Quick question for those who are feeding raw
 

I read all the stickies and posts and started feeding raw. I started with chicken cause my dog seems to love chicken. First day just gave her raw liver. Seemed okay. 2nd day gave her more organs and raw chicken breast mixed with kibble.
This morning I gave her all chicken breast and chicken neck. Was slightly concerned cause I broke the neck with my hands and tried to feel if the bones with splinter or anything and it was a little bit sharp but nothing crazy. She seemed to just chew it and wolf it down.


I bought an entire whole chicken. And let me tell you it is a lot of work trying to cut it all up on the kitchen counter with a small pair of kitchen scissors. But after 1.5 hours, I got 2 whole big chickens cut up into portions and bagged. Should last me a few weeks.


My quick question is, what parts of the whole chicken should i NOT give to my dog raw? I cut up all the meaty parts and sliced them and put them in a bag. All the organs in another bag. Then I just cut the wings, and legs/drumsticks off and put them into another bag.
That leaves other parts like the ribs, the back with the bones and spines, the tail bone area, ALL the skin, etc.

I threw out the ribs cause I didn't know if it was safe to give to her raw, seemed very bony. I kept the backs but the back vertebrae seems very crunchy too. Is this not going to be a problem with splintering or cutting up her gums or teeth? She's pretty old and doesn't chew on anything so she doesn't have a strong habit of that kind of behavior.

And if I toss her a dumbstick, should I expect a fully grown 10 year old german shepherd to eat everything including the large bone? The meat is attached to the bone and the bone seems pretty thick. Couldn't break it or cut it with the scissors easily. Im thinking a leg would be sufficient in weight for one meal but not sure cause a lot of that is bone.

Congratulations for trying out raw feeding with your dog.

Be sure and read up on the specific "mix" between raw-meaty-bones (rmb), muscle meat (mm) and organ meat (om). The first thing that concerned me was the comment about giving your dog just livers (om). We give only about 10% of organ meat in each meal. Check the amounts and percentages appropriate for your dog and give him some rmb, mm and om combination. Try to rotate various protein sources (chicken, beef, duck,...).

Raw bones should be fine in terms of not splintering. Chicken backs are a usual staple for our dog. How much you have to cut up depends on your dog. Our dog for example, eats the whole chicken back by chewing it up for a few seconds to "prepare" it for swallowing. I can hear all the bones breaking and "softening".

There are a lot of very experienced raw feeders here to help you. Keep reading too.

There is nothing on a chicken that can't be fed. I feed whole chickens and whole turkeys (though I often cut the meat off of the legs and don't feed the large leg bones). I would wait for a bit before feeding too much organ meat. I would also read the raw feeding articles at Welcome to the Raw Dog Ranch .

I have fed an entire cornish hen. I get nervous about the wings, as they are very boney and he is prone to gulp any thing, but never had a problem.

Lisa, turkey backs seem very boney and tough to me. I fed them last night in any case, since I was able to cut through a piece with a dull knife. do you think they are a safe rmb to feed?

Congrats on going raw!

A few tips...

1) Do not feed raw meat and kibble together.
2) 50% raw meaty bones, 45% muscle meat, 5% organ meat is a great formula: rawdogranch.com.
3) There is nothing on a chicken they can't eat.
4) Add variety after two weeks on raw.

The cut chicken bones may seem sharp but if you try to bite into a raw chicken bone, you will find very soft and crumbly - like biting into a cracker (yes, I've tried it, wanted to see for myself).

Get some better kitchen shears! Takes me 2 1/2 hours to cut up a Moose carcass given to me by friends who hunt. I do it in the kitchen with a hacksaw. Granted, the guts are gone and the carcass is cut into quarters when I get it, but cutting up two chickens should not take as long as cutting up a moose!!

I feed whole turkeys and around the holidays can get really cheap turkey backs. I feed them without issue.

Haha you tried it. Funny. Well that's reassuring. Thanks everyone for the replies. She seems to be doing well. Liver seems to be the first thing she eats, then all the chicken meat. And then she'll lick the chicken neck and the other organs and would leave it. Took her 10 minutes to get used to it and actually eat it though.


I just saw the local grocery store had turkeys at $.57/lbs! I need to just get some crazy turkey cutter or mini chain saw and hack away.

I don't cut up ANY of the chicken when I give it to Kyleigh ... I simply toss the whole thing on the floor and sit on a chair and read a book. Takes her about 15 minutes to eat the whole chicken.

you are kidding, right? Is that the only meal for a few days or something? My dogs would look like beach balls eating a whole chicken at one sitting....
For those new to feeding raw, feeding a whole chicken at once/not what I'd recommend.