Quote Originally Posted by wolf_Q
Do you guys just buy your meat from grocery stores or what? I haven't found a source of free-range/hormone free/etc. meat...wondering if grocery store meat is ok (I don't seem to care that I eat it lol). I don't think I can afford the pre-made raw though I'd like to feed that.

Any book recommendations for researching this? I'm sorry if I'm bothering people with questions there's just so many threads on dog food it seems annoying to start another.
I wouldn't worry about free-range/hormone free meat at this point. It's not what's in his dog food (actually the dog food meat is probably way worse than the meat in the grocery store) so just getting him on grocery store meat is a huge step up from kibble. Once you're settled into the routine of a raw diet, then I would start searching for co-ops and other places to get free-range. Too much stuff at first (even on your part) is stressful and can make the diet a failure on your part or the dog's part.

At this point I buy from grocery stores and butchers. Just recently I learned about a supplier who raises/buys meat for dog and cat consumption only, and all meat is free range, humanely raised and killed, and hormone free. I am on a waiting list for green tripe from her and once it comes in, I will place an order for other things from her as well. I also am starting to get in touch with hunters to get leftovers from their hunts, and also am planning on getting in touch with cattle and swine farmers that I know, and see what they can hook me up with. There are lots of options for humanely raised and hormone free meats, but I would really wait until you're in a routine and then start searching. He'd only be on grocery store meats for a little while.

Book reccomendations - Tom Lonsdale "Raw Meaty Bones" and "Work Wonders". You can download a "Work Wonders" preview here: http://www.rawmeatybones.com/book-files/ww.pdf

Stay away from recent Ian Billinghurt books, he has this new-found theory that everything needs to be ground and there needs to be way more bone than found in a prey animal. From what Cali has said, his old ways of thinking were along the lines of prey-model raw, and so I guess his old books would be fine, but I personally have not heard many good things about Billinghurst from prey-model feeders.

There are other good books out there, I have a few, but don't have them in front of me. I'll take a look later and then let you know what they are.