Home-made raw diets?

Just wondering if any of you guys feed raw and what your typical menu looks like?

YIS

 

i got a good friend who does the raw thing. he goes by natures way,,,,the way dogs feed in the wild. one week the "innards" he usually feeds oats, veggies,sawdust,a lil fruit and stuff, the second week the organs,,maybe a heart a day a kidney the next (might skip a day in here somewhere.) the next week the meat,,the next week the gristle and bone. every now and again he'll throw in some extra meat(to immetate a possible rabbit or somethin.) and some extra bones every one and awhile. maybe this'll help a lil. pm me if ya need any ore info. i've been tryin to get my hands on some meat and innards,,they're hard to come by after the mad cow scare.

 

I am no expert on dog nutrition or RAW but I have been feeding my dogs a raw diet for almost 3 years now. I have had wonderful results with my allergy dog and the other two have never looked better. It's VERY easy to feed a raw diet and IME very inexpensive as well.

I look for bargains on meat. I never pay over 1.00 a pound and many times not any where near that. I find turkey legs for .69 a pound, pork neck for .69 a pound, chicken quarters for any where from .29 to .59 a pound. I buy liver ( chicken or beef) , heart, kidneys, pig feet, you name it, if it's cheap they get it. I find the best deals at ethnic grocers but if you have a butcher you may be able to work a deal with him for meaty bones & cuts that don't sell well.

I feed about 1 1/2 to 2% of their body weight. Munkee is 60 pounds & gets a pound or so. Justice is 55 but it very active so she gets 1 pound & a half. Ollie is a little one & gets around 1/2 pound. I feed straight meat, rarely do I feed veggies. They also get an egg every other day, a can of mackeral once a week, liver or kidney about once a week. Some people feed vegetables ( broccoli, carrots, green beans, what ever you want), just make sure to puree it since they cannot digest vegetables unless they have been frozen. I supplement with kelp, garlic, apple cider vinegar & olive oil.

It's really easy & there is no work involved ( for me at least), I buy their food when I shop for mine & keep it in the freezer until it is ready to use. If I find a deal on ground meat or turkey I stock up & we share it. I find out of date meat on sale & buy all of it up & stick it the freezer. It won't hurt them if is starting to go bad.

I went from spending $40 a week to about $40 a month. Munkee's allergies are all but gone & my dogs coats sparkle. I will never go back to kibble
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and here is a website woth some recipes that I follow as well.

http://www.rawfeddogs.net/Recipes

 

I live in a country where there are lots of random people from random collective farms selling random meats.

Sometimes you can find good bargains on random mystery meats, sheep intestines at $.10 per pound, beef lungs, rabbit innards, turkey entrails, goose heads, duck hearts, calves' brains, bones of all sorts, fish parts, you name it. Except I've had no luck in getting goat, and I do not feed my dog pork. Not because he is a Muslim, but for fear of worms.

I also add fruit and veggies, fruit and veggie juice, yogurt, and animal blood. Basically, I try to imagine what my dog would be eating if he were in the wild.

Sometimes you can get the mystery meat for free if you take the dog. Collective farmers seem to like Redhead.

 

Damn Sid!! I'd like to be your neighbor.

Trich is practically nill in the States due to better meat processing & feeding of livestock. Most cases are caused by game meat. It isn't even studied in the canine as far as I can tell. I have never been able to find anything on it.

 

Been reading a couple of BARF sites and was wondering if you guys that feed veggies cook your veggies or steam them! Always was told that dogs cannot digest raw veggies and that they must be cooked to be digestible.
Breaking the food down with a food processor or a blender is not the same as cooking from what I was told, and that the heat in the cooking process breaks down the walls of the veggies allowing them to be digestible.

YIS

 

What the...?

Funny that you mention steaming. I was telling someone about that this morning.

Yes, slight steaming is much better than feeding cooked or raw.

 

I have never fed raw, but the way you all are talking, I might want to try it. Do the dogs need vegitables? By having non cooked veggies, does this not absorb the junk(fiber) in their system for disposal? I am no nutritionalist, so I am asking. Are you saying that I can go and get a bag of chicken leg quarters and feed a pound or so to the dog, without cooking at all, and that will be better for the dog than kibble? Please educate me.

 

Here are some informative links for people looking for information on raw food diets. Inregards to vegetables I don't feed any, they aren't needed unless you want a filler. I have been feeding raw for the last 4yrs and my dogs do great on it. It costs less or the same price as a quality kibble.
I hope these sites can answer some questions you may have.

http://www.rawfed.com/myths/index.html
http://www.rawlearning.com
http://www.rawfeddogs.net/Links

 

Dogs don't need veggies.



BUT, if you decide you want to feed them ( some do, some don't. I have doen both & only add them now occasionally) it is best to steam them or pureee them. No, it is not the same ( cooking & puree'd) but the cell walls are broken down upon pureeing.

The sites that Luna posted are very good & contain a lof of info. I recommend them quite often.

 

what if I wanted to give my dog a bone...how does it have to be prepared; do I cook the bone first? And what kind of bones do I get from my butcher that will be ok for my dog to chew on?

 

Just hand it to him right out of the package. For a little one like yours any kind of bone would be good. I think a knuckle bone would be too big but you could pick him up soup bones or marrow bones. Sliced shank bones would be good for him too. ANY thing he can't swallow whole in other words.

 

my dogs get whatever raw bones dennis (the butcher shop owner) has left over when he delivers our proteins at work.

I've read that feeding cooked bones can cause splintering and do more harm to their belly. Think.....if a wild cat catches and kills it's prey in the wild, do you think they set up a rotisserie and clow cook it? heh...sorry, that's a funny mental picture.

anyways. the dogs get chicken carcasses (the backs with the quarters still attached), fish without the pin bones removed, beef rib bones, pork rib bones, etc. they eat em raw, and i've never noticed any negative side effect, whether it was gas, discolored stools, whatever.

i'm planning on starting the gradual switch to a raw diet for the dogs late this summer/early fall.

lunadogge - thanks for the links!

 

so, raw bones...and they won't splinter?.....very cool....

 

Nope, a strong bone will last him a while & give him a good workout, AND clean his teeth.

 

thanks....

 

Well I wouldn’t recommend anyone to feed a BARF diet! They’re way to time consuming, food needs to be weighed, and most do way more harm than good. At least before adventuring into such you’re thoroughly investigating it. The average RAW diet is on par with a subpar kibble. Well can’t really say that as Ole Roy tends to be more balanced. But if someone is going to feed a RAW diet following a “whole prey” model is the best…though seldom gets done. The typical RAW diet seems to be “throw whatever in a bowl” type of mentality and harmful. Most RAW diets are way too high in meat to bone ratio! Unsure why most tend to gravitate to chicken in their RAW diets? It’s too high in Omega 6 and deficient in Omega 3 fatty acid. Odd if feeding kibble and going for the “cheap” feed it's frowned up, but if feeding a RAW diet “cheap” is looked at in a positive light.
[font=Verdana','sans-serif]Despite having an unbalanced RAW diet many dogs will still show improvements-thanks to the kibble. People can feed what they want, but should strive to feed a balanced diet. Trouble with those feeding or switching to the RAW diet, despite most being unbalanced, they’ll still typically see some improvements (amazing what fats do) and then the rave reviews follow. Having them all the more ranting about its benefits, how shinny their coats are, yet completely blinded to the fact most kibbles are hugely over supplemented, creating a nice reserve in their dogs that now are being used. <O:p</O:p[/font]

 

Right on ,texas!

 

I am skeptical of the raw diets. Most people feed too much meat and end up lacking in other things. If done right, supplements are needed and it is costly and time-consuming.


IMO--Domesticated dogs with vet care and a quality kibble will always be healthier than a wild animal per se. I understand people want to stay "natural" and "wild" but a Canidae, Nutro Ultra, Timberwolf, etc..will be better for the dogs in the long run.

I supplement more as a treat....steak bones, cottage cheese, veggies. These still add nutrients.

 

Here is something I posted on another forum relating to this topic. Please read carefully...lol:


In regards to a RAW diet, well, it is a tricky business best left to pet bull owners and expert conditioners. The average owner of athlete dogs does not possess sufficient "know-how" to maintain long-term dietary balance. Many if not most will see "immediate" results reflected in the coat, skin, and energy level of their canine athlete. This positive result is short lived if body demands increase without proper nutritional adjustment. Therefore, it is logical to conclude that a sedative lifestyle requires less nutritional micromanagement than its active counterpart. It is my humble opinion, this is a reason most proponents of raw diets ARE pet owners.

I am a student of knowledge. I went through the process of studying, researching, and implementing a raw diet for close to a year. I documented everything including performance prior and while feeding raw diet. While many of the external properties of the canine make it seem healthier, it may in part be superficial. One comparing example of what I mean is a young glutton. At first, the glutton may appear healthy and energetic. Over time, the imbalances in their diet will manifest in the body through organ dysfunction and diminishing performance.

There are many variables in feeding a raw diet to an ATHLETIC canine. A person should study the different schools of thought on the subject specially each others criticisms. Look into legal canine sports were documentation of their canine's performance, nutrition, and overall health are closely monitored through teams of vets and lab work prior to their competitions. One sport that comes to mind is the sled dog marathon race each year. The name of that tournament escapes me. I apologize about that. lol Going back to the subject, I suggest the best/safest method is to make raw elements a supplement to a quality kibble-based diet.

Regards,


Rocky H. <!-- google_ad_section_end -->