Raw - Page 1

How much Raw meat at a time assuming I am feeding her 2 times per day. DO you guy fallow the 2% rule, or 10% rule? My female is 5 months old 10% seems way too much for him, she gets about 3%. What do you guy think? Now for now I am feeding only whole chicken, which parts first, and what are the best combination to ensure firm stool? Thanks.

Hi,

Feeding raw is really quite easy.  For my puppies I feed 2% to 4% of the estimated adult weight.  I am flexible and adjust the food up or down according to what the puppy needs.

It is important to rotate the type of meat.  To me this is how the diet works best.

This is an example of how my puppy is fed and is doing very well.

Day 1 Chicken parts, Green Tripe

Day 2 Beef with bone, Organ meat, and Veggie Mix

Day 3 Lamb Neck bones, (the ones that I am getting are very meaty)

Day 4 Turkey w/bone, organ meat and Veggie Mix

The Veggie mix is a mush made of in season vegtables that I get from the produce stand on markdown.   I use a combination of the Blue Ridge Beef premade raw food and stuff that I get elsewhere.

I supplement with Vertex and Fish oil or Salmon oil

The dogs do fantastic on this!!

I hope this helps

Cheryl

Thanks Cm athis this is all that I needed to know Dkiah I did my research I know pretty much everything about Raw feeding (more or less) the only aspect that I was a bit confused was how much for puppies I knew that the starting point for an adult is 2% of its weaight (current or the one you aming for) but I read somewher that is up to 10% for puppies so I was confused about it a bit. Now I do know that you should feed veriaty of meats but is recomended to start on chicken when switching over the part that I was not sure how to get the meat to bone ratio and how it effect the stool consistancy i there so to speak a proven method to switch over without changing the stool consitancy. One more question that I have is chicken skin I know is reach in fat and cholesterol so should I remove it or should I leave it the way it is so to speak balanced by nature? Thanks guys I just need guidence as this will be my first time doing it and when I have questions I know where to turn, since I know for the fact that a lot of people on this board feed raw and been doing it for a while I rather ask here than on feeding boards. Thanks all for your input, if someone is willing to share his feeding schedule I would appreciate, I want to use few to come out with my but without making rookies mistake.

10% does sound like a lot, you just have to use common sense and pick a starting point.  Then in a few weeks you'll know if you need to increase or decrease.  I've had dogs be all over the charts for what percentage of body weight they eat to maintain.  The 2-4% is a good guideline but be open to adjustment for each dog. 

I usually feed puppies twice a day until between 9 and 12 months of ago and then switch to one meal.  I know a lot of people swear by feeding two meals a day, but one has always worked for me.  Plus, I'm less worried about bloat because the dogs eat before bedtime and there's no activity until the morning. 

The stool is also a bit of experimenting.  I've been feeding raw for years and it's never made sense to me to be able to look at a chicken and say, "Oh yeah, that piece of meat is 30% bone".  Again, use your sense and watch the stools, then adjust. If you go more than two days with no bone then you will definitely have too loose of stools. Don't feed a lot of backs and necks, as they have mostly bone and fat.  They're fine as portion of the chicken,  but I wouldn't have them be their own meal.   The dogs need fat, so I wouldn't cut off the skin unless you are very first starting a dog on raw and their tummy is adjusting to it.

Good luck and don't worry you won't mess it up!

Emily

the correct % for your dog really depends on the environmental conditions - cold weather warm weather - her level of exercise and her metabolism.  the colder the weather, the more active the dog, the higher the metabolism the higher the percent needed to maintain weight and grow. but the average is around 2-3% of the adult wt. the actually amount is best determined by looking at her - if she's thin up her food intake, if she's too heavy reduce it. the percent is just a guideline your best tool will always be observation.

i don't think it matters what order you feed the various cuts and i suppose feeding a whole chicken in one day would be a bit much for her to eat unless she is being worked very hard or is in very cold conditions. but say the average of 2-3% her adult wt works well for her if you take 2 whole chickens (weighing about 3# each) and divide it into 6 equal portions then feed it over 3 days you will be feeding about 2-3% her adult body weight and every part is consumed. 

but i don't think her meals must be exactly the same wt plus it's best to cut along joints and allow the dog to break any bone with her teeth. so if one day she eats a bit more and the next a bit less she'll be fine.  so perhaps a more utilitarian way to feed is to, for example, feed on: day 1) 1 leg & 1 "cage" with wings; day 2) 1 leg & 1 "cage" with wings; and day 3) the remaining 2 legs. also there is nothing wrong with feeding one meat source for a time but be sure that over say 6 months to a years time she has gotten a good variety of meats - shooting for 5 or 6 is good.  we use chicken as to main source but overall it makes at the very most 1/3 of their diet but usually closer to 1/4.

about the ratio of meat to bone - feed as close to whole animal ratio of meat to bone as you can.  a chicken leg is a nice meat to bone ration while a wing though great source of cartilage is too low in meat to be good to feed without adding some meat at some point.  some people will give just cheaper cuts like necks, backs and frames though these are great sources of edible bone when fed alone with no other meat source it's too much bone and stools will be very dry and white. you can feed these parts - necks, frames & backs - but be sure to throw in a hunk of meat to increase the meat to bone ratio - you can certainly combine meats sources in one meal so adding a hunk (or trimmings) of beef, lamb, pork, mutton, duck ... along with the cheaper chicken parts is good. but feed whatever she likes - our dogs are not fans of turkey (except the necks) or rabbit (except the heads) but favor mutton, duck, beef & pork.

loose stool are common when switching to raw but usually clear up rather quickly.  if your dogs has been eating raw for some time and you find your dog is developing looser stools it might be too much food, too much fat, too much liver ... just reduce the culprit and increase raw meaty bone. but i wouldn't worry too much about loose stools unless it persists then up the bone or if she's old enough fast her or give just bone broth.  we no longer follow the barf diet because we found lonsdale's method to work better for our dogs.  he has some guidelines, articles and a couple of ebooks available on his site if you are interested the address is: www.rawmeatybones.com  - hth

Thanks thats what I been thinking of doing, just needed some extra assurance. Thanks a lot. BTW she burns everything you give her he is like a stove :) lol just keep on adding the wood and no matter how I feed her I can still see some ribs :) but I am not stressing over it as this wa always common with all my females :)

Hi,

This goes to show that every dog is different.  Most dogs eat 2 to 4 percent of their body weight.  I have a female that is eating closer to 5 1/2 percent of her body weight.  She has been checked by the vet and has no health problems.  She is always on the go and burns off everything that you feed her.

Cheryl