Raw chicken wings - OK for pups? - Page 1

To provide a better diet and more natural access to required growth material I'm going to take the advice I've been receiving and cut back on kibble for my 16 week old pup and supplement with raw meat. I don't want to over do it and need advice. She is currently on 1 cup of Canidea all life stages 3 times daily. I would be cutting back on the kibble when feeding the meat. I bought a pack of chicken wings this evening but am unsure as to how to feed them. Should I chop them in half or feed them whole? How many would be a good start? I'm thinking one - should I provide kibble as well? How many times daily? Is just out of the fridge cold OK – or should I run hot water over them to take the chill off? My 2 biggest fears are the bones (although I hear that they eat them and that is actually good) and giving too much throwing off the natural balance she requires for proper, regulated growth. Any and all advice is truly appreciated. I'm making this change upon several recommendations I received after posting about weak pasterns and my desire to help them develop correctly. -Calvin

I also feed my puppies Canidae, but I went to the chicken and rice formula, because it has more protein in it. I also feed chicken wings, and all I do is run it over hot water to clean it up a little and feed it to them like that. I don't cut them up. I take it you are going on the raw food plan?

with young pups, under 8 weeks, I feed the chicken wingettes, they are a little easier for them to handle.

Cledford I feed mainly RAW. Kudos to you for giving this a try. I would suggest to start with one wing, whole, just hand it over and see what your pup does with it. I have a full grown male who likes necks.. but not wings...weirdo! I would warm it with water like you said or take it out earlier to get it to room temp. Everyone worries about the bones at first, but for me so far so good and almost 3 years feeding RAW. I feed the necks and wings whole and grind the rest of the stewing chickens because I am still "chicken"! If you decide to make the switch to mostly RAW there is alot of good info out there. I keep giving out this URL to Leerburgs page on weekly feeding schedule. http://www.leerburg.com/diet2.htm If you cruise around his site you will find some info on puppies and good books to read. Also maybe reduce the food a half a cup, not sure really, if you see a weight gain or reduction you can adjust to more or less. I feed some Canidae Chicken/Rice to my old dog. She likes dog food (another weirdo!!!) so she gets some with the fresh. I think it is good food, for dog food! I wish you lottsa luck! Keep us posted on how those pasterns do too!

I feed my big dogs raw, have raised several pups on raw and currently have weaned my litter on raw. They are 14 weeks and can eat the same bones as the big dogs. They can eat any part of the chicken - when I feed them it's mostly quarters. They also eat pork spare ribs, whole fish, beef necks and ribs, pork brisket, lamb necks, green tripe, various organs, beef heart and tongue. Also chicken feet are a great snack. You might want to join a couple of the raw feeding yahoo lists and read the archives for alot of good information. BTW I saw a male that was much more down on his pasterns at 6 months (super large, big boned showline pup) and he is looking better 2 months later, his pasterns have come up. His are also alot longer than your pups.

Calvin, Do be prepared for the pup to end up with salmonella or campylobacter. Sometimes such infections will really make a dog ill, just as a human. Washing the chicken will not clean it of this or other bacteria. If you get chicken that is contaminated, you will have a sick dog. Been there, done that. For me, it was not worth it. I am not a fan of raw because most people do not make sure the diet is balanced or know what the literature says relative to necessary nutrients and especially calcium/phosphorus balance. In your case, where you do have a bone/joint issue, you probably want to be sure you do feed a proper balance. Good luck.

I received a pup from a breeder on the "raw diet." Actually it was a diet where the pup was fed chicken wings almost exclusively. The little pup pooped bricks. Needless to say I was concerned. I asked another "raw diet" follower. Their thoughts were the bone/meat ratio is too low on wings (about 80% bone, 20% meat) and prefer cuts where there is more meat to bone ratio. Food for thought.

Calvin is not feeding exlusivly though. He is still giving dry food so should be OK. Let her enjoy herslef and I doubt she will get sick if the chicken has been frozen and kept cold.

Unfortunately many people who feed raw, don't feed their dogs properly - feeding mostly "carcesses" chicken backs, necks and wings. This is a big reason why the diet will fail. If you want to feed chicken - feed the whole bird - cut into portions. Tripe is great for dogs and has a very balanced cal/phos ratio. I feed very little chicken to my big dogs - the pups get more becasue it is an edible bone for them. When I do feed chicken they get a whole quarter or the top breast/wing portion. I never feed wings plain or necks - too much of a choke hazard for dogs that like to gulp. The chicken I feed is from the grocery store (foster farms) , but I feed mostly red meat sources and some fish as well. I feed based on a prey model making sure they get about 85% - 90% meat to bone. If a raw diet is fed properly the results are great - if not you can have problems. People need to educate themselves to proper feeding otherwise I think it is better to feed a high end kibble.

GS Mom, Can you expand a little on the prey model. It seems to be a very simple correct approach to raw feeding.