RAW feeding - Page 1

I'm starting yet another thread on this. I did go back and look up what was already here but didn't find the exact question I wanted to ask. Suincc you posted this link http://k9rawdiet.com/Whole-Bones-c-17.html  on the HD thread and I was looking at it. I have used Honest kitchen when a friend gave our pregnant bitch some on a visit. I just put my male pup on RAW last week but have yet to add the veggies. I am thinking of doing the dehydrated as a backup/emergency stash and to add to the raw meat to balance it out ,with what I am lacking. Also I saw the frozen meat they sell on the site and spotted pork necks. I have purchased these before as a chewy treat for dogs in the past. They are easy to find a super cheap here. Some of them look and feel rather sharp, but I'm a believer that the dog should be able to eat it if it's natural, sharp or not. I fed them with no problems. How many out there feed pork necks and with what result? Right now I don't have any pork in my RAW.

What I did was went out and bought Chicken 1/4's chicken gizzards and hearts, beef liver, chicken livers, ground beef, ground turkey. I throw a little of everything in a freezer baggie and feed that in the morning. In the evening I do the yogurt, cottage cheese, oats, salmon, tuna or mackerel. How does this sound? My freezer is pretty stuffed without adding veggies. What do the rest of you do regarding fruits and veggies? How much and what items do you feed? I'm a bit afraid to go there yet. Thats where the Honest Kitchen dehydrated was going to come into play. My dogs stools are nice now that he is adjusted to the RAW. I don't want to mess that up, adding too many or the wrong veggies.

I don't own a food processor but I do have a blender. How do you prep the veggies and store them? Should I make up a mush and freeze  the extra. Right now I am making enough baggies for 2 weeks of feedings. Makes it much quicker on a day to day, especially during the week when I am half asleep and feeding at 5am. I have a weeks worth thawed out and the other week still frozen.

I'd appreciate any further suggestions from others feeding RAW. Also how long did it take for you guys to see a difference in the dog after stopping kibble? What differences did you notice besides a nice coat?

I'm still going to call the local butchers to see what other items I can get cheap. Occasioanly I could get venison from friends and even duck. I know nobody who eats or has lamb.

http://www.a-zfarm.com/sheepsales2.htm

this is a place you can get a whole or side of lamb.  I believe they will do the processing and shipping to you then.. Though I am not sure what the cost on that would be.   You should be able to get a lamb for 40-60 USD, the processing and shipping would then be a certain cost per pound from that then.  Usually slightly less than the cost of the lamb.  A slaughtered 70 lb. lamb would yield probably about 50 lb. of meat and if you chose to keep the large bones, about 7-10 lb in bone.  The overall cost would probably be around 100-150 depending on how you want it processed, shipping etc.  So it is not a cheap way to feed, but if you mixed the meat with a high quality kibble, fruits, veggies you might be able to do it nicely

Lisa

this was perhaps not a very valuable post, sorry, just thought I would add it for reference

Keep the leftover cottage cheese or yogurt containers, blend the veggies and store them in the containers.  You don't need to give a huge amount of veggies, after all, these are flesh eating monsters.  Mix em in with the occasional neighbor kid.

Great idea using the containers again. I swear I overlook the most obvious things sometimes! LOL yes Don he likes little kiddies for dessert sometimes. They are sweet and rather fattening, so we keep it to a minimum! I like my dogs on the thin side after all.

What veggies do you blend? Do you use canned, fresh or frozen? Does it matter? I know I want to use sweet potatoes, carrots, but am not sure about anything else yet.

I will buy the frozen baggies of blended veggies.  Different brands have different veggies.  I don't know why, but my dogs prefer the blond kids.  Must be genetic.

Just went to a short seminar on feeding RAW.  They suggested the following percentages for diet (BTW they did recommend pork necks):

50 to 60% - Raw Meaty Bones

20% - Muscle meat and extras

10% - Organ meat

20 to 25% vegetables (5% can be fruit) food process or lightly steamed

No more than 20% (if fed) Grains and strachy veggies (potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash).

I know it addes up to more that 100% but they said to think of the percentages as the max. not the min. amount to use.

Well that sounds about right, minus the veggies. I only use about a handful of oats and only because I have 3 containers full in my food storage. Accidentally bought the old fashioned instead of 1 minute oats. I don't see myself ever buying fruit for my dogs. The guys I have now don't like them anyway. In the past I have had dogs who loved fruit but not these. I guess I will give a bite to my pup when I am eating veggies to see what he actually likes. I see nothing referring to yogurt or cottage cheese though. I don't measure mine out or weigh my foods. I just dollop the yogurt and cottage cheese. Some days he gets more than others, some days I don't even give him any. Usually we skip the evening meal on training days.

I figure sled dogs eat only whole frozen fish for weeks/months at a time and do well. I don't feel it necessary to be anal and weigh the meat or measure spoon fulls of anything. Chicken 1/4 are random sized, depending on the cut and size of chicken, I use my fist or hand as a measuring tool for ground meats and I take finger tips full of organ meats.

What is good for veggies? 1/2 sweet potato or 3 medium carrots daily? I don't even think I will do the veggies daily. Maybe every other day?

Hello 4pack,

Visit http://www.drianbillinghurst.com/  and www.leerburg.com you will get all the information

Thanks Sumo I am reading the leerburg article. So far I agree and am enjoying the info.

Most of ours love carrots, apples, pears, kiwi, raspberries, and other stuff.  We have to be carefull as they self serve apples, pears, raspberries, and kiwis from our small orchard in the yard.  Only one isn't too interested, the others will sneak as much as they can when things are ripe...  I use raw carrots for training treats for one of our girls.  I've wondered about other types of veggies like brocolli, and calliflower.