Raw & Grain free...

[beken]

Two questions:
My girl get's two raw patties in the evening & right now is eating innova kibble in the morning, I want to put her on Orijen instead but I'm worried that it may be too much protein for her. Plus, she's about five pounds under weight. Is it okay if she gets grain-free kibble & the raw?

Also, I'm very curious as to how to go about preparing my own raw meals for her. I'm very worried about bones because I've caught her trying to swallow them whole before & had to actually remove them from her throat. She's only had beef raw & I need to switch her up. Not sure where to begin, I hear so many different things.

Thank you kindly.

 

[leslieann]

My Edie gets just raw. We mix it up, chicken, turkey, pork, venison, and beef. I do grind all the meat together because I have to trim off all fat because she has pancreatitis. As for bones, see if you can get large bones, like femurs or the really large soup bones that she won't be able to swallow. Edie chews on the larger bones and it takes her a while to get the bone small enough to even chance swallowing it. If you give the larger bones, you can easily keep an eye on them as they take awhile to get small.

 

[LILYLARUE]

Large femurs and cut soup bones aren't suggested for rawfeeding cause they are too hard. Rawfeeders call them wreckingbones. They are they culprit of broken or cracked teeth and are too big if swallowed whole.

Rib bones with the meat are an excellent choice along with chicken, turkey bones. Any large weight bearing bones (leg bones) are very dangerous for teeth along with any cut bones from a butcher's saw.

Try a bone-in chicken breast or leg and thigh for variety.

And of course ~ never any cooked bones ~ at all ~ never!

 

[leslieann]

I never heard that about the large bones. When ever I feed Edie the smaller, soft bones, from poultry, ribs, etc. I awake the next morning to a pile of vomit with lots of chunks of bone in it. Her top and bottom teeth in the front are actually nubs since we got her, not sure what happened in her previous life, but she enjoys the large bones. I was surprised she would chew on a bone because she only plays with stuffed animals, never any plastic or hard toys. With the larger bones, she really only chews the good stuff off of it and maybe a small amount of the bone, it does keep her occupied for a while. I do keep an eye on her when ever she has a bone so I'm pretty sure what ever teeth she has left will be OK.

 

[beken]

Thanks...

I appreciate the information, we gave her first chicken quarter about an hour ago we'll see how she does in the next 24 hrs. I think she got a little discouraged from the work so we had to help her out & break it up a bit. Couldn't tell how well she chewed the bones but I'm sure we'll find out sooner or later!

 

[LILYLARUE]

Dogs don't really "chew" the food, they chomp it up to swallow size peices. Also, don't be alarmed if there are bone fragments in the poop. Nothing to worry about. The more raw you feed, the more the digestive ensymes will accommodate the new food.

Also, you may cut the chunk of meat, breast, thigh, etc., in half to get them started. Also to ribbon the meat, cut slices into it, will help them grab it better. With my staffy, I give her big boneless chunks til she has it gnawed to mush, then i cut it into smaller pieces. She always chokes on it cause she tries to swallow it whole. The mix won't just pick up a bone-in breast without me slicing into the meat first. He's an extremely dainty eater. The boxer started off with just the leg and thigh seperately and then moved to the whole quarter just fine. Chomping away and swallowing in seconds.

They all eat differently. You just have to watch to see how you can help. But don't make it too easy for them to chomp and swallow. That will just defeat the purpose of the benefits of large raw peices. They need that rip-n-tear, shreading the chunk, to get the teeth cleaning benefits.

Was it pretty cool watching her eat? It's been 9 mos now that we are on raw and I still have to watch in amazement. Now that the weather is nicer, I can give them even larger chunks, like a rack of ribs or a whole beef thigh outside without the mess. Nothing like sitting back with some lemonade watching them eat their whole prey. I can't get enough of it! Its just so cool!!!

 

[beken]

Lilyarue...

It was pretty amazing to watch her, my boyfriend insisted I make sure he was home when she ate. I'm glad he's supportive hopefully he'll stay that way once he's seen the bank statment, . She is a prissy girl though so I definitely have to make sure we don't help her too much. I can't wait til we give her ribs, I know she'll LOVE that! Fish too, she's had sardines but I want to go to the market & get her an entire fish & let her have at it one day.

She's did well after her chicken yesterday, I woke up at 5 a.m. to check her crate for vomit & nothing. I checked her stools & they were fine, nice & solid. I think it'll be a good transition for her since she's been getting raw patties all her life.

A whole beef thigh? Wow, where do you get these things?

I need to find better resources. I've only bought from Whole Foods so far because I trust the meat but, I will be getting a delivery on Saturday from Taylor Pond Farms. Just need to find local resources that I can get myself.

 

[StellaBee]

Rawfeeders call them wreckingbones.

Agreed - the ribs are much better recreational bones.