Questions about starting, poop, kibble too, and freezing.

[Ronda]

Ok, I have been feeding Saphira recreational knuckle bones for awhile. I feed them frozen, she loves them, and I love the peace and quiet they bring in the evenings. I also give her whole, frozen tripe pieces (so sad, I'm down to only 2 pieces left so I have to brave the slaughterhouse again and all the grossness of fresh tripe to cut up ) a few times a week instead of a kibble meal...once again she loves them and life is good. I think I want to do more raw but I have some questions.

1. She is 7 months old and 53 lbs. What are the best starter pieces? I'm assuming chicken but what part? Wings, backs, leg quarters? Reason I'm concerned about starter size is that Saphira will chew chunks off of her frozen tripe but as soon as she can swallow the piece whole, that's what she does...sometimes the piece looks huge. If I gave her wings and she swallowed them whole is that ok?

2. Poop. Her poop used to be great on her puppy kibble (Wellness LBP) but then sucked (pudding like or smooshy) and is now better with Orijen LBP. I also think that the tripe helped tons and I give her Feed-sentials. Only problem we have now with poop is that sometimes after chewing on her knuckle bones she has very firm, dry stools that are sometimes harder for her to pass than a normal bm. I'm guessing she is getting too much bone from the knuckle bones but how do I balance that so I can still give her those?

3. Can I feed raw in pm and kibble in am? Only reason I'm wanting to keep a kibble meal for now is so I know she's getting a balanced meal in case I screw up her raw one and I get totally comfortable with the raw.

4. Right now when I give her tripe, she gets it straight out of the freezer. No defrosting before feeding at all so there is as little smell and mess as possible. Can I feed all her raw like this? I really would like to pre-package her meals, freeze them and just pull one out of the freezer when its time to feed.

Thanks,
Ronda

[lhczth]

I would start with leg quarters. Wings really are too small for most bigger GSD. I do feed them when I cut up whole chickens, but they are attacked to a chunk of breast too. Wings are also very boney. Dogs for the most part only chew enough to make something small enough to swallow. The larger the RMB the more they will take their time to chew. I don't have any gulpers, but some do eat more quickly than others.

Yes, knuckle bones will make the poops VERY hard. When I feed them or any other boney piece their next meal will be either muscle meat, offal or both. I don't feed knuckle bones very often because they seem to be the worst culprits in making rock hard dry poops.

I feed frozen food on occasion, but I sort of feel mean doing this to my dogs all the time. Nike hates frozen food and does best if I put it in hot water for a few minutes before feeding. Tripe, I thaw just enough so I can cut it into 6 servings. Helps cut down on the smell. Liver I also feed partially frozen because it is easier to handle.

I do not feed kibble, but friend feeds the RMB in the morning and kibble at night.

[Ronda]

Originally Posted by lhczth

I would start with leg quarters. Wings really are too small for most bigger GSD. I do feed them when I cut up whole chickens, but they are attacked to a chunk of breast too. Wings are also very boney. Dogs for the most part only chew enough to make something small enough to swallow. The larger the RMB the more they will take their time to chew. I don't have any gulpers, but some do eat more quickly than others.

Ok I have a few more lame questions about chicken. I only buy boneless skinless breasts for the family so I'm not sure how many of these different parts/cuts are available at a grocery store or Sams Club. Should I buy whole chickens and cut them up myself? Are chicken leg quarters sold in grocery stores or am I going to have to look for a co-op?

Yes, knuckle bones will make the poops VERY hard. When I feed them or any other boney piece their next meal will be either muscle meat, offal or both. I don't feed knuckle bones very often because they seem to be the worst culprits in making rock hard dry poops.

Darn. Saphira loves those things as recreational chewing. So I should be giving her a bit of organ meat with her next meal to balance out whenever she gets those to chew on? Is there a better recreational raw bone for chewing?

I feed frozen food on occasion, but I sort of feel mean doing this to my dogs all the time. Nike hates frozen food and does best if I put it in hot water for a few minutes before feeding. Tripe, I thaw just enough so I can cut it into 6 servings. Helps cut down on the smell. Liver I also feed partially frozen because it is easier to handle.

A couple of minutes in hot water wouldn't be too bad. I just want this to be as easy as possible to feed since my husband is not exactly thrilled with the idea.


I do not feed kibble, but friend feeds the RMB in the morning and kibble at night.

Thank you so much for your help. Now to figure out how much to feed at each meal and we are set! I know for adults that its 2% of their weight but is there a better formula for a growing puppy?

Ronda

[lhczth]

I haven't bought meat at Sam's club. Most stores seem to carry different chicken parts except maybe the backs. My mom finds whole chickens on sale at Wal-Mart, buys a bunch and cuts them up. They use the breasts and give the other parts to the dogs. You do have to watch the 10# bags of leg quarters at some stores because they are packaged in broth that contains salts. I am lucky. The big bags of leg quarters I get are not packaged in anything.

Not saying don't feed the knuckle bones. Just be careful. The next meal should be either muscle meat (heart is a muscle meat), offal or both. Beef and pork heart are the main MM I feed.

[Ronda]

I need some virtual hand-holding! I fed my first whole chicken leg tonite! Hope I got the right kind...it said minimally processed, no artificial ingredients, no preservatives and no hormones added.

I froze them for a few hours so they weren't too messy but they were far from frozen solid. Saphira was instantly excited when she heard me open the freezer and grab a baggie (this usually means green tripe for dinner!) and pranced outside with me. I held onto the leg by the drumstick the first few minutes to make sure she wasn't going to gulp the whole thing and then I let her take it and eat it how she pleased while I hovered nearby waiting anxiously to see how she handled it. She chewed and crunched through the thigh pretty good and ate the top of the drumstick off but when it came to the rest of the leg, she SWALLOWED IT RIGHT DOWN!

Tell me this is ok...the longest part of the bone basically went down whole! Should I hold onto the next one and insist she chew pieces off? Am I freaking out for nothing? I hope this is ok because she was so into her "real" food and I really want to do this but if her eating method is abnormal maybe I should grind first? I'd chop it up but I'm thinking that would lead to sharp pieces? Maybe I should just feed her the dang leg and take a valium first so I don't freak?



Thanks
Ronda

[Rott-n-GSDs]

Just keep an eye on her. She should be fine, though. My Rott usually swallows them whole.

[lhczth]

Dogs don't chew like we do. They crunch, break up their food a bit and then swallow. Some chew more than others. She should be fine.

[Ronda]

Thanks guys.

But now I have a new question

So day 2 of raw dinner went ok...my question is the next morning she vomited up some bile...which is not unusual, she will occasionally do this maybe once a month or less and I usually just attribute it to an empty stomach. I figured that's what this was until I found 2 bone pieces in the bile...they were thin, sharp pieces, probably from the long part of the drumstick and were still relatively hard. Still, I wasn't too worried as I know that bone pieces sitting in the tummy can occasionally irritate and get puked up. She was bright, alert, hyper, and ready for breakfast! However when I got home tonite there were 2 more small piles of bile in her crate. There were no more bone pieces and she is still her nutty self and wanted her dinner so she's acting pretty normal. She is being slightly whiney but she's in heat (day 8 from first blood if that matters) and she is learning how to lay on her bed in the living room without a marrow bone so she may just be bored and restless from that and heck, she's always vocal so noise from her is nothing new. Should I be worrying more about the bone pieces?

I'm thinking maybe eating a raw dinner at 7pm and then nothing until her kibble in the am is just too long on her tummy (this is a dog that finally at 7 months just started eating 2 times a day instead of 3) or maybe I need to add more muscle meat to her chicken leg??? I was just trying to start her slow on the raw chicken but maybe I'm not giving her enough? She has eaten green tripe in the past with no issues...maybe I should have just used that as the pm kibble meal replacer for a few weeks instead of chicken? I went ahead and gave her a dose of Sunday Sundae, her digestive supplement with her dinner tonite to see if that would help. I could also go back to 3 meals a day for her...her schedule was food at 6-7am, 1-2pm, and 8-9pm and now its breakfast at 6-7am and dinner at 6-7pm. I just thought doing 1/2 kibble 1/2 raw would be easier with 2 meals so I could keep them totally separate. If I do add a 3rd meal back, should it be kibble or raw?

Thanks,
Ronda