I visited Scallan's Choice Meats on Airline highway, which sells wholesale and in bulk, including beef bones you can't buy in the supermarket any more. It was an interesting place. They bring you out a huge bone, saw it into pieces of any size you choose, and sell it for very .49 cents/lb.
For $14.98, I got a 10# bag of huge fresh turkey necks @ .89 cents/lb, cut into about 4" long pieces, 4 pigs feet cut in half lenthwise (just to try out), and 5# of beef bones (8 chunks in assorted sizes). I brought them home, laid them out on a cookie sheets to freeze, and tomorrow I'll bag them up and start passing them out for supper a few times a week. I fear my dogs will have to eat in separate rooms not to fight over the bones. They get served frozen to slow down the dog from gobbling the meat, and they all chew at different rates. They have to chew and chew and chew, and they don't seem to mind the cold.
I'll still feed the kibble, table scraps, pan drippings, leftover salad, potato skins, rice, grits, apple cores, cabbage stems and other things my dogs love. And I'll watch their weight, as usual. I'm told at first they might get diarrhea if too much raw meat is introduced too quickly, so I'm easing into it. Eventually, the formula is 2-3% of their body weight per day in raw meat.
Lucky @ 48# = 1.5 lbs
FoohFooh @ 40# = 1.2 lbs
Willow @ 8# = .25 lbs
Maxie @ 7# = .21 lbs
I'll probably round that out to 1.5 lbs, 1 lb., and .25 lbs.
The raw diet is supposed to make their coats shiny and beautiful, keep their teeth clean and white, their joints in peak condition, and muscles solid and supple. We'll see how it goes.
Upwards and onward!
1 comment:
I wanted to comment on your raw feeding and I understand you are just starting out and still using kibble. The meats you described are not appropriate for an all raw diet. They are very bone heavy. Try to think meat; big chunks of meat! It's 80% meat; 10% bone; and 10% organ (5% liver & 5% other organ). It is advised to start with one meat source preferably bone in chicken for approx 2 weeks and then slowly add a new meat source slowly. Then when used to that one slowly add a new one. Each dog is different and bone ratio may need to be adjusted per dog. I switched my dogs cold turkey and they only had a few isues and they were my fault not the diets. Most diarreha is caused by too much too fast, overfeeding & too much organ. The organ is a very tiny amount and some dogs are more sensitive to it than others. Glad to hear you are getting more into it. As you move along I believe you will notice things in your dogs for the better.
Post a Comment