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Changed to Raw :-)
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TooManyDogs wrote: »I don't actively fast mine but every once in a while I forget to take food out of the freezer so decide they can have a fast day
That's why I keep extra sardines/mackerel in the press lol! 0 -
just give the food frozen they wont be long about thawing itTooManyDogs wrote: »I don't actively fast mine but every once in a while I forget to take food out of the freezer so decide they can have a fast day0 -
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TooManyDogs wrote: »I don't actively fast mine but every once in a while I forget to take food out of the freezer so decide they can have a fast dayThat's why I keep extra sardines/mackerel in the press lol!
Mine had some peas and an egg each for breakfast yesterday morning. They nearly ate the bowl as well as their dinner that evening! 0 -
bluecherry74 wrote: »
Oh my. These will be on my dogs' Christmas list!
Well they came today - with bells on for Christmas lol! He got stuck in straight away
I got a couple of the fallow strips too so we'll see what happens woth them. Anyhoos there was a voucher for £5 off for first orders over £9.99 (VCH105667) so thought I'd share it 
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Oh cool, thanks! I'll do my order during the week. Your dog looks like he's "in the zone"!
Well they came today - with bells on for Christmas lol! He got stuck in straight away I got a couple of the fallow strips too so we'll see what happens woth them. Anyhoos there was a voucher for £5 off for first orders over £9.99 (VCH105667) so thought I'd share it 0 -
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Well we're making the change. Trying it out, I can't promise to stick to it as I'm getting very panicky every time it comes to feeding.
They've always gotten raw meaty bones, but they were on top of their normal food, we'd also sometimes feed raw chicken breasts if we had one spare so I sort of jumped in yesterday. Maybe if someone wouldn't mind having a look at what I'm doing and commenting.
Harleys ideal weight would be 27kg, phoes 16kg. So as I calculate it Harley should have approx 700g a day, 210 of which would be cooked veggies and the rest raw meat. Phoe should have approx 400g a day, 120 of which would be cooked veggies. Is this about correct? I know it's not an exact science so I'm not too worried about having the ratio 100% correct, but they're acting starved so I wan't to make sure they're having enough.
I started yesterday, for brekkie, Harley had chicken breast, weighing 250g and 100g veggies. Dinner was 250g meaty beef bone, and another 100g veg and kidney beans.
Phoe had 100g chicken and 100g veggies in the morning and about 200g of the beef bone and a spoon of veg just to give him a taste.
Then I gave in and gave them a handful of kibble before bed because they were going around looking like they were starved.
This morning they both got chicken thighs only, Harley 250G and Phoe 200G, dinner will be more chicken, harley will get about 250 more and 200 veg while phoe will get 100 of each. I really can't be doing with all these calculations every evening. It's driving me mad!!
I am worried the raw foodies will look at that and wonder wtf I'm doing. Despite some great advice from 2 boardsies I'm all panicky.
I wanted to ask about giving eggs, raw eggs with shells are fine, are they to be weighed too or just an addition? How often do you give them? What about tinned fish, how often and do they replace the raw meat in a meal? How do people feel about supplementing?
What do people who feed raw give as training treats? I need something which can be chopped teeny tiny in a large quantity for rapid fire treating
EDIT: Many many thanks to Dogsfirst and Tillygirl for their patience with my PM's over the last few days!! Can one of you please come visit me and sort this all out. 0 -
I'd suggest maybe making up a couple of weeks/a months supply and freezing it. That way you won't be worrying about measurements everyday and stressing out. You may need to tweak the amount your feeding anyway if the dogs gain/lose weight.
My guy is quite lean so I don't make any adjustments if i give him an egg - if he hears the top being taken off the egg holder thing he goes running into the kitchen lol - he'd usually get one at the weekend or as a treat during the week if somebody is baking!
Treat wise I give the same things he got before - dry food (TOTW), bonios/shapes, banana, apple, cows ears and for high value peanut butter biscuit things (for hydro), hotdogs, aldi chicken slices, ham, liver cake - you can make these up in batches and freeze - he doesn't seem to mind them frozen lol!! He gets at most small handful of the dry food each day for treats when we're out on walks - I decided to keep it in his diet on the off chance eg if we went on holidays and was going to kennels that would only feed dry.
Fish - it depends on what else he's having - sometimes he'd get a can of fish/some fresh fillets and say some liver or a smaller portion of chicken/whatever meat we're having for dinner/a piece of oxtail.
Don't stress too much - it gets easier and you'll be a robot soon making up the portions without having to do quality control measuring it all You'll find ways of saving money/stretching what you have to make up meals too and feel pleased with yourself!! We got a chicken yesterday that my mum wasn't in the humour of cooking - got something like 6 meals out it!
Oh and supplement wise he gets salmon oil and his joint supplements (flexicose and luposan pellets)0 -
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Try not to stress! It seems complicated starting out but once you get the hang of it you won't even think about ratios. Plus every meal doesn't need to be perfectly balanced - as long as it balances out over the course of a week, and they're getting a good variety of foods, you'll be fine.
When I first started my two on raw, they got chicken legs for a week or two and nothing else. Then I started adding other foods bit by bit. This is my routine now:
Breakfast - this needs to be quick and easy for me so they just get chicken legs. I weigh them and freeze them in portions and leave them out to defrost the night before and feeding them takes, oh, 10 seconds. I don't even bother with bowls, they just eat them off the patio.
Dinner most evenings is either GRAW or mince beef and liver, with a little potato and veg. With that they get either a whole raw egg each (including shell), a can of sardines shared between them, some pieces of chicken carcass, or a couple of dollops of natural yogurt. I include these extras as part of the weight of the meal.
At weekends I'll often give them something different for dinner - some weeks it's lap of lamb which is a relatively cheap cut and has lovely crunchy bones. Or I'll get some fish from the discount shelf at Tesco. I also buy bags of Prize Choice green tripe.It's the most revolting stuff you can imagine but they hoover it up. :rolleyes:
Good luck with it. Give it a few weeks and you'll never want to go back.0 -
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fatmammycat wrote: »Had him out with a guy who breeds GSDs yesterday who couldn't keep his hands off him and remarked on both his coat and his teeth. His energy levels are good, stools good, he doesn't fart or smell.
Goodness! You know a LOT of stuff about that GSD breeder :eek:
Well, if it worked for him, I think I'll start feeding my OH raw too.:D0 -
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Great thanks. My biggest vice is my ability to find panic in everything, so even though I know that I can't do that much damage, the thought of them being hungry is a bit upsetting. However, they're really enjoying their food.
Surprisingly Harley is enjoying it more than Phoe and he'd usually be the more discerning of the two. For their first meal of chicken thigh, Phoe started by trying to bury it in his bed, which he hasn't done since I got him. So I just covered his crate to give him some privacy and could heard him crunching happily. Then this evening, there was no hesitation.
Funny you mention them being bunged up because of the beef bones dogsfirst, Phoe was a bit constipated today, but it seems to have passed.
I will have to find cheaper ways to source the meat, but that should be easy with this thread. I'm definitely feeling better about it. Thanks.0 -
Great thanks. My biggest vice is my ability to find panic in everything, so even though I know that I can't do that much damage, the thought of them being hungry is a bit upsetting. However, they're really enjoying their food.
Surprisingly Harley is enjoying it more than Phoe and he'd usually be the more discerning of the two. For their first meal of chicken thigh, Phoe started by trying to bury it in his bed, which he hasn't done since I got him. So I just covered his crate to give him some privacy and could heard him crunching happily. Then this evening, there was no hesitation.
Funny you mention them being bunged up because of the beef bones dogsfirst, Phoe was a bit constipated today, but it seems to have passed.
I will have to find cheaper ways to source the meat, but that should be easy with this thread. I'm definitely feeling better about it. Thanks.
I've probably waffled about this before, but I started feeding raw I went to our local butchers (not supermarket one, these guys butcher huge carcasses) and asked could they save me the offcuts they don't sell; not a problem, one fellow minces the lot down for me and gives me 5- 6 kilos for 10 Euro, which lasts about two weeks. I buy all the oyster Legs in Aldi, 2.19 for 4, and I buy whole fish (mackerel) frozen from the Asian Market, plus tins of sardine and mackerel from Tesco or Aldi. It's a bit of shopping around, but I weigh out all the mince and freeze it, defrost fish as required and add various bits ( eggs, yoghurt, offal) as required. I buy him a lamb's heart every second week for 70p, which he scoffs like a blood balloon out on the lawn ( no seriously, it's beyond gross, but he seems to love them.)
A bit of prep and you'll be grand. Incidently, I got 14 drumsticks from the discount corner inTesco last night for 1:80 and two pig livers for under a euro, one I froze for next week. I bagged the drumsticks 2 per bag and straight into the freezer, for lunches or breakfast.
It is actually working out cheaper in the long run to feed my dog raw, and he is thriving on it. Much better than on RC GSD, which he sometimes didn't eat at all, and I was constantly adding things to it to make him eat it and worrying about his weight.0 -
Ah yes pigs liver, they sell this in my local butcher specifically for dogs, (well they used to I haven't been in in a while) but it's recommended you cook it on the packaging. This could be to cover themselves, is it necessary? For some reason I have the idea of pork being unsafe, it could just be the raw meat thing.
Also I see people mentioning rice - is this needed. I would have thought for the dogs it is empty carbs, or is it just to help fill them up?
Regarding fish, my father fishes (All above board DBB
), can they be simply given whole? Do they need to be frozen for a while first to kill bacteria? Similarly, can wild game be given uncooked?
They seem to be very settled today, not acting as hungry. I used a bit of kibble for training this morning though so maybe that's why.
Love this thread, it's so helpful. Thanks everyone!0 -
Ah yes pigs liver, they sell this in my local butcher specifically for dogs, (well they used to I haven't been in in a while) but it's recommended you cook it on the packaging.
Regarding fish, my father fishes (All above board DBB), can they be simply given whole? Do they need to be frozen for a while first to kill bacteria? Similarly, can wild game be given uncooked?
Pork, whole fish and wild game are all recommended to be frozen for at least 1 week, some places say 3-4 weeks, in order to kill the various parasites. Bacteria is normally fine for dogs to cope with but the parasites seem to be real nasties.0 -
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Is a week enough for whole mackeral and sardines? Have a few taking up room in my freezer!
Anyone?!
I got four massive salmon heads at the weekend, they weigh over 2kg total so each one is more than Lexi's daily allowance. Is it ok to just give her one and feed her nothing else for the day? Thinking keep these for weekends and just one a week.
She has put nearly a kilo on in 6 weeks, just another .8kg and she is at her perfect weight 0 -
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Where would I get a mincer and how much would it likely cost? I think TK has one?
Yep I have this one. I usually feed the legs whole (he doesn't chew the wings enough so doesn't get them unless they're chopped/minced) but it powers through chicken legs/wings etc no probs! I do the veg in it too once a month and freeze it. I'm planning on making up some small batches of mince for him for a change every now and again of reduced/cheap bits and pieces from Tesco/Aldi/Lidl, fish, veggies etc.
Also if you say have a roast yourself for dinner - mince the left over meat, mince some veggies, mix together with left over gravy = instant pie filling Only downside is that then bits and pieces are not dishwasher safe but clean easily enough. 0 -
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Theres another great site, www.seconhandcatering.com. Great guys, honest. Excellent re-cond stuff. Might saive a few pennies and get some good advice there.
Think you missed a letter in that link.... http://www.secondhandcatering.com/ 0 -
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Christmas came early lol :P
*snort*
The face of him, like he's saying "And you expect me to do WHAT, exactly, with this?"
Lazeedaisy, raw eggs are absolutely fine, lucky dogs getting real, proper free range eggs!
Dogs who won't eat bones, for whatever reason, I had to same problem with all of my dogs, so I started them eating just the chicken wing-tips, the cartilage-y bit on the ends of the leg bones, and the big triangle of cartilage on the breast-bone: it breaks off really easily. This got them used to the idea of eating hard, but not too hard, meaty bone-y bits, and then I graduated them on to bigger bones. Two of them now eat these with gusto, but my little old Westie has stopped eating bones at all. I think it's just not worth the effort for him! But it is good to know he's getting plenty of minced up bone in his gRaw!
It's interesting too, Dogs First, what you said about the dogs become leaner and more chiselled. I've been really admiring how well my shep looks these days: she's as hard as a rock, and like you say, her big muscle groups have become really well defined. I don't remember ever owning a dog who felt so fit!0 -
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