Raw feeding, lots of questions please read - Page 1

Okay I know there is a lot already posted on this subject and I have read a lot of it. I haven't found a clear answer to my question so if its already out there I apologize.
I am wondering what do you feed and how much you feed on a daily basis.
I have read some feed specific percentages of meat, veg and grain. I have read on others feed only meat.
I am wanting to switch to raw for my dogs and want to get a better understanding of what to give, how much, how often etc.
Please share what you have found works or doesn't and why if you can. Thanks :)

these websites really helped me alot
http://www.rawlearning.com/
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfeeding/
http://www.rawmeatybones.com/

I believe you feed 2%-3% of a dogs weight daily.

wouldn't feed any veggies or grains.  but thats just my opinion.  if anything, feed with a supplement such as Nupro,  but again, I wouldn't worry about grains or veggies.

In the morning I feed about a 1/2lb of tripe & beef organ meat from greentripe.com.  I like their stuff because it's from organic, grass fed cattle.   I add salmon oil & vit E to the bowl.  In the evening I feed a whole bone (venison neck, or lamb neck, or pork neck, or couple of chicken frames w/necks attached, or some turkey necks,  stuff like that.   I usually feed an organic, free range duck egg or two, about  once a week (I keep ducks).  I sometimes feed a can of mackeral instead in the morning.  I like to feed whole fish too sometimes.  

2% of my schutzhund dog's ideal weight is 1.8 lbs, so this is approx what I feed every day, but I don't measure any more, I just keep an eye on his condition.  Recently my mentor told me my dog was too thin so I had to increase his diet by a  little bit more.  I decided to increase the tripe, as I think that is such a fantastic food for dogs, and of course, no complaints from the dog!!

I think every dog is dfferent. Like a racehorse vs a trail horse for example. The trail horse get's (experts say) 1/2 a coffee can of grain (some say a 1-1/2 pound scoop) 2 times a day and 2 leafs of hay, timothy or alfalfa per day. (personally my horses would be pissed if I did this)  A racehorse on the other hand get's 1 full 10 pound bucket of grain 2 times a day and 2 leafs of alfalfa or timothy.

Soo as you can see, it depends on actvities/training of the animal your feeding.

I have 2 very active dogs who run around all day and 1/4 the night on a few hundred acres. My Mal is off the race track for 6 months and still has a huge stomach and can eat easy 3 pounds twice a day. And still burns off all her weight. My Cattle Dog prefers to eat 1/2 pound servings throughout the day, she's never been on the track. My Mal gets a bacon or two while the ACD eats through out the day kinda thing.

All my animals are crazy though.  LOL 

Good Luck.

This may help or not but I have feed raw to my dogs for three years and these are some things I do and Have found out -

my GSD's do not do well with a lot of grain - I limit grain type feed to cooked oats
veggies do not do any harm and have great benifits - I include salad items such as lettuce, carrots, sweet potatoes, kale, asparagus, spinach, and anything else we would eat in a salad.

so here is how i put it all together -

I take 2-5 lbs of ground beef (the cheapest has the most fat so i use that) -
I take 6-8 sweet potatoes and cook them slowly until tender then I add a few cups of oatmeal and let them cook in the sweet potatoe water an simmer for 30 minutes or so.  Meanwhile, i take salad items and put them i a blender with increasing amounts of beef or chicken stock to puree them.  I also have a pot of carrots cooking on the side.
Mix all of the cooked and pureed items with the meat and add table scrapes if I have some intoa large container that I use to serve up dinner on a daily basis

Daily I take a chicken leg quarter - and/or - section of raw meat (beef or pork - what ever i find on sale at local markets) put it in the dog food bowl and weigh it - then i add the mix from above to top off the amount I am feeding for the day. 

i don't do everything correct every day but my vet even seems to think the dogs are doing good on this diet.  I do add some supplements like daily vitamins, omega 3/6/9, and probiodics

i was afraid of screwing it up at first but now it is all second nature

good luck - hope i helped more than hurt

Rusty,

It sounds like your dogs get no bone.  Is that true?

Michele

they do get bones but i control that part very strictly -

notice the ingredient - chicken leg quarters - that includes the bones
ham hocks - includes the bones
meats that are on sale - best value - pork shoulders and pork picnics with the bone
when i hunt i process all of the meat some for me some for them and the bones are separated for later
a meat packing plant here locally provides me with all of teh bones that i want to carry away any given day -

one to three times a week will my dogs get any bones other than the chicken legs - i let them have the bone with their meal and if i see any of it the next morning i throw the bone away.  most of the time it is all gone if not i know i gave them a bone that is too big