Question abouthome made raw

[gewaltiger Sturm]

Right now Storm is 9 weeks old. He is eating FreshPet but I have a bag of Primal patties. He LOVES it. You would think he was starving when I give it to him Im wondering if when I go to making my own raw food for him can just blend it up and make nice easy to use patties like the primal or is it best to just chunk all the stuff in the bowl and hope for the best? Im new to this whole raw thing so I want to get it right.

[mycobraracr]

Check out www.rawdogranch.com , lots of good info on there. If you still have questions just ask

[gewaltiger Sturm]

Thank you! I will check it out

[Holmeshx2]

Definitely check out Laurie's site (rawdogranch) she is a moderator on this site and has an insane amount of knowledge in raw feeding and she breaks it down really well.

A few things... yes you can grind it all up however you lose the awesome teeth cleaning benefits of leaving the stuff whole. Also you are adding so much more work to it then you need to. If you just want easy meals on you then I would take the time you would spend grinding it and putting it into individual bags and just weigh it out and put it into meal size bags then freeze all the individual bags so you can just open one (after its thawed) and toss is into the bowl and you (and the wife) doesn't have to handle it all the time.

I feed raw and have for awhile and am a HUGE advocate for it. HOWEVER when someone chooses to do it I will always always ALWAYS put a ton of emphasis on research. If it is not thoroughly researched and fed properly you are doing no good and actually doing some harm to your dog so please make sure you learn what you need to feed your pup. I'm even more fussy when it comes to a pup because its such a critical time of growth and development that can be screwed up with improper nutrition.. if someone doesn't want to do the work I definitely say a good quality kibble (not saying you specifically just a forewarning)

As already stated feel free to ask any questions you may have afterwards maybe even when you think you have it writing down what you think he should be getting for a few days and let some people go over it and guide you through it. I'm not an expert but believe I do pretty darn well so if you have any questions please feel free to ask or PM me if I happen to not know something I have no problem saying I don't know and helping get the answer for you.

[gewaltiger Sturm]

Thanks for the website! It has a load of great information. As for the research, all I do is research! I will read and read and still wonder if I am doing it right. One thing I would like to see that I cant find (and it might be weird) is a picture of a prepared meal. This is so I can get a visual of what people are feeding. The "what to feed a puppy" section on that website isnt finished yet but I would basicly like to find someones receipe for there puppy and mimic it. LIke I said, right now he is eating "Primal" raw dog food patties. Our Pom likes his Fresh Select but tries to bury any raw we give him so right now, being that it would cost me over $40.00 a week to feed my little land shark just the Primal, he gets the Fresh Select too. Once I learn how to make my own raw diet for him he will be on nothing but raw. I do give him pieces of raw chicken or steak when I am making dinner just to see if he will eat it. So far he has eaten everything. Well kinda. I gave him a chicken foot and he played with it. After watching him for a bit I took it and tossed it in the woods cause it was just to gross and strange seeing this chicken foot dangle from his mouth!

[StellaSquash]

I'm just starting raw too and between three different books and the raw dog ranch site I think I"m getting the idea. I tried several months ago but got overwhelmed. I am trying again with more info under my hat this time. Like you I debated between grinding, for me, the idea of the bones still freaks me out a bit.

Last night I cut of a whole chicken (having good poultry shears makes quick work of it) and separated it out into individual servings (using the info I got from rawdogranch for serving size). I just took two cookie sheets, a serving on each and took the dogs outside. one on one side of the patio the other farther away and let them go to it.

they crunched, crunched and crunched and loved it. I'm very happy with how well they did. I have one dog that is a fast eater and likes to inhale his food but the whole pieces forces him to chew thoroughly. my GSD likes to take her time and carry her food around the yard. *shrugs*

I'd highly recommend raw dog ranch for info. really lays the info out clearly.

I debated on pre packaged raw but it's SO expensive compared to the 88 cents a pound I just paid for a whole chicken and that's not even the cheapest I can find.

Now I do grind for my cats and frankly cutting up a chicken and washing the board and scissors is a lot easier (to me anyway) than getting out the grinder, chopping the meat small enough to feed into the chute and then having to wash all the grinder parts.

[Holmeshx2]

remember you need more then chicken however right now is a great time to change your pup over because hes young and should be ok introducing new proteins quicker then an adult. How much does your pup weigh (sorry if you already stated this on another thread but I can't remember) he should be getting close to the point where he switches from 10% of his weight to his adult portion. Getting the proper nutrition is whats so important to a young pup. As an adult you feed too much bone you just have issues with constipation however as a pup all that calcium effects bone growth so its more important to a pup then adult same thing with missed nutrition. An adult on just chicken for a few weeks not a big deal you can balance it out but pups grow so quick especially at this age that you don't want him missing out on different vitamins so variety is a HUGE thing (regardless of age) and I definitely recommend supplements because it is extremely difficult to get a good variety. I can regularly get chicken, turkey, beef, and pork no matter how tight finances are however finding a reasonably priced source for the other stuff (duck, bison, deer, emu. rabbit etc...) is a bit more difficult even fish I'm getting at close to $2 lb so a multivitamin to help fill in any nutritional gaps is a great thing.

[mycobraracr]

It can be a bit overwhelming at first. Once you start you realize it's not that bad. I started my puppy at 3% of her estimated adult weight. For the first few days I only fed chicken quarters and chicken breast. I found the legs for my puppy seemed more like a toy than food. So now she only gets wings and thighs. After the first few days I introduced beef and liver. Then a couple days later pork and so on and so on. Variety is key. As for the bones. Listening to my puppy crunch on the bones everyday is the best sound ever hahaha. Since feeding raw my puppy has never looked or felt better. Every meal time is like a treat. For suppliments I give her salmon oil on days I dont feed fish or raw egg, and a multivitamine.

As far as prep work goes I just weigh it and pre-package it into meal size portions that way I grab and go. I have been buying about two weeks of food at a time and go from there. I hope this helps.

[Holmeshx2]

don't forget if you are adding salmon oil you need to supplement with Vitamin E as well.

[mycobraracr]

Originally Posted by Holmeshx2

don't forget if you are adding salmon oil you need to supplement with Vitamin E as well.

I figured with the multi vitamain I was covered. Should I still add vit E?