Raw help please :)

littlemisslauren

littlemisslauren

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I might have just ventured into the dark side :o

I had a moment of madness in Sainsburys and bought chicken drumsticks yesterday after reading on here how lots of dogs enjoy them as a treat.

Her last feed was at 7.30 am and it was wet JWB pouch (no kibble) and her next feed will not be untill midday tomorrow (I get a lie in... so does she!)

I may have just given her a drumstick!!

Sorry for the ridiculous post, but can someone just reassure me that I have not just poisoned my dog?? I can barely touch raw meat myself and I just fed it to my puppy!!

She is seriously enjoying it though! Is the bone ok for her to eat? (I know, I'm a numpty!)

As long as she reacts well to this one, will she be ok to have them once or twice a week as a bit of a treat? Or should it be a more regular thing? How many drumsticks should make a 'meal' for a tiddly Border Terrier??

I am such a nervous wreck.... I will be unbearable when I eventually have human sprogs.
 
she will be fine the chicken doesnt do any harm raw. do be careful of chicken bones tho as they can splinter and choke them but it shouldnt happen and has never happened with my dog who gets chicken quite often.
 
Phew thank you... the bones were munched pretty quickly! No signs of choking or any nasties. Took her a while to work out what to do with it though! :D

I need to get her weighed again so I can work everything out then.

I must admit, as someone who had never even contemplated feeding raw untill today, it was lovely watching her munch away on the drumstick rather than just stick her head in a bowl of kibble :)
 
Well done for taking the plunge especially as you yourself don't like handling the meat. It is lovely to see them enjoying their meals outside of a bowl isn't it! Trouble is we and most vets have been brainwashed into thinking that the feed companies know what's best for our dogs and the myth re bones continues!

You are actually more likely to poison your dog feeding the kibble and convenience food! Yes that has happened when a certain feed company used contaminated rice from China!

If you do decide to feed raw occasionally just keep it clear of the other food like you have done. You can feed a variety according to what's on the reduced section and on offer, but chicken is a really good base for raw or if you must to supplement, it has all the amino acids that a dog needs in it's diet from the meat and the bones contain a variety of other nutrients and are relatively soft especially the super market birds.

Raw bones are very different from cooked, when they are cooked bones become like concrete and splinter into very nasty sharp hard objects that are very difficult to digest, raw they are crunchy but flexible and easily and quickly digested by dogs.

If you do decide to take the complete plunge then all you need to do is feed a variety of raw meaty bones, offal, fish (you can used tinned pilchards in tomato sauce), eggs and a bit of liquidised veg. This will balance out over a more natural week or two and your dog will have a balanced natural diet of human quality food with no additives, artificial preservatives, flavourings, or colourants and of course it will be grain free and not cooked to death.

If you do go over to mainly or completely raw then chatting up the local butcher will bring your costs down.
 
I think OH and I are going to work out what we can regularly afford for her and how much freezer space we would need!

Thanks for all the advice :) OH said she did a very nice poop this morning so I'm off to scour the garden to find it! (Her morning poops have been particularly orange recently :o ! )

I am determined to feed her the best that I can, we are moving soon and may have extra freezer space there!

On the subject of fish...l what can and cant she have? My dad and my neighbour both fish regularly (We never need to buy salmon ;) ) Are there any bits of say a salmon that she can eat? or is it too boney?
 
littlemisslauren said:
On the subject of fish...l what can and cant she have? My dad and my neighbour both fish regularly (We never need to buy salmon ;) ) Are there any bits of say a salmon that she can eat? or is it too boney?
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My old collie crosses loved fish and I used to buy salmon heads for them and get scraps of fish from the fishmonger. Heads are brilliant if they will eat them as the eyes and brain are rich in nutrients. My two Australian blokes however are not too keen on fish, evidently they don't have too many fish in the outback! So I do sneak raw fish in with their pilchards in tomato sauce now and again. But basically if she'll eat it fish bits are very good! The bones are fine again providing you don't cook em!


Good luck with the Butcher. Mine have their own Freezer a little chest Freezer that lives in the porch, it cost about £30 but it saves me a fortune as from the butcher the bulk of my diet is about £10 per month for 2.
 
Find a chicken processing factory, I can get 10 kilos of chook carcases for £5.00. One carcase and a couple of bonios will feed a 55lb dog for the day...SO cheap!
 
We are seriously considering changing our dogs over to raw food, can anyone give me an idea of a good place to start please? Someone told me Landywoods(?) is good for buying meat from and they do a meat/veg mix too.
I have to admit it is the veg bit that worries me, knowing they are getting what they need, how to feed etc.
Any tips/advice gratefully received!
 
Dizzykizzy said:
We are seriously considering changing our dogs over to raw food, can anyone give me an idea of a good place to start please? Someone told me Landywoods(?) is good for buying meat from and they do a meat/veg mix too.
I have to admit it is the veg bit that worries me, knowing they are getting what they need, how to feed etc.
Any tips/advice gratefully received!
Click to expand...

They don't need veg. I always tell newbies to start with supermarket chicken.
 
Dizzykizzy said:
We are seriously considering changing our dogs over to raw food, can anyone give me an idea of a good place to start please? Someone told me Landywoods(?) is good for buying meat from and they do a meat/veg mix too.
I have to admit it is the veg bit that worries me, knowing they are getting what they need, how to feed etc.
Any tips/advice gratefully received!
Click to expand...

To take full advantage of the cheapest and best food for the basis of the diet (chicken carcasses) you need either a chicken factory or a friendly proper butcher that bones out his own meat along with a small chest freezer. I get 2 black bin liners of carcasses, three big bags of wings, 6 breast of lamb cuts and lamb bones for about £10 and they last over a month for 2 dogs around 22kg.

What is crucial is the bone content, it is their roughage and contains vital nutrients that muscle meat alone does not. All my food bar tripe is human grade meat and bone it is the safest way to feed raw as there are less nastys than in pet food mixes.

The ideal for maintaining weight is the ratio of meat to bone you find on a chicken carcass or chicken wings, the supermarket ones are the cheap chooks that are killed at about 10 weeks old so have much softer bones than the more mature expensive free range chicken from the butcher so they are good for puppies and dogs starting out.

Chicken is the best source of nutrients of all the meats but variety is the spice of life and I feed lamb, fish (pilchards in tomato sauce), eggs and veg, with offal and occasional pork and beef and game as I have a friendly game butcher next door. My dogs need veg and if they don't get it they eat horse poo ! I only feed a few tablespoons full of veg liquidised I blitz it with cold pressed fish oil and a couple of eggs (free range), I use leftover veg and things like spinach and carrots and they only get that with a soft meal once a week. I aim to feed all my ingredients over a two week period to balance the diet more naturally.

A place to start you off would be http://www.naturalinstinct.com/ they do packs posted so you could start there then source your own when you feel more confident. Their liver treats are great, my two don't like raw liver, I have to brown it but they love the dried treats from Natural Instinct.

Hope that helps
 
Betsy is about to haver her second ever bit of raw :)
We have decided to give her raw every 2 or 3 days for a little while and see how she is, then once we move somewhere bigger we can think about getting a doggy freezer and move her onto it full time!
 
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