Feeding Raw

[HappyPuppy]

Oops - just missed the edit time window... Forgot to add that Ruby's 4 canines are flat as pancakes from bones so I no longer give many marrow bones or similarly hard things -- but last time our vet checked, she confirmed a little staining but basically no tartar buildup!

[lilangel]

PRESSURE COOKING!

So... one of our older dogs was in the hospital for 2 whole days with all kinds of tubes and wires sticking out of her and we were so happy to have her home we decided to help her recuperate with some nice cooked chicken! Ok, I know this has nothing to do with raw, but it's awesome so here goes.

I went out to the kitchen supply store and got a $89.99 Pressure Cooker. It holds a few quarts, (2 medium chickens or 1 5-6lb chicken with extra space approx,) I also picked up 2 chickens with innards and some rice. I got home, opened and rinsed the cooker parts, sorta read the instructions and then dumped in both whole chickens, a cup of rice. I filled the pot with water until the chicken was mostly covered, sealed the lid and set the thing to cook on high pressure for 99 minutes. Then I reset it while it was still pressurized and let it cook for another 30 minutes for good measure.

When it was done, I waited for it to cool and then went in with my hands and felt around the soup. The bones were all there but when I squeezed them they smooshed up like playdough. Pretty cool. The long leg bones I had to crush up with my fingers as they break like egg shells but all the other bones just squish up. I buy a chicken every few days for the old girl, pressure cook when I get home from work and it's waiting for me when I'm up and ready to make meals. The cooker even keeps the food piping hot for you if you can't get to it for a while.

Old girl loves her new lovingly hand shredded and smooshy bone chicken food and I use the brothy stuff as gravy for all the other dogs since there is always lots of it. Instead of rice, I add veggies now.

Everyone is super happy about the electric pressure cooker, including wifey, since we can now cook dry beans in 20 minutes, chili in 40 minutes from scratch! as opposed to like 3 days simmering on the stove and having them still be not cooked thoroughly

[AbbyGirl352]

I saw raw egg mentioned a few times, but what are the benefits of it? I'm still feeding kibble (Evo), and am very happy with it at the moment, but I would like to start adding small things into his diet.

[lilangel]

I saw raw egg mentioned a few times, but what are the benefits of it? I'm still feeding kibble (Evo), and am very happy with it at the moment, but I would like to start adding small things into his diet.

cooked whites are better than raw whites, but raw yolk is better than cooked yolk.

in an "eggshell"
http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com/Egg_Yolk.html

[leila.quinn.82]

We started prey model raw recently and luigi and I are loving it so far (my husband is still... adjusting, to chicken quarters on his nice hardwood floor that he personally just refinished) i did an insane amount of research and ultimately prey model just made the most sense to me. luigi isn't getting and veggies consistantly, but I eat TONS of them and he still gets some scraps from me while I cook. so far the only issue is his pickiness and complete rejection of anything organ-like.

[HappyPuppy]

^ you could try lightly sauteeing the organ pieces (make them small initially) or squirting them with salmon oil. I'm lucky the only thing Ruby won't eat is a whole pigs head LOL. I can live without those, I guess.....

[Ilovethepits]

Question about a veggie mash.
I make beet/carrot/apple juice and have the "pulp" left over...is that something the dogs could eat lightly cooked or raw?

Thanks!

[HappyPuppy]

Ah - I sold my juicer........ Thought about keeping it to make veggies for the dog but lost interest in that level of detail/committment. I've heard of people feeding that pulp - it's just prolly not quite as nutritious as if fully loaded with all of the 'juice'. Try feed ing some and see if it digests (doesn't come out the other end like the carrot treats I give Ruby do). It's kind of sugary/starchy for everyday imho. Might even be yummy stuffed into a kong. I'd be curious if others suggest light cooking of it. I feed Ruby leftover soup stock veggies, too, if I can pick out most of hte onion.

[haircrazie016]

ok what did I do wrong?

We fed the dogs their kibble 12 hours before giving them a raw meal. We gave each dog a whole chicken cut into 4 pieces , no organ meats, but all the bone, and skin. I didnt add any supplements or anything but now all of them have explosive poops for the past two days.

Did I just give them too much?

[Adrianne]

You gave your dogs a whole chicken, each? That's a lot of food... When introducing raw I tend to move slowly, small pieces, spaced out, then build up.

[haircrazie016]

You gave your dogs a whole chicken, each? That's a lot of food... When introducing raw I tend to move slowly, small pieces, spaced out, then build up.

yeah. from peoples pictures and posts I thought thats what people were doing.

if you start out only giving them a half? a quarter? what else do you give them so they arent hungry/eating too little??

[haircrazie016]

You gave your dogs a whole chicken, each? That's a lot of food... When introducing raw I tend to move slowly, small pieces, spaced out, then build up.

yeah. from peoples pictures and posts I thought thats what people were doing.

if you start out only giving them a half? a quarter? what else do you give them so they arent hungry/eating too little??

oh I am retarded, apparently when I read whole chicken quarter, I dont comprehend the quarter part. doh.

[Adrianne]

You may also want to try feeding it in 3 meals a day, use some fruit, veggies, and work to eat methods to make it seem like more food to the dog.

I do chicken leg quarters as one per meal for the malinois but the pit bulls only get 2 chicken backs (in relation) because they would get fat with more food.

I feed two meals a day and when trying to fatten one of the anorexic malinois up I feed 3 meals sometimes.

[HappyPuppy]

You gave your dogs a whole chicken, each? That's a lot of food... When introducing raw I tend to move slowly, small pieces, spaced out, then build up.

yeah. from peoples pictures and posts I thought thats what people were doing.

if you start out only giving them a half? a quarter? what else do you give them so they arent hungry/eating too little??

You generally want 1.5-2% of their body weight for total to feed per day then divide that up per nymber of daily meals.
(Ruby should get about a pound of raw per day - so approx 8 oz of it for dinner)

ETA people feeding a 'whole chunk' have built up over time (months/years) and the dogs are used to the diff meats and volumes and they prolly fast the next day after a gorging - I tried that with the pig head and Ruby wouldn't eat it so no prey model for us - I'm happy enough with parts...

[xKayleighx]

You gave your dogs a whole chicken, each? That's a lot of food... When introducing raw I tend to move slowly, small pieces, spaced out, then build up.

yeah. from peoples pictures and posts I thought thats what people were doing.

if you start out only giving them a half? a quarter? what else do you give them so they arent hungry/eating too little??

You generally want 1.5-2% of their body weight for total to feed per day then divide that up per nymber of daily meals.
(Ruby should get about a pound of raw per day - so approx 8 oz of it for dinner)

ETA people feeding a 'whole chunk' have built up over time (months/years) and the dogs are used to the diff meats and volumes and they prolly fast the next day after a gorging - I tried that with the pig head and Ruby wouldn't eat it so no prey model for us - I'm happy enough with parts...

I have used this calculator before. It's based off a 2.5% ratio though...
http://www.primalpetfoods.com/education/calc

Bruce loves turkey necks and pretty much anything raw I've given him. We just supplement with turkey necks here and there though. I would love to do raw but we live in a 500sqft apartment with an iddy biddy little fridge/freezer. It'd be pretty difficult right now.