raising siberian huskies

Question
hello, i was wondering if you can guide me in the the right direction to find out about a raw diet for my huskies.  i have 8 (6 puppies) and would like to start them off right.  the puppies are 3 weeks old and are weaned from momma because she developed mastitisis.  i first bottle fed them a recipe of yogurt, evap milk, and eggs. it seemed they needed more, so i started them on a "good" puppy food.  I have not seen the results in the commercial dog food that i would like so i am doing research on a great raw diet. mom is about 45lbs and dad is 53lbs. any suggestions  

Answer
Hi Michelle,
Well firstly the puppies, I raised many litters on a diet of only raw food and no commercial food what so ever. I let thier mum wean them when she chose. They all grew to be large strong dogs brimming with health. For thier first meal at about 4 weeks I would make up a mixture of raw eggs, lactose reduced full cream milk and some human grade chicken mince. It is important to use meat for human consumption as pet grade mince can contain many nasty bacteria that can harm your pups. It will be messy at first and some get the idea sooner than others but in no time they will be eating this fast. As they get better at eating you can make this mixture less runny.
Then it is time for raw chicken wings, I had pups as young as 4 weeks eating these things. Then when they have mastered this you can go on to other foods. Try to expose them to as much variety as possible so as adults they will eat all kinds of foods.
Well to answer your general question on raw diets as I am asked this one alot, a diet of commercial dog food is not something I would recomend for any dog. Sadly to say I see many dogs who fare very badly on this diet. I can never
understand that humans are always told that to eat healthy they must consume raw unprocessed food to have optimum health. Yet for some strange reason our dogs and alot of other animals are not supposed to eat this way. WHY I ASK? It goes against all commonsense and mystifies me as to how even the most intelligent people are sucked in by the pet food companies rubbish. Sadly many vets also play into this, perhaps they dont know any better, and if they do they are downright evil.
It is obvoius there is a connection between vets and pet food companies
and I am not so sure it is a healthy thing.
I would not feed any commercial dog food to my most loved dogs, here are a
multitude of reasons why you should change to a raw diet.
The rule is all the diet must be raw there is no getting out of it, if you
cook a dog's food you will kill all the beneficial enzymes it needs for
optimum health. So in reality preparation is not hard. I do not know what
country you are in some places it is easier to get lots of good raw
offcuts than others, and the USA is particually frustrating. But I just go
to Walmart and they have 10LB bags of chicken pieces there and they are
cheap. Forget all the salmonella rubbish I and my dogs have never got it
and I have played with so much raw meat in 10 years I should have by now.
Give him a couple of those a day and a raw egg, shell and all, you will
see the difference in no time on this simple and nutritious diet. I feed
no commercial dog food at all and I have 4 huge thriving boys the oldest
is almost 12 he only looks 5! I go to the vets rarely, and they are amazed
at the health of my guys every time. I attribute it to the diet I feed and
the vast amount of excercise I give my guys. I have also raised litters of
puppies on this same diet and my pups weighed 8 lbs at only 6 weeks!
I only ever feed my guys once a day, huskies can be very food oriented.
But beware huskies were specifically designed to subsist in a very harsh
environment on very little food and work all day on it. So they can become
very overweight in the absence of this.  Remember too a dog cannot digest raw veggies unless you put them in a food processor first. This mimics the
contents of the intestines of the animals they would have hunted in the wild. That was the only vegetable matter they really got.
Here are some feeding hints these are the rules I live by and I have had
great success with. I give all raw meat, all different kinds, keep it varied,
but for growing pups chicken is the best. All uncooked bones are great,
but do try to avoid the real big hard ones like the ones from a cow's leg.
They are so dense and hard they can chip and injure a dogs teeth and cause
wear if they have them too often. Other than that all bones are great. For a growing pup poultry and pork are the best but give him red meats as well. Remember the only dangerous bones are ones that have been cooked, all raw bones are fine. Raw eggs, cottage cheese, lactose reduced milk, all whole milk not skim. Mince is great all different kinds, fish is great too. Blend up some veggies from time to time and mix them in as well. Honey on the cottage cheese, yohgurt, all full cream of course, and any general table scraps
you might have as well. Don't feed cereals, chocolate, or onion ever they are poisonous to a dog.
Only feed him once a day, and what he does not eat, take away.
Feeding should be simple and with this method your dog should thrive.
Basically I feed everything I would eat with the exception of cereals,
even fruit and veg. Beleive it or not, although dog food is full of
cereal, dogs cannot digest it at all, and it has no food value to them what so
ever. So forget the cereals entirely. Cereals can even cause diabeties which I have seen happen first hand in dogs, and often does as they get older. Commercial food is also too high in salt and calcium and can cause
a myriad of problems as your dog ages. So give a diet of 80% raw meaty
bones and you will see a very positive change. If you have any further
questions don't hesitate to ask. Feel free to email me at
theartist@fmcampbell.com so I am happy for you to contact me there if you need any further help.  Give it a try you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
I hope this helps you, Faye and Husky Crew.