Raw feed guide - thought this might be useful!

[MarcoPoloCX]

rawfeddogs.org/rawguide.html

We are three weeks in to raw feeding, will have a read of this. Thanks.

We ought to have a thread really for those of us who do raw feed with this at the top where those of us who do can post and those who are interested can ask questions. And a pointer to the raw feeding uk FB group.

I was thinking of starting a raw feeders thread but as I'm so new to it I didn't as I felt I'd just be asking questions all the time with little 'advice' to give.

Once you know what to feed and in what proportion, it's quite easy to do. The only downside for me is that my supplier supplies liver and offal in 1kg frozen blocks. My two dogs only require 40g in total of each per day. So when delivery arrives I have to defrost, portion and re freeze. Also tripe is very smelly but they love it. They love the smell, the texture and the taste of their food. Bones and carcasses clean their teeth. Add a dash of fish oil, coconut oil and diatomaceous earth and powdered egg shells, they're in heaven.

I'm feeding a small terrier so I part thaw and refreeze pretty much everything!

For those who have really small dogs, they could just buy from the supermarkets. (Jealous here) But not sure they would have poultry feet, trachea, lungs, spleen, hooves, heads. When I visit my farmer friends, they get half a lamb to share.

That in itself is a problem though...half the exciting stuff isn't worth getting because of amounts and how long it would take to get through it all. Plus my bt is a compete prissy pants...he won't touch anything odd! I am taking a break from raw supplier and going to the market again for a change.

You'd have thought I was trying to kill him when I gave him a duck neck! . Pork spine is as far as he will branch out.

I have two whippets which I have started to raw feed. I started with chicken wings, one loves them one bite and a swaollow and its gone, so I freeze it now and she takes longer.

The other one sort of licks it and sniffs it, but wont actually eat it, I did cut it up into smaller bites which he ate, but then didnt the next time, so I have kept him on biscuts.

Anyway how much sould I feed per day, at the moment its two chicken wings per day for the female, biscuts for the male?

How much do they weigh? The raw diet should consist of muscle meat,bones, liver and offal in the following proportion 80/10/5/5.
Let's say a dog weighs 10kg, that's 10,000g. Adult dogs should consume 2 to 3% of his weight as food per day, of course more active dogs would eat more. So let's say 3%. That's 300g of food. 10% should be bones. So that's 30g. I use these numbers as a guide. Some days I feed more bones some days less, the same with offal but over a period it's about that proportion. Check their poo as well, if it's white chalky and crumbly then cut down on the bones. And too much offal in one go would have the opposite effect as it's really rich.

Try duck necks if they have that in a local pet store. Or carve off the meat off a chicken for yourself and give them the carcass. Goats milk and cottage cheese as well as egg shells are good sources of calcium.

Raw food thread would be great. I am a bit of a raw food wimp - just started and feed my 4mth pup Nutriment, which I feel guilty about as its minced. I've been giving duck necks and cow tracheas for chewing. At the moment don't have the freezer space, or stomach(!)for carcasses and chunks. Have been worried about the 20% bone content though in the nutriment, as have read in lots of places that should be 10% - see that you marco polo say same thing. I have a large breed pup so concerned that calcium rate is not too high.

I have used nutriment too..the beef variety in boneless as is the just tripe so you can always use them to offset the bone meals every few days. Balance over time is my mantra. I am DIYing again at the minute but still have odds and ends of Nutriment and Wolftucker to use. I was gutted about the Wolftucker - it looks good enough to eat but he hates it .

Item choice Bone percentage
Chicken neck without skin 75% bone
Chicken carcase 60% bone
Chicken feet 60% bone
Duck feet 60% bone
Chicken wing 46% bone
Lamb ribs 45% bone
Pork ribs 45% bone
Chicken back 44% bone
Turkey neck 42% bone
Chicken neck with skin 36% bone
Turkey wing 33% bone
Chicken quarter 28% bone
Chicken leg 27% bone
Chicken thigh 21% bone
Turkey leg 17% bone
It should be pointed out that the larger the chicken, the greater the meat to bone ratio - the figures above for chicken parts are taken from broilers or fryers - these are immature birds who will be plumper when fully mature.
It is also worth pointing out that birds who are not designed to fly have a different meat to bone ratio than those that don't. They generally have heavier, denser bones.

I started off with nutriment and natural instincts. I still use the odd pack when I don't have time to prepare their meal. They never had white crumbly poo when they were on prepacked as the bones were grounded and not whole raw bones. If you worry, mix bone and boneless meals and give raw bones too. Make sure it's appropriate size for your dog.

How do other raw feeders go on with regards to hygiene? Has it made you paranoid about nasties such as salmonella, e coli?

It has me! I've gone through a whole bottle of antibacterial handwash in one week, am washing my hands after taking it out of the freezer, after touching his bowl, then getting paranoid i've touched the taps with 'contaminated' hands and bleaching them. I need help don't I!

It'll wear off

I have been raw feeding for over a year now and barely give it a moments thought. Just follow the same routine as any other food prep.

I put the whole days worth of food into a Perspex dish, cover with cling film and defrost overnight. Next day I chop up if required into serving dishes. Serve first dish and put the other one in the fridge. No more messy than cooking meat for ourselves. I know some ppl feed their dogs outside but it's been no problem for me.

Thing is, I was fine until whiny breeches DP got me worrying about killing us all!

I do similar Marco - I have a 3 or 4 plastic clip lock pots I use for defrost/fridge storage.

Your DP might ask you to stop feeding raw as it will turn your pet into a blood thirsty killer dog!!! I sleep with knife under my pillow in case my Pug turns on me.

Haha Marco, it's my parents who both said i'm going to make him bloodthirsty

Thanks Marco Polo - those bone percentages are great. What I don't understand is that carcasses have a really high percentage of bone - I'm reading the Tom Lonsdale book - "Raw Meaty Bones" - if you feed exclusively on this then must be way over 10% bone? Fanoftheinvisibleman - thanks for the tip re the boneless Nutriment varieties - I have the tripe, and the beef - did not realise the beef was boneless too so guess will even out in long run.
I am paranoid about hygiene too! But I'm vegetarian and have been for 32 years, so the whole meat thing is a bit of a challenge! I keep all the stuff in utility room, use gloves as skin was practically hanging off from all the hand washing! Wipe down surfaces, floor and the steps his bowl is on with antibacterial wipes, wash bowl as soon as he's eaten.
When he has bones he eats them outside. Thing is though have only been feeding him on raw for about 4 weeks but he smells so much nicer, and fur is so silky fluffy!

That is pretty much why it is so important to do research first nellie...a diet exclusively made up of one item wouldn't be good raw wise but yes, too much bone is not a good thing. Well done for tackling it as a veggie, that must be tough! Glad you are seeing the benefits

I have two dogs, one of them is a pug cross and he only needs 30g of bones a day which is like a large chicken wing. It goes down very quickly so I have introduced other bones like necks, lamb ribs and carcasses. Instead of feeding bones everyday I do it on alternate days and give them more. He chews more on the ribs and carcass which is really good for the teeth. Kibbles and wet food are made from meat and offal plus some rubbish they don't need so why nuke it when they can have it fresher? It's like me telling you you can't eat proper food anymore but have these meal replacement shakes. Mine loves tripe. Now I have got used to the smell. It's a good natural probiotic. Once you found a good supplier there are many weird things you can feed your dogs.