# ground egg shells instead of bones in diet enough?



## ladyluck (Jan 28, 2004)

I am currently feeding Canidae and raw together with no bones except Chicken Feet 3 times a week and canned Mackrel or Salmon once aweek. feed green tripe ground daily with variety of beef heart, gizzards, ground turkey, pork and hamburger. 2-3 cups of kibble a day (whatever I can get him to eat), good 10 oz meat and 10oz tripe. oh almost forgot he gets 2-3 fish oil capsules, vit e capsule and liver approx 2 oz daily. Want to ensure hes getting everthing he needs and am considering ditching the kibble but dont want to feed bones if the ground egg shells will supply the needed calcium. I do give him pigs feet, snout for the chewing action. he didnt like the cows hoove or the raw pigs ears. I have two dogs on all raw diet currently eating the bones (chicken leq quarters) without difficulty. Just hesitant with this gsd 7 month pup due to bad experience had with gsd pup in august that first several vets blamed his problems on the raw diet and has me gun shy. al tho all the tests were negative for obstruction, bacterial infection etc... ended up with general diagnosis of severe othological neurological problems within a week of me purchasing him ended up signing him over to the vets his only chance after several hundreds of dollars and lots of heart ache. So i was only going to feed kibble high end to the new puppy I brought home in January. well...... we have ended up with the above diet and now am trying to see if its feasable to do an all raw diet with ground egg shells vs bones? what do you all think? thanks for your time and sorry so long. 
Sherry and Chio (who really doesnt like the kibble anyway)


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

I would feed more than eggshells. But then, my dogs do not even like eggshells. Can you get turkey necks? Chix wings are soft if you are worried about obstructions. Most dogs will throw up anything that doesn't digest. My dogs do this sometimes with pork neck bones. What ever happened with your pup you signed over?


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## natalie559 (Feb 4, 2005)

*Re: ground egg shells instead of bones in diet eno*

Raw meaty bones provide not only calcium but phosphorous also- usually in the recommended ratio of 1.3:1 calciumhosphorous.

Egg shells provide mainly calcium.

Giving only egg shells will not meet the dogs needs for phosphorous.

Bone meal has both calcium and phosphorous and would probably fit the diet's needs better.


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## ladyluck (Jan 28, 2004)

Onyx'girl, 
sad state of affairs with the pup i turned over...... Would never do it again. I was bawling and had made decision to put him down due to he was so miserable and they couldnt pinpoint what the problem was. they had 3 Vets talk me into signing him over to give him a chance...... I hated the thought of ending such a short life but was trying to do what was best for him. I had them promise not to extend his misery. well..... after the signature turn over the Vets were always conveniently too busy to talk to me, I called several times to check on him. He was such a sweet boy. I hope I never have to be in that situation again. I will definitely not sign him over I would hold him while they euthanized him humanely instead of using him as a poor guinea pig. PAINFUL lesson learned. I bought him from a BYB who had a beautiful male who had been breeding for 30 years blah blah never had any issues..... but their again I bought the runt, he had those eyes..... I really think the BYB loved her animals and believe she just hadnt had any health issues tell this litter. it was extremely hot and she had them in a kennel right next to her adults. she did tell me they werent eating as good as she would like due to the heat. I think the whole litter was just not as closely monitored due to all the good fortune she had with previous litters... But I really dont know and again in BYB defence I didnt call and request a replacement pup due to I couldnt go through that again.... I would love to believe he went to a loving home after they found a miraculous cure but I doubt thats what happened....... SO now you see why we are being so careful with Chio, dont want to cause him undue harm. crazy vets couldnt get past the raw diet.... but finally had the top specailist admit none of the $$$ test I paid for showed diet caused any harm. they were clueless after 2 weeks of tests and vairous meds with no positive changes for the poor pup. sorry so long but as you can see was a painful lesson to learn worse for Zeus than me.
later sherry


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## ladyluck (Jan 28, 2004)

*Re: ground egg shells instead of bones in diet eno*

Natalie,
where do you get bonemeal? My eyes are crosseyed from all the reading I have been doing on Chios diet. from what i have read the tripe is balanced Ca/Phos; dog food canidae balanced Ca/phos and that all meats are unbalanced higher in phos than ca. so thats why I wanted to just add the Ca to even things up a bit. from different sites recomends 1/2 teaspoon ground eggshells to each pound of meat. I have been mixing ground eggshells with small amt yorgurt on non fish days and non chicken feet days. He laps it right up no issue. I just started the chicken feet 3x a week and he does great chewing those. not sure why it doesnt bother me to feed those but dont want to feed quarters or drumsticks or wings?? guess cause the feet seem so more rubbery than hollow? he eats the pigs feet without issue to. Going slow and easy with adding any additional Ca as dont want to overdo it. hes been on Canidae ALS since 10 weeks old and now hes 7 months. hes solid good wt last check was 63 lbs at just under 6 months. not too sure i can pick him up now to wt on bathroom scale HA and my vet gave his rabies shot and started the heartworm medications here at the house while we were vaccinating and coggins testing the horses so no scale. hes long and lean, shiney coat, good stools small formed, no eye goobers, hour glass figure, legs look good. hes not a big eater, he finally eats all his kibble by bedtime, will even leave ams meat for quite awhile, just seems interested in other things than food. he will eventually eat at least 2 cups and sometimes 3 of the Canidae ALS. now after reading other posts of Canidae changing recipe may be changing that. really dont want him to be eating grain. 
In the back of my mind if i could drop the kibble and feed raw meat with egg shells I would go all raw. would be cheaper and less hazzle than going over 60 miles one way to pick up kibble. 
let me know where you get bonemeal i would like to read up on it. thanks Sherry and Chio


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## natalie559 (Feb 4, 2005)

*Re: ground egg shells instead of bones in diet eno*



> Originally Posted By: ladyluckwhere do you get bonemeal?


I don't use bonemeal, but if I did I would likely buy Monica Segal's brand as I trust her quality and a lab has tested the product to be free of harmful metals. http://www.monicasegal.com/catalog/product.php?cPath=23_1&products_id=47#



> Originally Posted By: ladyluckall meats are unbalanced higher in phos than ca. so thats why I wanted to just add the Ca to even things up a bit.


That's true. But if you looked at a diet that was all meat no bone as a whole you would likely see a deficiency in overall phosphorus, hence the bonemeal. The ideal ratio is 1.3:1 calcium to phosphorus, with anywhere from 1:1 to 2:1 being safe. Adding the egg shells would bring you up to the correct ratio for the particular piece of meat, but it might not meet the diet's needs as a whole. Does that make sense?

I figure all this diet stuff in a spreadsheet using the National Research Council's guidelines for dogs. If you want to learn more about this you can read here, http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=428679#Post428679



> Originally Posted By: ladyluckI just started the chicken feet 3x a week and he does great chewing those. not sure why it doesnt bother me to feed those but dont want to feed quarters or drumsticks or wings??


You could always grind the bones if that would make you more comfortable.


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