Raw Food Diet for Rambo is going GREAT

[Danielle Cope]

Just as the title says, its going great! Darn dog eats better than I do though haha
He just has one tiny problem, his front teeth suck with tearing haha poor baby has a hard time with skin and fats.

Today he had a 3 pound turkey leg! thing was massive, and i think he got full and tired of chewing, it was his breakfast and dinner haha
The one thing I really dont like about feeding turkey legs and such, is the bone. The turkey bone splinters so badly and Rambo doesnt seem to chew and break down the bone since his mouth is so big he just gulps it lol So I dont think he'll be getting turkey anymore, for that factor.

Other than that, his coat is amazing and his poop is the best its ever been! its great only having to clean up so little!!!!
Today he got a bath and you can tell so much what feeding raw has done to help with him. his coat has always been soft, but my goodness its like a baby right now haha

He sends out his love to all his secret girlfriends out there! :D

 

[karenben]

well done ,mine wont touch turkey !!!,but then shes off all white meat at the moment,i think there is just too much sodium in it,it makes her itchy!!!,do you soak the chicken/turkey ,unless its free range it can be loaded with sodium so be careful,their coats do become very soft on raw though,karen

 

[izstigspunks]

Woohoo! That's fantastic to hear. I stopped giving turkey legs as well. But they do eat the wings and neck. I actually bought three 15lb utility turkeys (not the butterball kinds!) a couple of weeks ago, they were on sale because Thanksgiving here passed. And, oh man, it was a work out preparing them to put in individual baggies. But I did get a considerable about of meat, only threw out the leg and back bones.

 

[Danielle Cope]

you know, we dont rinse off the chicken or turkey, I'll have to talk to my fiance about the sodium, I know he does look into what he buys with the meat. Both my dogs are on raw, my other dog is an american/pitt mix, and she has no problem with the turkey legs, she learned herself she needs to crush up the bone so she has no problem with it, but rambo just has to much of a hard time with it, so he'll stick to the necks and such.

and as for the amounts, we try not to give to much chicken in rambos diet just because he was allergic to it with the cooked process, so we dont want him to form an allergy to it if we feed to much. BUT theres a HUGE sale going on at Safeway for chicken quarters, 69 cents a pound!!!!!!!
yeah, we are stocking up haha just like we did with the whole chickens when they sold those for 89 cents a pound!

but yeah other than all that, rambo is doing pretty good, his only problem is tearing it up, he hasnt quite learned to use his paws yet, so Chad has to help him out sometime haha, and as for my other dog diamond, shes done with her food eatting bone and all so fast! she has the teeth for it though haha

Do any of you like to feed a certain food on raw?

 

[izstigspunks]

I give chicken and turkey more than any other only because they're the cheapest. But I do try to feed the more grassfed meat, such as venison and goat. Their week usually consists of, in no particular order:

Day 1 - chicken quarter + some sort of boneless meat such as tripe or ground beef muscle
Day 2 - turkey neck and venison
Day 3 - chicken quarter + some sort of boneless meat such as tripe or ground beef muscle
Day 4 - goat
Day 5 - lamb or venison + turkey neck if necessary
Day 6 - chicken quarter + some sort of boneless meat such as tripe or ground beef muscle
Day 7 - turkey

My rule is that they eat chicken 3x a week the most so they won't develop an allergy like you said. Can't risk having to avoid the cheapest protein available. I sneak in duck, rabbit, fish and organs here and there. We also monitor the amount of beef and pork they eat because those are the ones that are given the most hormones. Unless they're organic, of course.

 

[Danielle Cope]

we try and give my dogs variety with each meal, so we bounce from chicken, to turkey, to pork, and sometimes beef. We dont give ground beef. and along with their meat source we usually give them a little organ, so this morning they had chicken with a side of beef kidney. We like to feed them different organs from different animals, we have beef heart in the freezer that they'll get sometime haha its a whole lot of heart, gotta love those butchers haha

We really like ribs to feed them, we find the ones with good meat to bone ratio, but we notice that even rambo takes a lot of time on the bone, he savors them haha so when it came to beef bone, he wanted to keep it for the next day haha we throw in some little fishies once and a while too. I so want to buy a whole crab for them both just to see how long it would take for them to eat it haha

 

[Poppy]

we try and give my dogs variety with each meal, so we bounce from chicken, to turkey, to pork, and sometimes beef. We dont give ground beef. and along with their meat source we usually give them a little organ, so this morning they had chicken with a side of beef kidney. We like to feed them different organs from different animals, we have beef heart in the freezer that they'll get sometime haha its a whole lot of heart, gotta love those butchers haha

We really like ribs to feed them, we find the ones with good meat to bone ratio, but we notice that even rambo takes a lot of time on the bone, he savors them haha so when it came to beef bone, he wanted to keep it for the next day haha we throw in some little fishies once and a while too. I so want to buy a whole crab for them both just to see how long it would take for them to eat it haha

Heart is considered muscle meat not organ.. It's my dogs main protein at the moment since it's so cheap!

 

[karenben]

ox heart is annie main meat its a great omega source too ,any grass fed meat is the best meat too feed,karen

 

[tekstrand24]

Have any of you tried Darwin's raw food? That is what I am currently feeding Winston and he loves it.

 

[Akgvine]

Hi, y'all! I'm new and into starting raw diets,.. Just not quite sure on how to start.. any help would be great,. And as you can tell I haven't figured out how to creat my own conversation thing lol

 

[Sherry]

Hi, y'all! I'm new and into starting raw diets,.. Just not quite sure on how to start.. any help would be great,. And as you can tell I haven't figured out how to creat my own conversation thing lol

Well first we must say to the family. Next, I just started raw feeding last Friday, so today is day 7. what a difference. Since I have multiples, I'm grinding my own food. Chicken. Most raw feeders start out with chicken. Just give them a raw Chicken leg quarter. But my hubs won't have any of that, so it's grinding for me. Bone and all after a few weeks , then I will introduce one meat at a time.

 

[Akgvine]

Did you stop cold turkey from kibble? And... Are you doing just raw meat or are you throwing in fruits veg.. Ect..

 

[Sherry]

Did you stop cold turkey from kibble? And... Are you doing just raw meat or are you throwing in fruits veg.. Ect..

Cold turkey, I'm going to pm you a video. only thing different is I don't give a whole drum, I grind it all

 

[anatess]

Hi @Akgvine. Welcome! If you put Prey-Model Raw on a google search, you'll find tons of information on it. There's also another method called BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food) which is a different method to PMR. But here's the basics on PMR: 80% muscle meat, 10% bone, 5% liver, 5% other secreting organs. Heart, gizzards, tongue, tripe are organs but count as muscle meat as far as raw dog food is concerned. Kidneys, pancreas, spleen - these are counted as organs. The BARF method differs slightly from PMR due to the addition of a little bit of fruits, veggies, and supplements that PMR method only consider non-essential extras.

Okay, depending on the size and activity level of your dog, you would want to start out at around 2-3% of his ideal adult weight. More for active dogs, less for not-so-active dogs. So, a 50lb dog can start out at 1-1.5lbs of raw food per day.

To switch from kibble, if you have an adult dog, you can go and fast him for 24 hours. Give him plenty of water which can be ice-cube treats if your dog likes that. Then you start with one type of raw meaty bones without organs. At this stage you can have a higher bone to meat ratio just to start off with to alleviate loose stools. Most people start with chicken because the bone is softer than other type of meaty bones and it is cheap. So, this would be my schedule:

For a 50lb dog, you need 2 whole chicken (around 4-5 lbs each) for week 1. Chicken is about 30% bone to meat ratio. Whole chicken from the regular grocery are usually packaged without organs. This is how I cut up the chicken: 1.) Cut off both legs at the thighs to give 2 pieces of meat. Separate the back from the breast. Cut the breast down the center so that your breast will have wings attached.
Day 1 - Chicken back. Yes, this will be a small bony meal. This is good while your dog is in transition.
Day 2 - Both of the chicken thighs (if you have a small dog, you can separate the drumstick from the thigh, if you have a 50lb dog, the entire thigh will be safer for him to crunch as he won't be able to swallow the thing whole and choke on it).
Day 3 - One breast and wing
Day 4 - Another breast and wing
Day 5 - The chicken thighs of the second chicken
Day 6 - One breast and wing of the second chicken
Day 7 - One breast and wing of the second chicken

If the dog is getting loose stool, give him the 2nd chicken back for the next meal. Notice there is no organs on this yet. Organs are very rich and dogs tend to get loose stool with organs.

Do this for week 2 as well. On week 3 you can introduce another meat source. I suggest either pork or beef. Boneless pork butts are fairly cheap. Beef is a little bit more expensive. Stick with the same meat source for a week. Weight bearing bone on pork and beef will be too dense for your dog to crunch, so I would avoid them. You can introduce a different meat source on week 4 or you can just stick with the 2 meat sources for now. By week 5 your dog should be ready for organs. I would start with just 1 ounce of liver for one meal then no organs again for the next 2 meals and see how he does. If no problems, you can start increasing the amount of liver. You can either feed organs 1 day a week to constitute the 5% liver and 5% organs for the entire week or you can spread this out into a daily serving. It's up to you. Oh, and don't forget fish. Your dog needs the good oils - Omega 3 especially, to balance out the Omega 6's he's getting from the meat fat. If you're feeding grass fed beef or free range chicken (expensive!) then it has a more balanced Omega 3 to Omega 6. Also, you can add Omega 3 fortified eggs - just drop one whole crushed egg in there shell and all.

After a few months of this, your dog should be ready for whole prey - like one whole rabbit, skin and all.

 

[Akgvine]

Wow thank you! That is a big help, I'm so excited )