Raw feeding a Border Collie: switching from kibble

Soft stools during a kibble-to-raw switch are really common — but they're also a signal worth paying attention to, because they usually mean the transition is happening too fast or the raw food isn't balanced quite right. Raw feeding done well can be excellent for a dog like a Border Collie, but done badly it creates nutritional gaps that cause real harm over time, and the difference is balance and sourcing. To point you in the right direction: how big is your Collie, roughly how many weeks have you been switching, and are you blending the raw with kibble at the moment or have you gone cold turkey?

That makes a lot of sense actually. Butcher mince on its own is almost always pure muscle meat — no bone, no organ, no added minerals — so it's nutritionally incomplete, and mixing it with kibble means she's getting conflicting digestion demands at the same time. Kibble needs stomach acid at a different level than raw protein does, which is part of why the gut is struggling. Before I suggest what to do next: is she otherwise well in herself — good energy, eating happily, no vomiting? And are you open to a complete ready-made raw, or is sourcing and mixing yourself something you want to stick with?

Completely understandable — it's one of the most common misconceptions with raw feeding. Good news is that switching to a proper complete raw makes this much simpler and should firm her up within a week or two. My clear recommendation for a 22kg Border Collie coming off premium kibble with a sensitive gut right now is Natures Menu Country Hunter. It's a nugget-format complete raw — 80% meat, offal and bone in the right ratios, with added vegetables and botanicals. The nugget format is good for portion control and means no mess with loose mince. Crucially, it's a named single-protein format, so you can start her on chicken or rabbit, which are lower-fat and easier to digest while her gut adjusts. Stop the butcher mince and the kibble entirely — don't mix them — and give her just the Country Hunter nuggets. For a 22kg dog you're looking at roughly 440g a day. Stools should firm up noticeably within five to seven days.

Go straight onto the nuggets — no gradual mix this time, because mixing raw and kibble is likely what's been dragging out the loose stools. A clean switch actually works better for most dogs than a slow crossover. The one thing I would add: a small amount of plain canned pumpkin (not pie filling, just plain pumpkin) stirred into her food for the first week or so can help bulk the stool while her gut flora rebalances. A teaspoon twice a day is plenty for her size. If stools haven't improved meaningfully after ten days on the Country Hunter alone, that's worth a vet conversation just to rule out anything else going on — but based on what you've described, I'd expect her to settle well.

You're very welcome. She sounds like a healthy dog who just got a slightly bumpy introduction to raw — this should sort her out. Stick with one protein for at least four to six weeks before rotating to another, so you can see clearly what agrees with her. Good luck with it.