A Few Questions on Feeding Raw.

[bckrazy]

Gonzo, before I started him on 100% raw, was given a Greenie almost every day... which is $20+ a month, JUST for Greenies! His teeth still had light plaque, especially the molars where his kibble stuck to after eating. Now, I spend the same amount as I did on Greenies for his WHOLE monthly meal, and he has zero plaque with raw. Like, not a trace of it, and his teeth are very white and not worn at all. He's almost 5, too ^_^

Ok, so I guess the answer is yes, raw bones do help immensely with cleaning teeth. I find that chicken bones help a lot, but because they are smaller and easy to bend and break into small pieces, they aren't as efficient with cleaning teeth. Beef femur & soup bones literally scrub away plaque! However, you have to keep a close eye with these because they are so hard and an overly-vigorous chewer can chip a tooth.

[Roxyluvsme13]

Okay, so do veggies need to be included, too?
Calculations, I say Roxy may weigh about 45.
I read you need to feed 2% of the dogs body weight, from a site from the guy that invented BARF. This is including veggies.
Roxy
14.4 ounces of food
8.64 ounces of RMB
5.76 ounces Vegetable Patty Mix

Lily
1.44 ounces of food
0.864 ounces RMB
0.576 ounces of Vegetable Patty Mix

Source - http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm
Ok, but really do I have to add veggies, too, or can I feed mostly meat, and Veggies occasionally?

[wolfsoul]

On a Raw Diet, do your dogs even need to be vaccinated?

Even on kibble, dogs don't really need to be vaccinated -- atleast not every year or every three years. But, with raw, a dog will have a higher immune system, so the chances of them getting anything are less.

You don't need to feed veggies at all. I don't feed alot of fruit/veggie, myself, I only do to add more vitamins and nutrients (and alot of fruits or veggies are beneficial in other ways, like cranberries prevent UTIs and reduce plaque, etc). In the wild, dogs don't eat veggies. The stomach contents are bitter and so they are shaken out (they are sometimes ingested when the smaller animals are eaten as the stomach is small enough to eat whole). Wolves are only seen eating berries when other food sources are low. So in general, all that is eaten is meat, organs, and about 10% bone.

[IRescue452]

There are quite a few people that are anti-veggie for dogs. The barf diet includes a veggies and the raw usually doesn't. Both are very good diets. If you can't include veggies it will still be ok.

[Roxyluvsme13]

Even on kibble, dogs don't really need to be vaccinated -- atleast not every year or every three years. But, with raw, a dog will have a higher immune system, so the chances of them getting anything are less.

You don't need to feed veggies at all. I don't feed alot of fruit/veggie, myself, I only do to add more vitamins and nutrients (and alot of fruits or veggies are beneficial in other ways, like cranberries prevent UTIs and reduce plaque, etc). In the wild, dogs don't eat veggies. The stomach contents are bitter and so they are shaken out (they are sometimes ingested when the smaller animals are eaten as the stomach is small enough to eat whole). Wolves are only seen eating berries when other food sources are low. So in general, all that is eaten is meat, organs, and about 10% bone.

Okay. Roxy only gets her Rabies Vaccine because it's required, and Lily's only getting shots, because my mom wants her to?
Okay, so that means I can feed them the 14.4 and the 1.44 ounces of meat like the site said. The site said to feed Veggies, but I'd rather prefer not to. We don't have a blender or anything, and I'm sure they'd enjoy the meat much better.
Ah, BARF and Raw are 2 different things >__<. I like Raw better ^^

[bckrazy]

I would feed Roxy over 1 lb daily, because she does need to put on extra weight. ;0) Other than that, it sounds good. I agree with Jordan, they reallly don't need that much veggies in their diet. It's good to get a veggie meal once or week or so, but not as 1/3 of their intake.

I feed 60% RMB, 30% muscle meat & organs, and 10% fruits, veggies, supps, dairy, etc.

[Roxyluvsme13]

I would feed Roxy over 1 lb daily, because she does need to put on extra weight. ;0) Other than that, it sounds good. I agree with Jordan, they reallly don't need that much veggies in their diet. It's good to get a veggie meal once or week or so, but not as 1/3 of their intake.

I feed 60% RMB, 30% muscle meat & organs, and 10% fruits, veggies, supps, dairy, etc.

So maybe 1.25 pounds for Roxy? and... however much of a pound that is for Lily? (how much is that anyways?) I found out we do have a butcher in town... When I finally do decide to make the switch, what should I ask for when I go in there? I read to keep it steady and don't make a huge variety for the first week. What would be some good things to feed? Necks, legs, carcasses, what animals?
(sorry for so many questions! I just want to get this right before I attempt it..)

[WarahGirl1995]

i wouldnt feed my dogs raw i dont know why i dont think it provides enough nutrition and it is very expensive and takes up lots of space.

[Roxyluvsme13]

i wouldnt feed my dogs raw i dont know why i dont think it provides enough nutrition and it is very expensive and takes up lots of space.

That's not true at all. It provides tons more nutrition than kibble. It's much healthier for the dog, and my mom spends $40 alone a month on Roxy's dog food at least, when I can feed her and Lily for cheaper than that. It doesn't necessarily take up alot of space from what I've read from the people ^ above. So, none of that is true.

[binka_nugget]

i wouldnt feed my dogs raw i dont know why i dont think it provides enough nutrition and it is very expensive and takes up lots of space.

My dogs have shinier coats than they have ever had. My 7/8 year old stopped limping and started acting like a 2 year old. While on kibble, there wasn't one single month that they weren't taken to the vet. Since we've switched to raw, we've gone to the vet once.. and that was only for a routine checkup. Dental cleanings are gone. Kai's allergies are gone. I've saved hundreds of dollars from just not going to the vet as often anymore. They're eating about the same amount of food but their stools are much, much smaller.. because their body is digesting more of the food. I could go on and on about the changes I've seen.

It can take up as much space as you want it to take up. I prefer to use more space to save more money. I used to buy a weeks worth of a food at a time and it barely took up any space.

[Jadapit]

I find this very interesting and educational. You girls are so knowledgeable about feeding raw! My hubby and I have been talking about switching our dogs over to raw, it really does make a lost of sense to feed them raw. I'm not real sure how to start them on it. Would it be ok to add some raw meat with their kibble at first? What raw meat would be best to start them out on? I was thinking about buying them each a turkey leg to see how they liked it. Thank you so much for all the info you have posted it is very helpful.

[BC_MoM]

So let's say you're feeding 60% meat, 30% organs, 10% veggies..

If you cut out the veggies, what would you put in it's place? Another 10% of organs?

[Kfamr]

Donna,

Some people have had troubles with feeding raw & kibble at the same time because they digest differently. Personally, I have not so far and know many people who have no issue with it.

I feed kibble (TimberWolf Organics) in the morning and raw/barf for dinner.
My three's first meal was a trout filet & pureed carrots/tomatoes/bananas. So far they've only had that and chicken. From serveral sources, I've been told chicken is the best to start with. I'd assume turkey would be about the same.

Another thing I've learned... Your dogs will probably act like they're starving afterwards. If you think they've gotten enought to eat (like mine did their first raw meal) you may want to add some sort of veggie as a filler, and slowly take it away.

I've yet to give them any bones. Tomorrow will be their first raw bones. They will be having chicken legs with tomato/carrot puree.



Roxyluvsme, if you do end up feeding any veggies/fruits, make sure you puree them. They aren't beneficial if given whole.

[Roxyluvsme13]

I wasn't really going to feed many Veggies, since I don't have a blender.. I was wondering with Jess if you dont feed the 10% veggies, do you add more organs?

[wolfsoul]

I wouldn't use a 60/40 meat/organ ratio, myself...Organs are very high in certain things...Liver is high in Vitamin A and can cause Vitamin A toxitity, heart (which is a muscle technically, but anyways) is high in copper and can cause copper poisoning, etc. I would feed more meat or add an RMB to the meal.