# Decided on RAW --- Stella & Chewys!!!!



## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

Stella and Chewy's treats are practically the same ingredients as the freeze dried food, just packaged even more expensively, so I never saw the point of those. I have never used the frozen, so I can't speak about that, but the freeze dried is not at all gross. I would agree with you about starting with the chicken, but it is far from my girl's favorite. They prefer the lamb, and their second choice is the venison. I don't buy in bulk like I used to though because I found that sometimes they would not like a batch, and I would have so many bags that they would not eat. 


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

If you have a toy poodle then the freeze dried Stella and Chewy's is great. Get it damp with some water. I give it to my dogs along with their regular food, but it is very expensive and impractical to feed a standard poodle (something crazy like 30-40 patties a day and the patties are near a buck a piece!). My standards get one patty sprinkled on their food for breakfast.. My mini I could probably feed S&C exclusively, but he gets one in the morning with his food, one for lunch by itself and doesn't get it for dinner. 

I use the beef, chicken and lamb flavors. I tried the duck, but it was too rich for them. The fish they wouldn't touch. The venison is too expensive for me. The chicken is softer that the beef and lamb - more crumbly. Maybe a good one to start with.


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## Jamesknox (Feb 11, 2014)

Tiny Poodles said:


> Stella and Chewy's treats are practically the same ingredients as the freeze dried food, just packaged even more expensively, so I never saw the point of those. I have never used the frozen, so I can't speak about that, but the freeze dried is not at all gross. I would agree with you about starting with the chicken, but it is far from my girl's favorite. They prefer the lamb, and their second choice is the venison. I don't buy in bulk like I used to though because I found that sometimes they would not like a batch, and I would have so many bags that they would not eat.
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


So you feed freeze-dried 100% of the time. No frozen? I'm thinking that's what I want to do..something about soft raw meat grosses me out...maybe because I don't eat 4-legged animals myself so the only meat I am used to handling raw is chicken and fish.


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## Jamesknox (Feb 11, 2014)

outwest said:


> If you have a toy poodle then the freeze dried Stella and Chewy's is great. Get it damp with some water. I give it to my dogs along with their regular food, but it is very expensive and impractical to feed a standard poodle (something crazy like 30-40 patties a day and the patties are near a buck a piece!). My standards get one patty sprinkled on their food for breakfast.. My mini I could probably feed S&C exclusively, but he gets one in the morning with his food, one for lunch by itself and doesn't get it for dinner.
> 
> I use the beef, chicken and lamb flavors. I tried the duck, but it was too rich for them. The fish they wouldn't touch. The venison is too expensive for me. The chicken is softer that the beef and lamb - more crumbly. Maybe a good one to start with.


30-40 patties for standards!!! My gosh! According to S&C I would feed my tiny toy 2 patties per day. The 16oz bag has 32 patties - so 1 bag will last about 15-16 days. So let's just say 2 bags per month. That's like 40-55 bucks per month. Totally not expensive at all.


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

Jamesknox said:


> 30-40 patties for standards!!! My gosh! According to S&C I would feed my tiny toy 2 patties per day. The 16oz bag has 32 patties - so 1 bag will last about 15-16 days. So let's just say 2 bags per month. That's like 40-55 bucks per month. Totally not expensive at all.


two patties a day? omg. Are you sure that's enough? LOL Cooper, my mini, would be about 6-7 patties a day of the chicken. The bag says my standards would be about 30 a day, but the calculator on their web site says differently. Hmmm....

The main thing about the freezdried is they need to drink plenty of water with it. That's why I like to get it wet for Cooper's lunch.


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## Jamesknox (Feb 11, 2014)

outwest said:


> two patties a day? omg. Are you sure that's enough? LOL Cooper, my mini, would be about 6-7 patties a day of the chicken. The bag says my standards would be about 30 a day, but the calculator on their web site says differently. Hmmm....
> 
> The main thing about the freezdried is they need to drink plenty of water with it. That's why I like to get it wet for Cooper's lunch.


Yep. 2-2.5 patties per day lol. Kennedy will only be about 5 pounds fully grown so if your mini is about 13-15lbs....I guess it makes sense he/she would eat about 6 patties.


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## poodlecrazy#1 (Jul 2, 2013)

I feed the large frozen patties for a month. They liked them and I wasn't grossed out by the raw aspect, but it takes quite a bit to gross me out. I've had my hands in a freshly killed chicken to de gut it so raw doesn't bug me. I liked how I only needed one patty for all three of my tiny Tpoos. So much easier than like 3-4 per dog. You could always get gloves and use those when handling the food. You do have to make sure to completely defrost them though. On a few occasions I didn't get if defrosted all the way through and my poor babies started shivering like crazy. I had to wrap them up and it took about 15 mins to get them to stop. I guess the tiny's just don't have the body fat to regulate temperature well. Oh and I did find an apple seed in one of the patties when I was cutting it up and mixing it. That worried me a bit, because apple seeds are poisonous. I took it out and checked every patty before I fed it. I still liked the frozen better than the freeze dried though. If I didn't have a ridiculous amount of food for them right now I would order more. But they have at least 15 different foods right now,lol. It is always a struggle to get them to eat. 


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

Jamesknox said:


> Yep. 2-2.5 patties per day lol. Kennedy will only be about 5 pounds fully grown so if your mini is about 13-15lbs....I guess it makes sense he/she would eat about 6 patties.


Yes, Cooper is about 12.5 pounds and 6 months old right now - about done growing, just filling out now.


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## rubymom (Apr 24, 2010)

We just recently bought some SC frozen rabbit and my mpoo loves them! Never have used prepared raw before, but so far, so good! 

Good luck with the chicken! When we began raw over 3 years ago, I started Ruby with chicken and she had an awful time with it! (Mucous stools that, after 2-3 days, turned bloody!). I immediately stopped the chicken and used beef! Things improved right away!


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

Jamesknox said:


> So you feed freeze-dried 100% of the time. No frozen? I'm thinking that's what I want to do..something about soft raw meat grosses me out...maybe because I don't eat 4-legged animals myself so the only meat I am used to handling raw is chicken and fish.



Yup, and although you can wet it, my girls don't like it that way, they get it dry, crumbled up in a bowl. Just for Timi, my puppy we got kibble, and they are eating some of that too.
Oh, and you may want to look at Ziwi peak air dried raw food as a treat - it is flat, dime sized soft squares that could easily double as a treat. Just be careful not to overdue on the Ziwi at first, because as S and C is really good on their stomachs, Ziwi can be rough on them when they are not used to it!


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

If it were me, I would feed the frozen and reserve the freeze dried for traveling. For me, one of the main reasons to feed raw is the inclusive moisture context.


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

CharismaticMillie said:


> If it were me, I would feed the frozen and reserve the freeze dried for traveling. For me, one of the main reasons to feed raw is the inclusive moisture context.



It is true, Tangee's lab work did show that she was not getting enough water, but fixed that by brining the water dish to her throughout the day. Teaka's has always been fine. They won't eat fresh raw meat, and they won't eat the freeze dried with water added. But it would probably be a good idea of they started off puppy with eating it moistened if they can.
Though many toys are grazers more than meal eaters, so that could be a problem with the frozen or wet freeze dried.


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## Minnie (Apr 25, 2011)

I have a 4 pound toy and we feed freeze dried raw exclusively and currently the Stella & Chewy's brand - Bella prefers to chicken to any other type. In order to make sure she gets enough water we soak the patty for a couple of minutes, crumble the patty, and leave some of the water in the bowl and always leave out fresh water. 

I've tried to feed frozen raw and dehydrated for travel and she ends up with extremely loose stools to the point last time of needing fluids from the vet. As we travel frequently this just does not work. So we stick with dehydrated raw and so far she is thriving on this diet


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

I feed frozen raw, defrosted for Swizzle. He is an enthusiastic eater and we have no problem with loose stools. If his stool is loose I give him a bone, if too hard gizzards and heart but it is rarely an issue. Raw is a great choice. I just cut it to the appropriate size portion and wrap it in Saran. Defrost and shake it into his dish. Swizzle eats two pounds a week plus raw bones and a little gizzard and heart ground together.


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## Minnie (Apr 25, 2011)

Darn I can't got back and edit my post but just to not confuse - Bella does not have loose stools due to the frozen raw - that is actually a great option and if I didn't travel as frequently I would have stayed with it as the nutritionist listed it #1 after fresh frozen - dehydrated being #3. Her issues are due to the switch between frozen raw and dehydrated raw or any other food she's always had a very sensitive stomach :-( OP - You can't go wrong with either option - best of luck!


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

I do have to say though that we recently won a contest for Merrick grain free kibble, and I am surprised how much my girls are loving it - even toothless old Tangee, my fussiest eater is swallowing the kibble whole!


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## Jamie Hein (Aug 17, 2013)

I've done both and preferred the frozen since you don't have to add water and wait for it to absorb it, and it had less odor. The freeze dried is great for traveling though.


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