A Few Questions on Feeding Raw.

[Roxyluvsme13]

Here are price estimations for feeding both of your dogs raw, based on RMB's that are less than $1 per lb. I have no clue what Roxy weighs, I'm guessing 30-40 lbs?

Feeding Lily for 30 days = 6 lbs = $4 per month

Feeding Roxy for 30 days = 30-45 lbs = $26 per month

So, that is $30 per month, and $360 per year, for a RMB diet. You can easily make $30 per month babysitting or whatever! =) And, it depends heavily on how much of a bargain hunter you are. That $30 could be cut in half, depending on your own local butchers and the deals you find.

Wow, I just asked my mom and she said on Roxy's food alone we spend $40 a month. Now I just need to get a job or something, hehe. Do you have any idea of what kind of weekly schedule type thing I could do for them? Like.. a meal chart or something. I'm still a little bit clueless on WHAT exactly I'd feed them .

ETA: I could start brushing their teeth.. I'll have that PM in just a sec..I really need to do something.. Roxy's teeth will be gone by the time she's 6 if I don't start doing something.

[bckrazy]

HM... check out the thread in Dog Health, What Did Your Dogs Eat Today?. It can give you an idea if you look through all of Sarah's posts in a week (she posts the most in that thread ). My schedule for Gonzo is usually something like (for a 40 lb active dog)...

Monday: 2 Chicken wings for breakfast, .3 lb beef brisket meat for dinner
Tuesday: Lamb shank for breakfast, beef rib for dinner
Wednsday: Chicken leg quarter for breakfast, veggie mush for dinner
Thursday: 2 Chicken wings for breakfast, chicken leg quarter for dinner
ETC!

They get supplements almost every day, but that is up to you. I occasionally give them some yogurt, milk, cottage cheese, etc. I almost never give starchy biscuits & such, except one cookie before they go to bed. I use tiny bits of cheese, cooked chicken, liver, and pieces of carrot for training treats. The book explains basically everything you would want to know... and more! hehe. Grocery store meat is fine, as long as it isn't over-priced! A common rule of thumb is, for your main meats, don't ever pay more than $1/lb. I occasionally pay a bit more for special treats, like rabbit. His Farmore raw costs $2/lb, but that includes veggies and supps in it, and I feed it much less often. If your grocery store has no good deals, check out a different grocery store (Costco can be a God-send sometimes) or local butchers.

I recommend, next time you got to the store, ask the butcher for a beef femur bone cut in 1/4ths or a pack of soup bones (really, really cheap). Give it to Roxy to chew on, and watch her. Just rec bones regularly will help a lot, and prove to your Mom that it will improve her teeth.

[Roxyluvsme13]

Okay! I'm going to have to know my math for this, aren't I? I'm going to wait till I get the book from you and read on it a little more before I actually start trying to take some action. I just talked to my mom a few minutes ago about this, and she seemed interested. She asked me what kind of meat, mentioned Hamburger is so expensive. Told her you don't feed hamburger, then she mentioned about the bones, and the splitting of them. Told her when it's raw you can feed them. At least she *seems* interested. I know she would love to save on dog food. I'm reading some stuff from http://rawlearning.com and I plan to do some more research. Will be anxiously waiting for the book, and thank you so much for all the help!

Btw, we don't have a Costco... I've actually never heard of them. We have Food Lion, Krogers, Food City, and White's. I really am interested in switching them, and hope to convince my mom that it's better for them, too.

[cyber-sibes]

Ths is very timely! I bought two whole chickens yesterday, and cut them up myself. I split the chicken back between my two dogs, just to see how they'd like it. not many minutes later, they were completly gone.

Will a meat & bone diet help for a dog that has plaque? Our new vet suggested I bring Star in for a cleaning - he said she has a broken molar that is building up tarter. The catch is that she would have to go under anesthesia, and because of her age (9), she'd need pre-test blood work, and it's more risky for an older dog. (I can see the $$$$ adding up, too!) i don't want to put her through that unless absolutely necessary. And if they put her under, they may as well pull the tooth rather than have to do this every year.
So I'm wondering if the raw diet would help reduce her plaque problem?

[animal_rescue]

Ths is very timely! I bought two whole chickens yesterday, and cut them up myself. I split the chicken back between my two dogs, just to see how they'd like it. not many minutes later, they were completly gone.

Will a meat & bone diet help for a dog that has plaque? Our new vet suggested I bring Star in for a cleaning - he said she has a broken molar that is building up tarter. The catch is that she would have to go under anesthesia, and because of her age (9), she'd need pre-test blood work, and it's more risky for an older dog. (I can see the $$$$ adding up, too!) i don't want to put her through that unless absolutely necessary. And if they put her under, they may as well pull the tooth rather than have to do this every year.
So I'm wondering if the raw diet would help reduce her plaque problem?

Yes! It was definitely help, they'll have very healthy teeth on a raw diet.

[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?

[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.

[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.

[finn's mom]

I wasn't really going to feed many Veggies, since I don't have a blender..

You don't really have to blend them. At least I never have for Finn. I just toss him fruits and veggies whenever I eat them. Which is constantly. If I eat a handful of carrots, he gets one...if I eat anything, he gets a piece.