# Two Questions on Feeding Raw



## Linda1270 (Sep 7, 2012)

First question: when I feed chicken wings, should I remove the skin or is it okay to leave it on?

Second question: is it okay to feed smoked turkey necks vs regular turkey necks? The supermarkets around my area are horrible for feeding my dogs raw. I need to find some type of distribution center for meaty/bones in my area.

I do not have a scale to weigh out their food. I'm new at this but do want to feed my dogs raw, at least 50% but not sure how much to give them. My GSD will most likely do fine with a raw diet, however, my Cairn Terrier might have a hard time. I will start her off with the chicken wings, I'm just not sure how many to give her.

Thanks in advance for any advice. I'm really hoping that feeding raw will help out my GSD Tess who is suffering from allergies right now.


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

Smoked meat has been cooked so, no, they are not OK. 

I do not remove the skin. Wings are very bony and small for a full grown GSD. I feed them when I cut up a whole chicken leaving part of the breast attached, but not as a normal meal. You will be surprised how well your terrier does. 

Most people are able to find leg quarters to feed at Wal-Mart and places like that. I would rinse them off well since the stuff I see here at Wal-Mart is packed in a brine.


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## Linda1270 (Sep 7, 2012)

Thank you for the information, so glad that I asked. I will checkout Walmart, that's a place I haven't thought of. I will feed the chicken wings to my Cairn Terrier and buy some leg quarters or larger meat for my GSD.

Saw a sale on drumsticks, are they any good to feed a GSD? Sorry for all the silly questions, I've been doing a lot of reading up on raw feeding but find that I still have questions.


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## Subdolus (Jul 28, 2014)

Seconding leaving skin on. It's good for them! 

I usually base what's okay to feed, in terms of food size, on the individual dog; if you have a dog that is a super fast eater and likes to gulp food, stick with items that are too large for that to happen and that force the dog to slow down and chew.

Big dogs that are food gulpers and super fast eaters can choke on smaller things like chicken legs, chicken wings, small ribs, chicken necks, chicken thighs, etc...if they try to swallow them whole and without chewing.
Turkey wings, thighs, drumsticks, etc...tend to be alright as they're significantly larger than the corresponding chicken parts.

Our late Elkhound was a big gulper, so she was never given smaller items of food to eat as she'd be a high choking risk. Our GSD is a slow, thorough chewer, so I have no qualms about giving him a chicken wing as a snack (way too small to be a whole meal though!).

As for amount, honestly, after 14ish years raw feeding, we don't measure or weigh anything anymore, we go by the dog's overall weight and whether or not they're maintaining, gaining, losing, or always seem hungry and adjust based on that. Dogs are a lot like people in that, at any given meal, they may not need or want as much as they had at the last one. Some days, dogs here get two big meals with 3-4 'snacks' throughout the day, some days it's just the morning and night meals, depending on how they're acting or if they actually seem hungry.

Be sure to check out any specialty markets and what I call the 'weird corner' of meat departments for chicken feet, beef cheeks, whole tails, raw ears, and things that a lot of people look at and kind of headtilt over.
When they're on sale, we also buy up cheap cornish game hens and stuff them with chicken organs for a change of pace meal (the cats like that too!).

Asian markets also are a good place to get chicken feet, at least around here.

Variety is also important; chicken parts alone won't make up for a complete diet and over time you may run into nutritional deficiency related health problems.

Be sure to also include organ meats (livers, gizzards, hearts, kidneys, etc...) and, if you find you can't or don't want to incorporate whole prey at all, we always pulped up vegetables and mixed them with either organ or muscle meat and egg to make 'ground up prey'; the vegetables were just meant to take the place of the fiber they'd otherwise get through hair, feathers, nails, etc...in whole prey. Since we started keeping snakes, we just started tossing in day old chicks, guinea pigs, and rabbits on the snake orders (one of our snakes is large enough to be a bunny eater) and share those with the dogs and cats as a two or three times per week meal.


AND ALLERGIES! Let me tell you about allergies! 

We had a cat a few years ago that was so horribly allergic to anything corn, soy, or wheat related that even meat or eggs from an animal that had been fed corn/wheat/soy based feed would trigger her reactions. Through process of elimination, we also found out she was allergic to lamb, turkey and pork., so she was super fun to have to feed away from everyone else--but, she was healthier for it.
She was also allergic to flax, potato, rice, peas, barley, rye, sweet potato, and oats so there was pretty much no kibble in existence that worked for her. We knew immediately if a food had it as she would get yeast infections in her ears and have bouts of bloody IBS. Once we got her on a version of raw that worked for her, she had flawless health until age 22, when she had a stroke.

Our mini-schnauzer has super sensitive skin (and is allergic to every flea & tick we've tried, even the new chewables make her skin break out in itchy bumps) and has corn, wheat, soy, and beef allergies so for her, it's chicken, bison, and lamb parts, as well as organs, and green tripe which we order from hare-today.com, and no pork because it makes her gassy.

She also has some environmental allergies (pine pollen seems to be a big one and, of course, our yard is chock full of, you guessed it, PINE TREES!) as well, so be aware that if your Tess has those that raw feeding probably won't help there.

Most commonly, for dogs, it's wheat, corn, soy, and beef that trigger food allergies, so if you're trying to eliminate common allergens, be extra sure to read labels on EVERYTHING, even some edible chews are full of wheat gluten or soy based stabilizers/proteins.

Starchy things are common allergens too, so keep an eye out with treats that contain any plant material that could be considered 'starchy'.

For treats, with our allergy prone animals, we always just stuck to the freeze dried liver or freeze dried meat/tripe treats that had one ingredient: Freeze dried $organ.  Much easier to avoid allergens that way.


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## Linda1270 (Sep 7, 2012)

Subdouls - Thank you so much for all the great information. Even thought I've been researching feeding raw for a while now, I'm still a little afraid at what I'm doing. I want to be sure I give my girls the right amount of what they need. 

I ended up purchasing a large package of chicken thighs for $4.00 and some chicken wings, which I already had. For the last two nights I have given my girls chicken thighs along with a chicken wing. 

I have been giving Maisie, my Cairn Terrier, 1/2 Chicken thigh and a chicken wing. I gave Tess, my GSD, 2 chicken thighs and a couple of wings. Maisie seems to like the raw more than Tess does. My problem is finding the right things to feed them.

In the mornings, I have been giving them their kibble, Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream. Once I get a meat source that I can afford, I plan on going 100%.

I am going to Walmart today to see if I can find some chicken quarters. I don't want to keep giving them chicken thighs and wings. I plan on adding some MM next week or is it OM I should add next. I will have to refer to my notes on that one. I can't wait until I have this down and know what I am doing. I think that both girls will do amazing on a raw diet.


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