what do u feed ur 4-footed furry friends? page 3

[DinoHunter]

Mine (170# English Mastiff & a 85#German Shep) get

Duck (Mince, necks & wings)
Rabbit (Whole & Mince)
Venison (Mince & Bones)
Beef (Mince, Bones)
Tripe(Chunks or mince)
Oily Fish(mince)
Lamb (Mince, Bones)
Turkey (Mince, Necks)
Mixed Mince (Beef & Liver, Beef & Heart etc)
Pheasant (Mince, carcass)
Pig trotters
Free range eggs, scrambled lightly
Whatever left over veg/fruit needs using up.

[WeldingHank]

My labradoodle Bella eats whatever is leftover after my wife and I eat for the most part. Beef, chicken, fish, veggies etc. We do have a bag of blue buffalo, but it takes almost 4 months to go through a 10lb bag.

[Saoirse]

it's always buffalo blue or taste of the wild for both my dog and cats. i prefer to feed them taste of the wild (particularly the wet foods), but it's a lot harder to find.

i don't want to hijack, but i'm also wondering if anyone knows of a good way to make a flourless gravy or sauce to pour over pet food. my dog gets a wet/dry mix for dinner, but just dry in the morning...and lately he has been looking down at his bowl, then back at me with those 'WTF? it's dry. go get me a can of awesome animal parts' eyes. but, he'll go nuts on that dry food if a little gravy is dripped on it. basically, i just need a cheap and easy, primal way to thicken up some beef broth (think stew broth but without onions and garlic, which are poisonous to dogs).

bone broth with extra gelatin.

[paleo-bunny]

My bunny eats a large carrot, about 30 g (?) quality pellets, and around 25 g of fresh coriander stalks with a few leaves left on daily. He is also free to nibble on weeds growing in my garden and enjoys a dried apricot 2 or 3 times a week and a few stalks of tenderstem broccoli or half an apple every now and again. He loves fresh dandelion leaves foraged from my local park. He certainly doesn't hold back in demonstrating his appreciation for receiving fresh whole foods. He once demolished an entire mini apple tree in a day by leaping into the pot from a garden chair and I can only admire such cheekiness and determination.

He is going great guns in his eight year and growing cheekier and more knowing by the day. He is free roaming hence he is a little underweight for a rabbit of his dimensions in spite of eating so heartily.

[Goldie]

My two Golden Retrievers eat Blue Buffalo "Freedom" (grain free) or "Wilderness".

We soak their food for about 30 minutes with warm water before we feed them; softens the kibble so it's more raw-meat-like, and it makes its own gravy.

[phigment]

I just opened up a can of newman's own for the first time. This stuff looks like diarrhea. I hope it doesn't give KC that. When I served it to him he gave me a wtf look. He took a couple of bites and glared at me. Glad I only bought one can

I ended up flushing down the toilet.

[Miscellangela]

How do you guys know how much food to feed? A bag of kibble has a feeding chart on the side, raw meat does not - if I let my beagle eat as much as she wants, she'll explode. She acts like she's always hungry, but really she's just a glutton. Do you just kind of eyeball it? Do they need more or less food by volume when switching to raw?

[Saoirse]

How do you guys know how much food to feed? A bag of kibble has a feeding chart on the side, raw meat does not - if I let my beagle eat as much as she wants, she'll explode. She acts like she's always hungry, but really she's just a glutton. Do you just kind of eyeball it? Do they need more or less food by volume when switching to raw?

From here: BARF facts for beginners

Billinghurst recommends 60% RMBs and 40% veggies, etc... however; 60% to 75% CAN BE RMBs and the rest should be a combination of veggies, organs (also known as offal, to include liver, heart, kidney, green tripe, etc...), ground meat (e.g. lean beef, chicken or turkey), eggs and supplements. If you are just starting BARF, remember to start slow by adding new food items every few days or even weeks, until your dog gets used to the new food (especially the richer foods like liver). This is only a guide to help get you started. If your dog is on the skinnier side, up the food (RMBs) and reduce the veggies....if your dog is on the heavier side, reduce the RMBs and up the veggies. To know if your dog is 'just right,' rub the back of your hand.....his/her ribs should feel the same. If you can't feel his/her ribs, then reduce the daily food intake.

Multiply your dogs weight by 16 to get the number of ounces he weighs.
Multiply that by .02, which gives you 2 % of his body weight.
Multiply that by .6 to give you the weight of RMB you should feed. That is chicken necks, wings, backs etc.
Go back to the 2% of his body weight again and multiply that number by .4 to get the weight in ounces of vegetable patty mix you should feed.

For example: One of my Boxers weighs 70 Lbs. Here's the formula I used to calculate the daily food intake when I started:

70Lbs x 16 = 1120 ounces
1120 x .02 = 22.4 ounces of food per day
22.4 x .6 = 13.44 ounces of RMB -----60% RMB
22.4 x .4 = 8.96 ounces of Veg. Patty mix.-----40% Veg. Patty mix.

Remember this is only a place to start - adjust everything up or down, depending on your dogs condition.

I don't feed BARF BTW, just using my google-fu.

[DinoHunter]

Starting point is 2% of body weight and then you adjust for indivigual needs. My Mastiff is very laid back.. not quite lazy but dosent run unless absilutly nessisary (and when your a mastiff.. its never nessisary LOL) My GSD on the other hand, ate the energizer bunny & all his freinds.. he ...never..... stops.....
so even though the GSD weighs half what my mastiff does they usally eat the same amount of food (1kg a day average)
I dont go by their weight though.. I judge by actuall condition.. should have a waist, should be able to see/feel rib definition etc...

[waterjen]

How do you guys know how much food to feed? A bag of kibble has a feeding chart on the side, raw meat does not - if I let my beagle eat as much as she wants, she'll explode. She acts like she's always hungry, but really she's just a glutton. Do you just kind of eyeball it? Do they need more or less food by volume when switching to raw?

I believe the usual recommendation is to start with feeding 2% to 4% of the dog's weight and judge from there. Much of it depends on how active the dog is. If the dog is "beefing" out, then decrease the amount of food you're giving. If the dog seems too lean, more food is in order.
When I first got my dog, she weighed 40 pounds and was not quite a year old. Research and some math led me to give her 1 pound of raw meat a day, based on the 4% number and the fact that she was still a puppy and growing. She's pretty active (we usually get in a 4 mile walk each day or hike when we're at a state park). Now she weighs 55 pounds and I still feed her 1 pound of food a day, but that puts her at 2%.
So you don't have to bother with the math, try this online calculator: Rawfood Diet for Dogs and Cats: recipes ideas
Good luck making the switch!