# Giving leg quarters in lieu of kibble.



## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

How often can I give chicken leg quarters in lieu of a kibble meal? I just got a deal on 40lb of them. I realize that leg quarters alone aren't balanced so I'm wondering how often I can feed them without causing an imbalance. I usually feed 1 cup, 3x per day for a total of 3 cups per day. I've been giving my dogs chicken leg quarters for years but have never had this much chicken at one time before.


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## qbchottu (Jul 10, 2011)

Wiva has trouble keeping on weight so I frequently give her raw mini-meals throughout the day. I don't really measure it, I just know that she benefits from the extra calories. The others will also get raw bites when I give Wiva hers. I give them chicken parts, organ meat, bison, deer, goat or whatever every other day or so. I feel them at 8AM and 10PM at night so any raw meat during the day isn't given close to kibble mealtimes. I never had a problem. I don't see an issue with supplementing with chicken if you give kibble to take care of "complete nutrition". I do reduce the kibble amount for my other dogs on chicken days though.


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## Mac's Mom (Jun 7, 2010)

Emoore said:


> How often can I give chicken leg quarters in lieu of a kibble meal? I just got a deal on 40lb of them. I realize that leg quarters alone aren't balanced so I'm wondering how often I can feed them without causing an imbalance. I usually feed 1 cup, 3x per day for a total of 3 cups per day. I've been giving my dogs chicken leg quarters for years but have never had this much chicken at one time before.


First of all...awesome! Second, when I decided to go from 100% raw to 50% kibble/50% raw I was told to do the math. I can help you with the math but I need to know how much your dog weighs & how active he his.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

That's the thing, I'm wondering how often I can give chicken and reduce kibble and still keep the nutrition complete. Rocky tends to get fat if I'm not careful so I can't just give him chicken-- it has to replace a meal.


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## Verivus (Nov 7, 2010)

Maybe one every other day or every three days if you're not willing to toss in some organs.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Mac's Mom said:


> First of all...awesome! Second, when I decided to go from 100% raw to 50% kibble/50% raw I was told to do the math. I can help you with the math but I need to know how much your dog weighs & how active he his.


Kopper weighs 73lb and is basically non-stop. We walk 2 miles a day, play fetch 4 or 5 times a day, and do agility. He's 15 months old

Rocky weighs 78lb and needs to get back down to 75. He walks 2 miles a day and lays on the couch the rest of the time. He's 10 years old.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

I think people over-think balancing raw - it is balance over time. I've never worried about portions, ratios, balance. I guestimate amounts and ratios, and after a couple of days of the same thing, I try to be creative and introduce a few different things for variety. If you ONLY fed chicken leg quarters, and nothing else, ever, THEN you would have an unbalanced diet. Keeta has been strictly on raw as she has incontinence issues if fed kibble or home-cooked, (so can't cheat and give her other stuff here and there) , and even with my lazy and unscientific approach, her blood work is always stellar.

So, can't answer you question as to exactly how many days in a row you can feed chicken leg quarters without causing an imbalance, but I would be completely comfortable in feeding several meals of chicken leg quarters in a row (as in two, three days), and then giving a couple of different meals for variety, then going back to chicken leg quarters, and so on until they are done. (I'm assuming after the 40 lbs are gone, you will be going back to mostly kibble with the occasional raw? That would be plenty of variety over time). 

Edited to add: for amounts, Keeta is a "good keeper", puts on weight very easily. She weighs 65lbs. She gets on chicken thigh a meal, sometimes a whole quarter, sometimes an egg and half a can of sardines - that's how little I feed her, and still struggle to keep her from getting fat.

Gryff is 82lbs, lots of energy, loves to run like mad. Tall and slim, and I struggle to keep him from looking too ribby - he easily wolves down two whole chicken quarters a meal, twice a day. I'll add in other stuff for him, he never seems to put on weight.

You'll find that 40 lbs won't last that long when feeding two dogs, certainly not long enough to worry about an imbalance.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Castlemaid said:


> (I'm assuming after the 40 lbs are gone, you will be going back to mostly kibble with the occasional raw? That would be plenty of variety over time).


In a month I can buy more! And even different stuff if I want! :wild:


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## Verivus (Nov 7, 2010)

I have some reservations regarding the "balance over time" aspect. I think the body can only process so much during a 24 hour period.


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## qbchottu (Jul 10, 2011)

Emoore said:


> That's the thing, I'm wondering how often I can give chicken and reduce kibble and still keep the nutrition complete. Rocky tends to get fat if I'm not careful so I can't just give him chicken-- it has to replace a meal.


Start with skipping a meal when you replace with raw. I find that a good sized leg quarter can keep them satiated just fine. Maybe replace the midday meal with a leg quarter so it doesn't interfere too much with kibble meals. Check weights after a week or two. If you find your older male gained, drop another half cup of kibble. Just fine tune till you find a balance. My dogs have really never gained any excess weight with raw. I only see them gaining if I am too generous with treats, peanut butter or kibble. I just do it by trial and error. If they have a really big knuckle bone one day, I will fast them that night. If one is looking chunky, I reduce kibble and add beans to bulk up the diet. If they are looking thin or lacking energy, I increase protein and add some good fats in their diet. Like Castlemaid said, it will take a longer time period to cause any noticeable nutritional deficiencies. You should be ok


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## Mac's Mom (Jun 7, 2010)

I agree with what Castlemaid said about overthinking it...

but here is the math...73 lb active dog may need about 35 ounces of meat per day. If you feed 3 cups of Kibble a day. Feed 1.5 cups kibble & 18 ounces of raw a day.


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## Clyde (Feb 13, 2011)

Most people I know who do kibble plus occasional RMB do the RMB about twice a week. Some do one large enough the dog gets no kibble that day and some do it just to replace half the kibble for the day.


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## KSdogowner (Jun 22, 2011)

Clyde said:


> Most people I know who do kibble plus occasional RMB do the RMB about twice a week. Some do one large enough the dog gets no kibble that day and some do it just to replace half the kibble for the day.


I am transitioning my GSDs to Raw right now and have been giving them chicken quarters for about 2 weeks every other day. I don't feed them kibble that day but I also add some organ to their meal (Beef kidney). I feed kibble on the days they don't get the Raw. Both Max and Sophie seem to be doing great. I will introduce them to another type of meat in about a week. So, I don't think your dogs will experience adverse effects feeding them only the chicken for RMB until your supply is exhausted especially since you will also get other types of meats after this.


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## omegastar (Dec 28, 2011)

Mac's Mom said:


> I agree with what Castlemaid said about overthinking it...
> 
> but here is the math...73 lb active dog may need about 35 ounces of meat per day. If you feed 3 cups of Kibble a day. Feed 1.5 cups kibble & 18 ounces of raw a day.


How did you come up with this formula?


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## Narny (Sep 8, 2010)

Mac's Mom said:


> I agree with what Castlemaid said about overthinking it...
> 
> but here is the math...73 lb active dog may need about 35 ounces of meat per day. If you feed 3 cups of Kibble a day. Feed 1.5 cups kibble & 18 ounces of raw a day.


I would like to know where this formula came from as well. When I get my dog I will want to do a 50/50 split. We often have left over chicken and beef parts from dinners plus gutting a chicken so being able to add this to an already balanced diet is something that interests me.


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## GSDAlphaMom (Jul 20, 2010)

I think I mentioned this when I saw you picking up that 40lbs of chicken! 
I feed my raw in the morning and kibble in the evening. I buy the blend though that already has the % mixed in. I do supplement that though with thighs/breast qtrs because the blend itself is more expensive.

I also buy the checken livers and dehyrate them for treats.


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## Holmeshx2 (Apr 25, 2010)

I'm pretty sure for that "formula" she just took how much meat the dog should get a day if he were strictly on raw and then how much kibble he was getting and cut each in half giving 1.5 cups of kibble and 18 ounces of meat.


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## BritneyP (Oct 26, 2006)

Castlemaid said:


> I think people over-think balancing raw - it is balance over time. I've never worried about portions, ratios, balance. I guestimate amounts and ratios, and after a couple of days of the same thing, I try to be creative and introduce a few different things for variety. If you ONLY fed chicken leg quarters, and nothing else, ever, THEN you would have an unbalanced diet. Keeta has been strictly on raw as she has incontinence issues if fed kibble or home-cooked, (so can't cheat and give her other stuff here and there) , and even with my lazy and unscientific approach, her blood work is always stellar.
> 
> So, can't answer you question as to exactly how many days in a row you can feed chicken leg quarters without causing an imbalance, but I would be completely comfortable in feeding several meals of chicken leg quarters in a row (as in two, three days), and then giving a couple of different meals for variety, then going back to chicken leg quarters, and so on until they are done. (I'm assuming after the 40 lbs are gone, you will be going back to mostly kibble with the occasional raw? That would be plenty of variety over time).
> 
> ...


Couldn't have said it better myself!!


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