I recently started feeding raw and I have a few questions:

1. Can those of you who use beef heart give me some examples of how you use it?

2. Can you give me some suggestions on determining the appropriate amount of fat and skin to leave attached to the meat?

3. One of my dog seems to be peeing more. What does this indicate?

I have been feeding them raw for about a week now and I have limited the items to mostly chicken backs/necks, leg quarters, and small amounts of organ pieces. I plan on adding more variety, but I am trying to add new things slowly. So far I have had no diarrhea. Aside from the extra pee out of one, everything seems just fine so far.

Thanks

Hi Stacey,

Congrats on going all raw!

I can give you my particular answers to your questions, though every person tends to do things a little differently, depending on the unique circumstances of their dogs (among other factors).

I treat beef heart sort of in between organ and muscle meat - it's a giant muscle, but it's also loaded with nutrients most muscle meat doesn't have - so I'll make it about 1/5 -1/4 (20-25%) of any given meal. Some people treat it like pure muscle though, so more shouldn't hurt (it's not as rich as something like liver...). From the sounds of it, assuming your dog's digestive systems are doing well, you could start to add a little additional muscle meat to your meals - all the poultry you mentioned is pretty heavy in bone...

The skin and fat thing is really an individual decision. When I feed leg quarters, wings, drumsticks - I leave the skin on. When I feed backs, they sometimes come with an obscene amount of back fat hanging off them, which I trim away. I'll leave what's covering the back, but not the excessive globs hanging off. Some people have dog's who can't seem to keep weight on - these types of dog's can take that excess without it increasing their waistlines (I don't have a dog like that, so I tend to be more careful ). Fat is very important to the canine diet, so it should absolutely be included - leaving the skin on small animals/poultry is a good way to keep it natural, I just tend to think that factory farmed chickens are fattened up WAY beyond what would be normal in the wild, so I will trim them down if I feel like they are ESPECIALLY fatty (your mileage may vary).

I don't really know about the increase in peeing - raw diets have considerably more water in them than kibble, which is why many people notice their dogs stop drinking so much water (my dog hardly ever touches his water bowl anymore...). So maybe, if your heavily peeing dog is still drinking as much as he was previously, AND he's getting all that good raw moisture from his new diet, his bladder is just filling up more during the day?

Hope that helps, and good luck introducing more variety into your raw diet over time - the possibilities are endless and the nutritional benefits can't be beat!

Cheers,
~Natalya

Your point about raw having more water makes sense. I suspect now that his morning meal is no longer dry kibble and has considerable water content, he has more urine to get rid of when I get home from work. Being home with him this weekend, I have not seen him ask to pee more than he normally does. I’m going to try to feed him less in the AM and see if this helps.

The chicken backs I get have been extremely fatty as well. I know I’m supposed to try for a whole prey item, but it’s nice to know some else thinks all that fat might be too much.

It did occur to me that I seemed to be feeding a lot of bones. This week I am going to add more muscle meet and veggies.

Thanks

 Quote: Amber Morris

It did occur to me that I seemed to be feeding a lot of bones. This week I am going to add more muscle meet and veggies.

A good way to gauge your meat to bone ratio is to check out what's coming out the other end - a diet heavy in bone will result in very hard, crumbly, and usually light colored stools; too heavy in muscle and other ingredients will be super soft and darker colored. You're aiming for something in the middle - fully formed, easy to pick up (if you have to pick up after your dog) but not TOO dry that they crumble up just touching them. It's fine for stools to vary day to day, because you're not feeding exactly the same thing every day, but what you're looking for is a good average consistency.

Cheers,
~Natalya

 Quote: Amber Morris

The chicken backs I get have been extremely fatty as well. I know I’m supposed to try for a whole prey item, but it’s nice to know some else thinks all that fat might be too much.

Backs can be a nice and inexpensive RMB. Sometimes they are meaty enough to be representative of the whole bird (but I see that less and less), and they often have kidneys still attached -- a nice bit of organ meat thrown in!

If you just look at them and think of a whole bird, you can decide whether those globs of fat are more than normal and how much additional muscle meat is needed. For a beginner dog, a little ground poultry is a good added muscle meat, because you haven't yet started to introduce variety in protein profiles (which means the amino acid makeup of different protein sources).

The additional muscle meat is a good place to introduce protein variety (later, one ingredient added a time).

Peeing more can indeed be triggered by the additional water in fresh food -- especially noticeable in a dog who was never a big water-drinker. As long as it's not connected to unusual thirst, then IMO it's a good thing.

Keeping the urine pale and plentiful rather than concentrated and strong is good for the system..... humans and dogs.

All JMO.