# Chicken ok as the only meat?



## gsdemack (Feb 19, 2013)

I tried loads of different meats but chicken has worked out to be the one my 27kg female likes the most....

I give her 1kg (about two pounds worth) of chicken in one meal per day.....and every third day I substitute one of those lbs with tripe (so it's half chicken, half tripe) .....

I mix in some liver every few days and have started adding a teaspoon of olive oil into her meals too; she eats once per day.

She eats raw bones every few days but I think the meat I get is 10 percent bone anyway.....

Do I need to use other meats such as red meat for example? Thanks.


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## voodoolamb (Jun 21, 2015)

My number one rule is variety. However, if she doesn't tolerate other meats well. She doesnt tolerate them. 

Plenty of allergy dogs live lives on single proteins and do fine.

That said, its hard to balance a raw diet with just chicken. Secreting organs (which should make up 5% of the diet) are hard to come by in chicken. 

I suggest finding a good recipe that uses fruits and veggies to help make up nutritional deficiencies. You may also want to consider adding enzymes to the diet due to lack of certain organs. 

Or. You can often find whole ground chicken for pet comsumption. I am talking about the entire chicken carcass. 

If that's not an option for you, there are several companies that offer vitamin premixes that you add to plain muscle meat which makes a completely balanced diet. BalanceIT and Oasis Canine are two that come to mind that. There are also companies that offer whole food and vitamin mixes you add meat to to create a balanced meal like the honest kitchen and sojos.

Lots of options depending on your feeding philosophy and budget


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

I have a couple with allergies, thankfully they both can have chicken and turkey. The GSD can have more proteins, but they are more exotic, which can be difficult. My golden can have 4 proteins. Moose and venison are the red meats, impossible to get mouse and venison is a hot meat do I can't overdue that either. I've been sneaking in Emu, llama, and goat. 

I like variety and I try to give them 2-3 different proteins per meal. None of them get duck, it's not tolerated well by any of them.


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## atravis (Sep 24, 2008)

If you're only going to be using one protein source, you really do have to be careful and make sure the rest of the diet compensates for what is lacking in the chicken... and unfortunately, chicken is lacking in _a lot_. 

I spent days toiling over nutritional spreadsheets to try and figure this one out myself, as for a long time chicken was the only meat I had access to at a good price. That said, I did come up with a diet that, at least according to the National Research Council's number's for daily required nutrients, is pretty long-term sustainable using primarily chicken. You can see the spreadsheet used HERE. 

Anyway, a day's worth of food for an active 70-ish lb dog taking in around 1600 kcals/day would look like this:

x2 raw chicken leg quarters (weighing aprox. 8oz each) skin removal optional depending on needs of the dog
x1 serving/day of raw beef kidney (1.2oz) and raw beef liver (1.2oz)
1 cup of pureed raw asparagus (magnesium, potassium, manganese, iron)
1 cup of boil oats (another important source of magnesium and manganese)
x1 serving daily aprox. 1oz of canned oysters (the only way to get enough zinc to balance)
1 large egg 
1 tbs of wheat germ oil (vit. e)
1 tbs of molasses (potassium, iron, manganese and flavor for picky eaters) 
1 tbs of nutritional yeast 
1 tbs ground alfalfa 

Its really not as simple as many people assume it is to balance a diet... that said, shortcomings are much easier to compensate for when you actually have a decent variety of meat to choose from, as often one thing will make up for something else in the long run. 

Also, this diet does call for beef organ, which you can pan sear for the first few feedings to get her interested in them if she's picky. Though honestly if you mix everything up will enough she likely wont even notice them (a spoonful of molasses really does make the medicine go down). 

Everything upfront costs around $80 if you have decent sourcing, and things like the molasses, alfalfa, yeast, etc will last you for several months.


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## gsdemack (Feb 19, 2013)

I think it has been to do with the meat quality at times that she has turned down food.....I'm going to try another one anyway....

here is where i order from:
what would people here recommend, I will also be getting beef hearts for extra nutrition for treats every other day.....

meat for dogs and cats, BARF, raw feeding, quality human grade meats for pets, raw diet for dogs


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

I don't feed raw, but dogs can become allergic to anything. Mine seems to be allergic to chicken, so I had to switch to a food using a different protein source.


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## gsdemack (Feb 19, 2013)

Hello again,
As of this afternoon I have received the following ingredients:

14lbs of rabbit
14lbs of beef.
7lbs of Chicken
7lbs of Tripe
Liver chunks
Heart chunks
Duck necks


Gennerally she eats about 2lbs of food per day (1kg as we use here)

I have been giving her 2lbs of chicken once a day for the last few days.
This evening my plan is to give her 1 pound of beef and a lb of chicken mixed. Maybe the same again then tomorrow?

Thanks. Do you really need vegtables too?


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## gsdemack (Feb 19, 2013)

Anyone?


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## Chai (Dec 11, 2014)

I follow the prey model, which doesn't call for fruits or vegetables, but seeing as you are having difficulty with other meat sources it may be an option for you. I don't worry about them because my dog a very large variety of meat, plus supplements daily. However, I have heard that some people feed fruits and vegetables to their dogs and have great success with it.


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