Root Beer Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 Yesterday I had Speedy at the vet for his annual exam and heartworm/lyme test. When the vet looked at his teeth, she commented that they are in good condition. Then she asked how old he was and I told her he's almost 7 (I can't believe my puppy is going to be 7!) and she was taken aback! She looked at his chart and asked if he had ever had a dental cleaning. I said "no". She asked if I brush his teeth. I said "no". Then I explained that he's on a raw diet and he eats bones. She seemed surprised, but she was very pleased with the condition of his teeth. I am, too, because when I switched him to raw 2 and 1/2 years ago, his teeth were getting already getting ugly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoofly Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 I'm with you. I've had my dogs on it for almost a year now and they practically glow with health. It's been especially good for Spottie, at 10 years old. She looks and feels great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise Wall Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 I've been feeding raw for over six years. I think it particularly helps the older dogs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryP Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 I also feed raw and like how my dogs do on it. Unfortunately, I found out when I stopped at Sam's Club a couple nights ago to pick up some more meat for them that the price of meat has suddenly jumped up quite a bit. I'm assuming that's because of the spike in gas prices. Man, just can't catch a break anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 Kristen, I had a similar experience at the vet recently. I had my 6 1/2-year-old and my 11-year-old with me, and the tech and vet both commented on the nice condition of their teeth. I told them it was from chewing on RMBs. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC-Liz Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 So on average, how much does it cost a month to feed a dog a raw diet? say a medium dog around 40 lbs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenajo Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 I also feed raw and like how my dogs do on it. Unfortunately, I found out when I stopped at Sam's Club a couple nights ago to pick up some more meat for them that the price of meat has suddenly jumped up quite a bit. I'm assuming that's because of the spike in gas prices. Man, just can't catch a break anymore. Sams? Can't imagine I couldn't afford raw for all of mine if I didn't buy in bulk. One company that you may be interested in (for those in the east and south) is www.blueridgebeef.com The website does not list all their products but they can email you one. They specialized in USDA inspected economically priced raw food for pets. Those of us with large packs, espically lots of fosters, can use all the help we can get I'm buying whole chicken grind, whole quail grind, beef and bone grind, beef and organ mixes, and 70% fat ground beef from $1 to $1.50 per lb. It's not organic, but it's definately decent quality, far from 4D meat. The vet tried for the longest to call my dogs teeth and condition "good luck". We've had so much "luck" though, that he's starting to just clam up and ignore my dogs glowing health. I can usually count on a vet tech though...at least one of them will start the "ooooh, she's <insert age over 7 up to 18>!! She looks so much younger. and her teeth! Wow!" Then the vet mutters under his breath The holistic vet is thrilled of course. We've been using her long enough that she gets to see a decade of her care and instructions in action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoofly Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 Don't know about a month but i average about $1 a pound for meat/bones/organ. Various 38-42 pound dogs in my pack get from 10-20 ounces, depending on what the particular dog needs. Young growing males need more, older females less. I feed beef, chicken, pork, whatever i can get, and watch the sales. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red dog fan Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 my 39lb 7yo eats just over a pound a day and my 56lb 18mo eats just over 2 pounds a day my cost is about $1/pound Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSmitty Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 So, which bones do you guys think are best for teeth cleaning? That is, if I don't feed raw, but would like to incorporate more, especially for the teeth cleaning aspect of it? Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenajo Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 I find raw at the quality level that I want runs about $2/lb on average, sometimes a little higher. You can get pork brisket for example, at 60 cents a pound, but good beef can run much higher. We also slaughter some of our own stock - but lets face it, nothing is "free" because if we eat it, it didn't sell and pay for what it ate I'm seeing good grassfed beef is what $4/lb now (the processed weight). I'm shopping now, so I'm not sure if thats norm. We stopped raising beef a few years ago and I've not had the freezer space reserve I needed for bulk beef until now. Everybody has their own methods, and I don't doubt you can hang out for sales much easier when you don't feed more than 1 or 2 dogs. I think I have champange taste...but even the kibbles I would consider are way over $1/lb. But to defend my taste , my vet bill a decade after starting raw is 1/4 of what it was per dog when I started. And that includes perks like getting chiropractic and homeopathic consults, plus some old dogs who have more routine needs. eta: I've got big eaters too. My 42 lb 11 year old can put away 4-5 lbs of food a day when he's working hard and still be long and lean. I have some "easy keepers" but most of my workers eat between 5-7% of their body weight in food a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stockdogranch Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 I've been feeding raw for almost 2 years, and love it! I also do still feed some Canidae, too, just to make life easy, especially when I'm on the road for 2 weeks at a time. I can't seem to find good raw when I travel, and my freezer in my trailer is little, so I supplement with Canidae. Anyway, I pay about .80/lb. for the Canidae, and my raw averages about the same. I buy from a co-op here in SoCal, and they have a great variety of stuff to choose from. My girls especially like the lamb breasts (which is really just ribs)--each rib has a nice completely consumable bone, along with a nice layer of meat and fat. That usually runs me a little over a dollar a pound. I also feed chicken necks and backs, which are somewhere around .30-.40/lb., and fish, which offhand I don't remember how much it is. Anyway, I've figured it out over time, and it really averages out just about the same as the Canidae. I'm feeding anywhere from 5-8 dogs at a time; they weigh anywhere from 32-48 lbs. A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesney's Girl Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 So, which bones do you guys think are best for teeth cleaning? That is, if I don't feed raw, but would like to incorporate more, especially for the teeth cleaning aspect of it? Thanks in advance! Paula, I'm a big fan of Knuckle bones (not the circular leg/long portion of the bone, but the end pieces of the bones.) They kind of look knobby (like the head of the femur or top/bottom potions of the tibia) This part of the bone is soft enough that it shouldn't crack teeth but its tough enough and has an odd shape that gives a good teeth workout and cleaning. Chesney and Tucker have been on Raw for just over a year and half now and I could not be happier with their health! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red dog fan Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 the trick to feeding raw economically - -if you are thinking of switching is to have a separate freezer and being an opportunist grab whatever is on sale in bulk, portion out and freeze i use beef bones for recreation, either knuckle or femur i usually give them to the dogs frozes, so they have to work harder at the marrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borderfreak Posted June 14, 2008 Report Share Posted June 14, 2008 I switched Bo to raw a few weeks ago, too. We're very happy with it. Bo is healthier than ever before and he has thaaaaat great white teeth and bright rose-colored gums! Even my vet who is usually very conventional says I should continue feeding raw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjk05 Posted June 15, 2008 Report Share Posted June 15, 2008 So, which bones do you guys think are best for teeth cleaning? I reckon the best bones for cleaning teeth without grinding them down are either chicken carcasses (if your dog will chew them, which many medium dogs don't) or lamb rib flaps, or whole lamb necks. My 12 year old dog went onto raw food as a young adult, has never had any dental work done, and has brilliantly clean teeth. Unfortunately he's ground them down from too many beef shin type bones, but they are still in pretty good nick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Fosher Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 When I started feeding raw just about two years ago, I was buying whole chickens in 80-lb boxes for $8/box. Now I'm lucky if I can keep my whole diet under $1/lb, but even still, I find it to be cost competitive with good quality kibble. I can't count savings on dental work, because I wouldn't have dental work done unless it was medically necessary, and it never was for my dogs on good kibble. But it does seem to me that I see fewer hot spots and strange infections and generally better health, hence lower vet bills. The last big buy was chicken leg quarters for 68 cents a pound and beef hearts for $1.38. My dogs eat between 1 and 1.25 lbs a day each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urge to herd Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 Anyone in N. California got a good co-op I can look into, or any ideas about finding one? We'll be probably looking into raw for the Buzzard, and meat at the grocery store is hideously expensive - out of our price range. And, any favorite freezers? I don't know where we'd put it, but I'm thinking we need one. Thanks! Ruth n the BC3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haleigh Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 I switched Joy to kibble for a little while because I didn't have time to do my cleaning, dog chores, friends and school all in the day, but I'm about to switch her back to PRM. Feeding a 10 pound bichon, 28 pound border collie and 10 pound cat for around 2 months cost approx. 90 bucks at our local supermarket. If we wanted to save, we bought chicken leg quarters (the base of Joy's meals) chicken necks (base of the bichon's and cat's meals) and beef hearts in bulk at the butcher. When you compare the price of Joy's kibble (Orijen, and $60 for 30 lbs.) we were certainly saving money on the raw. Figure Joy ate 30 pounds a month, bichon 10, cat 10, with various meat prices going at a >$1 a pound, we were saving around 30-40 bucks on food. I don't like to give weight bearing bones to the dogs because they may be soft, but they've been known to break jaws. If the dogs teeth are collecting plaque, I give beef necks to Joy, backs to the bichon, and drumettes to the cat. The bichon and cat get the occasional whole rabbit, depending on if my friends father has been hunting, or how high the prices are at the store. Unfortunately, I was an idiot when Joy was a puppy and somehow didn't noticed two stubborn puppy teeth that were rotting and pushing back the adult. So, now Joy has a screwed up bite, and requires daily brushing...even on raw. Otherwise, bits of meat or kibble will get caught where it wouldn't on normal dogs and rot away on her already rotting canines Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haleigh Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 Anyone in N. California got a good co-op I can look into, or any ideas about finding one? We'll be probably looking into raw for the Buzzard, and meat at the grocery store is hideously expensive - out of our price range. And, any favorite freezers? I don't know where we'd put it, but I'm thinking we need one. Thanks! Ruth n the BC3 Favorite freezers- look on your local freecycle ( a group on yahoo, I believe, that gives away free things) for a stand up freezer. It was free....and still works perfectly. Stick in your basement, or even your garage if space is an issue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 Anyone in N. California got a good co-op I can look into, or any ideas about finding one? Look here: RAW FOOD CO-OPS and LOCAL GROUPS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seelie Fey Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 Unfortunately, there never seem to be any of those groups or co-ops near me (New Mexico). Sigh. There are a few "distributors" here in Albuquerque, but they are selling prepared (ground and processed) raw, which seems to defeat the purpose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenajo Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 Unfortunately, there never seem to be any of those groups or co-ops near me (New Mexico). Sigh. There are a few "distributors" here in Albuquerque, but they are selling prepared (ground and processed) raw, which seems to defeat the purpose. I don't know what you mean by "processed" but ground raw food can also clean teeth, it's just much slower. It can definately maintaine teeth. Remember it's not just about the raw bones scraping the teeth, but the lack of "goo" in the food that coats them. Compare with yourself - chew a raw carrot (a human appropriate food) or get a mouth full of bread (processed grain).... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seelie Fey Posted June 17, 2008 Report Share Posted June 17, 2008 I don't know what you mean by "processed" but ground raw food can also clean teeth, it's just much slower. It can definately maintaine teeth. Remember it's not just about the raw bones scraping the teeth, but the lack of "goo" in the food that coats them. Compare with yourself - chew a raw carrot (a human appropriate food) or get a mouth full of bread (processed grain).... It's just my weird prejudices. The whole process of grinding up the cow, mushing it into a patty, and squooshing it into a wrapper seems to be something that would potentially introduce contamination - from other cows ground up in the same machine, from cleaners and detergents used to sanitize the equipment. Also, when my dogs crunch through a chicken quarter, I see them work at it - they use a lot of muscles to get it crunched up into swallowable chuncks. I know that chicken quarter only came from one chicken, so there is less potential for cross contamination from multiple animals in the same patty. Also it slows them down and provides a more satisfying meal for them. Additionally, with the whole dog food recall thing awhile back, I am leary of depending on products produced for animal consumption. It just seemed like when there is a concern about human food being contaminated, it was all over the news and immediately pulled off the shelves, because it might make someone sick, possibly. When it was dog food, many dogs had to sicken and die, and still there was a lot of dithering and ho-humming about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasha's Mom Posted June 17, 2008 Report Share Posted June 17, 2008 Alright, keep talking... Someone want to jump in about how you do this with a pack? I have 5 now (and 2 cats), and although many of you have more, I am having a hard time imagining how much you all are buying... Thanks for the links - am seriously considering... Danielle, Nik, Sasha, Sassy, Zoe, and Rue(-ing the Day husband first laid eyes on her...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.