[Oisin's Aoire]

1) I have 3 small kids. Youngest , 2 years old . I'm worried about the pup carrying e coli or salmonella on his paws/fur

2) do you get all the same benefits from premade raw? Considering K9 Kraving or something like that

3) If you do feed premade , do you still throw in raw bones..concerned you would not get the same teeth benefits if you only feed soft premade

4) how much more would a total raw ( if I did not go premade) cost me as opposed to high quality kibble ( I have fed BB Wilderness and am now on TOTW)

 

[Lauri & The Gang]

1. The only time I have worried about germs from the dogs or their food was when I was going through chemo. During that period I let my husband feed the dogs - but I still cuddled with them and let them lick my face. Over 15 years I have handle more than 8 TONS of raw meat and NEVER gotten sick.

2. You get the same benefits except the clean teeth from eating whole bones. You could fed premades 75% of the time and RMBs the other 25%.

3. If you feed a premade you do NOT have to add bone - it's already in there (at least it should be).

4. That will depend on several things - your location and your ability to purchase in bulk (that's where the savings is). I pay $.25/lb for chicken backs and necks, $.45/lb for turkey hearts, $.50/lb for green tripe and $.65/lb for a ground RMB/MM/OM mix.

 

[Oisin's Aoire]

Thanks!

Congratulations on being through with your chemo. I wish you continued good health. My father is 1 year out of treatment for Stage IV head and neck cancer. So far PET scans are still all clear.

For us, my concern is them licking the kids. One of my dogs is a Mastiff..she shares her saliva , not stingy with it at all My 2 year old is my main concern. He is doing great now , but spent almost his whole first year in the hospital with respiratory issues , RSV , pneumonia . No gastric issues , but I did have concerns about his immune system :/

If I give them chicken quarters and such , do they sit there with it between their paws and gnaw at it , or do they just work at it in the bowl ? I know all dogs are different , just trying to get an idea.

I'm getting some prices on Primal . Unfortunately we live in an immediate suburb of NYC , which means only holistic pet stores carry good kibble and premade raw . And they are very expensive for everything.

I have a lot of friends that hunt deer , duck , pheasant ..wonder if I can get with them to get some of their meat that they normally would not eat? Actually I was thinking of starting hunting ourselves..it is just very time consuming here , all areas to hunt are hours away.

So , is there any meat/food inventory list or something around? That would be helpful My dogs are about 8 year old Mastiff 130 pounds , 5 year old Boxer hound mix 90 pounds , 4- 5 month old GSD 48 pounds.

Is there a calculator based on age and weight as for serving sizes?

Thanks for all the help . I can tell from browsing this section you are very knowledgeable and extremely helpful to others

 

[Contrary]

Oisin, if you go to Lauri's site, she explains most of questions you will probably have. I think she's the goto source for new-to-raw folks, her site is very helpful. The link is in her signature (2nd post in this thread), you want raw Dog Ranch.

 

[Oisin's Aoire]

Thanks! Going to check it out

 

[Lauri & The Gang]

If you are worried about them getting stuff on their paws you can cut up their food enough so they can just pick it out of the bowl and chomp it up.

You could also wipe their mouths after they eat with a damp towel with some plain vinegar on it. Mix it with water in a spray bottle and use that to dampen the towel.

My thoughts to your Dad - cancer sucks.

 

[FoxyMom]

When I first started feeding my dog raw, I used to wipe his mouth and paws with a wash cloth with vinegar on it like Laurie suggested. My daughter was only 5 at the time and I had the same concern. A few months into it, I just got lazy and haven't done it since. Haha!

I can understand your concern. The vinegar is an easy way to ease your mind.

As far as eating, my senior doesn't use his paws at all. He just takes a few bites to crack the bones and then swallows it whole. My 7 month old pup is just now getting there. And this is when we feed chicken quarters. When feeding something with bigger and harder bones (pork bones) they both use their paws to hold it down, but I've never seen "chunks" per se on their paws.

Good luck on changing to raw.

Hope that's a bit helpful.


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[Oisin's Aoire]

Excellent , great! Thanks all so much. We are going to go for it..joined an NJ group on Yahoo and looking to get with a buying group. Until then will be researching this next week on proportions and variety. So much great info here. Thanks for the time you all take to share your knowledge!

I am going to start next week. The kids will be home since summer programs are, I will be home , which means if someone gets a bout of transitional squirts I will be able to give them bathroom breaks on demand.

Thanks again!

 

[Oisin's Aoire]

Oh , also , I don't hunt..but I am a firearms instructor and competitor and have a LOT of friends that hunt deer , pheasant , duck , bear , pig . I'll probably stay well away from any wild pork even though they claim the pork here is fine. I'll go ahead and pass on the bear too , thanks but no thanks .

I think I can get plenty of deer scrap meat and organs , duck , pheasant , quail..

Do I need to worry about parasites from game as opposed to store bought ? I'm thinking it needs to be frozen first ? I have a dedicated industrial freezer in my basement.

 

[Lauri & The Gang]

If you make sure it's frozen solid for about a week or two there shouldn't be any problems.