(2001) A RAW EXPERIENCE OF THE PUPPY KIND ...Lynn Harrison Brushbow Siberians Our Siberians have been fed a raw diet for over four years now but we have only bred one litter during that time. Sixteen months ago the whole family, human and canine, craved for the patter of tiny feet once more, and our litter born December 99 was even more exciting because we were to meet the challenge of raising the pups raw. The diet we feed is a step on from the Billinghurst regime as described in his book "Give Your Dog a Bone" in so much that no grain or dairy is used and oils are organic cold pressed only. Content is still based on 75% meaty bones of chicken, lamb, pork, venison and fish. We had had a litter from the dam of these pups previously, so the comparison was interesting. As usual, her diet remained normal maintenance till Week 6 of the pregnancy. Then, as per Billinghurst recommendation, a gradual quantity increase and change to 25% meaty bone content in three meals per day was effected to whelping, the last couple of days the diet becoming somewhat laxative. The whelping was on time and easy for the bitch; the 5 pups weighing just over the breed norm of 1lb. However, at two weeks of age it started to become apparent that the pups were exceeding our other litters in development. We usually start to wean pups at about 3½ weeks - grinding complete diet to powder and mixing in gravy to make a gruel - but these guys had no intention of taking anything except their dam, despite offering them the best minced steak. Come 4½ weeks and the babes had only just started to take interest in chopped chicken wings. Another week and they were nearer three meals per day (we have never fed four meals as we prefer their systems to get some rest from continual digestion). It was a bit scary to have four week old pups not remotely interested in solid food but the fact that they were doing better than previous litters already on solids, put some perspective on the issue and kept us sane. Feeding a raw diet does tend to keep you in tune with wild animals' needs so the commonsense view would be that wolf cubs of a dam with a plentiful food supply would stick to her nourishing milk for as long as possible. Concentration, therefore, remained with the bitch in providing her with her wants - which were, indeed, plentiful. Fed on demand, at the height she was on eight meals per day. The most surprising meal was one she specifically requested at about 6pm every evening for about a fortnight - 'the fruit bowl'. This consisted of one apple, one pear, one banana and four clementines, and sometimes a portion of melon - all sliced and placed in her bowl. Needless to say, there was no need for Vit C supplement! Not once did this bitch become loose in stools; neither did she lose any body condition as she did with her previous litter. The pups continued to thrive and thoroughly enjoyed their meaty bones. Such a contented bunch, it seemed having to work at their food satisfied chewing and playing as well as hunger needs. Mind you, their stamina saw hard and fast playtimes - their favourite being the cavalry charge in our long kitchen. Being Christmas time, there were whole raw turkey carcasses available to amuse them with - bigger than each of them. A mini wolf pack feeding on a kill! On these days of plenty, the pups were only interested in one other small meal per day. The dam was so well in herself that this time she wanted no aunties to take the load off until the pups were a lot older - much to the disappointment of some of our other bitches who were obviously dying to play a part in rearing this litter as they always have with others. The dam played a lot with her pups and taught them how to forage in the garden for bugs and roots, and continued regularly feeding them her milk to ten weeks of age when suddenly the milk just stopped and she started looking for her harness! She did not spend more than a moment out of their sight and always made sure they were full up by presenting them with chunks of her own raw food before eating any herself. A truly amazing experience and certainly a lesson in mummy knows best, if given the opportunity. We plan another litter this year so will be able to see if this bitch's peculiarities and development of her pups were true to herself, or just a natural breed's reversion to the wild way of feeding and raising (or as close as it gets). We would be interested to hear from other husky breeders now raising litters totally raw as to their comparisons.