Qurstion for those feeding raw

[L Meaux]

For those of you that feed raw...what formulation are you using? When you give them raw bones to chew on how do you keep them from making a mess all over the house? Is feeding sucharge dogs a raw diet cost effective? I'm curious as to how raw diet works with these giants. I fed raw to my cats with CKD and it worked miracles. Also to my golden retriever as food therapy for epilepsy. But those situations are different from feeding a CC.

Thanks!

 

[TylerDurden]

We haven‘t switched to "full raw" but feed raw meets occassionaly. There is a great sub-forum on here under "health & nutrition" with lots of valuable advice. I would start looking into the prey model. It‘s often described as 80/10/5/5 (muscle meat, edible bones, liver, other organs). As far as the price is concerned, I guess it can be expensive depending on your meat sources. If you buy in large amounts from a reasonable local supplier, it can be very similar to kibble. Regardless, I would make a very slow introduction first (typically chicken/high bone content in the beginning). We feed chicken quarters from time to time. It can be a mess, which is why primarily feed that outside.
I know that @DennasMom ans @Sheila Braund are feeding raw diets, and they are very knowledgeable.

 

[Sheila Braund]

For those of you that feed raw...what formulation are you using? When you give them raw bones to chew on how do you keep them from making a mess all over the house? Is feeding sucharge dogs a raw diet cost effective? I'm curious as to how raw diet works with these giants. I fed raw to my cats with CKD and it worked miracles. Also to my golden retriever as food therapy for epilepsy. But those situations are different from feeding a CC.

Thanks!

Welcome to the forum! Ok at first I thought raw meets for a dog is back, that is what I was taught as a child....that once a dog get the taste of blood they would go after the livestock....I live in farm country.. I first started my very small 6lb poodle on raw....she had health issues and I really do believe it saved her life....I was pretty much told the only thing that can or may help was surgery and that was a 50/50 chance on if it would work or not.... I buy it direct from the factory here in Brantford Ontario Canada....I have done the numbers with the cost to feed the poodle it was just a little more then $2.00 per week....she eats 2% of her body weight. When I got my EM pup, Bella.....she was the runt of the litter at 6 weeks old she only weighed 8lbs....So I decided to give her the best start in life I could possibly do for her and that was raw....So by the time Bella was 6 months old she had caught up to most of her litter mates. I am feeding her 4% of her body weight up until these last couple months. She will be 2 years old in September.....
They say with the raw diet I am feeding the dogs they should eat between 2 to 4 % of their body weight....I also was feeding Bella when ever she wanted it...demand feedings like with a human newborn baby....

The cost factor isn't a lot more then going to the vets or a pet store and buying a high end dog kibble.
The difference is I know what is in the dogs food...I know there is no grains, no corn or other fillers.

As far as the mess for when I give them meaty bones, I will give it to them outside during the nice weather...And they both have their own feeding blanket or towels they must stay on that when eating meaty bones.

Now that EM pup Bella that was the runt is now 27 inches high in her front shoulders and last time she was weighed at the vets she was 130 lbs. Bella has passed some of her litter mates in size ....those are the ones that their diet is kibble and canned foods

The company name I get my raw food from is K9 kitchens in Brantford Ontario.

Their web site is https://k9kitchen.ca there is some good information there if you want to do a little more reading

 

[Sheila Braund]

Here's the link to the raw food posting in the forum...a lot a great information here

http://www.mastiff-forum.com/index.php?forums/raw-food-diets.44/

 

[TylerDurden]

Welcome to the forum! Ok at first I thought raw meets for a dog is back, that is what I was taught as a child....that once a dog get the taste of blood they would go after the livestock....I live in farm country.. I first started my very small 6lb poodle on raw....she had health issues and I really do believe it saved her life....I was pretty much told the only thing that can or may help was surgery and that was a 50/50 chance on if it would work or not.... I buy it direct from the factory here in Brantford Ontario Canada....I have done the numbers with the cost to feed the poodle it was just a little more then $2.00 per week....she eats 2% of her body weight. When I got my EM pup, Bella.....she was the runt of the litter at 6 weeks old she only weighed 8lbs....So I decided to give her the best start in life I could possibly do for her and that was raw....So by the time Bella was 6 months old she had caught up to most of her litter mates. I am feeding her 4% of her body weight up until these last couple months. She will be 2 years old in September.....
They say with the raw diet I am feeding the dogs they should eat between 2 to 4 % of their body weight....I also was feeding Bella when ever she wanted it...demand feedings like with a human newborn baby....

The cost factor isn't a lot more then going to the vets or a pet store and buying a high end dog kibble.
The difference is I know what is in the dogs food...I know there is no grains, no corn or other fillers.

As far as the mess for when I give them meaty bones, I will give it to them outside during the nice weather...And they both have their own feeding blanket or towels they must stay on that when eating meaty bones.

Now that EM pup Bella that was the runt is now 27 inches high in her front shoulders and last time she was weighed at the vets she was 130 lbs. Bella has passed some of her litter mates in size ....those are the ones that their diet is kibble and canned foods

The company name I get my raw food from is K9 kitchens in Brantford Ontario.

Their web site is https://k9kitchen.ca there is some good information there if you want to do a little more reading

Thanks for the insight. Do you know my any chance if "K9 Kitchen" ships to the US? I might have overlooked that information on their website.

 

[Sheila Braund]

Thanks for the insight. Do you know my any chance if "K9 Kitchen" ships to the US? I might have overlooked that information on their website.

Sorry Tyler I don’t think they do. I’m putting in an order on Monday and I’ll ask. I do know the pet shops around here carry others that are shipped from USA. Perhaps you should look there first. Just read the ingredients listed and make sure there’s no grains. Or your local butcher may make it also.

 

[scorning]

I feed my Great Dane and Doberman mostly raw, but keep kibble in the mix in case my family watches them or I board them and don't want to deal with packing a bunch of raw. I feed my 140lb Great Dane about 3lbs of raw a day, and my 65lb Doberman about 2lbs a day.

My Dane was really slow to take to raw and would only accept ground raw and rib ends, and refused any type of raw chicken, for literally the first couple years. He now will accept some trim if its just into small chunks and whole sardines, but still refuses most large meaty bones as a meal (he'll throw them out of his bowl and ignore them). He still won' t eat raw chicken, but will eat turkey, quail, and guinea hen. My Doberman took to raw right away and will eat anything I feed her.

I buy my food in bulk from my local raw coop. I mostly buy premade mixes from Happy Tails, Columbia River, and NW Naturals as I don't want to think too much about the proper ratio of meat/bone/organ. However, I do also buy organ mixes to combine with specials they have on things like rib ends and unusual meats like emu, alpaca, etc. Since I don't feed large bones as a meal, the mess is relatively minimal and the dogs finish eating in less than 3 minutes. When I do feed something like rib ends that requires some chewing, I feed outside. I also give recreational bones outside, like frozen raw turkey necks or knuckle or saddle bones.

I do find feeding raw to be more expensive, but I think its because I feed mostly pre-made raw instead of doing it myself. The people in our coop that just buy the ingredients and put together their own mixes swear they save money. Also, it requires more time to prep as a I buy in bulk and prep for about a week at a time (thaw / portion / freeze / thaw), and I ended up getting two freezers for my garage plus we have a regular fridge in our house that I use for thawing and storage as well. That said, my dogs love it and do really well on it. They have shinier coats, smaller and firmer stools, less gas, and fewer problems with allergies. I wouldn't go back to feeding just kibble even with the extra work.

This is a really great blog by someone in my raw coop: https://keepthetailwagging.com/
This is the raw coop I belong to: http://www.wazzuor.com/

 

[Sheila Braund]

I feed my Great Dane and Doberman mostly raw, but keep kibble in the mix in case my family watches them or I board them and don't want to deal with packing a bunch of raw. I feed my 140lb Great Dane about 3lbs of raw a day, and my 65lb Doberman about 2lbs a day.

My Dane was really slow to take to raw and would only accept ground raw and rib ends, and refused any type of raw chicken, for literally the first couple years. He now will accept some trim if its just into small chunks and whole sardines, but still refuses most large meaty bones as a meal (he'll throw them out of his bowl and ignore them). He still won' t eat raw chicken, but will eat turkey, quail, and guinea hen. My Doberman took to raw right away and will eat anything I feed her.

I buy my food in bulk from my local raw coop. I mostly buy premade mixes from Happy Tails, Columbia River, and NW Naturals as I don't want to think too much about the proper ratio of meat/bone/organ. However, I do also buy organ mixes to combine with specials they have on things like rib ends and unusual meats like emu, alpaca, etc. Since I don't feed large bones as a meal, the mess is relatively minimal and the dogs finish eating in less than 3 minutes. When I do feed something like rib ends that requires some chewing, I feed outside. I also give recreational bones outside, like frozen raw turkey necks or knuckle or saddle bones.

I do find feeding raw to be more expensive, but I think its because I feed mostly pre-made raw instead of doing it myself. The people in our coop that just buy the ingredients and put together their own mixes swear they save money. Also, it requires more time to prep as a I buy in bulk and prep for about a week at a time (thaw / portion / freeze / thaw), and I ended up getting two freezers for my garage plus we have a regular fridge in our house that I use for thawing and storage as well. That said, my dogs love it and do really well on it. They have shinier coats, smaller and firmer stools, less gas, and fewer problems with allergies. I wouldn't go back to feeding just kibble even with the extra work.

This is a really great blog by someone in my raw coop: https://keepthetailwagging.com/
This is the raw coop I belong to: http://www.wazzuor.com/

That’s a great idea the coop raw food group.
Thanks for sharing the blog too

 

[DennasMom]

I'm in the same raw food coop as Scornning (wazzuor.com). I get a bunch of stuff there, but probably 50% of Denna's diet comes from human shops - Pork Shoulder and Ribs from Costco, Cash & Carry and/or Restaurant Depot (my BIL is a professional chef), and Fish, Liver, Kidney, Heart, Beef Feet and other parts as available from H-Mart (big Asian Grocery).

I've been averaging $2.50/lb for over 5 years now. I can get a lot of the boneless meat for under $2/lb, even at Costco, and lamb ribs from the coop used to be under $2/lb also (but have been increasing lately). Fish (whole frozen mackerel) is about the same price in the coop as at H-Mart; around $2.50/lb. "parts" - pork or beef - liver, kidney and heart - can be more expensive, but they're a much smaller portion of the diet.

The average cost goes up when I add in variety with Venison or Bison, and goes down when I add Chicken - which I haven't done a lot of, due to potential allergy/sensitivity issues... which I no longer blame on chicken, but just haven't tested it much.

Denna is a very low-energy 160lb EM... she eats 1.75lb/day. She used to get 2-2.5lb/day, but tore her CCL, and gained a bit of padding during her rehab. She's all better now, and back at her trim weight, but we still haven't returned to quite the same level of weekly activity (which isn't good for my waistline, either, and I don't have anyone watching MY portion sizes, unfortunately).

I go by Whole Prey Model Raw: 80/10/5/5 and also add in veggies (not included in meal weights), about 25% of one meal only, so 12.5% of the diet... the veggies help regulate (increase) poop size for Denna... otherwise her anal glands bother her and she starts scooting around the yard.

I feed her in her normal raised dish, same as when she got kibble (we transitioned to raw when she was about 6 or 7 months old).
I do have a plastic carpet protector under and in front of her dish, so when she drops larger bone-in parts on the floor, it's on a plastic "place-mat"... and she licks it very clean before she "leaves the table" so to speak.
It took maybe 3 reminders for Denna to keep her food either in the dish or on the plastic, she never tried to take stuff to her rug for chewing on. If she gets a big knuckle bone or other "recreational" bone, those she gets outside... I've had to go un-bury a few to keep the local wildlife from wanting to invade our yard...

I'll add that I believe in the value of fresh, whole foods... for the humans, canines and felines in the house... while kibble may be convenient and perfectly healthy, adding some fresh food in on top or randomly as "treat days" can only help... in my opinion. So, if you decide raw isn't for you, I'd still recommend tossing your pup a raw meaty bone every once and a while, or giving them meat scraps (or veggies, if you dog likes that) from your human meal prep, or even some freshly cooked foods (before you spice them up too much) from your own meals. You can do it in ways that won't create a begging monster, too, if you're consistent with the rules....

 

[Sheila Braund]

I do the same....buy beef and beefy bones from my local butcher....fish...veggies and so on.... I do this when those items are on sale...Bella eats 2 to 3 lbs of meat mixed with about 2 cups of veggies and a bit of oil. When she was growing some days she would eat up to 6lbs of meat ....I was starting to miss having to feed teenagers at one point lol. Yes I would feed my old lab kibble and add meat left overs.