This morning Visa had venison meat and organs, the rest of her yogurt, BioVet Sport, and some tomato.
Printable View
This morning Visa had venison meat and organs, the rest of her yogurt, BioVet Sport, and some tomato.
Yesterday they all had a chicken leg quarter and a pigs foot.
Today they had some fish. They'll be getting beef kidney and liver for dinner, and Buck will also get a chicken quarter.
I've been thinking about switching to raw, maybe once or twice a week, or one meal daily if I can afford it.
I pulled some Trout out of the freezer today, next time I'm going to tell them not to filet it when we catch it. They CAN eat the whole thing, right?
What else should I add to their Trout dinner? They will each get a filet each, but I'm not sure what else to add? I may just add it with a bit of kibble to see how they react. They are sometimes picky and turn their nose to new things.
My mom recently got a job at a meat market/deli and we have a fridge in the garage which the freezer is completely empty. I asked her to ask her boss if she can bring home any bones, livers, etc they may get.
I was thinking since I have Wednesdays & Weekends off it'd allow me more time to prepare meals for them, and those could be their raw days.
Yes they can eat whole fish.
Don't feed raw and kibble at the same time. Raw takes about 5 hours to digest compared to 15 for kibble, and you don't want raw getting "stuck" behind the kibble because it can cause digestive upset. You can feed raw in the morning and kibble at night, or vice versa.
Just be aware that fish can be kind of hard on their tummies at first, so loose stool will be normal until they adjust. Some dogs can't handle much fish. I would feed the fish alone at first so not to overwhelm their system.
Good luck! :)
Yes but would one filet of fish be enough for them?
I would imagine they'd still be hungry.
A filet is usually around 1/2 lb right? Mandy, Nova, and Luka all get fed 3/4-1 lb a day, so a filet is usually fed with something else. You could feed kibble in the morning but I really wouldn't feed other raw stuff right now, except maybe chicken. You want to gradually introduce new things into their diet or they are going to have a major tummy upset.
If you do want to feed all raw one day, I would add chicken to it or if you have more fish then add that. Chicken is very bland and a good meat to start with, dogs usually don't have much problem with it.
Could I add some veggies/fruit?
I have tomatoes, carrots, and bananas.
I was thinking of chopping up the fish real fine anyways. I don't think they'd eat a big filet if I handed it to them right away.
As for feeding chicken, can I feed just regular chicken breasts (I have those) or should I wait and buy chicken legs? I was thinking chicken breasts would be better to start with?
You could add veggies and fruits, but it'll just be filler. Dogs don't need that stuff, and won't get any nutritional benefit unless if it's pureed or pulped to mimic stomach contents.
I would hand it to them whole, you might be surprised. Unless if you want to be chopping it up for them each time, you are setting yourself up for finicky dogs by doing that if they refuse it whole. ;) Fish is one of those foods that my dogs crave. Mandy goes absolutely nuts over fish, probably because it's so much stinkier than other meats.
Chicken breasts are fine, bone-in or boneless. Chicken legs are kind of small (it's easier for them to choke on smaller pieces), I'd get chicken quarters. Quarters are usually cheaper too, I just got 20 lbs for $.49/lb. Some dogs are really good with eating legs though, it all depends on what type of eater your dogs are. Nova and Luka will practically swallow a leg whole, so I usually feed them quarters or whole chickens.
Yeah, I was planning on putting the tomatoes/carrots/bananas in the food processor, making a paste out of it, then putting it over the chopped up trout.
I don't want to give them too much but I don't want them to be hungry.
If I can find a good supply I will hopefully be feeding TimberWolf Organics in the morning, and then when I have more time feeding raw for dinner.
To save on time, I take one day out every now and then and go buy everything and then package it up to make things easier. If I buy chicken quarters, I seperate them all into little baggies and then freeze them until I am ready to feed it. Otherwise a lot of things freeze into clumps and you have to thaw the whole thing to get the portion you want out, which is a pain.
My mom buys Wal-Mart deli bags on E-bay for about $.01 per bag. I package everything up into a meal portion and then freeze it all. You should see my freezer, it's so organized ;)
It takes a couple hours if I do it myself, but only about 30 minutes if I have help. My mom holds the bags open and seals them while I drop stuff in and cut up organs into portion sizes. Then when I am ready to feed I just put the dogs outside and go get four baggies of something from the fridge or freezer.
It should be the other way around, shouldn't it? Raw in the morning, kibble at night, because the raw will digest faster.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kfamr
Quote:
Originally Posted by k9krazee
I don't know, that's why i'm posting in this thread! :p
I don't feed the dogs in the morning on weekdays because I leave for work at 5am and the dogs aren't even awake. My dad does and I'm pretty sure he'd never want to feed them raw, even if I seperated it for him.
As long as you feed them about 8-10 hours apart it doesn't really matter if you feed the kibble in the morning. They should both be ready to pop out around the same time then :pQuote:
Originally Posted by k9krazee
I have a question, I've been looking into this for a really long time but I'm going to college in the fall and I KNOW that my family wouldn't keep up with it if I do start. Would it be okay to feed them raw while I'm home in the spring/summer and then go back to kibble for the fall/winter? It wouldn't cause their bodies any damage would it because the two are so drastically different?