So it's been a few weeks since we've switched, and we've now switched all the dogs to raw.

I just made my first batch of "glop" and we've stopped feeding the pre-ground frozen patties.

Here is what I put in my glop (not portions, just ingredients) can anyone comment (Connie)?

Eggs (with shell)
Ground Turkey
Carrots
Celery
Chicken Livers
Broccoli

The reason I made this into a glop is mostly for ease and to make sure that they get a good balance of ingredients. They all seem to love it (just fed them). So we feed chicken wings and leg quarters plus the glop and yogurt.

Yesterday, Remi threw up a watery blood so hubby took him to the vet to make sure everything was OK. When hubby told the vet that we were feeding raw he said he understood and thought there were some benefits. Remi is fine, he thinks his stomach was iritated in some way but there wasn't anything serious. He also said that Remi looked great and didn't see any problem with his ears (for the first time in a while). YAY!!

So the question is - does the diet look OK overall and how many times a week should we add fish like sardines? Has anyone else experienced an iritated stomach when switching to raw?

Thanks everyone!!

Chicken wings are my least fave of the various parts because they're basically bones and skin. I do know that many people feed them and have great success.

I think if I had a guy who had some intestinal distress, I'd probably lean towards chicken backs (even cheaper) and necks at first.

But that's just minor nit-picking.

As far as the glop goes, it looks fine. Are you able to track the organs with it mixed in? I mean, can you still figure that the diet will basically have 5% to 10% organ meat? Also, if you switch out the types of vegetables (maybe lowering the high-sugar carrots), that's great, but also it's nit-picking. Now that summer is coming, you'll have those cheapo low-cellulose things like zucchini and summer squash, which I love to feed because they are so easily digested.

I guess I would just vary the glop when possible, but no big deal. I'd probably do the eggs separately next time, too, so I could give glop most days and maybe not necessarily give eggs most days.

I add sardines or mackerel (just a little at first)once a week or so if I can, and I also occasionally throw in some cheap (Trader Joe's, for example) frozen white fish fillets. Commercially frozen fish is frozen cold and long, and I really trust that kind of freezing for eliminating parasites.

P.S. Your vet gets at least one thumb up from me! I'd add him to Cindy's list with a "pretty supportive" footnote.

Connie - where can I find backs and necks? You and I are pretty close to each other and I can't find them. Hence the wings and leg quarters.

The other dogs seem to be doing OK, and Remi only had that problem one day (maybe he got into something and it was totally unrelated to RAW)...today he seems fine and ate as normal. (I fasted him yesterday since he threw up).

Yes, I'm able to track the organs based on percentage of ingredients. I put in enough eggs so he will get about 1/2 egg per day instead of 1 whole egg every other day.

I didn't even think to use squash or zucchini. Next time I make glop (in about 2 weeks) I'll put those in. I didn't use that many carrots, but should I eliminate all of them?

As fas as the fish, I'll add that to the diet. Next time I'm at Costco I'll pick up some. Just no salmon right?

I was REALLY surprised the vet was so supportive. The only thing he said was to make sure that we use the same best practices we would with handling raw meat. Don't let it sit out too long, make sure to wash his bowl, etc...for fear of salmonilla or something. Other than that he was really pleased with how good Remi looked.

Thanks so much for the feedback Connie!!
Jen.

Ask around at butchers (like the local natural foods chain here in my town has a butcher counter) and at the butcher counter of supermarkets about backs, which are often VERY cheap.

I just go low on carrots and other sugary produce. You know what they seem to love and is a good low-sugar item? Blueberries. And those will be very cheap in a month or two where we live.

No Pacific Northwest raw salmon. Cooked (or of course canned) is fine.

Yeah, for some reason I never thought about the soft summer squashes either until one day at the farmers' market, at the end of the day, I saw it marked down to about 50 cents a BAG, and it was a huge bag.

(BTW, now I try to hit the local farmers' market right before closing every now and then, because they do not want to load the leftovers up and truck it home. Great place for organic, almost free, bags of stuff.)

Blueberries, huh? Would have never thought of that either. There are tons of farmers markets around here and we're used to going to those. Our neighbor does certified organic chickens and sells them at the farmers markets, but he does them whole and not cut up (otherwise I'd ask him for the scraps).

Thanks for the tips!!

I'm so glad that hubby was finally REALLY willing to try RAW. And now that he sees all the benefits he's totally on board. He even helped make the slop today!!

Thanks for everyone's support here and all the good posts on the subject. It helped in convincing him.

 Quote: Jennifer Hart

Blueberries, huh? Would have never thought of that either.

Neither did I until I saw videos of Yellowstone timber wolves eating berries and tender young greens.

Then I checked out the sugar content of blueberries and found that it was low.... and that they are loaded with antioxidants.

I have a friend who freezes them and gives them as treats.