DennasMom
Well-Known Member
I love feeding raw! So much control, and variety... and FUN!
... oh, and Denna loves it, too.
A few weeks ago, Denna went to a boarding facility for 8 days while we were in Hawaii... she still got her raw breakfast, but went on kibble for dinner, due to their limited freezer/fridge space. She did fine... but she wasn't very excited about the Acana Ranchlands food (?!).... I like to use the leftover kibble as treats, but this is a hard sell. She will eat it - but prefers it slathered in peanut butter & stuffed in a kong to really call it a 'treat'. HA!
I think once a dog is well transitioned to a fully raw diet, they can eat a lot more variety without issues... so, if you do want to mix raw & kibble... I'd go full raw for a few months, and then reintroduce kibble, and see how it goes. Of course, once you go full raw, you might not want to go back.
It sounds like you have the basics down - the 2% initial portion size; start with chicken, bone-in (no grinder needed); 80/10/10 is the target, start with extra bone and no organs to help keep poops solid; wait a few weeks to introduce organs.
Other things I'd add:
1. fast for 12-24 hours, then start with SMALL meals (1/2 sized portions) to give the system time to gear up
2. regurgitation isn't "normal" but also not a major worry - Denna has done it, but as she eats, because she swallowed a piece that was too big... she normally chews it up better the second time around. I recommend supervising meal times, until you understand how your dog eats - and even then, I still am close by anytime there are bone-in pieces in a meal, just-in-case.
3. check labels for grocery store meats and avoid "guaranteed juicy" cuts. You want sodium <100mg per 4oz serving - otherwise it's been brined, and the seasonings can cause GI upset for some dogs. some dogs do ok with small amounts of 'seasoned' meats, but it's highly recommended to avoid them.
4. liver and other organs are the "vitamin pills" of the diet: required, but should not be over done. Stick with the 10% total guideline (5% liver, 5% other), and don't worry if you go over by 5%, but try not to go under, or you'll miss out on necessary vitamins and minerals.
5. the 10% bone is also a guideline amount. Too little, and you'll see soft, squishy poops. Too much and you'll see undigested bone come out in the poop and/or the dog could get constipated. You're aiming for poops that come out solid with a good brown color (darker for beef, lighter for poultry), and turn white and crumbly in a day's worth of sunshine. For Denna, we back down to ~7% bone, but other dogs may need more than 10% to stay 'regular'.
6. veggies are completely optional. Denna's poops get really solid and small, almost bunny-pellet-like... and her anal glands are a bit problematic, so the small pellets aren't doing their job expressing the glands. I add 4-6oz of frozen veggies to her breakfast (broccoli, carrots, squash and/or and cauliflower) on an 'as needed' basis to bulk up her poops and help the gland issue. So far, after the first vet-expressing episode, they've been ok (far as I can tell... no more butt-scooting).
Our method:
We have a standup freezer that gets rotated through quite often. We do have a great local buyers group... I currently have 120lbs of bison and elk parts on order... so am working on making room!
I have two BIG plastic snap-ware tubs for dinner parts, and two BIG rubbermaid tubs for breakfast parts. One is normally in use, and one in the dishwasher or in the cooler with frozen stuff being thawed.
I pull parts weekly; a thypical pull would look something like:
Breakfast parts: 5lbs ground beef, 4lbs green tripe (ground), 1lb lamb liver (1-2in cubes), 1lb beef kidney (1-2in cubes)
Dinner parts: 5lbs boneless pork shoulder (4-6oz cubes), 3lbs pork ribs (2-3 riblets per piece), 2lbs sardines (whole, frozen)
Total for the week: 19-20 lbs
Daily: 1lb 4oz breakfast / 1lb 7oz dinner (approx)
Then I can feed at-will from the buckets, and know that everything is balanced by the end of the week.
I feed organ meats a little at a time with breakfast, and I still weigh each meal, just to ballpark things and make sure the bucket lasts about a week.
But - you can mix and match and do what works for you and your dog, that's the beauty of it!
It took me a few months to get my system down. Now it takes me an hour every few weeks to put things together and in the freezer in manageable packages. Then just a few minutes to pull stuff into a cooler to thaw, and then into the fridge for use in meal time prep for the week.
Whew. Sorry for the long essay!
... oh, and Denna loves it, too.
A few weeks ago, Denna went to a boarding facility for 8 days while we were in Hawaii... she still got her raw breakfast, but went on kibble for dinner, due to their limited freezer/fridge space. She did fine... but she wasn't very excited about the Acana Ranchlands food (?!).... I like to use the leftover kibble as treats, but this is a hard sell. She will eat it - but prefers it slathered in peanut butter & stuffed in a kong to really call it a 'treat'. HA!
I think once a dog is well transitioned to a fully raw diet, they can eat a lot more variety without issues... so, if you do want to mix raw & kibble... I'd go full raw for a few months, and then reintroduce kibble, and see how it goes. Of course, once you go full raw, you might not want to go back.
It sounds like you have the basics down - the 2% initial portion size; start with chicken, bone-in (no grinder needed); 80/10/10 is the target, start with extra bone and no organs to help keep poops solid; wait a few weeks to introduce organs.
Other things I'd add:
1. fast for 12-24 hours, then start with SMALL meals (1/2 sized portions) to give the system time to gear up
2. regurgitation isn't "normal" but also not a major worry - Denna has done it, but as she eats, because she swallowed a piece that was too big... she normally chews it up better the second time around. I recommend supervising meal times, until you understand how your dog eats - and even then, I still am close by anytime there are bone-in pieces in a meal, just-in-case.
3. check labels for grocery store meats and avoid "guaranteed juicy" cuts. You want sodium <100mg per 4oz serving - otherwise it's been brined, and the seasonings can cause GI upset for some dogs. some dogs do ok with small amounts of 'seasoned' meats, but it's highly recommended to avoid them.
4. liver and other organs are the "vitamin pills" of the diet: required, but should not be over done. Stick with the 10% total guideline (5% liver, 5% other), and don't worry if you go over by 5%, but try not to go under, or you'll miss out on necessary vitamins and minerals.
5. the 10% bone is also a guideline amount. Too little, and you'll see soft, squishy poops. Too much and you'll see undigested bone come out in the poop and/or the dog could get constipated. You're aiming for poops that come out solid with a good brown color (darker for beef, lighter for poultry), and turn white and crumbly in a day's worth of sunshine. For Denna, we back down to ~7% bone, but other dogs may need more than 10% to stay 'regular'.
6. veggies are completely optional. Denna's poops get really solid and small, almost bunny-pellet-like... and her anal glands are a bit problematic, so the small pellets aren't doing their job expressing the glands. I add 4-6oz of frozen veggies to her breakfast (broccoli, carrots, squash and/or and cauliflower) on an 'as needed' basis to bulk up her poops and help the gland issue. So far, after the first vet-expressing episode, they've been ok (far as I can tell... no more butt-scooting).
Our method:
We have a standup freezer that gets rotated through quite often. We do have a great local buyers group... I currently have 120lbs of bison and elk parts on order... so am working on making room!
I have two BIG plastic snap-ware tubs for dinner parts, and two BIG rubbermaid tubs for breakfast parts. One is normally in use, and one in the dishwasher or in the cooler with frozen stuff being thawed.
I pull parts weekly; a thypical pull would look something like:
Breakfast parts: 5lbs ground beef, 4lbs green tripe (ground), 1lb lamb liver (1-2in cubes), 1lb beef kidney (1-2in cubes)
Dinner parts: 5lbs boneless pork shoulder (4-6oz cubes), 3lbs pork ribs (2-3 riblets per piece), 2lbs sardines (whole, frozen)
Total for the week: 19-20 lbs
Daily: 1lb 4oz breakfast / 1lb 7oz dinner (approx)
Then I can feed at-will from the buckets, and know that everything is balanced by the end of the week.
I feed organ meats a little at a time with breakfast, and I still weigh each meal, just to ballpark things and make sure the bucket lasts about a week.
But - you can mix and match and do what works for you and your dog, that's the beauty of it!
It took me a few months to get my system down. Now it takes me an hour every few weeks to put things together and in the freezer in manageable packages. Then just a few minutes to pull stuff into a cooler to thaw, and then into the fridge for use in meal time prep for the week.
Whew. Sorry for the long essay!
