# Can someone help me get started?



## CarLooSHoo (Feb 26, 2009)

I have read so much there is to know about raw feeding or lightly cooked feeding, but I am feeling overwhelmed. From what I understand, everything goes by weight and age and there are certain things I should know about vitamins and supplements. 

I just feel like I will mess up. If someone can maybe just give me an idea of what they feed there dog on a weekly basis, maybe I can get a better understanding. I'm wanting to really do this for both my dogs because one dog now has an autoimmune disease and I do NOT want to give him steroids the rest of his life and I really think his diet will help him immune system a lot.

Meesha is 90 lbs and Sammy is 60 lbs. How would I feed them? 10% is organ meats right? And should every other meal contain meaty bones? Please...I think I'm confusing myself. If anyone can give me an example of their weekly meals I would be forever thankful!!!


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

Hi Carla,

I was extremely overwhelmed when I started too. There are so many different opinions and much contrasting information on the internet including this forum. However, once you decide which model you want to follow and make decisions on what & how much to feed, it is quite simple to do. I used Welcome to the Raw Dog Ranch and Calculate to develop my plan. 

One mistake I made and I see others making constantly is to just jump in and start feeding different things which end up causing diarrhea and constipation. For example while I was still learning about raw I started throwing big pieces of organ meat into my dogs food and then he had such bad diarrhea I had to feed something else to fix that...next thing ya know he was constipated. Ya know what saying?


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## CarLooSHoo (Feb 26, 2009)

That's exactly what I don't want to do. I don't want to go into this and make my dogs miserable with horrible poop problems. I once fed Meesha a chicken liver because I was curious how she would take it and she ended up having diarrhea, I think the liver was too big and she was a puppy at the time. Thank you for the links!


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

Bumping the thread hoping you'll get more opinions...eventhough mine is the only correct one


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## CarLooSHoo (Feb 26, 2009)

Thank you for everything Carrie!


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

The link that Mac's Mom provided would be one of the best places to start.


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## ahowe1 (Jun 4, 2011)

*I just found this online....*

Sample Menu - Totally Raw Natural Dog Food

Looks good to me. Probably about 1.5x cost per month of what I was feeding him kibble and canned for. I think I'm ok with that.

let me know if that helps.


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## Tbarrios333 (May 31, 2009)

I feed my dogs beef heart, pork heart, chix necks, chix liver, occasional turkey necks, and some mackerel.
I don't have a certain schedule to feed it on like Monday I feed this and Tuesday that. Just like our diet isn't a science, your dog's diet doesn't have to complicated. The only reason we have to calculate so much is so that the dogs don't get constipated etc or get too fat.
I feed liver every other day or so for fear of gout. Mackerel I feed maybe every couple of weeks when I buy the cans. Turkey I can't seem to get until Thanksgiving so that will have to wait. Chicken is a staple because it's cheap. My main MM is pork heart and beef heart which I try to alternate every week, but it doesn't always happen.
I also feed green tripe, fish oil, and I give them a digestive aid if their system isn't doing so well or they are recovering from something. Sometimes they get canned pumpkin and plain yogurt, but the yogurt is pretty unnecessary. I don't give them supplements and I probably never will unless one develops joint issues. I think I'm forgetting something but thats about it.


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

CarLooSHoo said:


> I'm wanting to really do this for both my dogs because one dog now has an autoimmune disease and I do NOT want to give him steroids the rest of his life and I really think his diet will help him immune system a lot.


Which AI disease does he have?



> Meesha is 90 lbs and Sammy is 60 lbs.


Ages? Are they both full-grown adults?



> How would I feed them? 10% is organ meats right? And should every other meal contain meaty bones? Please...I think I'm confusing myself. If anyone can give me an example of their weekly meals I would be forever thankful!!!


Ok, here's what my guys get on an average day:

50% of their TOTAL DAILY INTAKE is fed using Muscle Meat (any meat without bone)

45% of their TOTAL DAILY INTAKE is fed using Raw Meaty Bones (any meat with bone item that can be EASILY consumed by the dog)

5% of their TOTAL DAILY INTAKE is fed using Organ Meats (mostly liver and kidney although I sometimes get my hands on brains)

I'll use Mauser as an example for the calculating part ...

Mauser weighs 75 lbs and ranges between very active (when the weather is cooler and they are outside more) and moderately active (hot days) - so I calculate his TOTAL DAILY INTAKE at 2.75% of his weight.

75 * 2.75% = roughly 2 pounds of food per day

50% of that is fed using Muscle Meat (no bones) - so he gets about 16 ounces of MM

45% is fed using Raw Meaty Bones - so he gets about 14 ounces of RMBs (usually chicken parts with the occasional lab breast, turkey neck and rabbit)

5% - between 1.5 - 2 ounces - is organ meat (beef, deer or pork liver are our staples)


I feed my gang their RMBs in the morning because they will be LESS active after eating that meal. It is not the highest amount of food but I feel it's the stuff that needs the most work to digest (again - JMHO).

They get their RMBs and OM in the evenings.

Other than Green Tripe, which I use as a Muscle Meat, my dogs get NO vegetation as part of their daily diet.

That's it. Other than some basic supplements - Salmon Oil for Omega 3s (since I can't afford grass-fed meat for MYSELF let alone the dogs) and a basic multi-vitamin for growing puppies - that's all they get.


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## Tbarrios333 (May 31, 2009)

Tbarrios333 said:


> I don't give them *supplements* and I probably never will unless one develops joint issues. I think I'm forgetting something but thats about it.


Sorry, this should say _vitamins_. I don't believe in taking vitamins myself, so no reason to give them to the dogs. I do _supplement_ with fish oils and occasional digestive aid.

ETA: I do give them some veggies or oatmeal when I forget to defrost raw food, but I don't include it in their overall diet.


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

Tbarrios333 said:


> ETA: I do give them some veggies or oatmeal when I forget to defrost raw food, but I don't include it in their overall diet.


HA! I see I'm not the only one that has a box of instant Oatmeal on hand just for those times I forget to defrost! 

Actually, I have switched from that to canned Jack Mackerel because my Cresteds won't eat the oatmeal - even if I mix in a raw egg! They don't LIKE carbs!


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## Tbarrios333 (May 31, 2009)

Lauri & The Gang said:


> HA! I see I'm not the only one that has a box of instant Oatmeal on hand just for those times I forget to defrost!
> 
> Actually, I have switched from that to canned Jack Mackerel because my Cresteds won't eat the oatmeal - even if I mix in a raw egg! They don't LIKE carbs!


Lol, apparently Denali is like the cresteds, but she'll eat it so that the puppy won't!  She's actually less likely to eat the canned mackerel believe it or not! Apparently the prickly, thin bones offend her mouth.


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

Tbarrios333 said:


> Lol, apparently Denali is like the cresteds, but she'll eat it so that the puppy won't!  She's actually less likely to eat the canned mackerel believe it or not! Apparently the prickly, thin bones offend her mouth.


Wow! My 7 dogs AND the 3 cats fight over who gets to lick out all the bowls after the canned Mackerel is consumed!!  It's one of the few raw (well, not REALLY raw but close enough) thing I can get the cats to eat.


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## CarLooSHoo (Feb 26, 2009)

Sorry I haven't come online in a while, it's been a busy week/weekend. I hope some of you will still check back in this thread.



ahowe1 said:


> Sample Menu - Totally Raw Natural Dog Food
> 
> Looks good to me. Probably about 1.5x cost per month of what I was feeding him kibble and canned for. I think I'm ok with that.
> 
> let me know if that helps.


Thank you that helped a lot!



Lauri & The Gang said:


> Which AI disease does he have?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thankfully we found out he might not have the disease after all, if you want you can check out my thread about it here. http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/health-issues/162390-discoid-lupus-erythematosus-please-anyone-help.html
My dogs are both 2, going on 3 years old.
Thank you so much for your example menu! It really helped.


Tbarrios333 said:


> Sorry, this should say _vitamins_. I don't believe in taking vitamins myself, so no reason to give them to the dogs. I do _supplement_ with fish oils and occasional digestive aid.
> 
> ETA: I do give them some veggies or oatmeal when I forget to defrost raw food, but I don't include it in their overall diet.


Thank you for your advice!


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## logantaunt (Jul 4, 2011)

Carla, I too was confused by the amount of info and opinions on feeding raw. I started my 8 wk old gsd on raw as soon as I got her from the breeder. She went through a day or two of detox to rid her body of the kibble she was feed by the breeder. I bought the book " Natural Nutrition For Dogs and Cats" by Kymythy R. Schultze. This simplified the whole deal of raw feeding. Kittra, now 11 weeks old, gets ground chicken and bone in the morning, supplemented with fish oil, dried kelp and alfalfa, vitamin ester c and vitamin e. For lunch she gets raw chicken backs and necks. At supper I feed ground chicken, beef with bone and some raw tripe. I mix supper up with different things, including mackerel, tuna and sardines. I only give organ meat in small amounts 2 times a week. She is very healthy, her coat is like silk and she is spunky and full of life. Keep it simple and it's easy and great for the dog...Ronnie


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## malinois_16 (Aug 8, 2010)

Here is the video I made of raw feeding. Maybe this may help. Be nice its the first video I ever made


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