To Grind or not to grind?

[lilythebully]

I'm currently planning on switching my dogs (eb/frenchie) to raw, but i'm still undecided to whether i should grind their food or not. I was thinking of preparing their weekly portions in advance. Is it good/bad to grind their food? I was planning to start them off with chicken as it seems to be the cheapest/ most accessible. If grinding is not the best way to go, how and how much do you feed your bullies? any help will be appreciated.

 

[Sherry]

I just came from the raw diet and had been grinding my own . I stopped because it's too much work with 5 dogs doing everything by myself . I come home from a ten hour day, so much easier to give kibble. The prefered the raw and did well on it. I would grind my meat ever two weeks. bought it in forty pound cases 80 pounds every two weeks. 10% of the diet should be bone. so I would grind necks and backs . legs and thighs and then skinless boneless breast.

 

[MamaAndi]

I personally don't do ground meats. The dogs seem to enjoy the experience of chewing the bones and pulling everything apart (little carnivores!). When we first started Stella on raw we would pre-break the bones in her meats though because she was just a pup and we didn't want to overwhelm her.

If you choose to do whole meats just watch them eat so you know how they do with the bones and you can change it up from there if needed.

 

[bullmama]

Interested to see more responses, I'm not going raw but I'm intrigued by it!


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

 

[lilythebully]

thanks a lot for the info. The reason why im thinking about grinding their food (bones included) is because our living space is very limited at the moment, and to me it seems that grinding the food would be less messy. I think im still going to wait til they finish their last 25.3lbs bag of kibble (NVI Salmon) since i just bought it 2 days ago. trying get more info before i decide to do the switch, again, thanks a lot for the help.

 

[LiLlilly]

I also live in a small apartment, and totally understand why you want to grind lol. I think people underestimate how important this little factor can be.

A lot of people will tell you not to because the bone chewing is good for their teeth and what not....But, the thing is it may not be a sanitary option if you don't have space. Personally I don't grind either simply because I don't have one. But I do cut her meat up A LOT for her so she doesn't have to work at it long. Reason being is she likes to take the bone out of the bowl and move it around the floor making a mess. So we would have to clean the floor after she ate. Got annoying real quick. If you can feed her outside so she can make as big of a mess as they want do that. But if not I would grind it up, or cut it up the best you can to avoid spreading funk all over your floor.

 

[lilythebully]

Thanks @Lil lilly , that's exactly of what i'm afraid of them making a mess all over the floor, but i guess i'll just try it once to see how it goes and i guess after that i'll decide what route to go. What are you feeding? I was planning on starting with chicken, any recommendations? or should i start with something else?

 

[LiLlilly]

Yeah, maybe they will be cleaner them my dog but I think any dog gnawing on a big bone is going want to maneuver it around to their liking. I personally started with chicken because its the cheapest, and still very healthy for the dog. Unfortunately, Lilly has issues with poultry. So, I started feeding her pork and she seems to be doing great on it. I also give her rabbit which goes good. A lot of bullies seem to be allergic to chicken, but not all. I would go from chicken, to turkey, to pork and so on. Beef also can be an issue, but again there are many dogs eating beef without problems. Depends on the dog. You will need to eventually experiment with everything so you know what works, and to add variety. You should have at least three different protein sources to alternate back and forth from.

 

[izstigspunks]

One of my boys eat in the kitchen and been trained to stay in one spot. If not, then the food would be taken away. Took a week to train him, with some chasing around, lol, but well worth the time.

The other, we feed in the laundry room with a baby gate. He used to be a messy eater but once he got used to chewing the bones, he'd stay in one spot too.


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk 2 :D