I was talking to a friend on Facebook about raw feeding (I might have made my first convert!) and the guy whose kids I babysit chimed in about his Boston Terrier's garbage breath. I said even if he didn't want to commit to raw (I wish he would. The dogs eat beneful) he could just give them raw bones to chew.
So I know leg bones and knuckles are bad, right? I keep getting conflicting info on knuckles. Their other dog is a large lab mix. What would a good bone be for them? Not too much meat and strong enough to withstand the lab's jaw for more than a few minutes.
Right now they already chew cooked marrow bones from petco and rawhides.

I've been switching my dog over to raw. (1.5 year old samoyed).

I don't know a lot about it so I have been using Bravo, which is hella expensive. But, I don't know what I am doing and would prefer not to kill my dog. So, we stick with Bravo.

So far he LOVES IT. He absolutely loves it. His semi chronic soft stool problems are gone. He has a ton more pep and in general seems like a happier more energetic dog. 

I have been switching between chicken, beef, turkey and lamb. O.o Oh my Goodness lamb is expensive. It just seems like so much more than the other ones. 

Can I skip the lamb and stick to beef, chicken & turkey?

Thanks,

Kathleen & Payton~

How many raw eggs should you feed a +70 pound dog a week? I've been hearing different things when I look it up via google; some people say once a week (one egg a week), some say every other day (one egg every other day).

She also said to tell you she got some pork fillets for her dinner, courtesy of her indulgent grandparents.

Does anyone here have any tips about including enough fibre in her diet to help prevent her anal glands from being impacted again? I'm ok with including bran or some sort of grain/roughage if it's the best way, but I'd like to hear how raw-feeders do it. :)

Firstly, thank you to the people who took the trouble to answer my post. I suspect that it could be an overdose of organ meat.

In addition to the poop issues, Tayla also got heat stress while playing with her flirt pole last night. I managed to cool her down, and she's acting like her normal self this morning, but it still scared me half to death.

The combination of those two things, Google and some of the answers I got on the comms means her health is weighing heavily on my mind.

We have a vet appointment in 2 hours (first one I could get).

I'll let you know how we go. Thanks again.

My 2yo SBT bitch Tayla eats a Raw Meaty Bones Diet. She gets chicken frames and necks, lamb heart and liver, mutton necks, sardines, tuna and mackerel. I also give her a Kong each day while I'm at work, usually filled with things like small pieces of leftover pizza, frozen peas/forest berries, cottage cheese, sheep's yoghurt and peanut butter.

My partner has just noticed some black, tarry, sticky poops in the backyard. Google of course, tells me that she is about to die. :/

Before I panic and rush her to the vet, has anyone else experienced this?

X-posted everywhere, because I am fretful and scared.

We just took in a permanent foster today, a young kitten with inoperable liver shunts. Right now they have her on a Science Diet formula (low protein).

I don't know if she can safely do raw (I imagine I may need to cook for her), but I was hoping someone could remember for me the names of some pet nutritionists.

I had Sabine of BetterDogCare.com help formulate meal plans for my dogs and I've been very happy, but she doesn't do cats. Does anyone know of another reputable nutritionist that does?

Someone just sent me this article and I thought some of you might like to read it...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315145/Is-pet-food-poisoning-dogs.html?mid=57

This post might be "preaching to the chior". But I wanted to post it to say that not even raw-fed dogs are safe from deadly bloat. Vets and researchers still don't have a definitive cause for bloat, and even dogs given the best care at preventing it can still get it.

Background: My dog has been on raw diet for 3 years now. He's a neutered male, aged 9.5 years, weighs around 108 lbs and is an akita/rottweiler mix. Sunday he got bloat, GDV, gastric torsion, etc. I always made sure he was not active 2 hours before or after he ate. I always took precautions to make sure that he ate slowly. Sunday night he started showing basic symptoms of vomiting and drooling but nothing coming out 1:00 am. At 1:10 am, his abdomen became large and started to distend, so I rushed into the nearest emergency vet. His last meal was 6:30 pm on Sunday (6.5 hours before). He was not active at all after he ate. Before he began showing symptoms, he asked to go outside, I let him out and he urinated and came right back inside. He then started to try and vomit and began drooling.

I called the local E-clinic first to make sure that they were able to take him since many of these clinics get slammed fast. They were able to and I rushed him there. First thing they did was take a lateral x-ray to confirm if there was a torsion (the stomach had twisted). X-rays confirmed this indeed was the case Then the took a chest x-ray to make sure there was no obvious cancers in the body, making sure that he could handle the surgery since he is old for a giant breed. Next they gave him a large injection of Methadone (pain killer), an IV fluid drip to help support vital organs and took blood samples to make sure his organs could handle the anesthesia. Then did a trocar. Trocar is sticking a needle in their abdomen to release the pressure from gas building up. The emergency vet on hand could not do the surgery by herself (it was triage since it was 1 am) and was calling the board-certified surgeon to come in. Unfortunately, the surgeon could not come in, so we had to take him to their sister hospital which is super staffed that was a 25 minute drive (no traffic) away. He was stable at this point to get him over to the other hospital so off we went.

Now many know that bloat causes air to trap in the stomach, causing the stomach to expand like a balloon until it breaks. Usually though, the dogs dies of constriction first. When the stomach twists and bloats is suppresses the caudal vena cava. Distension of the stomach results in suppression of the portal vein supplying the liver. Many dogs will go into shock or pass out from lack of blood flow to major organs (including the heart) before they die. Surgery can be risky business, as when you empty the stomach, the compression on the veins causes a surge of blood flow into the heart and most dogs develop heart arrhythmia during and after the surgery. 

So we got to the larger, sister hospital and they had the operating room ready with a surgeon who was the owner of the clinic. X-rays and blood work were emailed over. The technician took him back to be prepped for anesthesia. The emergency vet took a brief history and asked what medication he was on (including supplements). I gave him my dog's medical history that included distemper (when I adopted him from the pound as a puppy, he had this), some dental work, his ear hematoma repair and letting them know of a fatty tumor under his one arm. The surgery took about 2 hours. They flushed out the stomach contents with a tube down his throat. Then they went in surgically to rotate the stomach back and did a gastropexy (suturing the stomach to the abdominal wall to prevent torsion in the future. One a dog gets torsion, he's at very high risk for getting it again). Surgery went well and there was no damage to the stomach or other organs. 

He went home and seemed in pain, but otherwise ok. The next morning he was in more pain and by early afternoon his stomach was distended again. He had not eating anything and refused to even look at food. I called the vet and let them know what was up. We brought him back in and x-rays showed that his stomach was filled with fluid and he still had stool in his bowels (no bowel movement). Blood tests revealed the dog to be dehydrated and his RBC to be a little low and his electrolytes to be pretty low from not eating. So the vet kept him over night and gave him more fluids, some anti-nausea medication in addition to medication to help kick-start gut motility. He began to eat for them and really perked up. The trauma from the torsion, surgery or both had caused his gut to basically stop working which was causing pain and nausea. 

So then I come back and get him and he's been doing better since. It's going to be a long and slow healing process given his age. Currently, he's on 6 medications post surgery, not including his regular joint supplements for hip displaysia (these are on hold until next week when most of the medication should over with).

Cost: it's not cheap. Emergency surgery. emergency clinic prices, around the clock care, blood tests, about 6 x-rays were taken. Right now the bill is up to $6000.Time costs, he's on 6 medications and gets pills at 12, 6, 8, 9 am and then at 12, 4, 5, 8 pm. Some medications, like the antibiotic have to be given with food, some no food and I've had to make a big chart to keep track of everything. In my eyes he's worth every penny. 

Just thought this would be an informative guide to any one who might experience bloat with their dogs in the future, even raw-fed, slow eating ones. It's nice to know what to expect for the entire process and be prepared. 

Romeo continues to be baffled by a whole chicken thigh and some gizzards presented to him as dinner, so I've been chopping the meat into bite-sized pieces and hand-feeding him the RMB portion of the chicken thigh. He seems to have a hard time getting a purchase on the meat unless I'm holding it for him.

Is it okay to help him along by chopping things up, or should I be a mean cruel horrible owner and refuse to give him anything aside from whole meat?

I've recently introduced RMBs to my cats. I bought Turkey Necks and one is taking to it very well. I don't know how to get my girl to eat it though. I've tried pulling a couple pieces off and she eats those but doesn't want to do the actual work herself (she walks away from it). How do you get a cat started on bones?

I'm also wondering about refreezing. It seems like a lot of people do it, but I know from snakes that you're never supposed to refreeze a mouse (rat, etc) because of the bacteria that quickly moves into the stomach of the prey.

Thank you in advance!

I'm actually here to ask more about cats than dogs. I'd like to switch my cats first, since they never seem to be able to agree on the type of food they eat (One will have diarrhea, then the other, ad nauseum for every food we've tried)

So far I have tried by simply introducing a chicken liver instead of wet food to their breakfast. They're loving it! They're totally on-board with a diet-switch, and actually mostly shunned their kibble this morning when the liver wasn't in it (I forgot to defrost overnight, whoops)

I understand they should be eating 80% meat, 10% bone, 5% liver and 5% other organs, but I'm not so good with math. What would that look like? Someone told me a third of a chicken wing, a liver, and a heart fulfilled that for their cat. One of my cats is almost 10 pounds, and the other is a tiny, dainty 5. They're siblings, and 7 months. She's going to lose her baby fat soon, and he's going to just keep getting more muscular and dense. They're very different cats, who would clearly require very different amounts and types of nutrition.

If anyone has pictures of what their cat (Or small dog, I suppose) eats, or even just a general "recipe" they follow, can I see some of them? It will give me a much better idea of how much of what I should be feeding them when we do the whole switch.

A second question: would a whole prey diet be even better for them? How would I safely acquire parasite-free whole mice for them? I can't imagine these guys could eat baby chicks. They are completely indoor cats who can't even hunt spiders efficiently. They also cannot share a larger prey item, as Mr BossyPants has a minor guarding problem.

Hi guys! I've been doing some reading and research, and I'm 99% certain I'm going to be switching my dog to raw. I had always thought raw feeding sounded like a good idea, but for a long time two things held me back: cost and family approval. Well, I got the okay from my family (my mom's reaction: "When we were kids, we just fed the cats from the butcher. Of course it's okay!") and I've just priced meat from the grocery store, and figured out that rather than spending approx. 1.50 a day to feed my beagle, Romeo, I could be spending as little as 75 cents a day. So it's all coming together!

Of course what prompted this was an allergy screen showing that Romeo is allergic to a whole lot of grains, plus sweet potato; this would limit the kinds of kibble I could feed him without spending about 20 dollars a bag on kibble and 2 dollars a can on wet food. So it makes sense health-wise and money-wise.

But I'm a complete novice to this! Romeo weighs about 28 pounds - is half a pound an appropriate amount to feed him per day? What kind of variety should I include in his diet? Chicken looks most cost effective (I just bought two whole chickens for 78 cents a pound) but should he be getting beef/pork/turkey etc for variety? I've read that soup bones are a bad idea, and really that's the only cheap cut of beef I could find anyway.

Finally, where do you go to get your raw food? There are five or six hispanic markets within easy driving distance, plus a bargain supermarket, a costco, and a variety of regular grocery stores, some pricier than others. Unfortunately I don't live in an area where hunting is common, even though we're crawling with deer. I might be able to get cheap seafood on the wharf; I've never been down there, since I personally loathe fish.

Supplements? Yes or no? I've read conflicting advice about this. Does he need fruits and vegetables? He eats grass and likes to chew on carrots, but otherwise doesn't seem interested.

THANKS SO MUCH!!!

Just quick question(s) for you raw feeders out there:

1) I know it's a dog related community but I was hoping to get some quick insight regarding raw + cat diets.

I'm currently providing about 3-4 ounces a day (per cat) for my cats; however, they still seem to be forever hungry. My one cat is about 11 pounds (give or take a couple of pounds) and the youngest is about 6/7 pounds - am I not feeding them enough or are they just being fatties? There's a company here called Blue Ridge Beef that makes a 'kitten mix' just for cats and they seem to enjoy it so I've been buying that along with their quail w/bone.

2) Budgets + raw diets for large breed dogs

I have a large breed dog (a borzoi), Dante, who I would love to start feeding raw (as I know he would both enjoy and benefit from it greatly); however, doing the math, it's often out of my budget to be able to afford the large 'chubs' companies make for him and he's not overly keen on the dehydrated stuff like Sojo's and THK (he'll eat them but he doesn't seem as thrilled by them). He's 70-75 pounds (ranges) and I've been told he needs about 14 ounces a day so it's a fair amount of meat to buy. I've been told to look around at deli's/meat markets but unfortunately, I don't know of many in the area that I live in (Knightdale, NC).

Is there any way to feed a dog raw when the budget is rather slim/tight? I'm a pet care contractor myself and my fiance works part time and we pretty much make enough for rent and our current living situation so I'm trying to figure out how to hopefully budget something that will greatly help Dante.

Thank you so much for the insight!

I don't know what this is about.  I've examined her up down and sideways.  There is nothing wrong with her mouth.  In fact, it's stayed clean and healthy looking since her dental early this year.   She refuses to eat her chicken quarters all of a sudden.  I'll try thighs tonight, but I'm wondering...

Can raw RMB's just be too much work for an older dog to want to bother?  She turned 9 last month.
ETA:  She did eat a chicken thigh tonight.  I think quarters are just too tough.

Hi, experts!  I'm hoping you can shed some light on a quandary of mine.
JoJo, my greyhound, has mild kidney disease.  After doing my research, I've concluded that the best way to manage it is to reduce the phosphorus in her diet.  That means less bone in her raw diet.  Grain-free kibbles have a phosphorus % of 1.3%-ish.  The disgusting, crap-filled prescription diet has a % of roughly 0.3%.  Canned food has WAY LESS phosphorus than kibble, thank goodness, so I got some Canidae grain-free canned food with a phosphorus level of 0.2%.  The higher liquid content is also good for her kidneys.

I'm wondering how canned food and raw meat mix.  I know kibble and raw food together is no good because kibble digests so much slower than raw meat.  How about canned food?  Should I separate them?  I think she needs to have raw meat still for her teeth and the nutrients, I just want to diminish her intake a bit.

Thanks!  JoJo's grateful, too. :)

Since I was old enough to pay for my pet's welbeing on my own, I've tried going with foods I thought were best. Once I actually entered the dog world professionally, I heard more about bad dog foods. A few years ago, I unfortunately had to put one ofr my dogs on prescription food.aka eukanuba..Always wanted to feed my dogs raw, but until recently, I thought it was something that had to be started when they were young.

One dog is diabetic with liver issues. Other dog has major allergies..amongst so many other things..

So I've been feeding my two dogs raw for about a month and a half. At first, my diabetic was doing great. Drinking way less than she use to. Now, I'm not so sure on her. Ive always felt she feels like crap and has just learned to deal with it and only lets me know when she really feels like crap. The diet I am using with her seems to reccomend too much protien, as I was told protien is bad for her. That she cannot process it and it ends up as toxins and makes her have eppisodes similar to siezures..She has been difficult to regulate ever since Ive started treating her for diabetes and with her everything is just a major guessing game.

I took my other dog to a dermatologist years ago and he suggesting I keep him away from fish. Didn't actually state he is allergic, just was guessing. When I began this raw adventure, I was told that a lot of dogs have allergies to wheats. So I made meals lacking fish and wheat. Yesterday, I found out a lot of dogs have beef and chicken allergies as well!! So now I have four things I need to steer clear of!
His allergies are terrible right now. I'm presuming it's seasonal. I groom dogs, so I have been seeing a ton of dogs with major skin issues lately. Seems like the only thing that helps his itching is steroids, but he now has cushings..probably from being on steriods practically his whole life..so I cannot give him any and have been fighting red pustuals all over his body for over a year now.

When I found out the beef and chicken thing yesterday, I felt like a huge failure! I know it's just a back step and there are lots of things to learn when starting on raw and really shouldn't be too big of a deal. No one else seems to think so. But, not only is my littler girl feeling like crap and hiding all the time but now I find out that I am (probably) making my boy's skin break out worse!
There is supposedly a butcher nearby that I will visit this weekend and see what they have. And it is almost deer season, so I can get meat through my boyfiend's family..

I just received my order of berte's green blend and immune blend and zyme pills ( the last is just for my little girl) so I am hoping that all this helps them. But I am seriously stressing out over all of this. I appogolize for all my incomplete thoughts in this post, I haven't really been thinking straight.


EDIT
you guys have helped me tremendously. i knew swapping my little girl would mess up her insulin system..not that it's ever really been on track..but i cannot believe the blood curve testing has never been brought to my attention! i thought about starting it this weekend, then thought i'd wait til i went back to work to see about having a line hooked into her to avoid hurting her every two hours..but a couple hours ago, i really worried about her so i'm definitely doing it this weekend.
..and here i was upset a few days ago about typical meat being allergies!

and thank you for the allergy suggestions! if you have more, keep them coming! i'll take all i can get. it's crazy how he can chew a hole in his leg and scratch himself up so much, when he's with me so much...i take him to work with me every day. not sure how he slips his actions by me to the point he does.

So I posted an ad on craigslist and got a couple of responses! One is an hour away, but he said hes gonna give me his leftover frozen venison from last season, and will also give me any parts/scraps he gets this season! So it seems like it'll be a big score!

My question is, how should I go about wrapping it up for the ride back home? Would just throwing the carcasses in a couple of heavy duty trash bags be ok? I'll probably be taking my dads pick up truck, so will it be ok out in the heat or should I try and pack it in my car so I can at least have the AC on? I assume the back of the pick up truck is fine, but since its an hour away I just wanted to be sure :)

Also, thanks for all the responses to my last post about RMB's for my beagle! Here she is enjoying a chicken wing~

I have been interested in the raw diet for awhile. I learned about it about a year ago while researching healthier food for animals. I didn't have any pets back then but now I do. I have two kittens. 13 week old Kali and 12 week old Sunny. I really want to start them on RAW feeding but there are some issues:

1. I live with my family still; dad (whos a trucker and here usually once a week or every two weeks), stepmom, and 15 year old younger brother. When I mentioned RAW feeding to my older sister she was all like "gross" and was really against it. As was my whole family. They hold animals in the same nutrition level. What I mean is if raw food is bad for us (raw chicken) it must be bad for animals. Problem? Even though i'm 20 i live with them and have proved they don't like it.
2. I don't have that much money. I expect its expensive. I usually only get $480/two weeks and $80 my sister demands for gas. $200 goes to vet bills due to kitten shots a month. and I do buy clothes and necessities (cat food, litter, books, etc). Problem? I may not have enough for this.
3. My family of course do not approve. Even though I found some really great places to get RAW food such as Hare Today Gone Tomorrow and 1800PetMeds (yep they have raw food there :D) how do I convince them that its not at all bad?

Also not a problem but any suggestions on what to feed two growin kittens? Should I feed chicken thighs/chicken breast and another meat source, then whole prey once a week or what? I plan to give them raw eggs also if they'd eat that. Also what if they don't eat raw. Have you ever had that problem? Any suggestions on how to start them on this?

This was longer but my computer froze and I lost everything but this about sums it up :( 

We have a new addition to the family. :)







This is Olive - a 13 week old GSD/Black lab mix (we think!)... she was found stray on the side of a road in Mississippi, and was taken in by a GSD rescue that found her a foster home, and eventually a forever home here in Maine. :) She is adjusting very nicely to our home with two cats.

In her foster home, Olive was fed raw. We were so excited to hear that, because I feed our cats raw and I've always wanted a puppy raised on raw.

Here she is munching on part of a chicken leg quarter for breakfast this morning....(we're trying to teach her to "keep it on the mat"!) :)

My question is - what variety should I add to her diet? Are beef bones, beef heart/liver, and chicken gizzards/hearts all OK to feed? What about fish? How much, and how often do I need to mix it up? Does anyone here have a "menu" they want to share? I guess I just want to be sure she's getting all the nutrients she needs. :)

Question!

I feed my dogs prey model, and yesterday I got my Rodentpro shipment and while most of it was for my snakes, I ordered 200 baby chicks for the dogs. I gave each dog one last night for dinner, but all they did was poke them, carry them around and lick them. They almost seemed to be sad, and definitely didn't recognize them as food. I went ahead and even cut up one and then tried to offer it again and they seem very confused. They don't seem to understand why there are feathers and feet still on their food.

Any ideas on how to entice them to eat the chicks?

I might fast them today and then offer them again tomorrow. That is really the only thing I can think of off the top of my head right now, haha.

Any help is appreciated! :]

I'm not usually one for posting this sort of thing, but at the recent BET awards, Michael Vick was given a sportsmanship award that was sponsored by Subway.

If you like dogs more than you like Subway, please sign the petition and eat fresh somewhere else:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/boycott-subway-until-michael-vick-gives-his-bet-award-back/

Hi folks,
Parker (10 year old GSD / Husky mix) is on a home-cooked diet with a bit of kibble for balance, but his teeth are a bit of a disaster despite daily brushing.
I have a WONDERFUL butcher nearby and I'd like to give Parker a raw bone every day for cleaning his teeth (and because he loves it). What bones (specifically) should I be asking for? 
TIA!

We had bad weather last week, and I lost power for 2 days. I had just filled my freezer with meat, and it all defrosted and then refroze. Is this safe to feed to the dogs? It didn't all completely defrost, but it defrosted really slowly and unevenly. I'm not going to be eating any of the people-food, but I wondered about the dog food.

It's about 40lbs of chicken quarters and turkey backs, a couple lbs of liver and giblets, and then "people" meat, a couple steaks and a couple lbs of ground beef. I got the chicken and turkey at an "anniversary" sale for really cheap, so I'd be kind of disappointed to lose it; on the other hand I'd also hate to end up with a massive vet bill, and chicken spoils so quickly. It's covered under my renter's insurance... I really hate wasting all that meat, though. :/

Thoughts?

I recently had a stray cat wander into my life. After being vetted and everything, he's in decent shape except for being about 4 pounds underweight (weighs 8 instead of 12). Does anyone have any suggestions or pointers for the best way to get him back up to a good weight? I've been doing raw with my dog for the last year and right now I'm just feeding the cat what I'm feeding the dog this week - portioned roaster chicken and liver - which is nommed rather happily. Actually, the cat is better about chewing than my dog is. :D Anything I should add specifically or anything I should avoid? Eggs have been mostly turned down.

Does anyone have a dog with a very large over bite and does it effect their ability to feed raw?

The bull terrier/pit bull girl I'm adopting in a week has a pretty significant over bite - I would say her top jaw goes out at least 2.5 inches from her bottom jaw. The people who take care of her now say she has no difficulty eating kibble, but chewing on something like a rawhide is difficult. I've looked at her teeth and they appear pretty normal/healthy, it's just that she can not get a good grip on things.


What would you do in this situation - just give her a hunk of food and see what happens or feed her differently? Since Frank is so picky he does eat grain free canned foods as well, so I'm not totally against a commercial diet (and i do not have the storage options for two dogs on full raw right now), but I was hoping to at least do half raw with the new pup.

i have a query for raw feeders of toy breeds with lack of teeth:
my 6 year old, 4lb rescue pomeranian has four teeth in total, 1 each upper/lower canine & two very small bottom molars (not for scissoring or grinding) that are not so useful in the tearing, scissoring, grinding of food/bones.

currently she receives pucks of commercially prepared (natures variety instinct) raw diet & i supplement with cut up chicken neck & wings into bite size or swallowable pieces. she doesn't really get the benefit of teeth cleaning but i figure the enzymes help & it certainly does health wonders for her.
should i be grinding the meat up, or can her body get enough benefit from swallowing bite size chunks?

thank you in advance for any suggestions or comments.

Hi all,

I'm just beginning to switch my dogs to raw. Main reason is because my 2 year old Newf/Collie mix keeps having random issues with kibble. We've been playing "switch to other kibble" ever since we got him almost 2 years ago. He'll seem fine on something new for a few months then his skin starts to flake. Despite fish oil being added (per vet recommendations), still happens.

At some point, I'll start transitioning to making everything myself, but for right now, I'm getting premade stuff (per my friend's recommendations, I picked up a bunch of Primal).

I began transitioning him last night, per Primal instructions, I began mixing some of it with his current food. Then I began doing research...several sites say that I shouldn't mix kibble with raw. Is this true?? If so...best way to transition to raw??

Also, any recommendations for raw pre-made stuff? I'm hearing good things about Nature's Variety. Thoughts?

Any particular raw foods your dogs love?

Thanks!!

Hi, everyone.  I fed my greyhound, Kibeth, a chicken thigh, like I have for the past 2 years without complication.  This time, however, a bone shard got stuck between her teeth, and it required a trip to the e-vet and $70 later to remove.  It was raw, mostly thawed (a couple ice crystals, but overall thawed), and just like any other raw thigh.

Anything I could/should do to avoid this in future?  Or is this one of those, "OMG, I can't believe that happened?!" moments?

Thanks! 

everytime i switch meat my dogs get loose stools and gas? is this a toy dog thing or is this an indication that that particular protein is not digesting well? they were on beef for the last two months, now it is chicken and everything went to hell. i switched to pork and things are better.

one dog will eat bone, the other won't when they are not in the mood. so i will give crushed egg shells.

thanks

shih tzu  and yorkie

I start class with my newest in a few weeks, and am open to treat ideas. We don't have a dehydrator, but was wondering if I could bake something at home? I'm a terrible cook, LOL, but I'm sure I could manage something.

Hi guys! Quick question: Is it okay to feed frozen RMBs? Like, say I give Gus a frozen chicken leg quarter, is that any worse/more dangerous than giving it thawed? Gus likes to chew frozen things and I like for Gus to be occupied (which frozen meat definitely does), but it suddenly occurred to me that frozen bones might be more... shattery, or some thing, so I thought I'd ask.

Gus is eating about 50/50 raw/kibble now and doing good!

I'm not even sure how long I've been feeding raw, but i'd say that it's been a month or a little over a month. Everything is going really well!

My three dogs are shiny, healthy, and happy. Seriously, their coats have never been so soft!

They are up to eating chicken, beef, and fish on occasion. They only get fish on occasion. I'd feed them fish more often if I could feed tilapia... but I was informed that tilapia are typically the fish that are used to clean up the waste of other fish at fish farms. I'm sure my dog doesn't care... but I was kind of put off by it. Other fish tends to be too expensive. Let me mention the mistake I made of feeding salt cured herring to the dogs. It was a whole fish... minus the head... and had been cured in salt. The directions said to soak the fish in water to get the salt off. Little did I know, soaking it for an hour or so wasn't enough. APPARENTLY you're supposed to soak it for a couple days! Goodness... Lyla and Jackson picked at the herring... but that was it. Brody scarfed it down... as usual. He ate the remains of Lyla's and Jackson's, too. Boy... was that a mistake?! Poor Brody drank and drank and drank bowls and bowls of water to quench his thirst caused by all of the salt. It was a restless night of sleep since I had to get up multiple times to let him out to pee. Let's not forget to mention the part where he drank so much water that he threw up! NEVER AGAIN. I had a feeling that was a bad idea. Guess you learn from your mistakes.

They also eat chicken hearts and gizzards. They've tried cow liver and didn't love it. I've also ordered an entire case of organ mix from the butcher. It has not come in yet, though. Every now and then I find chicken livers at the grocery store. I'm not sure if the chicken hearts and gizzards are considered as "organs" or as "muscle meat"... but they seem happy and healthy... so I'm just aiming for balance over time.

I was worried at the start... about changing to a raw diet... but after a month of figuring out how much they each need, etc., I'm not so worried anymore. They all look great and seem happy and healthy. I'm a true raw feeder now! I spent 2 hours bagging individual meals yesterday!

Peace, love, and paw prints... Emily

Really interesting -- I'd love to hear your responses!

Hi guys, I'm a little bummed today thinking about how most people feed their pets( I heard as much as 80% feed grocery store brand kibble), people who don't care to research or what's going in to them, believe all the scary myths and exaggerations about raw,etc

SO. What's on the dinner plate for your dog, cat, or ferret today? And let's hear some stories about how your pet has benefited since going on raw!

Also, out of curiosity, does anyone work in pet retail like I do? Only like 10% of our customers feed raw and that's way too low! :P
( My answers and pictures! )

Thanks for reading/glancing at my post. I realize it went in 20 different directions. I hope someone comments! :P

Good evening, folks! I'm 7 days into the raw diet... and all is well! I guess a little background info is due... just for the introduction and whatnot.

I don't remember when it all started... being so fascinated by the diet of a dog, I mean. I was a teenager when I started researching better brands of kibble. The family dog, a Bichon Frise, had grown up on Science Diet because - well - the vet recommended it. He ate that sorry excuse of a kibble for years. It wasn't until I started researching that I learned the truth about dog food. I learned about unnecessary grains, fillers, and all of the other junk that goes into dog food. I didn't want my dog eating a food that was made up of the parts of animals that weren't fit for human consumption. I immediately started researching grain-free foods. I decide to feed Innova EVO... which hadn't sold out to Proctor and Gamble at that point. Gonzo has since passed at the ripe, old age of fourteen. I had brought home a stray dog from Costa Rica, and he ate a diet of better quality kibble, too. I was always researching dog foods and learning... and always was intrigued by this raw diet that I came across every now and then. But... as most of you know... not everyone is as accepting of this. I was living with my dad at the time, and he'd laugh in my face if I told him I wanted to feed the dogs raw meat. A lot of people would. So... the kibble continued.

I eventually moved into a house and had a roommate. She's also my best friend. I still couldn't make the switch. I was afraid I would do it right. I was also a little skeptical because I didn't want her making fun of me. Now I live alone in the same house with my three dogs, Jackson, Brody, and Lyla. Jackson is about 8-years-old. Brody is almost 2-years-old. And Lyla is nearing 8-months. She was a foster gone bad. Not bad... but for bad for me! She was one of three fosters that I had at the time... and I just couldn't let her go. The last kind of dog I wanted was a PUPPY! I had just gotten over puppyhood (mostly) with Brody... and it was HELL. But... Lyla somehow snagged my heart and convinced me to let her stay. Part of me knows that, in the back of my mind, she was going to stay all along. Now... along with my three... I have two fosters. They are sisters... and about 3 1/2-months-old at this point. As for them, they eat what the rescue provides.

My dogs, however, started their raw diet a week ago. So far, I'm thrilled. They've only been eating chicken and even some chicken liver. Not sure what the next meat will be once I'm sure that they are used to the chicken. I actually did give them quail this morning. It was different to them. Brody was all about it. He ate two since he's a big boy. Then Lyla had to sniff a little before going at it. Jackson, however, wasn't so sure about what I had given him. He's been eating chicken thighs and drumsticks. It took him a few minutes... but he eventually figured it out.

Who knew that my dogs would take so well to a raw food diet! I feed them in a blocked off area and put towels down. I got home today, let them out, etc., and they let themselves into their area and looked at me as if to say, "Okay, how about dinner?" Mealtime has never been so fantastic! Apart from my eldest throwing up twice within the first couple days, everything has gone swimmingly well. They love it! They're happy, I'm happy. Isn't that how it goes?

( Put a face to a dog... )

Peace, love, and paw prints...

I apologize if this sort of posting isn't allowed. I checked the comm info and didn't see anything about it.

I recently lost my dog very unexpectedly to cancer. I don't have any other carnivorous pets and won't be getting any soon, so I now have a moderate amount of unused food sitting in my freezer. If anyone in the Columbus, Ohio area would like to take it, I would be happy to meet them somewhere. I have beef liver, pork kidney, and pork heart. It's been cut up and distributed to individual baggies. I also have some assorted turkey and pork, which my family will not eat. It's mostly been hacked up and is unlabeled (sorry!) but I have some still-packaged pork as well. I also have a bag of deer parts that my vet gave me--I believe it is mostly leg and some nice furry skin.

Edit: It's all gone!

So recently I went to the butcher and saw that they had a few new "exotic" meats, including: ostrich, alligator and kangaroo. Have any of you fed any of these meats before? How did your dogs take to them? Are they all OK for dogs to eat? I would assume so, and I'm interested in trying them with my two beagles.

Whats the strangest meat/fish you've fed to your dog? :)

Do any of you do a feast/famine style of feeding? What is your schedule, and how often do you do it?

I've been trying to find information about feeding that way, but I can't find much... Is there another name for it?

I'm going to be fostering a pair of four week old lab mix puppies that were confiscated from a hoarding situation. I have all the usual supplies, but because of their age, I wanted to introduce them to raw within the next few weeks. My bottle-fed kittens put themselves on a raw diet at six weeks of age, when they would dive under my dog and eat from under her nose. Of course Parker, my pitbull mix, backed away to let them finish. :)

I work at a petstore and have access to most human-grade pet foods out there; pre-made raw, mixes and chubs, canned, dehydrated and freeze-dried diets, etc. My current dogs eat a homemade raw diet, with the occasional canned or freeze-dried meal (with enzymes) when I am too lazy to thaw my raw. I plan to mix grain-free canned chicken (such as Instinct, Weruva or Evo) with Wysong's Call Of The Wild. Should I be doing things differently?

I don't have the puppies yet, I will be picking them up on Monday. It's been years since I've had foster puppies so young, so I want to start them out right. :)

Question: What is the youngest you have successfully introduced your puppy to a raw diet? Chicken wings, necks, and marrow bones will be offered soon, but beyond that, I'm at a loss. :)

Thanks! Pictures to come. :)

I recently learned of the prey model diet and desperately want to try it. I'm moving to Texas and still need to live at home for two more years for my college courses. But i'm going to adopt a kitten (s) from the shelter. My problem is that everyone (EVERYONE) in my family is oposed to the prey model diet (or eating RAW in general). My sister says its "gross" and "disgusting". I told her it's way healthier than kibble. She said something like yeah right. And I told her that she doesn't know anything about pet food, where she retorted "i don't care about animals anyway." My dad, brother, and stepmom are too used to kibble to even give it a second thought either. So unfortunately i'll be forced to only feed high-quality kibble to my cats and if i get a dog, though i might actually be able to sneak in some raw food now and then (i do the majority of the cooking-my stepmom is LAZY). Like I could buy some premade (i oppose it, but won't have any other choice unfortunately) raw food thats in like pouches or canned (i've seen them around) and if i'm making chicken or other meat I could sneak one to my pets. I dunno how it's going to work out. Once i'm on my own of course I can do it wholly. 

So what do you guys think? Any suggestions?

How much do you guys fib to your vets about your dogs diet? Do they know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth or do you slip a little white lie in there occasionally?

For example, my vet is fine with the raw diet but he'd like me to feed (more*) carbs. Everytime I mention that I don't he nags at me that dogs need carbs. And so I've given up. I tell him that my dogs get potatoes, or brown rice or whatever with their meals.

They don't. But it keeps him happy and gets him off my back.

So how about you? Just how much does your vet know about your dogs' diet?

*I say "more" because my dogs do get the pick of my left-overs, which does include some carbs. But it's like a spoonful of mash once a week or something, not enough to make any difference!

My kitty (see icon) is happily enjoying the raw diet he's been on for the two years that I've had him. But one thing that's been on my mind that I keep forgetting to post here about is whether there are any natural hairball remedies for cats, like something that I can feed him on a daily or weekly basis to help the hair pass out of his system so that he doesn't keep vomiting it up all over the carpet.

He doesn't get hairballs that frequently--I'd say maybe once every few weeks. Still, it's not pleasant to be awakened at 5:30 in the morning to the sound of HORK HORK HORK BLEH and then subsequently not be able to find where he vomited up the hairball until I step in it. Ew.

We used to give our cats Petromalt when I was growing up but I'd rather give him something that isn't petroleum-based like butter (I don't even know if that would work, tbh) or something else that's natural.

Any ideas?

Hi all! This is Loki. He's 2 1/2 and best we can tell he's an Australian Shepherd/Lab/Beagle...I know, figure that one out.



Anyway, Loki is having trouble with his new raw diet. He really isn't very picky but he has always been a SUPER fast eater.

We feed him 1/2 to 1/3lb of ground meat (beef/pork/chicken/lamb) mixed with flax and apple cider vinegar, 1 to 1.5 lbs chicken with bones, and a small piece of beef kidney

He had diarrhea for the first few days but was otherwise fine. About four days ago he wolfed his food down and promptly vomited everything back up in huge, slimey chunks.

Three days ago I hand fed him the grinds and then fed him frozen chicken and kidney...everything was fine. Then for the past two days I've done the hand feeding and freezing thing and he has still vomited both days.

I don't know what to do. I doubt I'm feeding too much. Should I break the meals up into two? Any advice?

So if all goes well, I'll be starting my dog Bunny (and possibly Gus, we'll see what happens at the vet tomorrow) on raw this weekend... woohoo! I've been researching this off and on for more than a year, and I'm finally in a position to do it right, so off we go on a raw adventure. :) I do have a couple of questions:

I was going through the dogster forums for fun today, and I particularly liked the threads where they posted pictures and lists of what their dogs eat each day... So, rawdogs, what is your menu? I don't necessarily mean pictures (unless you want to), a list is fine, but what do you feed your dog weekly, or on a daily basis?

Also, are there any foods that you specifically don't recommend? Like bones that are known for causing trouble, etc.

Finally, any tips on getting cats to eat raw? Pilot (my cat) is a kibble addict, and the one time I tried feeding him raw meat he turned up his nose. He's a really picky eater; there's only one type of canned food he will eat besides fancy feast... basically he's a cat. :) Suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

I saw a few other cat owners posting here and the raw cat community seems kind of dead, so I hope it's alright for me to post with raw cat feeding questions!

First a little backstory: I have two lynx-point siamese mixes, Apollo and Athena. I think Apollo's about 9 months and Athena's about 6 months. From the moment I adopted Athena, she had bad gas and soft stools. She had multiple vet checkups, tested negative for parasites, and finally showed a little improvement in a grain-free diet, leading us to conclude that she can't digest grain very well. All of this prompted me to do a lot of reading on cat nutrition, and as such, I've slowly come to the conclusion that putting my cats on a raw diet would be best for their health. Even though eventually I want to feed the home made raw prey model diet, I tested them out on some premade raw (Primal) and saw dramatic improvement in Athena's stools by the second day on it.

I'm just at the veeery beginning stages and we're progressing slowly. Both cats seem willing to eat raw meat (they've eaten premade Primal, and some bits of chicken leg meat) but are still having trouble chewing raw chunks so I've been cutting it up into small pieces and mixing it in with their canned food. I haven't introduced bone or organ yet, as they've only had 2 days to get used to chewing on raw muscle meat so far. I figure it may still be a little while before they can handle bone.

That brings me to my primary question: There are a lot of great raw feeding transition guides out there, but none of them are super specific. At what point is it safe to remove the canned food from their diet? Should I wait until they can eat both organ and bone? I don't want to remove it too soon and leave them nutritionally lacking until they can eat all the important parts of a raw diet.

Two other questions:
1-Any tips on how to encourage them not to drag their food across the house? Apollo likes to play with his chicken and carry it around and bat at it, and my boyfriend does not approve. If all else fails, I guess I could try confining him to the bathroom while he eats, and just washing the floor after?

2-Sorry if this seems like a silly question, but I'm a vegetarian so I really don't know much about preparing meat. What's the best way to cut it? I was surprised by how tough raw chicken meat is! I had a lot of trouble cutting it up. And what kind of cutting board would be best? I assume using the same wooden cutting board we use to prepare our food would be unwise since bacteria could get trapped in the wood. So far I've been using a ceramic plate, but I imagine there's a better solution?

Thanks!

When you give recreational bones, how long do you let the dogs keep them?

I got a couple of huge beef bones on Wednesday, and the 4 dogs have been working on them in the backyard since then. The meat/gristle is all gone, but they are still chewing them. I know dogs handle bacteria a lot better than we do, but I wondered if there is any accepted wisdom about days to keep a bone. It's about 35 degrees here, if that matters.

And here's an older picture of Bunny with a somewhat similar bone (you can only see the end because she has her chest on it):

The ones they have now are about twice as big as this one and are uncut; it's really funny watching Bunny carry it around. :)

Sometimes I love the people I know!

There's a customer who comes in the pub I used to work at who works as a gamekeeper. I asked him a few months ago whether he could shoot me rabbits. He said he'd give me any badly shot ones but not to expect many as he tends not to shoot if he doesn't have a clear shot.

I got a phone call from him today. Would I like a deer for the dogs?

Umm, yes!

He says he thinks it died because of the bad weather we've been having but he can't eat it because it wasn't gutted straight away. However it'll be just fine for the dogs and he'll butcher it and package it up for me.

Now I just need to find room in my freezer for a deer...