for the hounds and added the rest into my omlette or scrambled eggs.

 

The most interesting thing about feeding dogs is how over time their systems adjust to variety and adjust to new foods. My hound who would get horrible tummy upset from a different flavor of the same brand of food when I fed kibble now eats a random variety of chicken, fish, turkey, beef, tripe, pork, venison, lamb, elk, goat assorted organs and fish oil and eggs.

 

Thanks for the tip! She seems to be feeling better today (aside from being a little more tired like the rest of us because she had to get up so many times at night), but I do have some slippery elm bark that I'll give to her next time.

 

I think I'm going to nix the eggs idea for now and stick with the add-ins that I know agree with her. She does have a chicken sensitivity, and I'm not sure if that had something to do with the egg reaction. I didn't think about that until this morning.

 

Aside from chicken-based treats and kibble, the only other thing that's ever bothered her digestion was the ball of aluminum foil that she ate!

Edited October 4, 2010 by Sunset123