Raw Food Eating Doodles

Comment

Comment by Olga S. on April 7, 2018 at 2:21pm

Hello, raw-feeders! Is anyone watching - "The Truth About PET Cancer 7- Part Docuseries"? Yesterday's episode 3: Pet Vaccines – Do’s and Dont’s - was very interesting! And it will be available today until 9 pm East time. If you have time , please watch it!     https://go2.thetruthaboutcancer.com/pet-docuseries/episode-3/?gl=5a...  >> 

 

 

 

Comment by Raelene Kretchman on July 19, 2016 at 12:16pm

InHave decided to use the following as my basic recipe changing the main ingredient weekly for raw , after discussion with my Dr
4 lbs ground raw meat (beef, Beef Hearts,chicken, Lamb, Turkey)
2 cups yogurt or cottage cheese, 4 raw eggs, 1 lb vegetables finely chopped (broccoli, cauliflower etc. any cruciferous vegetable
3 tablespoons kelp powder
3 ground calcium tablets
Mix all ingredients together form into 4oz balls freeze or serve.
Has anyone used this or similar? Also my nog question is how do you figure out how much to feed puppy is 7 lbs now and how do you change the amount as they grow?

Comment by Raelene Kretchman on July 19, 2016 at 12:05pm

I n my researchan I have heard that if you do Kibble as one meal and raw diet at another it causes digestive problems, as it takes different enzymes for the processed foods? Any input on this theory? Just getting a new puppy and want to start her out right.

Comment by Shari Becker on January 11, 2016 at 6:34pm

Trudy, this is a great response! Thank you. I keep following all your posts on raw because I am still on my mission to figure out how to get off the commercial stuff. I think I'm going to try some chicken to see if she can tolerate it without getting itchy. I'm going to keep poking around for better meat prices than my local wegmans and whole foods, too. I love the idea of the towel. We also have a rubber mat in our kitchen that might work. Thanks for all your detailed and informative posts. (I'm also lurking on two different yahoo raw groups at your suggestion...)

Comment by Trudy Harlow on January 11, 2016 at 7:06am

Dogs will tear pieces of meat into swallowable sizes. They don't chew their food like we do (they don't have the big grinding molars we have). So you'll hear a little bone crunching and some gnawing but then the dog will gulp it down. People who have dogs like Labs that are food crazy sometimes will feed partially frozen meat to slow the process down a bit. If by "blockage" you mean choking, it sounds like your dog is doing well breaking the pieces into swallowable chunks.

Your dog should be able to handle the bones in a chicken -- all of them -- easily. The same with soft pork bones (i.e., rib) and lamb bones. Chicken neck bones and chicken wings are too bony for a meal. I'd save them in the freezer for making chicken stock.

The way to tell if your dog is getting too much bone is to check the stool. If it's hard or chalky, it's too much bone. If it's soft or runny, too little. Give your dog a whole egg, in the shell, outdoors, and watch him have fun figuring it out.

How big is your dog? Mine is 50 lbs and a very light eater. We can get four meals, max, out of a whole chicken. Very roughly, your dog should be fed about 20% of his total optimal body weight in food over one week. Some days, he may eat very lightly if at all. Because we do agility, mine gets plenty of treats in training so there are days, especially in warm weather, where he will skip his meal altogether. If he eats a very big meal one night, it may be that he'll eat next to nothing the next day. I don't worry about it. I just feel his ribs regularly and make sure that way that he's not gaining or losing excessively.

Try feeding your dog on a towel or plastic tablecloth. He needs to be able to work at his food and a bowl doesn't give him the space to do that. Yes, confine him so he doesn't drag his food around. It took my dog less than a week to figure out he needs to keep his food on the towel. As I said elsewhere, I use old raggedy towels and just accumulate them as they get dirty, then wash them all together about once a week. Feeding your dog larger chunks of meat that he has to work at is good not only for his teeth and gums but also for his brain. He needs a place where he can lie down and work at a big piece of meat. Whatever he doesn't eat, pick up and rinse off and put back in the fridge for his next meal. Depending on your dog's size, I'd think about giving him half a chicken at a time (unless he's a mini).

I don't know why you pet your dog while he eats, but I doubt it's necessary to encourage him that way. Sounds like he understands pretty well what he's supposed to be doing.

You don't need to feed organ meat at every meal. Just once or twice or three times a week, to tolerance. My dog doesn't tolerate it very well (gives him diarrhea) so he gets it less often.

Sounds like you're on your way! You'll be thrilled with the good health and clean teeth your dog will have. In several months, you'll look back and wonder what all your worry was about.

Comment by Neptune on January 11, 2016 at 6:01am

After months of debating and then a few weeks of reading I finally crossed the chasm and started to feed my dog raw - cautiously!!!  I started one week feeding instinct raw chicken and beef at dinner only.  I wanted him to build up the ability digest raw... And I was overwhelmed by how you actually mix and serve muscle meat and organ meat.

He did great with instinct raw and was super excited for dinner... But he always seems to be starving.  I fed and he eat.  Simple except when he eats raw he takes the food and runs around with it... Trying to bury it in the rug?  I was able to redirect him back to his bowl and keep him in the kitchen.

Today I fed my first raw meal that I prepared.  Could not have been easier...  I purchased one cut chicken w giblets and neck included.  Label says organic.  So I weighed my meat and added a little bit of organ meat... And I created 8 packages of muscle meat, organ meat and bones.  All for $6.99!  One time cost of $9.00 for a scale.

Ok ok so I did my bit was super excited had video camera ready and Jett didn't really know what to do with it?  I took him outside this time b/c germs.. He moved the meat around knew he wanted it b/c if I moved at all he would try to run with the food...  But he was not eating it...  Just holding in his mouth...  I petted him as I always pet him when eating (just for a but) but then I gave him space.  10 mins later he took one bite then one minute later he ate the whole piece!!  Barely chewing it!!  It was entirely in his mouth...  I had no idea he was going to just swallow it...  I heard some bones break as he did his 2 bites b4 he swallowed.  In that one second I hesitated should I have pulled it out of his mouth?  I feared if I moved for him he would just swallow... So I didn't move toward him at all.  I figured he would drop it and eat it in pieces.  It was the breast piece with smaller bones...  Imo the piece that had the smallest bones that why I choose it.  I will now be watching him very closely ... Fearing a blockage ....

So what to do next time?  Hand feed him smaller pieces?  How do I make him chew his bones??  And he didn't touch his organ meat... So I tossed it and will try again tomorrow night.

Other food questions - when I give him the chicken thigh... He won't actually be able to the leg bone correct?  Can I give him one lamb chop.  We are eating those tomorrow ?  Was going to give him one raw but again would he eat that bone?

Thanks
Neptune

Comment by Heather & Jake on August 24, 2013 at 5:06pm

Jennifer- I'd like to add in that one of the other reasons why ground meat is not recommended is that it has a greater surface area and it thus more prone to harmful bacterial growth.  I personally feed mainly whole hunks of meat with organs eggs and fish oil, but to get more variety with novelty meats I feed them ground because its is the easiest/cheapest option for me to get.  I do feed the ground frozen though to slow him down.

Joani- She is throwing up what she can't digest.  I would not be concerned, but it seems that it just her body telling you that she does not need as much bone that is in a whole leg.

Comment by Joani, Skadi & Elli on August 24, 2013 at 6:55am

Sometimes when I give my dog the raw chicken legs she throws up bits of the bone.  Should I be concerned?  Should I grind the legs?  This morning there was a bunch of grass with the bits of bone.

Comment by Trudy Harlow on August 23, 2013 at 8:12am

It's not just the bones but also working their way through a real chunk of meat that helps the teeth stay clean.

If you dog isn't used to eating bone, I wouldn't start with a beef bone (and I usually don't give my dog beef bones anyway because they are too dense and may break a tooth). I'd start with meaty chicken with some bone inside or some pork or lamb with bone inside.

I don't know what's in your vet's prepped food, but dogs just don't need veggies or grains. Just whole meat with a little bone, some fish oil or fresh oily fish, organ meat (liver, heart), and raw eggs -- pretty much what they'd eat in the wild.

Comment by Jen and Annie on August 23, 2013 at 6:36am

Oh, our other dog is Lucy - she is an 11 year old boxer.  She did not start eating raw until she was about 8 years old, so her teeth had 8 years of kibble under their belt - which is why she had to have one pulled eventually.  

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• …
• 18
• Next ›
• Page