# How lean should I feed?



## Haretakis (Mar 18, 2011)

My biggest remaining question about a raw diet is how lean should my MMs be and same for the RMBs? For example, should I always leave the chicken skin on? If I wanna feed ground meat...how lean should it be?


----------



## sable123 (Jul 11, 2010)

Haretakis said:


> My biggest remaining question about a raw diet is how lean should my MMs be and same for the RMBs? For example, should I always leave the chicken skin on? If I wanna feed ground meat...how lean should it be?


How would you know how much fat you are feeding?


----------



## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Dogs need fat...chicken skin has nutritious benefits as long as it is balanced with meat and bone. Wings tend to have a bit too much for a young pup, so I would give disjointed wing sections(they have little skin attached) or necks for baby puppies. Older pups/dogs can handle that amount of skin. I wouldn't go lean for ground meats, but watch the amount of fat. If a dog is prone to pancreatic issues, less/no fat would be recommended. 
DogAware.com Articles: Homemade Raw Diets for Dogs


----------



## rjvamp (Aug 23, 2008)

I just started back on raw and I grind up the whole thing so the mix of skin, meat, heart, liver, gizzard and bone is superb. I did add some olive and canola oil today (along with some carrots and blueberries). I'm going out this coming weekend to get some fish oil to replace the other oils. Sometimes I trim some of the extra hanging fat but most of the time I don't.

Some folks don't grind and yes grinding does reduce the good about the dental cleanup. I'm just not to set on Jack eating the chicken as it is....he doesn't quite get the whole chewing up completely part. Strange since he knows how to gnaw on raw hides just fine. As long as they get the raw hides their teeth stay clean. And grinding is good for my little doxie who has half his teeth gone. He did go at it last year with chicken wings but I could tell his teeth were just not up to the task.


----------



## rjvamp (Aug 23, 2008)

onyx'girl said:


> .... If a dog is prone to pancreatic issues, less/no fat would be recommended.
> DogAware.com Articles: Homemade Raw Diets for Dogs


Very good point.


----------



## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

dogs need fat , "raw" fat - and chicken has omega 3's. Watch that your canola oil is not GMO.


----------



## rjvamp (Aug 23, 2008)

carmspack said:


> dogs need fat , "raw" fat - and chicken has omega 3's. Watch that your canola oil is not GMO.


I want the fish Omegas 

I'm not worried about GMO - not getting in that debate though. But thanks for caring


----------



## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

If I have a dog that is a bit heavier than they should be I might remove a bit of the excessive fat that is found on chicken backs. Otherwise I do not remove fat.

Free range chicken has good Omega 3's, but not so much the commercially raised chickens that many of us feed. I use salmon oil and eggs from free ranging chickens (with the nice dark orange yolks).


----------



## Haretakis (Mar 18, 2011)

So...basically don't worry about it? The one I'm most curious about is stuff like ground beef or anything ground. Should I do closer to 40% or 80% lean?


----------



## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

I don't use much ground meet and the rare times that I do I get the stuff that is probably higher in fat.


----------



## JerzeyGSD (Jun 26, 2008)

I generally use 80% fat, which is the fattiest ground beef I can get, simply because it's cheaper. Can't have the pup eating better than me  I don't really see a problem either way, except for the pancreatic one mentioned above. Jerz just seems to be able to burn that fat off (a lot quicker than I can!) so I try to make sure that she gets a decent amount of it in her food, esp. since the base of her meals, turkey necks, are a little leaner.


----------

