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tips for raw diet

BugattiAlva

Well-Known Member
My DDB is 11 months now and he currently eats earthborne holistic meadow feast. I have noticed that he gets hives once in a while. He didn't have them before, but I just want to take processed food out and feed him raw.

What are some of you meal plans?

My main concern is feeding him bones, I know raw bones should be fine, but I'm scared of it getting stuck in his intestines.

I would like to separate some baggies full of meat every week and freeze them so I can just thaw them and feed, but what are some of the mixes you guys make? 80% of what kind of meat? 10% of what kind of bones and 10% of what kind of organ meats?

Thank you, I appreciate your feedback.
 

musicdeb

Well-Known Member
It will be the best decision you have made for the the pup!

Raw bones will not harm the pup. The first time you give him a chicken leg, you'll probably freak because they usually chew it 2-3 times and swallow. Their stomach does the rest of the work. If you're not sure about a bone, then watch him eat it. They will sometimes throw up all of the food and re-eat it. Gross, I know but it's normal.

I freeze 1 lb bags of meat such as pork chops, turkey necks, chuck steak, hamburger, ground pork. Titan eats 2-2 1/2 lbs of food a day. I also add 2-3 ozs of organ meat such as chicken livers or beef livers. Titan will not eat kidney.

I put 2-3 days worth of meat from the freezer to the fridge to start thawing.

Be careful with organ meat. Slowly introduce after they've been eating raw for about 2-3 weeks. If the pup gets diarrhea, then you've given him too much organ meat. You'll get the hang of it, the ratio of meat/bone to keep bowel movements normal looking.

Pup will not poop as much on raw and they will be smaller. They will drink less water.

If start with chicken legs, that pretty much satisfies the meat and bone in one.

Keep us posted
 

angelbears

Well-Known Member
Good post Deb!

The hardest part for me, was and is feeding raw bones! That being said, I have been feeding raw bones for over 2 years to three dogs and I have not had any problems. I also follow a lot of other raw feeding groups and I believe there has been one dog that could have had a blockage but they weren't sure it was from raw and we are talking about 1,000's upon 1,000's of raw feeders. The chances are really small and the health benefits out weight the minute chance of a bone causing problems. JMHO.
 

BugattiAlva

Well-Known Member
Musicdeb great post!!! So for one feed you'll put a mix of pork chops, turkey necks, chuck steak, hamburger, ground pork to make up a pound? I'm just having a hard time figuring what kind of mixes I should make. I saw a guy on youtube that puts one chicken wing, a handfull ball of ground beef, liver and a handfull ball of ground turkey mix in baggies, and freezes them, and thats what he feeds his lil dog. One bag in the am and one in the pm.

The bones scare me, but I read somewhere to feed chicken ribs because they are easy to chew. I also heard to hold the chicken leg while the dog munches on it to promote chewing.
 

musicdeb

Well-Known Member
Sorry, I should have explained it better. I will give him pork chops for about 3-4 days and chuck steak 3-4 days. He eats his organs with the morning meal. The pork chops have bones and he also eats chicken feet and turkey necks every 3-4 days. I add turkey necks when he has no other bone. For example, I may feed him 2 lbs of hamburger. I would then add turkey neck to the mix.

Yes, I feed one bag in the morning and the other in the evening. Right now, he's eating most of it in the afternoon because he's not eating like he usually does due to the heat.

You can hold the chicken leg, but he'll know what to do with it. You only hold the chicken leg because the pup is a gobbler. Yes, you can feed chicken breasts with the ribs.

Make sense? Sorry, I get typing and think faster than I type.
 

angelbears

Well-Known Member
At first I would not mix proteins. I would start with chicken for at least a week, if his poop is good then I would try pork or beef next for about a week. When introducing a new protein I like to give it by itself, that way if there is a reaction to it I would know what it was to.

However, after I know they are fine with each food I mix and match as I please. This morning they had green tripe and for dinner they had pork ribs. The morning before they had tongue, ground lamb and beef for breakfast.
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
Here's a site with a good breakdown of how to get started: How to Get Started | Prey Model Raw also do some searching on here (mostly down in the health section) as its a common topic of discussion.

Otherwise ditto what the others said! I usually store 2-3 days worth at a time in ziplocks by type, so 2-3 days worth of organs (so labeled), 2-3 days worth of boney meat (chicken or pork usually), 2 days or so of meat. And that way I always have a couple days worth thawed at a time and I'm not left catching up because I got distracted and forgot to thaw today's meals.
 

musicdeb

Well-Known Member
At first I would not mix proteins. I would start with chicken for at least a week, if his poop is good then I would try pork or beef next for about a week. When introducing a new protein I like to give it by itself, that way if there is a reaction to it I would know what it was to.

However, after I know they are fine with each food I mix and match as I please. This morning they had green tripe and for dinner they had pork ribs. The morning before they had tongue, ground lamb and beef for breakfast.
Good points!
 

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
I have two buckets in the fridge:
1st big one with chunks of meat - beef roast (cheapest cut I can find) or pork shoulder.
2nd smaller one with green tripe (GT), liver and kidney (and any other "parts" I can find).

Weekly, I put ~12lbs of meat in container #1 and a mix of 1lb GT, 1lb liver and 1lb kidney in container #2

Daily, I pull 1lb of meat for breakfast with 2oz GT, 2oz liver and 2oz kidney (approximate weights)
and dinner is another 1.5 lbs of meat, sometimes including something boney, like a pork or lamb rib (pulled from the freezer separately, due to size/shape).

Denna doesn't do chicken... she started on chicken (I'd buy whole chickens and whack them into fourths with my cleaver). But, when eating chicken, her skin gets sensitive... so we avoid it for the most part.

Chicken is good soft bone to start with, though, which helps get the system get ready for the rest of the menu.

I'd recommend starting SLOW. First day, do 1/2 the portions you think you'd want long term. And hold off on any organ meats for a few weeks.

Otherwise - all the above are great pointers!

I do avoid the bone-in pork chops... the bone fragment that's left in there is normally saw-cut, which makes for sharp, hard bits... Denna's had them... and passed the bone bits through undigested... which did NOT look like a comfortable way to do it, to me. :rolleyes:

Which reminds me - be prepared to become a poop expert - if you're not already. Watching the poops is how you'll know when to add more/less bone... it will also let you know when you're going to fast with adding new stuff... FUN!!
 

BugattiAlva

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the clarification musicdeb. Ruthcatrin, I'm definitely going to do the 2-3 days worth of food for thawing because I was actually thinking of thawing the night before and just do that everyday, but realistically, that can become a problem if I forget :/
I am excited to start him on raw!! I'm even going to take before and after pics :)
 

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
Also - when aiming for 10% bone in meaty pieces, some good things to know are approximate bone %'s for each cut:
(starting out, you might go for a higher percentage of bone... now that Denna's been raw for a while, she's down to 5%... otherwise her poops get ultra-solid)

Chicken:
backs50%
necks40%
breast20%
wings50%
leg quarter27%
whole25%
cornish hen40%
Beef
Ribs35%
Lamb:
Shoulder25%
whole leg15%
Rib29%
Pork:
Feet30%
Tail30%
Shoulder16%
Butt10%
Neck35%
Ribs30%
Tail30%
Rabbit
whole (w/fur)10%
whole (dressed)25%
Turkey
Back40%
Breast10%
Thigh15%
Wing33%
Neck42%
Whole21%
 

BugattiAlva

Well-Known Member
Thanks Dennasmom!! That is such a great post. I kept thinking about how I should measure the bone amount. This will help a lot. I have been doing so much research and plan on doing the switch Aug 1st.
There's a lot of information out there and I can't wait to set a routine and diet plan that works for Bugatti and me:)
 

alwcm4

Well-Known Member
Yes!!! Thanks Dennasmom! I have been looking for the meat/bone ratio in pork feet and pork tail for a week now because I found some for a deal :)
 

Kahuna

Well-Known Member
I have a spreadsheet that i have been working up with a few more percentages but I'm not sure how to post it on here. Any ideas?
 

BugattiAlva

Well-Known Member
@Kahuna, that would be great!! You can screenshot it, then save it as a paint file and upload it as a picture. That should work. Thanks!!!
 

Kahuna

Well-Known Member
It's actually a spreadsheet which I use when bagging up daily feed. Eg. 2oz tripe, 2 oz beef liver, 8 oz oxtail, 2 oz pancreas, 26 oz beef steak = 2.5 lb at 80:10:10.

Anyway here's a screenshot with most of it. Hope it helps someone.

Screen Shot 2013-07-26 at 00.12.47.jpg
 

tojvan

Well-Known Member
All I would like to add is that it would be best to start with chicken it's the easiest meat to digest, don't go with pork or beef. Feed chicken for about a month than slowly introduce other meat. NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO DON'T MIX KIBBLE WITH RAW MEAT. You have to start cold turkey. Kibble and raw meat don't mix it'll just make the transition harder. Everyone has already covered other bases, I'd like say good luck it's the best decision you've made for your dog and I. The coming moths you'll notice a huge list of benefits that go with it.
 

Kahuna

Well-Known Member
Sorry, just noticed pork tail should be 70:30, not 30:30. I'll try changing it on the pic.