RAW went Wrong?!

[daisykaye]

Tonight the girls had 1 brea piece, and Roxy had a neck and Payton had some gizzards and the heart. is that enough?

My dogs each get 11 to 12 necks a one meal. If you are not sure in the beginning weigh it out. I feed my dogs 2 to 2 1/2 lbs of food a day.

I was starting them on just chicken but when she wouldn't eat it I freaked!
Should I give them the hearts and gizzards? What about the pork? I already chunked it all out.

I personally think heart and gizzards are OK to give with the necks, liver would be a different story. You can put the pork in the freezer for a couple of weeks.

Sometimes I think I got the pickiest eater of all dogs with Brody. He could not eat any kind of kibble without breaking out in hives. We were pretty well force to go to raw. When we first started raw, he would only eat his chicken if it was sprinkled with apple cider vinegar. He would lick that off and eventually eat his chicken. Now he eats happily everything we give him except raw liver and veggies.

 

[daisykaye]

Wow! Hats off to you! How mucy do you charge?? hehe !

I get to do this once a year. It is the only time I can buy a lamb around here in my area. But it is hard work because I really don't have the equipment to cut the bones.

My husband's uncle actually kills the lambs, skins, guts them and then cuts up the major bones. I tried to utilizes as much as I can. I dried the lung, liver and heart in my new dehydrator Woohoo!!(The pups loved the dried lung). Chopped up the stomach for tripe, that was the most disgusting smell ever. I even kept the heads. The pups chewed on those while I package the meat up.

I got both lambs for $210 and they packaged up about 160 lbs of meat and bones. That average out to about $1.30 a lb. I quite happy about that, because lamb sell about $6.00 a pound around here. And my pups love lamb.

 

[Roxy'sNewMom]

OK...my DH had some stuff wrong....

I fed them both 1 breast and then Roxy had a neck and Payton had the gizzards. How do you weigh it out? Guess I will have to get a scale too!

Shaunna

 

[Roxy'sNewMom]

It should be about 2-3% of body weight.

When I did this on the calculator someone sent me....it was about 1 lb for both? Is that right? I would guess that 1 lb is not that much.
Shaunna

 

[agilityboxer]

My Austin eats over 5% of his body weight. It really just depends on the dog and their activity level. Kendall my fat girl only gets about 1.25% of her body weight (plus extra filler veggies).

 

[sgbtab]

how much do they weigh? and it is suppose to be 2-3% of there ideal weight. samson is 64lbs and he eats around 2-2 1/2 lbs a day.
mattie is real small for a boxer ( I really think she is mixed) her weight is 37 lbs her food is 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 a lab a day. stormee who is a pappillion gets 12 ozs a day.
also you really have to see how they do. some times they will need more if they are looking thinner and also they might need less. just like us when we gain weight. you will get use to it and trust your judgement.

 

[ColtsCrazy]

I want to thank everyone for being so kind while we are figuring this all out. We are sorry for being pains (esp. my wife!). Payton is about 45 lbs now @ 7 mnths old, Roxy wieghs 50 or so lbs. This is all so new and very intimidating.

 

[sgbtab]

thats why we are here. I still have alot of questions after a year. and of course I still make mistakes. just last week I tried a dog kibble to see if it would be easier. well that was a mistake just look at my thread called sticking with raw. I want to help as much as I can and at the same time I keep learning new things.

 

[Anna Begins]

OK...my DH had some stuff wrong....
I fed them both 1 breast and then Roxy had a neck and Payton had the gizzards. How do you weigh it out? Guess I will have to get a scale too!

I do have a small, cheap Target scale, but what I try and do, is when I buy a package, I try and get a package with an even amount of weight, if that makes sense. So, if you need to feed 2lbs a day, I'd try and get a package of 3 breasts that weights to 3lbs or close. Then you can just eye ball it. If the package is 2.75 or simular, the smallest breast I'd add extra to. I don't think I explained that well, LOL, but you probably know what I mean. I don't buy a package of breasts/ thighs etc that is some wierd weight, like 2.15 or 2.35

The scale helped me to eye ball tho. I hardly ever weight stuff now.

I want to thank everyone for being so kind while we are figuring this all out. We are sorry for being pains (esp. my wife!). Payton is about 45 lbs now @ 7 mnths old, Roxy wieghs 50 or so lbs. This is all so new and very intimidating.

Been there! I asked a million questions when learning. We all understand- that's why we answer In a few weeks, you'll wonder why the heck it was all so complecated.
2.5% of 45 = 1.12 (so figure just over a pound)
2.5% of 50 = 1.25 (and figure a tad more than Payton)
So, if you feed somewhere in that range, should be ok.

 

[agilityboxer]

I want to thank everyone for being so kind while we are figuring this all out. We are sorry for being pains (esp. my wife!). Payton is about 45 lbs now @ 7 mnths old, Roxy wieghs 50 or so lbs. This is all so new and very intimidating.

Remember the 2%-3% rule is really for adults. If you have one that is not doen growing then you should base the % off their estimated final weight. Also I think you can do 5% ish for growing dogs----I think someone should jump in if I am wrong!

We all had questions-heck still have questions so please ask away! As for the scale I bought one a month or so before I started feeding raw for my own diet and I love having it for the dogs. I don’t measure out every meal but most. It really reassured me when I was slowly dropping Kendalls food down from the recommended 22 oz daily down to 14oz (her poor food bowl always looks so empty with only 7 oz in it)to get her to stop gaining weight. She still hasn’t lost the 5 lbs she put on initially but I hate feeding her so little