Any Myulti Dog households that have transitioned?

[dpenning]

I would love to feed Daisy raw but I have several questions and I wonder if anyone here has experience in those areas.

I'm not sure what I would be able to do with my two Poms. One has had dental problems and is missing quite a few of his front teeth. He still has his canines ad all molars, would he be able to eat raw?

Also, if I were to transition all of them to raw, I currently feed Daisy (EM) in the laundry room and the two little ones in the kitchen. Or the little ones on the patio and Daisy in he kitchen. If I don't separate them Daisy will finish hers and run over and eat theirs. Would feeding raw raise he odds of the two little ones fighting?

Last question, for this post anyway, Do most of you have a deep freeze for dog food? Is it manageable with just a regular kitchen freezer space?

Thanks,
dawn, Daisy and the gang

 

[caudex]

We are still learning, being only two months deep, but we feed two large breed dogs raw.

1. As I understand it, the molars are the big hitters for real chewing from a dog. That's what I see my dogs use most. There is also pre ground food out there (we use some pre balanced stuff for convenience, as well as whole meat.) Basically, if you're prepared to take the time to prepare it as needed, like mince it for example, he can eat it.

2. my two have no food aggression toward each other, we can feed them together outside, but from a neatness standpoint, we feed them in their crates indoors. Separate spaces, no chance for food stealing/aggression, gives my slow poke all the time he needs with no pressure, and clean up is MUCH more contained. They lick it all up eventually, but both of mine make an unholy mess when they eat. Much easier to spray down a crate floor than... spray down everything. lol.

3. We have a chest freezer with a 100lb capacity, but we use 25lbs a week. I believe... musicdeb? has only a conventional freezer. Big freezers make it cheaper. You can estimate your usage by applying the 2% rule to your dogs and adding up what they might eat per day/week/month. Then you'll have a good idea of what you need on hand.

 

[dpenning]

Thanks for the great info!

 

[ruthcatrin]

You ARE going to want a separate free-standing/chest freezer that you can allocate at least mostly for dog food. But a normal freezer is fine. If you already have a free-standing, seperate, freezer that you don't normally fill more than halfway then you may be fine. But for a dog the size of a mastiff you really do want to be able to buy in bulk, and that means lots of freezer space.

You can buy pre-made mixes that don't require much chewing for the dogs with bad teeth if you're so inclined (for a dog the size of a Pom they wouldn't be horribly expensive), or, buy a grinder and grind everything yourself (I can get you a couple links if you want to go that route). Assuming he proves unable to do the chewing. You might be surprised, Caudex is right, the molars is where most of the chewing is done.

Food aggression, depends. Its not unusual for raw to be "high value" enough that some dogs will RG it at first till they get used to it. It will usually fade on its own as the dogs adapt, but you do need to be aware of it and take the normal steps to reduce it, including feeding the dogs separately and the like.

 

[dpenning]

Thanks Ruth, links would be great. I'm exploring my options at this point.

 

[ruthcatrin]

These two came recommended to me from elsewhere by a raw feeder, they're both electric: Tasin TS-108 Electric Meat Grinder:eer::Venison::Raw::Barf:et Food Making and #12 Electric Meat Grinder::Weston:roducts::Commercial::Industrial::08-1201-W the person in question had used both, and stated that the less expensive one worked fine but was quite loud especially when grinding bone, the more expensive one was quieter (note: I've not looked for the Weston one, but the Tasin one does NOT appear to be available anywhere else last I looked, a google search will net you an Amazon link but only because someone mentions it in a review, it is NOT the same grinder).

I personally own this one: Buffalo Tools Sportsman No. 22 Bolt - Down Meat Grinder - 198358, Game & Meat Grinders at Sportsman's Guide (I did not get it via that page, that was just the first link I found). I've not personally tried it on bone yet, however the person who I bought it from stated that they had ground chicken bone in it.