 Barked: Wed Jun 27, '12 7:51am PST |
 | |  | | Sounds like you would like to feed half raw? If so it is best to approximate feeding prey model by feeding .5x[80%meat-10%organ-10%bone]x2% of your dogs' weights. The bony stuff you have been offering up is on top of the excessive calcium/phosphorus in the kibble and you are offering up far more bone than the dogs need. Not a good thing. It is also likely you are feeding too much food overall. A 50 pound dog starts at ~16 ounces a day so a 12 pound dog might need 4 ounces for a full feed, 2 ounces for a half feed per day. You can always offer a meal that is more than 1/2 a day's ration and cut back on the morning meal.
Individual dogs have trouble switching gears. Raw is high fat and low bulk while kibble is low fat and high bulk, you can see how it could cause a problem. The bony stuff you are offering is higher bulk than a proper raw diet but could be too fatty. For now pull off the fatty skin for the dogs having issues.
I suggest backing up. Buy some whole chickens and cut into bits. If the dogs have had loose stool then either the bit was too large or it was too fatty so weigh and take off the skin for now. After the dogs haven't an upset from bony chicken move on. To more meat, not variety. Plain chicken is already 30% bone and the kibble already has the equivalent of 20% bone so you are probably feeding 250% the calcium the dogs need and calcium is not benign stuff! Get those chicken gizzards and hearts and feed the less bony bits of the chicken for now. Cut the livers found in the whole birds and give slivers with bonier bits and work up to the amount needed in a 1/2 raw diet. It is a very small amount. A 50 pound dog gets 1.6 ounces of organ a day and only half of that should be liver.
If you want to feed half raw then your ultimate goal is to feed a bony meal about twice a week with the other meals being meats only. Start with bone daily and attempt to drop a bony meal each week, there isn't any particular rush. Once you can offer 2 bony meals a week then go to switching for more variety of meats, just substitute a bite a day of the new stuff.
I will offer Max less edible bones to pull meat from on boneless days, you could try that. Beef ribs, pork shoulders, pork/lamb neck work for Max but this is about knowing your dogs, some would eat all the bone!
All those bits you saw at the market are fine although the tripe at the supermarket is basically doggy chewing gum, chewy with less protein than most meats. Chicken feet are a favorite as when the dog gets them just right the toes open and close! Kidney is an organ, feed in tiny amounts as mentioned above. Tongue is fatty so you might be a bit cautious with amounts at first. Great stuff though. Oxtail is a serious swallowing hazard for eager dogs if it is cut and it usually is. Even experienced Max gave up chewing the bone and swallowed a chewed down gumball sized bone a couple times. |  |  | |  |
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