who feeds their dogs a raw diet? page 2

[Metric]

We have been feeding our dog a raw diet since we got him at 4 months. He's now 7 years. He eats chicken necks/wing tips, ground chicken, ground duck, ground pheasant, ground quail, ground rabbit (all ground with bones), pasture-raised ground pork and for red meat venison, lamb and his absolute favourite food, beef green tripe. With his "white meats" he gets about 10% organ meat, generally heart or liver. He gets either salmon oil on his food or 1 tsp coconut oil after his meal. He hates veggies, so I I put a small sprinkle of kelp and/or spirulina, and supplement with a bit of Diatomaceous Earth. For treats he eats these sorts of treats: True Raw Choice :: Companion Pet Products . Best transition meat (in my opinion) is green beef tripe. Word of warning, it smells like cow sh*t, but dogs love it. Transition slowly. Start with a bit of old food in the morning. In the evening, give a raw meal. Do not mix the two as they digest at different rates. Then, slowly reduce the amount of regular food, and increase raw. If your dog is not picky, then include some veggies (be sure to check which veggies are safe for dogs to eat). Veggies make up a small portion of the meal. When I first started feeding him raw, I learned a lot from a local store. I've included their website because they have some Q&As. IN THE RAW, FOOD FOR DOGS AND CATS

[not on the rug]

Time to start bagging some squirrels. Blow gun legal?

nope. i just checked the regs though and rabbit season stays open until the 24th, while squirrel is open until the 18th. deer is over in my zone, but there are a few zones still open until saturday. i plan on spending the afternoon in my treestand for sure. i might have to get out and do a little rabbit and squirrel hunting before they end.

[RichMahogany]

If you get a bunch, we may have to make a small pet-burger-for-yard-creature trade. Save me any bones you aren't going to use, please.

[not on the rug]

If you get a bunch, we may have to make a small pet-burger-for-yard-creature trade. Save me any bones you aren't going to use, please.

haha... yard creatures

[PrimalMeatCat]

I can't comment about dogs, other than the fact that the raw food we feed our cats is for dogs or cats. It's Nature's Variety Instinct Raw. Frozen. It contains a variety of meats (muscle meats, organs), vitamins, and ground bone. We started feeding this last fall, and it has been the best thing we could have done for them. Two are kittens and they're very healthy and growing well. The adult cat was starting to get pudgy and didn't want to play as much, now she's slimmed down, healthy and muscular, and loves to play with the kittens.

[Ayla2010]

Def do a search on here There are lots of posts. But the short of it, even grain free dry food is not good, firstly its cooked, dogs need raw, with the odd veg scraps from you. Offal is great too. Whole animals are even better.
My dogs get chicken frames, quails, lamb offcuts, lamb shanks, and occasionally minced kangaroo that the cats eat. Depending on the size of the dog you may have to adjust things. For example dont give a large dog a chicken neck or wing, because they could swallow it whole. Beef is not as good for dogs as its quite acidic, but mine do get it sometimes. As for the quantity, just let them guide you, but my 2 dogs (chihuahua, and a daushaund X) get a meal each afternoon. Sometimes they bury it and go back for it later, this is fine, their digestive systems cope well with this due to the acidity and they won't get sick.

At first you may struggle to get your dogs to eat it, but they will, and cold turkey is the best way.

Ox-tail is great. Remember always RAW with meaty bones, never cooked, as they can splinter.

I really want to get whole animals for my dogs, but so hard to find baby bunnies people will sell as food.

[Ayla2010]

Oh and only human quality stuff is best.

[DinoHunter]

I feed my 2 raw, on average it cost me between £2.55-3.50 a day to feed a 170 lb mastiff and a 85lb german shepherd (2 kg of meat a day. i figgure it would cost me at least that to feed a higher quality kibble(not including increased vet bills)

My 8 year old mastiff got mistaken for a 4 year old last time he was at the vets (no vet bills for health, he slipped on the ice and hurt himself) even though 8-10 is considerd average life span for them.. Think that says something
I feed pretty much everything except chicken... My shepherd starts itching like crazy on chicken... Probably to do with what they feed them.
But beef, veal, duck, tukey, venison, phesant, tripe, lamb, offal etc.... All good

[Ayla2010]

thats a shame about the chicken dino hunter.
Can you not find hormone free, grain free chicken for yourself? We have the best butcher who doesn't even give the egg chickens grains.

[Stratford_Man]

We feed our dogs a raw diet.

Mornings we alternate chicken carcasses, pork neck bones and beef bones.

Evening meals rotate between organ meats (usually heart), regular ground beef, greens, canned pure pumpkin, and once a week, canned salmon or tuna. They also get whole eggs (with shell), and fish oil supplements.

We recently eradicated grains from their diet which were present in their treats. We have a dehydrator and make our own treats from beef lung, liver or other organs.