Raw Feeding Journal – Variety and Balance Over Time – 4th Installment

[Raw Food Eating Doodles]

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Riley and Molly were basically switched from a kibble diet to a raw diet almost overnight. That is not to say there weren’t some bumps along the way. Raw food does take some getting used to for dogs who are accustomed to a diet composed mainly of grains, fillers, and supplemental vitamins and minerals. I wouldn’t go so far as to say they needed to detox, but there certainly was a period of time when their tummies had to wake up and start dealing with a whole different set of digestive juices.

Thankfully, they were both fairly young and did not have years of kibble eating to get over. On the whole, I’ve found that dogs, particularly young dogs, take to a raw diet quickly and with little fuss.  I stuck with the one protein rule and only introduced another protein once I was sure they could handle the first one with no problem. Why do this?

Almost all the meat I get for the dog crew is human grade. I source it from grocery stories and our local abattoir. I live in rural Eastern Ontario with lots of farms around. Bob the butcher gets local animals to slaughter, which in a way is very nice because I know what they are being fed. Most farmers here turn their cows, sheep, and goats out to pasture, but they do finish off the cows with lots of grain. Local chicken producers use factory farm methods to get the highest yields possible. That means chickens are fed antibiotic laced feed for most of their short lives. So the meat I end up giving to my crew has stuff in it that I am not comfortable with but free range, organic is just out of this world in cost. Heck I can’t afford to feed me free range, organic meats.

Anyway back to why stick to one protein only. If a meat source is going to cause any allergic or otherwise unwanted tummy issues, you will know right away what meat source that is. So we started with chicken and then progressed to pork then to beef then to turkey and then to fish. Nothing really bothered them except they were not too fond of fish. I finally ended up feeding them oily sardines well rinsed to get rid of any salt. I feed fish for the omega3’s in an effort to balance the load of omega6 the dogs get from farmed meat. Oh how I wish I could feed venison all the time. Alas DH is not a hunter. If a dog just won’t eat fish, salmon oil is a good bet.

Every meat we gave the crew was all good but organs were another matter entirely.  From Bob we were able to get beef heart, tongue, liver, kidney, and on occasion tripe – the nasty green stuff that you can smell a block away. Take heed raw feeders. Feed large amounts of organ at your peril. Liver particularly has an explosive effect I can only describe as canon butt. I started with just small finger nail size pieces of liver two or three times a week. That was built up over time so that they get liver in larger amounts at least four times a week.  Same routine with the other organs. If you take it slow and introduce everything gradually, you will know what and how much is tolerated.

Thus over the course of my raw feeding experience, I can say with some confidence that my crew is getting pretty much all the protein, fat, sinew, bone, and organs they need for optimal health. They get variety in their meals but also their nutritional needs are being met, not at every meal, but over the course of say a month they are getting as balanced a diet as I can provide.

One last thing, most folks would say why feed fish at all. Well since I do believe my furry, cuddly doodles are wolves in dogs’ clothing, I try to feed types of foods they might encounter in the wild.  There is a remarkable video from National Geographic that shows Alaskan wolves fishing for salmon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjVSyQkqZ7s. As I remember the story that goes with it, the wolves fished when the salmon were running even though deer was very plentiful. They chose the fish over their normal diet. Don’t quite know what that means but it has to have some significance. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003923837_wolf04.... I just love the photo.

 

[LucyR]

Andrea, I am following this with great interest.  Re fish, after months of "enjoying" sardines, mackeral, and salmon Ozzie has started turning up his nose!  When I mix the fish with his ground chicken he rejects the entire meal.  He did eat some salmon one day and then a day later he urped yellow bile.  So there may be something about the canned fish that is upsetting his stomach.  But why now?  When I transitioned Ozzie to raw food I did pretty much the same as you.  Started with chicken and then gradually moved into other meats.  Now after over a year on raw, he eats about any kind of meat that is available (except fish, LOL!).