After the latest scare, and knowing this has happened before with Iams and Eukenuba, I have decided to try the raw thing.
My male yorkie has the worst runny eyes and sneezes a lot, so I know he has allergies, give him benydryl from time to time. So I am hoping switching to raw will help solve this.
I have kinda dived in already, so I went a got a lot of things, chicken gizzard, livers, beef liver, necks and turkey necks and ground turkey......YUCKY looking even the lady at check out looked funny at all the weird meat...LOL anyway, gave both my little yorkies a turkey neck bone, and the female WOLFEd hers down like a champ...Must have loved it...The boy, likes to eat his in person with someone watching..he hasnt finished yet....
Have I jumped in too deep too quickly?? I did get yogurt plain kind for them also, budget does not allow for additives at this time...They should be ok right?????
My gsd ate his raw ground up turkey very lovingingly....if I go slow they should all be ok right???
I am just nervous about this bone thing with the littler dogs....

Denise,

I am assuming additives are supplements when you wrote that.
You can get your additives/supplements at Wal-Mart. That is where I buy my supplements (plus I buy from Leerburg as well) and I even got a big jar of fish oil for the times when I order late and am out of salmon oil.
I got all of it for less the $35 I think it was, and that will last me quite a while.

Remember, you can always grind the bones if you are nervous with
the little ones. I use plain yogurt also and sometimes dress it up for dessert with some cut up apple of all-natural no sugar added applesauce and banana.

Looks like you're doing great. Forget about the supplements for now, specially if you can't afford them. Your dogs are going to be much better than they were before. Keep it up, and don't feed too much liver.

Edited to add: hmm. Now I see the title of your thread. Why half and half? Worried you might not be feeding a balanced diet?

 Quote: Denise Rinker

I am just nervous about this bone thing with the littler dogs....

Funny that you decided to feed the little ones the necks and gave your GSD the ground meat.

 Quote: Richard Pryor

Keep it up, and don't feed too much liver.

Yes, I'd keep the organ meat at around 5% to 15% of the total.

Chicken backs are just as cheap, anyway...... several people here get them free from butchers they patronize.

Richard you are right....I didnt even think about that....The smaller ones should have that first.....duh
Yes, I am concerned about the nutrional aspect of it all, since I jumped in with in, without a lot of research, but I have been around dogs for years, and I can personally get past the rare state of organs and parts, and think that it is probably a very smart thing to do...Of course I grew up to never give a dog a chicken bone..so have to work past that..I will just monitor closely. Common sense, tells me, dogs should be healthier, I did a similar version with my smaller dogs, that made me feel comfortable about this.
Thanks for all the help everyone

I like the desert idea Carol, I got the yogurt....

One question though, are the smaller dogs, gonna eat the bones on the chicken backs???I am still scared about the wings on them, the gsd, can probably handle...

 Quote: Denise Rinker

One question though, are the smaller dogs, gonna eat the bones on the chicken backs???I am still scared about the wings on them, the gsd, can probably handle...

Yes! Chicken backs have lovely soft-ish bones. They are my favorite beginner RMBs. Wings aren't something I look for (unless it's whole birds and they are part of the package :grin, because they are so bone- and skin-heavy.

Backs and necks are perfect, IMHO.

And I don't feed only GSDs, either -- I can assure you that a senior Pug rescue does just great on the same ingredients. His cruddy little teeth are getting better all the time on his new food, his coat has gone from dry and flaky to shiny-black, and he runs to his bowl just as fast as the others.

Don't feed half raw, half kibble. Kibble takes between 8-12 hrs to digest, while raw 4-6. If you feed both, there's a risk of the raw food not fully digesting and runnig the risk to rott inside the stomach, thus causing food poisoning. If I'm wrong, please somebody correct me. THx.

I have been reading some different opinions, and the best I can come up with is that the jury is still out to lunch on this. It has always been a no-no, but apparently some new research has or is being done which debunks the old theory. I’ll keep searching until I can find something concrete, but I just thought I’d toss out that someone somewhere is re-visiting this issue.