What did your dog(s) eat today?

[.sarah]

They all had a quarter of a chicken this morning and Buck had beef ribs for dinner.

[bckrazy]

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.

Kay, that's awesome! Is the chicken boneless? That would be perfect if it had bones too, but either way that's a good deal.

Gonzo got his half of a chicken & his supplements. He just got honey in his Kong.

Fozzie got a chicken wing and he stole the chicken heart from Gonzo . He got CN for lunch with some hamburger meat, and he'll get CN for dinner. A minute ago, my friend Christine was over and set her Sprite down and Fozzie tipped it over... so he got half of a sprite too.

[Kfamr]

Nope, it's boneless. I plan on getting some type of meaty bones for them when I feel more safe feeding this diet. For now, it's just really to see how they do on it.

Right now they just think they are getting a treat when I feed them raw.
They don't understand that it's their dinner and they won't be getting a second treat as soon as they scarf it down.
So, I don't feel safe feeding bones, yet.

[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.