How much raw to feed?

[Shaz82]

I have been giving Maisy the odd fresh chicken wing with her food and want to try some more raw food so need a bit of advice on quantity.

I want to feed one meal a day raw meat, how many chicken wings would be enough for one meal? Maisy is 16 months/28kg/spayed.

Also (and I know it's not raw) I occasionally add some mackerel to the second meal of dry kibble - would it be ok to give the mackerel for the whole meal and if so how much, currently I am using one of the small tins of mackerel in sunflower oil that tesco do on top of about 120gm of dry.

I give treats of turkey necks, oxtails, sprats, pizzles, pig snouts, all dried (naturally apparently with no additives) sometimes if she's had several I will count that as a full meal.
But you don't get calorie content on anything so it is hard to know how much to give and I want to keep her weight down.

 

[Oberon]

If we give chicken wings as a meal we give two only. That’d be a breakfast for Obi. It is fine to feed mackerel only - one tin would be a dinner for Obi (he gets a tin of sardines for dinner every day, weighing about 110g).

On top of that Obi would get half a cup of kibble in a treat dispenser and some cheese or sausage as training treats.

Our dog’s ideal weight is a little more than Maisy - about 29kg.

 

[Oberon]

Just to add - do try to vary it a bit. Not always chicken and not always mackerel.

 

[Shaz82]

Just to add - do try to vary it a bit. Not always chicken and not always mackerel.

Thank you, that answers my question perfectly. Maisy is about 29kg now but needs to go down a bit.

I like to vary her meals too, I think kibble all the time is boring, and apparently so does she. I want her to enjoy her meals not have to entice her to eat them by adding things to a bowl of dry food.

 

[SteffiS]

Ripple has kibble for breakfast, training, and in some of his kongs. His dinner is raw, I use a variety of meats and fish and usually reckon on it weighing about 200g for each meal. For example today he has a single chicken drumstick and a raw egg (in its shell). Yesterday he had 200g of beef mince, the day before sprats. Other things I feed include tripe (bought frozen as pet food) , duck neck, lamb heart, chicken wing, leg etc, depending what is on offer at the supermarket and what I like the look of at the pet shop. Once a week I also feed a meal from the Natures Menu complete meal nuggets range. I also add veg such as cooked sweet potato and carrot to some of his meals.
Ripple weighs 28 - 29kg and doesn't put on weight using this amount of food.

 

[Shaz82]

usually reckon on it weighing about 200g for each meal.
Ripple weighs 28 - 29kg and doesn't put on weight using this amount of food.

Thanks, that's really useful to know, 200gm will be my guide. I will also check out tripe in the pet store, although I won't be able to watch Maisy eat it, it freaks me out. I saw a programme on how it was prepared and the image won't leave me .. aargghh! I have tried carrot raw and cooked and she doesn't touch it (she used to like raw as a pup), although she likes the dried carrot pieces by Burns - so picky. Also she likes broccoli - has to be cooked, not raw. I used to mix in a few peas but she's changed her mind about those too. What a diva.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

I'm trying to figure all this out too as I've changed from home cooked to mainly raw because I now have access to a wonderful shop that does all sorts of locally-sourced raw meat and bones for dogs. I've gone once a week for three weeks now and just keep trying combos of different stuff. The lady who runs the place is super friendly and just kind of guides me through all the freezers making suggestions.

Last week we tried chicken necks and about six seemed to be a decent-sized meal, but I think they worked better as mid-day treats. This week it's beef bones, which I've never tried, so that should be interesting. I'm not big on beef (too much time spent walking with cows in Spain) but the lady in the store said they'd be a very good addition for Carbon's nutrition and be great for his teeth...we'll see.

For raw meat, I've been giving about the equivalent of two-handfuls but no idea on the grams. That with cooked broccoli or other veggies, salmon oil and joint supplement and then 1x a day a banana or raw egg with shell, occasionally sardines. He also gets cooked white fish every other day. Seems to be working and I'm eyeballing amounts and adjusting depending on Carbon's waistline and what we got up to that day (more activity = bigger dinner).

Carbon is looking great, but advice from any quarter is always appreciated. I've not done this raw thing for a long while!

 

[M.F.]

I feed all raw meat, meaty bones, organs, and eggs, plus veg that we cook for ourselves (Snowie loooooves veg soup) plus raw veg when we make a salad for ourselves every day. He gets 700gm raw meat and bones (he weighs about 34kg). The bone part makes up about 100gm-200gm—the guide is that bones should only make up 10-25% per day—thinking varies on whether 10% is just right or 25% is too much. But judge by the poo: too hard, constipated = too much bone.

The advice I follow is to model a prey diet where Snowie eats the equivalent of a whole animal in those proportions: 80% muscle meat, 10% organs of which liver is no more than 5%, and 10% bone. I’m sure I don’t get it right, but his blood is tested annually and he’s healthy.

Also, as many protein sources and body parts as possible as a risk strategy to avoid nutrient deficiencies. And ensure adequate muscle meat; it’s easy to reach for liver cos it’s cheap and available, but variety is key and muscle meat is apparently very important.

With bones, avoid big animal weight bearing bones—too hard, and a hard chomper can break a tooth. I feed mostly venison neck bones and beef brisket bones. And my boy scavenges discarded chicken bones—apparently a no-no but thankfully nothing untoward has happened. People think nothing of throwing bones on the pavement, and Snowie finds them all! He chews them well, he’s a very good chewer, even carefully chews raw almonds.

 

[Shaz82]

People think nothing of throwing bones on the pavement, and Snowie finds them all! He chews them well, he’s a very good chewer, even carefully chews raw almonds.

That's so true, the street I work in is now full of take-a-ways and Maisy could get her all meals from the pavement if I let her, so disgusting.

What 'muscle meat' do you give Snowie, I work almost next door to a butchers so I can easily get bits and pieces but am not sure what to ask for.

 

[M.F.]

That's so true, the street I work in is now full of take-a-ways and Maisy could get her all meals from the pavement if I let her, so disgusting.

What 'muscle meat' do you give Snowie, I work almost next door to a butchers so I can easily get bits and pieces but am not sure what to ask for.

I try to aim for variety, but I’m limited because Snowie doesn’t seem to do well eating chicken, duck or pork. I think the chicken and duck makes him very itchy. And the pork just didn’t agree with him. So he gets ostrich gizzard, which is considered a muscle meat. Beef and venison hearts. Beef and sheep dirty green tripe. And meaty venison neck bones. Also whole rabbits—this is ideal as it’s the whole animal with lots of muscle meat, but it can be pricey. And sometimes I buy beef goulash and beef steak if it’s on special at the supermarket. And also sometimes meaty ostrich neck.

 

[M.F.]

Since you’re next to a butchers, ask them for any meat scraps. I’m sure it’s cheaper than a whole steak! But be careful of getting too much ground bone—I believe a lot of “pets mince” is the meat and ground bone left on the meat processing machines. It’s very high in bone and can cause constipation.

 

[M.F.]

I probably feed too much heart and not enough limb muscles, but I’m limited by availability of what my supplier delivers, what Snowie can eat, and what I’m willing to spend.

 

[Shaz82]

Thanks M.F. that's given me loads of info, I will be pestering the butchers now for all sorts of stuff, (I don't think they'll manage the ostrich though).
I've also looked at the Natures Menu selection from Pets at Home which has given me some more ideas on what is available, I will try and get it fresh though. Thanks

 

[M.F.]

I also feed organs—kidneys, pancreas, liver. Trachea and lungs. Tongue, which is a muscle. And sheep trotters with the skin on. Whole rabbits includes the eyes and brains. And also eggs. Plus butter—Snowie’s favorite treat. And then all the food we eat as tidbits. We’re vegetarian, so it’s veg, fruit, legumes, seeds, nuts, grains, etc. He seldom refuses anything!!! Citrus is a bit sharp for him!

 

[Shaz82]

Oh crikey, that makes me feel a tiny bit sick but I'm sure Maisy will love it. I've always been squeamish with things like offal.

She has had dried trachea before, also chicken/turkey necks, pig snouts, cow ears, all dried, but I would prefer it to be fresh. I would like her to eat more veg but broccoli is about all she will eat, carrots don't interest her anymore, she did have some frozen peas yesterday when it was really hot which she wolfed down.

I encourage her to eat her kibble by mixing it with the meat fat we have had that day, yesterday it was lamb but it could be chicken or burger, whatever is left in the pan, I don't add salt or flavourings of course just sunflower oil. I also sprinkle Atora (shredded beef fat) over a dish of dried food if I have no fresh fat, not sure if it is the right thing to do though, once the kibble is used up I will use the fresh meat instead, hopefully anyway, we'll see how it goes.

 

[M.F.]

It’s daunting at first. But once you’ve been feeding raw meat and bones and organs and offal for a few months, it will get very easy. You’ll also feel silly paying so much money for dried trachea etc when it’s so much cheaper fresh. Also, you don’t know what’s been added to the dried meat to make it last longer.

 

[Shaz82]

Update ......

I asked our local butcher for some pet grade meat and he has bags of chicken breasts he keeps that are not to be sold to humans, I get a 5 kilo bag, defrost it (unfortunately it is all frozen in one lump), keep 24hrs worth of feeds raw, cook the rest and freeze it. That's going ok.
Unfortunately they do not do much else like that.

Also I got an Ox heart - your dog will be back for more, he said. Ha, ha, Maisy won't touch it. I put it down several times and she sniffs it and won't go near it (our old dog used to love it). The same with chicken liver from Natures Menu so I cooked them both and tried that, same thing, not interested. I don't think she's a real dog.

She will also not touch the tracheas frozen from Natures Menu, but she will still eat the dried one.
My neighbours love me now, their dogs are dining out on Maisy's cast offs.

Tripe - my god what an awful smell! Maisy of course loves that.
I have a bag of Natures Menu tripe pieces, defrost a serving at a time - out in the garage - and I make her eat it outside.
Yesterday, she sicked up half her tripe meal on my mother-in-laws carpet (my fault, I think she had too much) and it smells just as bad second time round I can tell you.

She does like a marrow bone as a treat but I watch her like a hawk as I am nervous of her trying to bite too hard and breaking a tooth.
She is happy tearing off the outside bits and licking out the marrow and when she starts to bite down I stop her, she then goes back to licking so she is doing well. I would not leave her alone with it though.

I am gradually working through the types of offal, my butcher does not seem to have much of anything like that, Tescos is probably my next call. And I am still giving kibble as one meal in the morning at work, I don't really want animal body parts laying around in my shop.

So some success so far.

 

[Charlie]

I linked this on another raw feeding thread Sharon:-

www.landywoods.co.uk I used them years ago for Hattie, I found them to be excellent. xx

 

[Shaz82]

I linked this on another raw feeding thread Sharon:-

www.landywoods.co.uk I used them years ago for Hattie, I found them to be excellent. xx

This looks great, lots of nice stuff for Maisy to try on here, I will definitely try them - although far too much tripe in my opinion!
Thank you Helen.

 

[Snowy]

We've been testing pre-prepared frozen raw food, site available in Finnish, Swedish and German: Kotimaista raakaruokaa! - Mush

They recommend serving 2-5% of the body weight, per day (depending on activity level).

So if (like us), you want to give one raw and one kibble meal per day, you might want to start with somewhere between 280g and 700g raw. Then adjust from there, depending on how much the scales squeek when Maisy gets on.