Trying some raw

[Jedismom]

Cadi and Jedi have alot of tartar on their teeth for young dogs. So in the hopes of avoiding dentals, I've decided to try giving them some raw a couple of times a week. I was in our local natural pet food store today and they had Nature's Variety Raw turkey necks. I bought two (somewhat small ones) and they are defrosting in my fridge right now. I'm a little grossed out by it, but I have to try. I have visions of diarrhea clean up floating around in my mind though.

 

So my questions are:

 

Do I let them eat the whole thing right away, or half to ease them into it? Where do you generally feed this and what do you use for clean-up? If I give them some beef ribs, turkey necks, or chicken leg quarters perhaps once or twice a week will this be enough to clean up their teeth?

 

Thanks!

[agilityrunningdogs]

I'm fairly new to raw myself, so I can only answer one question with confidence. Cleaning - It's honestly not as gross as you would expect, I was picturing blood and guts all over his beautiful white chest, and in reality after a meal, not a lick is left anywhere. Mal eats in a crate with nothing in it (just the crate pan), and it gets rinsed off every night after he eats. A friend of mine taught hers to eat on a towel and they don't move from the towel until they are done with their meal, then she justs tosses them in the wash.

[dracina]

Hi Jedismom:

 

I also have just started raw part-time. I do not know too much, and I’m sure others here can give you better info, but I will tell you of my experience so far.

 

As far as easing into it, I believe that it depends on the dog. It is possible that some dogs may have a bit of stomach or intestinal unrest at first. For example, my Jack will eat raw without problem, but for my other dog, Marcus, I have to briefly par-boil all of the meat or poultry. He will vomit directly after eating if I don’t do this. I put the meat/poultry in a pot, bring it just to a boil, then take out the food and cool it slightly before feeding. I do not know why this has a more agreeable result, but whatever works! However, I am weaning him slowly back to totally raw- I used to have to cook the meat/poultry totally through, or it was puke-ville for him.

 

I have found that what Katie says is true: it is not nearly as messy as one may think to feed raw. I lay out a towel for each dog, and feed them directly on the towel. The dogs usually clean everything, leaving very little mess, if any.

 

Also, is there a reason that you are buying these certain turkey necks? I am asking only because I have never heard of them: is there something additional added (like a supplement)? I buy mine directly at the grocery or butcher. They are +/-.69/pound, or something ridiculously low like that. I also do pork necks, chicken necks, fish, veggies and fruits, some grains or potatoes, and fish oil.

 

Good luck!

Karrin

 

ETA: Oh! And the poo is even more consistant and firm than it was before, so no nasty clean ups!

[Lizmo]

I started with chicken, then went from there. My guys love turkey necks. The ones I bought were about 8in in length and they ate it in one sitting.

[Jedismom]

Also, is there a reason that you are buying these certain turkey necks? I am asking only because I have never heard of them: is there something additional added (like a supplement)?

 

No, no special supplement. They just happened to be in the pet store freezer and I bought them on a whim. The grocery store or butcher would definitely be cheaper, and where I will go next time if it works out. The towel is a good idea, and easier to wash than they're doggie beds which will be the first place they head with them. This should be interesting.

 

Georgia

[Ooky]

Odin loves turkey necks, and that's also what I first gave to my in-laws' 8-yr Dobie for her introduction to raw. She did just great, even though she has a somewhat sensitive digestive system. One thing about stuff like necks is they have a lot of bone and connective tissue, so rather than diarrhea, I find them to be somewhat, um, binding.

 

We do towels, too which are just thrown in the washer on hot later. There is much less clean up than I would have thought!

[Wendy V]

I've switch kibble-fed dogs to raw cold turkey, ur, I mean, immediately, with good results. I toss the food into the crates without a food bowl. I launder crate pads weekly.

[Jumpin Boots]

The only comment I would give that hasn't been covered is to feed a bigger chunk of meat the first few times, until the dogs get the point of chewing. I have heard of some dogs that are real scarfers w/ kibble being given, say a drum stick, and swallowing it whole, versus chewing it. So when we started raw we fed chicken hind end quarters that the dogs had to chew through, then began introducing small pieces of meat.

 

Best of luck, I think you'll find that both you and your dogs will love raw.

[sea4th]

I remember how daunting that first thought of feeding raw to your dogs is. Once you can get past that first or second time, you will be OK. For your dog, it's never going to be an issue anyway.

 

One book I have and still refer to is Carina Beth McDonald's Raw Feeding 101. It doesn't go into formulas and theories. It's about just getting started -- the very basics. It's not a large book, soft cover and very user friendly.

 

Then, you start frequenting butcher shops, or the supermarket meat counter for bargains. I rarely pay over a dollar a pound for anything. Best deal are the whole fryers which I've gotten as cheap as 39 cents a pound. With my big girl, Juta, I throw a whole fryer 2-3 pounds into the crate with her. Once I've dog portions weighed and sorted, there is something really satisfying about the crunch of bones during dinner time.

 

Good luck

[agilityrunningdogs]

Once I've dog portions weighed and sorted, there is something really satisfying about the crunch of bones during dinner time.

 

I agree! Sometimes I sit in front of the crate and watch him eat, which takes about 15-20 minutes (he's a slow eater). It's just really cool.

[Jedismom]

Well we did the turkey necks today! I used the towels in the kitchen and it worked really well. It was so interesting to watch. Cadi ate hers in 10 min. and it took Jedi 40 min. Of course he spent about half that time licking it, but once he got going I think he really enjoyed it. They both rolled in the towel when they were done. It's also the first time I've seen my DH show any interest in their feeding. He's really into transitioning them into all raw now. Well he's a hunter so it shouldn't surprise me really. He brought home buffalo yesterday from a hunting trip. Is buffalo ok to give them?

 

Thanks for the book recommendation. I'll definitely need to read up on this now to make sure I do it right. I'll also have to go in and get to know those folks behind the meat counter.

[Sasha's Mom]

I don't know why buffalo wouldn't be ok.

 

I am not doing raw at the moment, but we've done it intermittently and they LOVE it. Sometimes I freeze the meat so they have to work on it longer.

 

Gross story warning:

 

And it's not ever as messy as I thought it would be. Maybe I have some neat dogs, though. For example, Zoe found a tortoise the other day, and apparently these particular tortoises are quite tasty. I have rescued several from the dogs over the last year, but they are everywhere, and Zoe in particular really loves them as snacks. Long story short, she somehow slipped inside with the half-tortoise and was supping on it ON MY BED when I found her. No mess at all, and the little bit left was confiscated. (She leaves the shell. ew.) I washed the sheets on principle.

 

Rue brings things in alive, including the little tortoises and baby rabbits, presumably to play with. Or gifts. I'm not really sure. But she generally doesn't kill what she catches. Give her a chicken quarter, though, and she's one happy little girl.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

I've discovered a really easy way to ease into raw. With Honest Kitchen you can mix it one to one on most formulas with boneless meat and it still meets NRC guidelines. I myself am cheating it, using the HK for base for a meat/veg breakfast and then doing raw meaty bones as their main meal.

 

The cool thing is the HK can allow you to find your own comfort level, and ease your dog's system into the raw meat based diet. It is somewhat spendy, but using inexpensive meat in conjunction with it can bring down the cost per kcal to less than most premium diets! What I'm doing to achieve this is tripling the meat supplement, plus as I said offering as about half their kcals (except Ted and Sam) chicken and pork raw meaty bones, which average 75 cents pound. They get red meat in the HK mix and as rec bones.

 

Sam and Ted are also getting some "makeup" kcals and nutrients from about 400 grams of kibble. Everyone gets supplements because I am CDO. That's like OCD but the letters are in alphabetical order like they are supposed to be.

[Caerus]

I've switch kibble-fed dogs to raw cold turkey, ur, I mean, immediately, with good results. I toss the food into the crates without a food bowl. I launder crate pads weekly.

 

LOL, clever!

 

We usually just feed 'em on the grass in the backyard. No cleanup, and they stay clean too unless it is really muddy (then I feed them in the crate).

I second that it is really neat to watch dogs (and cats!) eat raw. They look like they enjoy it so much.

[nicocosmos1]

He brought home buffalo yesterday from a hunting trip. Is buffalo ok to give them?

 

Nico likes bison liver and it has not produced any ill-effects so far. If I'm eating a bison burger he has a little of it raw and ground, but I haven't given him any on the bone yet.

[dracina]

Jedismom:

 

I just remembered this discussion that was started by Denise Wall awhile ago; Good discussion about raw and she provides a link to a really informative website.

 

Karrin

 

PS: Happy to hear that the pups liked their turkey necks!

[MrRipley]

I got some pieces of vinyl and cut them to fit the dogs' crates for when I'm feeding. It's easy to remove and clean off after they eat.

 

Chicken backs are cheap and readily available in the supermarket, and large enough that they really have to chew, and the size makes a perfect occasional dinner for my border collie. He just swallows chicken necks whole.

[Jedismom]

Thanks for the thread Karrin. I read through it last night. What I'm learning is that I need to watch the ratio of bone to meat because too much bone can be constipating. There are also the 2 different models. The prey model and the BARF model. If I decide to go fully raw feeding, I'm not sure which model to use. There are pros and cons written for both. Any thoughts on that? Right now, until my kibble runs out, I'm going with kibble in the am and raw in the pm.

So far, Jedi has not turned up his nose at anything, but Cadi will not touch beef ribs. It's interesting because she's usually not so picky. I guess I should also rethink giving wild game because of the chance of parasites.

[Cynthia P]

I guess I should also rethink giving wild game because of the chance of parasites.

 

Freezing the meat at (I think) -10C for 30 days should kill any parasites. We freeze our cull ewes for at least 7 days and have never had any parasite problems...plus they have randomly eaten things left out in the wild...aka roadkill without any adverse affects.

 

Cynthia (feeding raw for 11 years now)

[sea4th]

Thanks for the thread Karrin. I read through it last night. What I'm learning is that I need to watch the ratio of bone to meat because too much bone can be constipating. There are also the 2 different models. The prey model and the BARF model. If I decide to go fully raw feeding, I'm not sure which model to use. There are pros and cons written for both. Any thoughts on that? Right now, until my kibble runs out, I'm going with kibble in the am and raw in the pm.

So far, Jedi has not turned up his nose at anything, but Cadi will not touch beef ribs. It's interesting because she's usually not so picky. I guess I should also rethink giving wild game because of the chance of parasites.

 

Again, for the very basics, start with the book, Raw Feeding 101. As you get more comfortable with feeding raw, you can make the decision for yourself whether you want to follow prey model, BARF, whatever. Once you get the basics down, then the theories and other options out there for you won't seem as intimidating or daunting and will probably make more sense.

[Jedismom]

Again, for the very basics, start with the book, Raw Feeding 101. As you get more comfortable with feeding raw, you can make the decision for yourself whether you want to follow prey model, BARF, whatever. Once you get the basics down, then the theories and other options out there for you won't seem as intimidating or daunting and will probably make more sense.

 

 

Just ordered it!