# Help with menu



## sleepybree03 (Dec 14, 2007)

> Originally Posted By: Lauri & The GangI moved this post out of the Our Dogs Menus thread so it wasn't buried in there



ok, all these menus are very helpful! I am new and have no idea where to start! I was planning on this kinda menu so any criticisms would be very helpful. I have two gsds: one female one male both at around 78 pounds. I would say average activity level most days.

I bought turkey drumsticks, ground up chicken, chicken drumsticks and I always have a variety of vegetables since i am an vegetarian ( which makes this diet a little harder for me!). Is it ok to portion it sort of how like a grown man would it instead of having to weigh everything? I figured I would give one turkey drumstick each ( they look big), plus veggies like carrots and green beans that i know they like, an egg, brown rice ( or no?),a bit of olive oil, I have some peanut better that is fortified to get like 1000 mgs of omega 3's per serving ( that i need since i do not wat any meat) , so I give them a serving or two of that, and yogurt. And I would feed this twice a day but at night maybe instead put in ground chicken or a leg quarter? Are turkey bones ok?


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

bump to get it back to the top


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## RavenSophi (Feb 23, 2009)

Nope...it's not possible to feed without weighing. If you don't want to weight daily buy in bulk and make up a few weeks food. 

You don't have to give the veggies but it is ok if you want to but all the misc stuff should only make out 5%...that is if you're using the 45%MM 45%RMB 5%Om and 5%MISC

You have to give ground chicken (MM) (that is if it is the meat part and not meat ground with bone) and RMB and can't leave one or the other out. 
The yogurt sounds good. I'd leave the peanut butter out for a snack (fill a kong or something) and not everyday. 

You have to add organ meats...liver, kidneys etc and I'd also suggest adding a little more variety of meat on other days...lamb...beef...fish, etc. 

That's all I can think of now.


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## RavenSophi (Feb 23, 2009)

I suggest:

Day one to three
450g ground chicken (again...this means it is the chicken meat alone)
450g turkey or chicken drumstick or other part of RMB like backs etc
(I leave out the OM and MISC for the first 3 days)

You can devide the above in 2 and feed morning and evening

Day four to six
450g ground chicken
450g turkey or chicken drumstick or other RMB
25g organ meat - liver, kidney, lung, etc
25g veggies (try not to boil...thaw and then pulp) and 1 tbs of yogurt

Day seven
225g ground chicken
225g ground beef/lamb
450g turkey or chicken drumstick or other RMB
50g organ meat - liver, kidney, lung, etc
50g veggies (try not to boil...thaw and then pulp) and 1 tbs of yogurt

Day eight
225g ground chicken
225g ground beef/lamb
450g RMB of your choice
50g organ meat
50g veggies and 1tbs of yogurt

Continue like that for two weeks replacing 225g with another MM but leave the chicken. After two weeks I'd throw in some fish to see if he likes it. 

Leave out rice. It's unnecessary. You can add different oils to help with the omegas. 

This is just one way of doing it and I only post it because it worked for Blake and me but you don't HAVE to do it this way...you can addapt and will probably HAVE to addapt to fit your dogs needs and likes.









Good luck!


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## mspiker03 (Dec 7, 2006)

I personally would buy a digital scale and weigh meals. I think of it like this - when we fed kibble, I scooped x number of cups for the dogs so I knew exactly how much I was feeding. Now, I weigh the food so I know how much each dog is getting. Also, that helps me determine if I am feeding the correct amount of food - is the dog gaining too much weight...then I can easily decrease; has the dog lost weight...then I can add; also, overfeeding can cause the dog to get the runs. 

I would start feeding your dog only one protein source at first to make sure he/she can handle it and then add new sources one at a time. I would add more variety than just chicken and turkey. Beef, lamb, duck, fish, pork - those are all good meats to add. Variety is key because each meat has different vitamins/nutrients. You'll also need to add some Organ Meat as RavenSophi stated.

I don't think brown rice is necessary...nor do I feed many veggies (but I know some people that do). You need to cook or puree those veggies so the dogs can digest them.

I know of a few people who feed raw and are vegetarians...


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## FourIsCompany (Jan 29, 2008)

I bought a scale at WalMart for pretty cheap. I wouldn't think of feeding them without weighing it, in the beginning, until I had a pretty good idea of what they needed to maintain their weight. 

I'm starting tomorrow and will be giving chicken parts (some with bones, some without) for 2 weeks, introducing organs (chicken livers as the organ) in the second week. After that, 50% meat with bones, 45% meat without bones and 5% organs. Each week or so, I will introduce another kind of meat (pork, beef, etc)

I won't be feeding veggies because they don't need them and can't digest them unless they're pulverized. 

Jaia weighs 80 lbs and his daily serving is about 2 lbs. My dogs will also get a couple eggs per week and a couple fish oil caps per day (I may have to adjust that down).

I used this handy-dandy spreadsheet that Lauri made to figure out how much each dog needs. On this page is the link to the Spreadsheet.


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## sleepybree03 (Dec 14, 2007)

Thanks! I guess I am confused thinking that they needed to get like half meat and half veggies. So can one meal have the ground meat and another meal have the meat with bone ( like a drumstick?) or would it be like one drumstick/ground meat per meal? Sorry I am not yet familiar with all the abbreviations or the terms for feeding a raw diet. Today, I gave them a puree of carrots/cauliflower, tuna in olive oil ( one can each), and ground chicken ( like half a pound each). I know now that I gave them waaaay to much veggies cuz that was like half or alittle less than half. Tomorrow I will buy chicken livers or something similar ( i need to print out the ideas you guys gave me on here thanks!). So it is ok for them to eat bones everyday ( like a chicken drumstick)? I need all the help I can get lol I have always given them cooked food here and there with their kibble and given then veggies but this is the first time I've given raw. Oh also, so far I give them one meal raw and one meal kibble to make sure they can handle it. Is that ok? so far, their poop is fine.


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## RavenSophi (Feb 23, 2009)

Some people do not feed veggies at all and the dogs are perfectly healthy. That just shows you that veggies isn't really necessary and half veggies is way too much. Dogs are carnivores and they eat meat. 

One meal say breakfast, can have the meat with bone (RMB - RAW MEATY BONE) and the other meal say dinner can have the ground meat (MM - MUSCLE MEAT). 

Buy chicken livers (OM - ORGAN MEAT) but don't give it to them yet as they only just now started and it might give them runny poo. 

They should eat bones everyday...RMB and MM is the most important, it should make out the basis of their food. If you don't give them bones everyday and just MM and OM and MISC they will most likely get runny poo. The RMB and MM help keep the system nice and healthy and 'normalizes' the poo if you want to call it that. 

You can decide if you want to make the transition slowly, like you're doing now or if you want to go all the way from day one. I prefer going all the way from day one as it will make the process of them getting used to one protien source go quicker and thus can add other kinds of meats sooner to add more variety and in the end have a healthier dog.


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

Don't bother with the tuna. It has the potential to be very high in mercury and is expensive.

Here's a basic breakdown:

50% of the diet in raw meaty bones
45% of the diet in muscle meat (meat with NO bones)
5% of the diet in organ meat

So yes, the dog NEEDS to eat bones every day - but they must be edible bones. Any part of a chicken or turkey that has bone, beef/pork/lamb neck bones, whole fish - those are the most common raw meaty bone.


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## JerzeyGSD (Jun 26, 2008)

There are two types of raw diets:

1. BARF, which believe that you should feed veggies and

2. Prey Model, which believes that you should feed whole prey in a way that a dog would catch it in the wild. This would mean that, generally speaking, your dog would only get veggies in the stomach lining of the animals (green tripe.)

Turkey bones are fine. I know some people on the forum prefer turkey necks to drumsticks (the drumsticks, as weight-baring bones, tend to be harder) but Jerzey has gotten through them with no problem. Granted, she is a puppy and has strong, young teeth so that might be something to consider. If your dogs are older or have had any problems with their teeth you might want to avoid them... *shrugs*

You would also need to add some kind of MM (muscle meat) to the diet. You can't just feed turkey legs as the main part of the meal without some additional boneless meat (like the ground chicken you mentioned.)

Another point to mention: variety in a raw diet is extremely important. Continue to add in different types of meat because the have different nutrients and enzymes that your dog will need. You don't just want to feed chicken and turkey but also beef, venison, lamb, bison, fish, pork, rabbit, quail, etc. etc. etc. Anything and everything you can get your hands on (and that your dogs gut can handle without constantly pudding-like poops.)

Good luck with your first days of raw.


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## sleepybree03 (Dec 14, 2007)

Thanks! Today I gave them ground beef, chicken quarters, and a little pit of peas ( i cooked too much of it for hubby). They loved it! The only thing I need to buy is the chicken livers and I guess I will give them very little bits since they have never eaten that before. The only meats I see readily available to me are beef, chicken, and turkey mostly ( and I guess some fish). I will stop the tuna thanks for the tip! I have pet rabbits (litter trained like cats and everything) so..no rabbit meat for them I will freak out! lol








Oh, and thanks I was wondering what tripe was. 
It's been great so far they seem much calmer after they eat like they are more satisfied or something.


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## JerzeyGSD (Jun 26, 2008)

Canned mackerel is a great, cheap canned fish source and, while I understand your hesitation about feeding rabbit, your dogs will NOT know that they ones they live with are the same species as what they are eating. 

ETA: check out this thread.... the first set of pictures are of a dog eating chicken, right next to a chicken.


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