Starting raw....again

This is a dedicated place for all of your questions and answers about Raw Diets. There are also some really cool groups like "Raw Fed" on the topic you can join. This forum is for people who already know they like the raw diet or sincerely want to learn more. Please remember that you are receiving advice from peers and not professionals. If you have specific health-related questions about your dog's diet, please contact your vet!

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Ava, NTD

Miss Ava Roo

Barked: Sun May 13, '12 6:47pm PST


	So, I've done raw in the past and had to go back to kibble for a variety of reasons. Since then, I've been wanting to go back to it and I think I'll be able to soon. I'm moving with Ava in the next few months while Snickers stays with my parents (he doesn't tolerate raw too well, so that's perfect) and I'm gonna give it another go. I have a few questions though. I'm looking at Hare Today/My Pet Carnivore and their blends use gizzards as organ. Are gizzards muscle meat or organ meat? I always thought muscle I also really worry about balancing and just making sure that she gets all that she needs. I know a lot of raw feeders don't need to see it on paper or something, but I do. Is there a concrete way to determine if she's getting anything? I plan to do plenty of variety, so that should help some. Meats that I plan on including are - chicken, beef, quail, eggs, pork, turkey, rabbit, and duck. Maybe some venison and lamb when I can get ahold of it. Some meals will be cuts of meat with bone, some will be whole prey, and some will be whole ground meats (organ, bone, and all). Of course, I know not to start out with a variety at first, but I need to budget and plan ahead for it. I'm really excited to get back to raw

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UCH Onyx TT

Do you even- lift?

Barked: Sun May 13, '12 7:57pm PST


	Gizzards are muscle meat. Have you used the Personal Raw Feeding Guide? That might help with balancing. And I think some people use NutritionData.com to figure out what nutrients their dog's diet might be lacking. Edited by author Sun May 13, '12 7:58pm PST

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Saya

I want to play!

Barked: Sun May 13, '12 8:00pm PST


	I noticed hare today uses gizzards in their duck, turkey and chicken grinds.. I gotten the duck grind and gave it to Saya as a snack, but not as sole meal so there was no issues of in balancing maybe reason is the chicken, turkey, and duck is those roaster kind where they grind up the organs which usually just come with neck, liver, heart and gizzards? I dunno. Saya loved the duck grind, but if you wanted to feed grinds at first can switch between or add kidney? When dog is new to raw don't need rush into it anyways.. I mainly gave the duck as snack or part of the meal with something else.

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Ava, NTD

Miss Ava Roo

Barked: Sun May 13, '12 9:14pm PST


	I'm working on the spreadsheet right now. I'm just awful with Excel so I"m a little slow at it. I was aiming to feed the ground foods a few days a week for breakfast, then a rmb for dinner. Ava's not a really big eater in the mornings and she really really takes her time with bones, so I think that'd be a good solution to get her to eat breakfast. Again, probably a few months/weeks after being on raw so she's adjusted to different meats and all.

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Ava, NTD

Miss Ava Roo

Barked: Mon May 14, '12 1:05pm PST


	I planned out a menu for her, once we get past the adjustment stage. How's it look? Monday: am - beef heart//pm - chicken quarter Tuesday: am - quail and egg//pm - chicken necks and organs with tripe Wednesday: am - ground rabbit//pm - boneless chunks and ribs Thursday: am - ground turkey and egg//pm - chicken quarter and organs with tripe Friday: am - ground pork//pm - boneless chunks and pork neck Saturday: am - turkey drumstick and gizzard/hearts//pm - sardines and organs with tripe Sunday: am - beef heart and ribs//pm - beef gullet and chicken drumstick The ground meats are whole grinds from Hare Today - meat, bones, and organs (and fur for the rabbit one ). The regular organs are gonna be beef/chicken liver and beef kidney. I might alternate with ground duck and rabbit since its kinda pricey.

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Maxwell

I'm triple- superior MAD- now!

Barked: Mon May 14, '12 2:26pm PST


	Unless she needs a huge amount of food unlike most Nordic breed dogs or your bony meats are much smaller than I see around here you are planning to feed an awful lot of food. Chicken quarters around here are about 1 pound apiece, 160% of 38 pound Max's usual. Important to measure meals carefully or you will have either a fat dog or one with a seriously upset gastrointestinal tract. I see a lot of bone content too. After she is on all the meats and organs then work to reduce the amount of bone fed. Max needed about 20% bone until he had been on raw for over a year. Just watch the poop and skip a bony meal if poop gets too hard. Overdoing bone is quite addictive as the poop is so nice for us and the dogs love to eat bone. We suggest half chicken [or other white meats] and half red meat for budget's sake. If you can afford all those nice red meats then I would feed them more often than chicken, turkey and quail. Turkey isn't so bad but chicken isn't very high in valuable minerals and vitamins. If she wants to eat once a day is there any reason not to just feed her once a day? Max had an obnoxious 7 year old bile vomit habit that disappeared once he started raw and I was quite astonished to find he never has bile vomit even fed once a day and has only had nervous vomit a few times in 4 years of raw feeding.

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Ava, NTD

Miss Ava Roo

Barked: Mon May 14, '12 7:16pm PST


	I'm probably way overcomplicating it I'm not much of a chef, so my estimates for weights on things are apparently way off. Back to the drawing board!! If I just did a rmb each day (like a chicken quarter, pork neck, or a few ribs), added some boneless chunks for really bony meat (like a pork neck), and then did the organs a few times a week, does that sound about right? And do the ribs even really count? She's never eaten a rib before - she just strips the meat and nibbles about half an inch off each end. I don't know if that would really qualify as the bone aspect or just something to gnaw on.

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Duke

I'm king of the- world!

Barked: Mon May 14, '12 7:29pm PST


	My advice: get a kitchen scale. I weigh everything Duke eats because I tend to think it doesn't look like enough when I eyeball. And then Duke gets fat. If the bone isn't swallowed, then no, it doesn't count. Use the links above if you want to get down and dirty with nutrients (I do).It's a bit of work and you have to track and account for everything, but I like to see the numbers. I have never planned out a menu for Duke...he gets whatever I decide to feed that day. But I do track everything on a spreadsheet, so I know how much of this or that he's gotten (or needs). I balance over a week; some do it over a month. Whatever works for you. Oh, and on the morning feeding, I second Maxwell's suggestion to go ahead and feed once a day. Duke just randomly decided recently that he wasn't going to eat in the mornings anymore (he never was a big AM eater). I got nervous at first and tried to encourage breakfast, then stopped and decided to listen to what he was telling me. He now eats once daily. He likes it, it's easier for me, works for everyone!

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Ava, NTD

Miss Ava Roo

Barked: Mon May 14, '12 7:46pm PST


	Once a day it is then I'm going shopping for a scale and some little freezer containers tomorrow after work too. I'm hoping to score a freezer on craigslist or something too. Then all that I'll have to do is get the food and get her started on it. I'm trying to work the spreadsheet with the different values for all the foods, but its more complicated than I expected. Really hoping that this will be enough variety for her though.

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Duke

I'm king of the- world!

Barked: Tue May 15, '12 6:03pm PST


	If you want to play with the numbers, head over to the Home Cooking Forum and check out the "How to Balance the Diet in 21 Easy Steps" (or something like that). I just bumped it for you. This is a GREAT post that really helps make the diet analysis so much less overwhelming. Just use common sense...I think there are a couple nutrients that say need converting on ND when really they don't. Just make sure your units of measurement on ND and on the spreadsheet match. If you balance over a week, then you are looking for numbers in the 700% range. Good luck!

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