Changed to Raw :-)

tk123

I normally get a whole oxtail (€6-7) and ask them to leave the last 3 bones in one piece when they slice it. So I'm left with bigger slices and then one long skinny piece. I wouldn't feed the tiny end pieces on their own because Bailey's swallowed them whole in the past and puked up the bone - it looked like he'd eaten a finer lol!!

BiffoGooner

OP, Do you mind me asking how big/small your dog is? Costs you €5 for 8 days of food?

I have an 8 month old Bernese who I would love to put on this kind of diet as we've tried several different brands of nuts etc and he's not taking to any of them, but he's already 40kg and I dread to think how much it might cost me.

DBB

BiffoGooner wrote: »

OP, Do you mind me asking how big/small your dog is? Costs you €5 for 8 days of food?

I have an 8 month old Bernese who I would love to put on this kind of diet as we've tried several different brands of nuts etc and he's not taking to any of them, but he's already 40kg and I dread to think how much it might cost me.

Lol, fair question which I hope I can answer for you as I have a 40kg dog too. It depends on how cheaply you can source your meat, I do a mish-mash of fresh chicken, which I mostly stew now having fed raw for years.... Personally, I've kinda gone off the raw feeding but do still feed raw chicken legs and breasts. But I supplement it with really good tinned food from zooplus (Rocco, Lukullus, Naturediet). So realistically, it costs me €15-20 per week to feed her. However, she's fully grown and not a huge eater, somewhere around 800g per day keeps her at a steady weight, but a lot of dogs her weight, and young growing dogs, would need more.

borderlinemeath

BiffoGooner wrote: »

OP, Do you mind me asking how big/small your dog is? Costs you €5 for 8 days of food?

I have an 8 month old Bernese who I would love to put on this kind of diet as we've tried several different brands of nuts etc and he's not taking to any of them, but he's already 40kg and I dread to think how much it might cost me.

For most dogs, it's between 2.5-4% of bodyweight, so for a pup I would imagine it would be at the top end of that to build him up, so up at 4% which would be 1.6kg of food per day. If you buy in bulk it's much cheaper so if you have room for a chest freezer then it really helps.

BiffoGooner

DBB wrote: »

Lol, fair question which I hope I can answer for you as I have a 40kg dog too. It depends on how cheaply you can source your meat, I do a mish-mash of fresh chicken, which I mostly stew now having fed raw for years.... Personally, I've kinda gone off the raw feeding but do still feed raw chicken legs and breasts. But I supplement it with really good tinned food from zooplus (Rocco, Lukullus, Naturediet). So realistically, it costs me €15-20 per week to feed her. However, she's fully grown and not a huge eater, somewhere around 800g per day keeps her at a steady weight, but a lot of dogs her weight, and young growing dogs, would need more.

Thanks for taking the time to answer, much appreciated. You know 15 or 20 quid a week initially sounds like a lot but when I'm already paying 50 a month for a bag of commercial food that doesn't agree with his stomach, the difference doesn't seem so bad, for the moment at least. When he's fully grown in another 4 or 5 months it might be another story! But for now at least might be worth having a chat with our butcher and try to suss something out.

Thanks again.

borderlinemeath

BiffoGooner wrote: »

Thanks for taking the time to answer, much appreciated. You know 15 or 20 quid a week initially sounds like a lot but when I'm already paying 50 a month for a bag of commercial food that doesn't agree with his stomach, the difference doesn't seem so bad, for the moment at least. When he's fully grown in another 4 or 5 months it might be another story! But for now at least might be worth having a chat with our butcher and try to suss something out.

Thanks again.

There's a couple of places that you can buy raw food in bulk for dogs.

http://dogsfirst.ie/raw-dog-food/

http://www.slaneypetfoods.ie/index.php/products-prices/

http://dogfooddirect.ie/modules/shop/cats/raw-dog-food/

BiffoGooner

borderlinemeath wrote: »

There's a couple of places that you can buy raw food in bulk for dogs.

http://dogsfirst.ie/raw-dog-food/

http://www.slaneypetfoods.ie/index.php/products-prices/

http://dogfooddirect.ie/modules/shop/cats/raw-dog-food/

That is very helpful, having a look through them now. Thanks very much.

nemo32

We started feeding raw around 4 weeks ago and I am starting to notice my guys coat is not as shiny as it used to be. Now we are still introducing meats so he's not yet on much organ, do you think this could be the cause or do we need to start supplementing with something? Thanks

Hooked

nemo32 wrote: »

We started feeding raw around 4 weeks ago and I am starting to notice my guys coat is not as shiny as it used to be. Now we are still introducing meats so he's not yet on much organ, do you think this could be the cause or do we need to start supplementing with something? Thanks

Is there much fish in the feed? We feed mackerel, sardines and add salmon oil (in a mix with meat and veg) to keep our huskies coats in top condition.

tk123

BiffoGooner wrote: »

Thanks for taking the time to answer, much appreciated. You know 15 or 20 quid a week initially sounds like a lot but when I'm already paying 50 a month for a bag of commercial food that doesn't agree with his stomach, the difference doesn't seem so bad, for the moment at least. When he's fully grown in another 4 or 5 months it might be another story! But for now at least might be worth having a chat with our butcher and try to suss something out.

Thanks again.

As the pup grows you'll cut back the food so you'll end up playing less than a bag of food. My retriever pup is 9 months old, around 25kgs and gets about 3 times as much as my adult retriever. She gets 8 duck necks a day and around 200g of mince or good quality wet food (Rocco or NatureDiet). I get the minces from the suppliers mentioned above by borderlinemeath.
The necks are €20 for 15kgs so that's around 150 necks (so approx 18 days worth), the minces are €1.25 a lb/so 1 a day and 24 x 800g cans of Rocoo on zooplus are usually around €30. So if you buy in bulk you'll save money. Go for green tripe from slaney or dogfooddirect - it STINKS but it's meant to be the best thing to give them to fill them out.
My pup is doing great on it. She's started to fill out the last couple of months and put on muscle mass so is lean and muscly instead of a typical tubby retriever! DBB saw her last week so will be able to tell you what she thinks lol! :pac:

nemo32

Hooked wrote: »

Is there much fish in the feed? We feed mackerel, sardines and add salmon oil (in a mix with meat and veg) to keep our huskies coats in top condition.

Thanks hooked, no fish at all in the diet yet ( still trying to get his system used beef and tripe) I'll start adding some sardines. Where u can I get salmon oil?

toadfly

DBB wrote: »

Personally, I've kinda gone off the raw feeding

Any reason why DBB that you don't mind sharing?

Hooked

nemo32 wrote: »

Thanks hooked, no fish at all in the diet yet ( still trying to get his system used beef and tripe) I'll start adding some sardines. Where u can I get salmon oil?

It can be got in maxi zoo, online like amazon... I get mine off a guy at the local greyhound track that sells feeds, oils and other stuff (my dad had greyhounds for 30+ years). Bit more bang for my buck.

Boardsies have said that fish heads can be got cheaply at markets and fish mongers. Be sure and freeze to kill parasites first. I feed tinned sardines or mackerel from Aldi. And off cuts from restaurants (have a few chef friends).

DBB

toadfly wrote: »

Any reason why DBB that you don't mind sharing?

I don't know if I can really put my finger on one over-arching reason... I suppose a few small things kinda came along together.
First thing was that my dogs were not guaranteed to eat their raw food, in which case it often ended up being thrown out. I was feeding raw long before it became fashionable, and all along I had spells where at least one of the dogs just wasn't enjoying their raw food.
I'll be honest too, the hygiene end of it irked me for a long time. It's not always possible to feed the bones outside, and I found myself getting a small bit freaked out when the dogs came over to me, or my OH's kids, for a cuddle after their dinner in the knowledge they'd just been eating raw poultry! I also have an injured dog here who can/will only eat dinner in her bed... Not good when eating raw stuff, esp bones.
I also figure that many dogs really prefer their meat cooked. Not only has this been suggested in research, I found it applied to my own dogs... If I cooked it, they would eat it, always. I also figure that cooking the food in a normal kitchen probably does not enormously affect the protein or nutritional value, in the way that it does for dry food cooked at huge temperatures in an industrial setting.
I know this is going to sound anthropomorphic, and it is, but there's something rather comforting about the dogs getting a nice warm stew on a winter's evening!
So, I feel that by cooking up a nice stew for them, I'm getting rid of a lot of the drawbacks of raw feeding, but the dogs are still getting a seriously healthy diet which they're guaranteed to eat.
I hope that answers your question!

tk123

DBB wrote: »

So, I feel that by cooking up a nice stew for them, I'm getting rid of a lot of the drawbacks of raw feeding, but the dogs are still getting a seriously healthy diet which they're guaranteed to eat.
I hope that answers your question!

:eek: Hang on a second...If I cooked the onion separately our household fav (and major budget din dins ) of chicken stew could feed the humans AND the dogs! :eek::cool: (Veg on the bottom, 2 mugs of water, whole chicken on top breast side down and into the slow cooker for 3 hours )..

DBB

tk123 wrote: »

:eek: Hang on a second...If I cooked the onion separately our household fav (and major budget din dins ) of chicken stew could feed the humans AND the dogs! :eek::cool:

Sssshhhh! I've been doing that for ages and haven't been found out yet :-P

toadfly

Thanks DBB that's interesting. Lexi has never refused anything I offered her to eat ever and can't imagine that happening! I do maybe once a fortnight do a batch of brown rice, sardines and scrambled egg, enough to do around 3 days for all three dogs. Not for any reason but just to change it up a bit. Or when I forget to take raw out of the freezer!

Must try a stew for them, bought a slow cooker recently.

tk123

If you have the little oxtail nubbin bits throw them in for stock

DBB

tk123 wrote: »

If you have the little oxtail nubbin bits throw them in for stock

A bit of fresh ginger, rosemary, and a tiny bit of garlic goes down a treat here too! Nyom.

borderlinemeath

Mine aren't great with eating raw fish, they much prefer it cooked. But everything else raw gets inhaled.

ferretone

If I thought for a moment that my dog wasn't absolutely thrilled with her raw food, DBB, I'd definitely go with cooking for her. But Lola's always loved raw stuff, even way back before I switched her from dry, and there's absolutely nothing in the meat or fish line that she doesn't go mental for raw. As regards vegetables, though, I've found that, raw or cooked, she actually does better without them!

Well, she wouldn't touch them raw, actually, but I used to buy her the gRaw, and mix whole duck necks, hearts and sardines around half-and-half with that. But while I know you don't see eye-to-eye with Connor, when he says dogs don't actually need vegetable matter, I thought I wouldn't likely be killing my dog if I tried that out, and knew mine really doesn't like anything so much as raw meat/fish, so I just kept feeding the same amount, but without the gRaw, and didn't add anything extra. And to be honest, she's been doing better this way than I've ever seen her, since her spinal issues etc.

She tends to drop weight very quickly, and is actually being fed the top end of the recommended food mass for her size, even though she is spayed, senior, and not as active as she was before she developed spinal/musculoskeletal issues. At that, she now maintains weight, where she was actually dropping when she had veggies in there as well. I won't deny, I'm glad she's not the chunky type, when she has to deal with these things, as it would make that a lot more difficult, but I'm not happy to see her waste away either.

Before anyone jumps in to say she's probably overweight really, as I know most dogs are, all her ribs are easily visible still, and her waist is extremely pronounced!

DBB

Can I just clarify that I said what I said above in reply to a question, not in any attempt to advise or make anyone think I disagree with what they're doing... I just surmised upon what works for me, and why I stopped feeding raw, based purely on my own experience and nowt else. Well, almost stopped... They still get meaty chicken bones and the occasional raw meat if I'm too lazy to cook.
But by and large, it's just not for me at the moment. I also get really irked that a lot of the information thrown about as being gospel by some raw food manufacturers is not actually backed up by decent evidence at all.

ferretone

Oh, I wasn't saying I thought you meant we shouldn't feed raw. But are you suggesting I may be doing Lola harm by leaving out the veggies? I'll find a way to get her to eat them if you think that's the case.

DBB

ferretone wrote: »

Oh, I wasn't saying I thought you meant we shouldn't feed raw. But are you suggesting I may be doing Lola harm by leaving out the veggies? I'll find a way to get her to eat them if you think that's the case.

No! Not at all! If she doesn't like them, she doesn't like them!
However, I don't know anyone who advocates raw feeding that doesn't also advise (sometimes a little too quietly) supplementing the diet with various herbal/algal/brewer's yeast type stuff to get additional vitamins into the diet. I have a cupboard full of various powders, seaweeds, oils and capsules that I've gathered over the years, and throw em in when I remember to!

ferretone

Oh, yeah, himself has sent me those from time to time, and she does have them thrown on top pretty regularly! I also throw in pumpkinseed oil and a few other things like that. Mother-in-law is an expert on herbal remedies as well, so I chop in various other things she recommends from time-to-time as well. It's just the bulk vegetables that don't really seem to agree with her, and she doesn't like them either.

fatmammycat

borderlinemeath wrote: »

Mine aren't great with eating raw fish, they much prefer it cooked. But everything else raw gets inhaled.

My lad is the same, with the exception of liver which I have to cook slightly or he won't eat it. I've tried to disguise in mince and everything, but he still refuses, but the second it's cooked he likes it.

1809allan

I thought feeding dogs cooked bones was a bad idea. They break too sharply or something like that. (?)

DBB

1809allan wrote: »

I thought feeding dogs cooked bones was a bad idea. They break too sharply or something like that. (?)

Absolutely. It should be made abundantly clear that any references being made here to cooking food refers to meat (and veg), but any bones involved in the cooking are used for stock only, and never fed to the dog.
Raw, meaty bones that are size-appropriate only, and I would never feed bones unless I'm there to supervise.

Lemlin

Dogsfirst are now doing online bulk orders so I can get delivery to Cavan. I've three dogs to feed so I'm thinking about ordering 25kg. 15kg of duck's necks and 10kg of meaty hearts.

Anyone any feedback on the different product types?

Zapperzy

I have a big 540g salmon head in the freezer wondering what to do with it, bit big for a little terrier and someone said the gill covers were sharp, any ideas what will I do with it? If I stick it in a pot of water and boil it for a few hours will I get a sort of fishy soup? I'v never made stock before so I'v no idea what I'm supposed to do or what it's supposed to look like after?