RAW feeding questions. - Page 2

I go 2% of the body weight. Puppies are entirely different someone will have to give you the details of that one.
so say for me my dog is 70 then I go 70x2% that gives me what I need.
To begin they recommend you do all protein with bone. They recommend chicken breasts with bone then after two weeks you add organs. The formula for a meal is 80%meat , 10 % bones and 10% organ, but liver is only 5%
Make the bone close to 10% for a dog that has stools that become loose.
You can quit kibble cold turkey, some dogs have a hard time in the process or not.
I use meaty chicken quarters for two dogs
And I will add raw fish some days or raw pork others. After the two weeks on One Protein you can start adding other proteins too.
That is the best way to start without headaches but if your dogs are already getting the full thing and are fine that's great.
My mastiff mix now she is doing superb and she has the best poo she ever has had. And it is really way less then the kibble poos she had.
I have great success so I always happy to share my experiences. So far I may get an occassional bone back up a small fragment on the shepherd but really they are all doing great
good luck.
walmart has chicken livers in a tub. And they have beef tongue and heart.
If the sodium on the chicken is high soak and wash the meat in water for a 1/2 hr or so.

oh, and the fish I feed might already be fileted.
so that way I am not real sure on those sharp bones either. In the UK they use herring.
I don't know but I believe the bones are not as sharp or big, pick fish that is not as boney. Like carp is the boniest fish there is.
I use fillets with no bones and then add an oxtail for the day or a chicken leg with the fish to give the 10% bone.

Like yesterday the shepherd got two pork country style ribs with no bone because the bones are sharp cut ones so I just added an oxtail and then she got a beef liver of 5%
Then the little dog he got 5% of his liver of the day with a chicken thigh.
The mastiff got two meaty chicken quarters at  a pound each and her chicken livers.
The the day before the shepherds meal was a lb of beef tongue which is a muscle meat, a lb of pork  with  a 5 % liver and one oxtail.
You can mixed up the portions and the proteins once they adjust.
They sell cheap weight scales at walmart.

by the way justice for all, I have never heard of fasting for more then 3 days.
I think you may of heard someone fasting a dog to the fact they are letting the dog gorge.
I would personally never do it.
But , some will let a dog gorge on a large animal like a deer. and then they fast them this is to prevent a dog from getting bloat or what not, not sure of all the details.
Don't fast a dog for 7-10 days that sounds extreme.
I can give you a yahoo group that knows about that and how to get started in raw.
Raw involves no veggies, fruit or kibble stuff.
There are other diet out there, but i do all raw nothing else.

We do use veggies and organs and fruits.. there are many different ways to do this.. and I just started cold turkey and no one ever had any trouble..... didn't reduce kibble, but had muscle meat, bones, organs everything..
As you can see there are many ways to feed raw .. find a way you are comfortable with and you will be fine

Matthews 3662;  I think they meant every 7-10 days, fast for l day.  I have heard of that but don't see how I could possibly do with my gluttons they like to eat too much.  Maybe with raw.  OK;  all this sounds like a nightmare.  How are you all doing and buying to prepare for these feedings?  Ahead of time?  Freeze everything;  doesn't all the foods have to be room temperature?  I guess you could lay it all out the night before;  or for night time feeding, the morning of.??  I did raw about 10 years ago for about 1 year but didn't find that the dogs did very well.  I had to be doing something wrong.  Could not wait to just OPEN a bag of dog food;  the simplification.  Nan

Just to clarify, the muscle meat is NOT 100% protein, or 80% protein. It's about 17-20% protein. That's why it grows puppies more slowly than kibble does.

Regarding fish, I'll tell you a little story. Someone gave me about 40 smallish (like a foot long) catfish. I went to a great deal of trouble to cut off their horrible spines with dykes, puncturing myself frequently in the process. Then, while I was hard at work, one of the dogs came out and ate the pile of spines before I knew what she was up to. She was fine. I figure if they can handle that, they can probably handle a few little fish ribs.

Thank you all for your responses.  I have also joined a raw feeding group on yahoo, so I will get some info there too.  I just wanted to hear from some GSD people.  I've been lurking on this data base for about a year and know that some of you have some great info, so thanks.  I'll let you know how the transition is going.  It's also fun to watch when they get a new food.  Trying to figure it out, then tearing into it.  Today was pigs feet...took a little longer than the ribs and quarters, but they ended up enjoying them.  :-)  Tomorrow we are onto fish.  That oughta be fun.  And smelly.

Matthew, you feed your dogs ox tongue?  Gosh, they cost a fortune and they are hard to come by.  I was lucky last week and managed to get 1.5 kg at Waitrose supermarket and I only bit I gave to the dogs was the skin that I had to peel off.  They cost £16-19 per kilo!!!

JusticeForAll,
Good luck with the raw feeding.  My dogs have raw sardines in the morning and for the evening, mince beef with kidney or liver with either chicken wings/ thighs or lamb racks.  In between, they get a frozen chicken feet as a treat.  I must look into the fasting-period as mentioned.  I'm sure its a health related thing too.

What are you all doing about your senior dogs when you start the raw;  I have an 11 year old missing quite a few teeth;  I suppose I could give her ground raw??  Any other suggestions??

My 14 year old eats raw just fine. Takes him a little longer, but he still chews it up carefully.