The right portion

[Polo Player]

It's been two months since I have Polo. Today, he has turned 1 year I have been feeding him this amazing raw food made with horse meat (contains offal, crushed bones, some veggies and very little of cooked grains). However, feeding only this is a) pricy & b) not really a variety. So, I have found a place where I can get chicken (bone in) & turkey (bone in) at better price. However, I know for a fact that giving them actual meat on the bones makes their teeth nice and white, so I've bough all bunch of chicken necks/backs & drum stick. My problem so far has been determining the right amount of food to give!! I've been logging his weight every few days since I got him and started experimenting. He started at 61lb and slowly went down to 57lb (scary!) and was 59.2lb few days ago. Looking at him now, he has probably lost some more weight, perhaps is at 58lb. I'm not sure how much chicken to give him.
I've also added some veggies with offal, but I find that it makes his poo runny:-( I think I'll stick to the veggies that are in horse blend and forget about adding it to chicken. Any suggestions on the portions of chicken backs/necks & quarters/day for a 60lb boxer? I found that he looked his best at 59-60 lb.
p.s. I’ve done quite of bit research on BARF diet and got an impression that pork is not so valuable in nutrition for them. Actually chicken and pork have the least nutritional values for dogs. What do you guys think about pork?

 

[Polo Player]

i had never heard of pork and chicken as being the least beneficial

Before i got Polo, I've started doing a lot of research about BARF, vaccines, training, etc. I've purchased an amazing e-book by Mogens Eliasen : "Raw food for dogs: The ultimate Reference for dog owners". According to him, chicken and pork have the lowest nutritional value when compared to green tripe (being the best source of overall nutrition and hard to find here!!!) and some other meats. That does not mean that it's no good! We just have to bare in mind that we have to feed a variety of meats and no single source has all the required nutrients. If my mom read this, she would yell out that it's time for me to have a baby and stop fussing so much about Polo...whatever

Anyway, I have been feeding him aprox. 2lb. I'm not sure it's enough when talking about chicken backs/necks...

 

[gmacleod]

It may not be enough when it's chicken backs/necks only. Those are a perfectly good thing to include as part of a diet, but they're not very meaty on their own - so are probably better fed along with, or alternated with, more meaty parts.

 

[Polo Player]

That though just occured to me. 2lb of chicken back/necks, does not have that mutch meat. It's fat and bone for the most part...oh Branka...

Thanks for pointing that out! Would it be o.k. to feed 2 lb chicken back/necks one day and that hight protein meat the next, or it really has to be fed along with something meaty?

 

[gmacleod]

It should be fine fed on it's own if the next meal is going to compensate. OK, there may be the occassional dog that that doesn't work well for. But the majority will do just fine. Just as with variety, not every meal needs to be balanced or to have the same meat/bone/offal proportions As long as the overall diet has a reasonable amount of meat in it, there's absolutely nothing wrong with some meals being more or less meaty than others.

 

[Polo Player]

It should be fine fed on it's own if the next meal is going to compensate. OK, there may be the occassional dog that that doesn't work well for. But the majority will do just fine. Just as with variety, not every meal needs to be balanced or to have the same meat/bone/offal proportions As long as the overall diet has a reasonable amount of meat in it, there's absolutely nothing wrong with some meals being more or less meaty than others.

Thanks from Polo & Branka

 

[totallyhip]

When I feed Chicken backs/necks I usually throw in a chicken leg too or some breast meat. Happy birthday Polo!

 

[Polo Player]

I've fed backs with horse meat and it's better this way. The stool is back to normal. Now that I think about it, it might have been a bug or something. Thanks for all the advice!
p.s. I prefer to feed him the quarters though as they are more meaty.