What did your dog(s) eat today?

[bckrazy]

Kay, about your dogs feeling "full", that's unsual to me. Gonzo was the opposite, he always seemed starved when he got all kibble, now he almost never begs and he seems very content. Did you figure the caloric needs of all of your dogs? Nala & Kiara, especially, probably need a lot more raw because they're bigger and very active. These are my best guesses... I don't know for sure the weight or activity of your dogs, but you can calculate it on your own. For Kiara, 3% of her body weight, for an active 40-50 lb dog, would be about 1.5 lbs per day. For Simba, 1% of his body weight, for an older 50 lb dog?, would be about .5 lbs per day (Gonzo gets this amount). For Nala, 3% of her body weight, for an active 60-70? lb dog, 1.5 lbs per day might suit her. Feeding half raw & half kibble, just feed half of that amount of raw. Some people just feed their dogs a variety of meats & bones every day, and base the amount they give on if their dog feels ribby or if they feel too chubby. I found a website where you can precisely calculate all of this... I'll go try & find it.

[Kfamr]

I've always fed Kiara more, Nala a little less, and Simba way less.


I'm not sure now that the fact they were bugging me was because they're hungry. I do believe it was because they just think it's a treat. Especially since the second time I did it (the time they were REALLY bugging me) I fed them in human bowls (didn't want to feed raw chicken in their plastic bowls.) I've often given them special treats (little bit of yogurt, peanut butter, ice cream, etc.) in our bowls.


That website would be GREAT!

In fact, any more websites other than the ones posted here would be great.

[lv4dogs]

Sue, I've never ordered from Rodentpro, but I've heard they are good! =/ I could never skin a rabbit though, or a guinea pig. It's hard enough to just feed it to them! I guess if your dogs can figure out to get past the pelt, it'd be ok.

They are good!
My ferrets (and sometimes dogs & cats) usually only eat mice/small rats and chicks. The eat fur/feathers & all. Of course the fur/feathers are pretty minimal at this stage.

The dogs (when I do order food for them through rodent pro) have so far gotten rabbit, Nanook & Raustyk both skin them themselves, Kaige has yet to try rabbit with the fur on it.
They have also gotten an assortment of birds too, with the birds they all, even Kaige eats just about everything. They do leave some feathers behind but not much. And if it is a larger bird with an excessive amount of feathers on it I will sometimes pull out some of the large primary feathers for them.


Here's just a few quotes out of many, stating that fur/feathers are a natural diet:

In the wild, carnivores eat their prey whole and for the most part they eat it fur, feathers, feet and all. No-one removes the innards, small bones or feathers from their catch so what nature has provided for them is what we would refer to as whole prey food. They also eat lots of green grass. It's natures way.

Many of us have observed the eating habits of our North American coyote. The first parts of a carcass that the coyote eats are the liver, kidneys and the stomach and intestines including their contents. Next the flesh or "steak" and last the bones, hair, hide and/or feathers. Everything is eaten.

When feeding whole animals, you can feed the ones that are completely feathered and furred, or you could feed skinned ones. It depends on your dog's preference and on its level of expertise (i.e. I wouldn't suggest feeding a dog brand new to raw feeding a whole feathered chicken). When you do feed feathered prey, you might need to pull out the large primary feathers at first so that all is left is the soft feathers that aren't going to poke your dog's mouth, etc. If you are feeding a whole animal, you may need to make a little incision to expose the 'goodies' inside the first time you feed it, as dogs don't always recognize it as food. Once your dog realizes it is food, you typically don't need to do that anymore.

[.sarah]

They all had pork hocks this morning and will be getting lamb shanks for dinner.

[lv4dogs]

Do yous who feed pork freeze it (for what is it 72 hours or 4 days or something) first to make sure all the parasites & such are killed?

I do freeze most of my meats for at least 4 days before feeding them, but sometimes I don't if they come from a reputable butcher or the like.
I've never fed a lot of pork, I've always been scared to as I've heard so many bad things about it, being a "dirty" meat.

[laredos_mom06]

Hi. I was just wondering if it was okay to feed kibble with a few raw bones as treats or snacks? We feed both Laredo and Dakota Eagle Pack, and I'd like to switch to raw some day, but until then I think I'd like to give them raw snacks. If I can do that, what kind of raw bones? Laredo is a 16week old Great Dane with a very sensitive stomach and Dakota is a 2-1/2 year old Rottweiler mix, she doesn't have a sensitive stomach at all.

Sorry if someone has already asked this, I didn't go through all of the posts. Thanks!

[lv4dogs]

Hi. I was just wondering if it was okay to feed kibble with a few raw bones as treats or snacks? We feed both Laredo and Dakota Eagle Pack, and I'd like to switch to raw some day, but until then I think I'd like to give them raw snacks. If I can do that, what kind of raw bones? Laredo is a 16week old Great Dane with a very sensitive stomach and Dakota is a 2-1/2 year old Rottweiler mix, she doesn't have a sensitive stomach at all.

Sorry if someone has already asked this, I didn't go through all of the posts. Thanks!

Chicken & turkey are best suited for sensative digestive systems but the bones on them are fairly small (yet big enough to help make the teeth clean) and they are usually found with a lot of meat on them, therefore making them better for mealtime than for snacks.

Recreational bones (marrow bones, knuckle bones etc...) are best for snacks. But they are from beef & larger animals similar to cows and those types of meats are *sometimes* a little rougher on the digestive systems. Also remember that recreation bones are much harder than other bones, therefore not a great choice for dogs who are teething & the like. So watch them carefully when they chew on recreational bones, they are more apt to break/chip a tooth w/ recreatinonal bones.
Now some dogs do great on beef & the like right away, while others need to slowly adjust to such meats by eating the chicken &/or turkey first.

But other than that I see no problem with giving them a recreational bone every 2-4 days as a mid day treat.

[bckrazy]

As a snack, like as in a meal, chicken & turkey leg quarters would be suitable for your big doggies. If you want to give them bones to clean teeth and get out chewing, I reccomend beef & lamb ribs or beef femur.

[Kfamr]

A guy at my mom's new job gave a bag full of beef bones.. So today they're getting a beef bone each and a bit of chicken.

[finn's mom]

Finn got a chunk of beef brisket, yummy!

[.sarah]

Yesterday they had a small amount of fish for breakfast, as I was too sick to get out of bed and my mom wanted to cut it up in chunks and feed it as a treat They had a big turkey leg for dinner.

[.sarah]

A guy at my mom's new job gave a bag full of beef bones.. So today they're getting a beef bone each and a bit of chicken.

I cannot stress enough to be careful with beef bones. I gave them marrow, femur, and knuckle bones as treats and freely fed beef ribs because so many people on message boards were giving them with no ill effects. But I should have listened to the experienced feeders on the rawfeeding list who told me not too - Buck has already chipped an adult tooth and Luka also has a chipped tooth (and yes I know they are chipped from beef bones). It is also very common of dogs who do not chip teeth (normally these are dogs do not actually bite on these bones but rather knaw) to have their teeth wear down after years of recieving these bones.

In my opinion it is really not worth it to give them beef bones unless if it is slathered in meat, in which case you should remove the bone as soon as the meat is eaten. There are plenty more edible bones that will keep them busy, though it is never really a good idea to feed bones without meat on them. Your dog should get enough of a workout from it's meal to not need extra chewing in the day. Or, if s/he does, have some kongs around. My dogs hardly use their kongs and nylabones anymore except just to carry around, but I do notice an increase in chewing if I feed them boneless (this isn't often).

I steer clear of beef ribs now as well as any other beef bone with little to no meat. Same goes for bones of other large, heavy animals - buffalo, steer, moose, etc.

If you choose to continue to feed them, I would take away the bone if your dog is vigorously eating at it. They are likely to break or chip a tooth this way.


And Kay, I was not singling you out, just quoting your post

[Crazy-Cat-Lover]

For breakfast, Bailey had a turkey leg and a chicken leg quarter. For a snack he will be getting a meaty turkey wing (I got an 11 pound box for $4.98). For dinner he will get another turkey leg and chicken leg quarter.

I went to a local asian supermarket and they carry pigs ears, whole pig legs, pig snout, pig hocks, partridge, duck, rabbit, fish heads, turtle (YUCK!), shark meat, pig ovaries, all organs from beef, pig, chicken and duck, whole racks of beef ribs, whole beef tenderloin, and much, much more - all at excellent prices!

In case those from BC are wondering, the store is called T & T Supermarket.

[Tollers-n-Dobes]

Just to go along with the chipped tooth thing from beef bones, Tango chipped her tooth pretty badly a few weeks ago after chewing on one (full of meat) for about 10-15 mins. She's a really hard chewer though, and none of our other current or past dogs ever had this happen to them though I'm not sure why. But anyway, here's a pic of her tooth now ( it's quite a bit shorter than her other one)...it doesn't seem to cause her any pain and if it does, she isn't showing it. It did turn a yellowy colour [it was very white before] though and she might have to get it pulled:

[binka_nugget]

I went to a local asian supermarket and they carry pigs ears, whole pig legs, pig snout, pig hocks, partridge, duck, rabbit, fish heads, turtle (YUCK!), shark meat, pig ovaries, all organs from beef, pig, chicken and duck, whole racks of beef ribs, whole beef tenderloin, and much, much more - all at excellent prices!

In case those from BC are wondering, the store is called T & T Supermarket.

Jeez! I didn't even think about T & T! Do their rabbits still resemble rabbits? I don't think I could bring myself to feed it if it did.