# Raw feeding for the faint hearted?



## Pretzels (Aug 11, 2014)

Hello! I've been lurking here ever since I got my puppy at 8 weeks, he is now 9 months, so its been a while, but this is my first post. This forum has been SO very helpful to me and my pup and i've learned so much so thanks everyone! 

So, I have some questions about possibly starting out raw feeding in the future...
With all the time I spent researching diet for my pup, I can't help but feel that Im not giving my dog the best unless I feed raw…  I have him on Orijen LBP with Prozyme Plus, salmon oil and vit E, coconut oil, and glucosamine/vitamin C. I think he's doing pretty well on this diet, mainly since I added the enzymes and started giving kefir before breakfast. 

But I feel like something could maybe work better for him, and also as a college student, I don't know how much longer I can afford Orijen, especially since he only seems to do well with the enzymes and all those other supplements! I don't think I could feel good about feeding a different brand of kibble though, largely because I believe the source of the meat is important (and I think Orijen is the only one that actually says where the meat comes from!) as well has high meat content/ low carbs in the food. 

HOWEVER, my problem is that I've been a vegetarian since I was like 4 and I would almost say I have a phobia of meat. I mean, I give meat/seafood sections of the grocery store a wide berth and avoid touching even cooked meat at all costs, lol, its ridiculous!!! But a raw diet for dogs makes so much sense, and I have heard so many great things about it…I thinks its especially great if I could get the food from quality sources where the animals are humanely raised and hormone free. So im toying with the idea of giving it a try, maybe in a few months or so. I think mayyybe I could get over it. 

Is there a way to feed raw that has benefit over kibble with more minimal handling and hands on dissecting of raw carcasses and guts? Like can you buy pieces of things that you don't have to separate and cut so much. Maybe things that you could just buy, freeze, and give it to the dog in whole pieces? At least until I got more used to the whole thing. 

Also, I spend $80 per month on Orijen and then some more for the supplements, so I was wondering if you can feed raw for less or around the same price?

Thanks! Any info would be greatly appreciated!


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## wyoung2153 (Feb 28, 2010)

My personal opinion for you if you aren't to the point of dissecting your own chicken.. you CAN get premade raw.. they come in patties or rolls and you just put it in the bowl after it thaws. super easy BUT pretty pricey. In my experience, from trying raw for about 6 months, if you can't go raw enough to get bulk items from a local butcher or something and butcher them mostly yourself, it becomes pretty expensive. 

I agree with the raw diet, but it wasn't for us, finanically and with all Titan's pickiness. Just didn't work. If you are't opposed to trying another kibble if you can't do raw. Check out Canine Caviar. It's not a widely known brand, and I have to oder it online, but they are good quality and I stand behind the reason for the company being started. Check em out..

Home | Canine Caviar Home

Either way, I hope you can find something that works for you both! I know figuring out feeding is sometimes a pain.


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## Traveler's Mom (Sep 24, 2012)

I'm not a vegetarian but I can relate. My husband loves liver and there is no way I would ever cook liver for him. No way! But....
he came home the other night and there I was, at the oven checking up on some liver I was dehydrating for Traveler I never thought I'd be able to take a hunk of heart meat or other assorted guts and chop them up in MY kitchen, on MY cutting board, bag them up on MY counter, and then freeze them in MY freezer next to MY ice cream!

I amaze myself to see what I will willingly do for the dog.

If it's any consolation, you only throw up the first few times you do it:laugh:

Lynn & Traveler


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## Bear L (Feb 9, 2012)

Before I had dogs I never thought I'd be ok wiping up butt holes smeared with it and sometimes with my bare hands to get it real clean. 

You have the ability to adapt more quickly and effectively than you think.


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## mspiker03 (Dec 7, 2006)

I use disposable gloves (I buy in bulk at Costco). 

I find chicken drumsticks need minimal attention and either ground beef or turkey is pretty easy to deal with -that is usually what I get when I travel. I am too lazy these days to hack up dog food. I just buy different parts in bulk. But, maybe spend a little bit more at the beginning and get a pre-made raw food to see how it goes and start to get used to the idea.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Do you have Bravo Balance available to you? A roll of chicken is about $13. I feed 10oz per day plus whatever training treats he gets. A 5# roll should last about a week for you depending on how much you feed.


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## sterlingmaloryarcher (Aug 16, 2014)

I'm vegan so starting Archer on raw was a bit nervewracking and out of my depth. In the beginning, I tried not to touch anything, but it turned out that Archer needed some handfeeding in the beginning until he figured out what he was doing.

I've been raw feeding Archer for three weeks and I've already gotten completely hands on with cutting up pork spareribs and chopping up and portioning weird cuts of meat.

The best thing to start off with is get some beginning cuts of meat that don't really have to be handled while you still get used to it. Chicken quarters, backs, necks, and drumsticks can all be picked up or handled with a fork instead of your hands.


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## Carriesue (Aug 13, 2012)

Where are you located? There are a few places in the states where you can buy premade ground raw that is actually still raw(most pet store raw is pasteurized and treated) and not filled with fillers... also pet store raw is insanely expensive for large dogs.

I started out with these, I'm not faint of heart but I have an unpredictable stomach that acts up on it's own accord and would occasionally get very nauseous. You don't 'have' to buy whole carcasses... when I get my bulk orders it's things like chicken quarters, necks, hearts, wings, muscle meat. Now organs are disgusting but some of these online places you can order ground organ(some dogs are picky with organ too so this helps) and things like tongue and what have you take some getting used to.

Now that I've been doing it awhile I'm getting more and more used to it and recently hacked up a whole cow liver bare handed LOL. 

Feeding ground isn't ideal but if it's the only way you can stomach it well it beats out kibble still.


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## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

You could turn this situation into a win/win outcome....your love for your dog with the desire to feed raw could help you overcome your "phobia" of meat.

The disposable gloves idea sounds like a good start.

Oh, phobias are not necessarily ridiculous at all....just another hurdle in life which we can choose to confront...especially for the best of reasons...and I think you have a wonderful reason...9 month furry best of friends seems like a great reason.

I'm betting that you end up doing what is best.


SuperG


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

A friend has a butcher shop grind it up and measure out patties for her--premade portions. It's expensive, but she just pulls out a patty, and dinner is served. They don't include bone. I think she buys a mix from Wendy Volhard (Volhard Dog Nutrition) to add to the ground beef.

You can also buy a mix from Honest Kitchen to add to fresh meat (cubed or ground). Example: Preference Meat-Free Dog Food | The Honest Kitchen

I've been vegetarian for 20 years, so I get where you are coming from. I'm not dissecting anything. I will, however, buy ground "dog food mix" from a high-end butcher for my foster dogs -- it's hearts, tongues, livers, and kidneys. It's _nasty_. I cook it b/c we deal with a lot of sick dogs who shouldn't get raw. I've seen what the cooked product does to turn health around in dogs near death's door--there's nothing else I can feed that has as profound an effect as this organ-rich meat mix. I've tried--this stuff is magical. If patronizing a local slaughterhouse gets them healthy, I'm doing it. I'm not eating that stuff myself, but for the dogs, I'll buy it.

We have an extra set of red-handles cooking utensils (big spoon, silicon spatula, etc.), huge red plastic bowl, separate cutting board, etc. for mixing up dog food and handling their meat. That set lives in a cabinet over the fridge, where it does not come in contact with human food preparation items. I buy thick rubber gloves at Walgreen when they go on sale 3/$1 a few times a year -- when done, I wash them in the laundry sink and soak them in bleach water for next time. Same goes with the dog cooking items -- wash in the laundry sink, soak in bleach water.


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## Muskeg (Jun 15, 2012)

I can't imagine trying to feed a balanced raw diet on a college student's income, along with space in freezer issues. There are pre-made ground raw diets you can buy cheaply if you are lucky, but from my research if you want to do that at a reasonable price, you have to buy in bulk which means having a separate freezer just for dog food. 

Raw is great, but it can be tricky to get right, and I found it prohibitively expensive unless I went the bulk route and bought a freezer just for the dogs' meat. I currently feed my dogs a high quality kibble which I pay around $1.10 a pound for 30/20 protein/fat ratio. 

I read an article recently about paleolithic human diets- which people often describe as meat-based- "paleo diet", but which actually varied greatly based on where people were living and what foods they had access to. Many paleo diets incorporated meat only rarely. My point being, if dogs evolved with humans, and were fed scraps of what people were eating, dogs were eating a lot of plant matter. Aside from the Arctic peoples, most paleolithic humans simply didn't have access to a whole lot of meat. And, thus, neither did their dogs.


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## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

Jax08 said:


> Do you have Bravo Balance available to you? A roll of chicken is about $13. I feed 10oz per day plus whatever training treats he gets. A 5# roll should last about a week for you depending on how much you feed.


Yikes! Rafi must have really high metabolism! 10 pounds lasts him 9 days. When he was younger it lasted about a week. 

I buy the 10 pound chubs. My cats eat Bravo too. I divide it up and store it in the freezer in Pyrex containers. I have a regular freezer and have my own food in there in addition to the dog and cat food.


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## blackshep (Aug 3, 2012)

Why don't you start out with a prepared blend? Then you don't have to worry about balancing it or handling it too much. Or some of the grosser cuts or things you inevitably end up feeding.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

BowWowMeow said:


> Yikes! Rafi must have really high metabolism! 10 pounds lasts him 9 days. When he was younger it lasted about a week.


"plus whatever training treats"

I go thru half a chub of Redbarn when I track. I use his food to train and added to that is more Redbarn, baked liver, cheese.

And I get the 10# chubs. I messed that up.


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## Neo93 (Apr 25, 2011)

Bravo makes 10 lb chubs?? All I can find here is 5#, and even that is hard to find.

And speaking of high metabolism, my Mal weighs 68 lb and eats between 3 and 4 lb of raw/day depending on activity - wish I had his metabolism! The 80 lb GSD only eats 1.5 lb/day.


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## ReneeBuckley (Sep 18, 2014)

In addition to the pre-made sausage type raw food I just buy big bags of chicken necks, chicken wings and things like lamb hearts, kidneys etc and then bag them up into portions... while it's a bit gross bagging it all up it makes it pretty easy to just defrost a bag and tip it into her bowl and at least there's no cutting involved - cause hacking up carcases and the like turns my stomach too :crazy:


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## Pretzels (Aug 11, 2014)

Thank you all for the incredibly helpful replies! I feel a lot better now!! Glad to know there are others that have overcome the grossness factor!  Im thinking once I move into my new apartment, I will try pre made raw and slowly ease into making my own. 
Im thinking I will try Bravo! is I can get it locally. With how much my pup eats, the Bravo diet will still probably end up on the more expensive side… especially buying the non chicken ones. 

I was wondering… Is there a benefit to feeding Raw in the morning, and kibble at night… or raw 3-4 days a week and kibble on the other days? Or would that just confuse is system and make things worse?


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