Question about Variety

[Albie]

Now that I am feeding two dogs a raw diet, I decided to place a bulk order for food. I just received 50 pounds of ground chicken backs and necks (which also contains some offal). I usually feed Lacy a different protein source at every meal (rotating between chicken, turkey, beef and cornish game hen). However, if I order in bulk, I am only going to have one protein available at a time. Would you get the same desired effect of variety over time if you fed 50 pounds of chicken until it was gone, and then ordered say 50 pounds of turkey or beef and fed that. I plan on adding a few tablespoons of veggies to their meals. However, I don't ever feed plain meat meals anymore. Would Belle (12 weeks old) need a plain meat meal, or is the ground meat (with bone) fine for her?

 

[gmacleod]

How long does 50lb last? That's something like 15 days since you're feeding two?

If so, I see no problem with that at all from a nturitional perspective. Variety really does mean variety over time - each meal, or each week doesn't have to be balanced. Plus, since it is a mix of meat, bone and offal - and you're throwing in a little vege mush - I would personally think that was just fine

As for Belle's needs - they're no different at all from an older dogs, she just needs proportionately more food (not different food). Obviously, she would have a little difficulty with big unground bones, but that's not at issue here if you're talking about a ground mix. It is also better for her to have the ground meat/bone mix than plain meat

 

[Jan]

My understanding was that you shouldn't feed the same meat source for more than 3 meals in a row. I'm not sure what that is based on, but that is what I do. My dogs always get chicken for breakfast and something different for Supper.

 

[Albie]

Yes - I figure 50 pounds of food will last approx. 15 days. Lacy eats about 2 pounds per day, and while I am still trying to figure out the perfect amount to feed the puppy, 1.5 pounds per day seems to be good for her right now. When it was just Lacy, I would feed chicken in the AM and something different in the PM. However, I have been out of whole backs and necks for a while now, and I am reluctant to feed whole bones to the puppy. If I place a bulk order for the ground meat/bone, it costs about $1.73 per pound compared to $2.35 per pound for a non-bulk order. To me this is a considerable savings, although I think I may need to consider feeding whole bones to the puppy to realize any significant cost savings.

 

[gmacleod]

Well, a puppy should be fine with small whole bones such as chicken necks. Or you could do what I did for Henri when he was a baby pup - chop the necks in two for a couple of weeks or until she's big enough to cope with them whole.

If you were to take the bulk order, would you still have enough room for a smaller amount of something else? Then you could feed predominantly the bulk order mix for a couple of weeks, but substitute a meal every couple of days with something else. Then next time, you get a different meat in the bulk order... Seems to me that that is a way in which you can still get most of the advantage of the bulk buying, but keep a little variety on a regular basis.

LOL - either that or buy a second freezer and bulk-order two things at once

 

[Muttluvr]

If I place a bulk order for the ground meat/bone, it costs about $1.73 per pound compared to $2.35 per pound for a non-bulk order. To me this is a considerable savings, although I think I may need to consider feeding whole bones to the puppy to realize any significant cost savings.

How much do you pay for unground backs? $1.73/lb is EXPENSIVE! I pay about 0.35/lb for unground and 0.55/lb for ground backs, in 40lb packages.

You can also get a grinder and grind the backs on your own, which is a bit of a pain, but is worth it if grinding costs a bunch more.

I also agree with gmacleod that instead of feeding chicken backs alone for 2 weeks, it would be better to intersperse it with some different meals.

 

[Albie]

It sure is pretty expensive, but I haven't been able to find ground backs any cheaper in my area (Washington, D.C. suburbs). Where can you get ground backs for $0.55/pound? I used to buy cases of chicken necks for 0.55/pound, but the place I bought them from is only open on Mon.-Fri. from 9-5 and I have been unable to get there during the week. I did buy chicken backs once from my local Safeway for 0.69/pound. However, I was too afraid to feed them whole, and I could not figure out a good method for cutting them up. At first I used a big knife and ended up with a big bruise in the middle of my palm, then I switched to a cleaver which was much better, but made a huge mess. I bought a meat grinder one time on E-bay and it was a total waste of money. I couldn't even begin to get it to grind bones. Does anyone know of a good meat grinder that will grind up chicken and turkey bones? Maybe I should consider buying one -- especially with two hungry dogs to feed.

 

[entelekia]

Hey Muttluvr!

Could you pm me the info on where you get your meat from? and if you get any other type of meat besides chicken?
I put Laika back on kibble when we moved to the bay area, because I couldn't find any sources that weren't ULTRA expensive.

Thanks a lot!!!

 

[BooBoo & Riley]

We buy chicken backs in 100# bulk... which will last both of our dogs for the whole month...

But every week I throw in 1-2 meals of fish, offal, veggie, or just another ground meat to give them variety. But the bulk of their meals is the chicken backs that have neck, skin, offal, bones and cartilage all in one package.

 

[Muttluvr]

Where can you get ground backs for $0.55/pound? I used to buy cases of chicken necks for 0.55/pound, but the place I bought them from is only open on Mon.-Fri. from 9-5 and I have been unable to get there during the week.

I get them from my local butcher. Have you tried calling around to butchers in your area that are open longer hours?

I bought a meat grinder one time on E-bay and it was a total waste of money. I couldn't even begin to get it to grind bones. Does anyone know of a good meat grinder that will grind up chicken and turkey bones? Maybe I should consider buying one -- especially with two hungry dogs to feed.

I got my meat grinder off of ebay as well. It's a VillaWare like this one

http://www.kitchenemporium.com/cgi-bin/kitchen/prod/18vw5265.html

It grids up the back fine, but I do have to cut them in half before I can stick them in the chute. It goes through necks really easily.