# Raw diet help



## I_LOVE_MY_MIKKO (Oct 4, 2006)

I've been feeding kibble/premade raw and regular raw for a while, but I've been trying to switch to only raw. I hate butchering the meat though, so I like premade products and easy things like chicken necks. I finally have a freezer and now I have a few questions.

I just found an awesome source for ground "pet food." The university here has pasture-raised cattle and then butchers them and sells them in a store on campus. I called to ask about cuts for dogs, and they actually sell a pet food mix, mostly muscle meat (hearts, tongue I think, and something else I can't remember), some organs (liver, kidneys, spleen), but no bones. They usually only use beef, but can do pork too. It's only $1.50/lb!

Questions:
1. Obviously only beef isn't enough variety, is this beef mix with chicken or turkey backs or necks (for bones), and the occassional pork mix and canned fish a good variety?

2. They are thinking of adding sawdust from bones if you want it. I remember reading about sawdust somewhere- but can't remember what the benefit of it is- does it just add calcium- any drawbacks?

3. I will also get local chicken and turkey necks an back from a free-range farm for $2/lb. Based on the prey model, I would only need 10% bone- correct? So, at about 1.5 lbs day that would only be about 2.4 ounces of bone? Necks and back are mostly bone right? So how much to get 2.4 ounces of bone/day?

4. I currently supplement with Annamaet Endure (green lipped mussel, glucosamine, chondroitin, psyllium husk powder, vitamin c), fish oil, Ester-C, yogurt, also going to add vitamin e. Anything else I would need to add when switching to raw? I'll probably add cooked veggies here and there.

Thanks!


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

Yes, it is a good start. You will need to add oils for EFAs, fish oil, hemp oil, and/or sunflower oil.
Bone dust isn't good enough, but necks should be just fine for that. They need it for the teeth to be cleaned as they eat. Also, bones have the added bonus of helping express the anal glands when they have a BM.

I have more to say but need to go get Hans a snack


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

My problem with the sawdust is that it may be full of bacteria if it sits for awhile. I use to work at a meat dept and the saw dust was nasty, I wouldn't feed it to my dogs. But it does depend on the place, and if they are only doing beef, maybe it is cleaner. I personally like my dogs to crunch bones on a daily basis, but I don't know if they like doing it! I think they get sick of having to crunch up pork necks and even chicken for that matter. 
I get a dog food grind from a couple different places, but they don't grind any bone into it either.
The portion I try to do is 45% RMB(turkey neck/pork neck) 5% OM and 50% MM....a chicken leg 1/4(with back attached) that weighs a pound is a perfect meal portion for my 90#'rs. I also consider green tripe as part of the muscle meat portion and my dogs get about 3-5 oz at every meal of tripe.


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## I_LOVE_MY_MIKKO (Oct 4, 2006)

Thanks to you both!



Sunflowers said:


> Yes, it is a good start. You will need to add oils for EFAs, fish oil, hemp oil, and/or sunflower oil.
> Bone dust isn't good enough, but necks should be just fine for that. They need it for the teeth to be cleaned as they eat. Also, bones have the added bonus of helping express the anal glands when they have a BM.
> 
> I have more to say but need to go get Hans a snack


 I do already feed fish oil. Good point about the teeth and anal glands. I'll definitely feed the necks and backs.



onyx'girl said:


> My problem with the sawdust is that it may be full of bacteria if it sits for awhile. I use to work at a meat dept and the saw dust was nasty, I wouldn't feed it to my dogs. But it does depend on the place, and if they are only doing beef, maybe it is cleaner. I personally like my dogs to crunch bones on a daily basis, but I don't know if they like doing it! I think they get sick of having to crunch up pork necks and even chicken for that matter.
> I get a dog food grind from a couple different places, but they don't grind any bone into it either.
> The portion I try to do is 45% RMB(turkey neck/pork neck) 5% OM and 50% MM....a chicken leg 1/4(with back attached) that weighs a pound is a perfect meal portion for my 90#'rs. I also consider green tripe as part of the muscle meat portion and my dogs get about 3-5 oz at every meal of tripe.


 
Ewww, I will opt for the sawdust free mix. I can't get fresh tripe, but I can add canned here and there. I was looking at the percentages of the prey model, which is 80% meat, 10% bone, and 10% organ meat. But being that it's actually 10% bone (not 10% RMB), I think I need to feed about 4-5 ounces of necks/bones each day.

I forgot I can also get whole rabbits too, but will probably only do this once in a while since they have to be butchered.


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## I_LOVE_MY_MIKKO (Oct 4, 2006)

Actually, I'll probably end up using more like 7 ounces of necks/backs each day so that I can feed an even pound of the ground mix. How can I tell if it's not enough bone?


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