Introducing Ike:

Ike

And Again..

He is almost 12 weeks old now, and I have been feeding him RMBs since I got him at 8 weeks.

We were having problems with getting perfect poops, and I started to worry about whether or not he was getting everything he needed. So I considered supplementing kibble into his diet.

Through Connie's help, and other's advice, I have decided to do RMBs only. Connie and I decided that the problems I was having were due to too much MM and not enough bone.

Since Friday I believe, we have been doing chicken leg quarters only. We now have perfect poops!

I have salmon oil on the way, (it's taking for ever to come in) and plan on picking up Vit E tabs at the store (I keep forgetting to do that). I also have a 5lb kitchen scale that I will be measuring with.

Looking for suggestions on what to introduce next to make sure Ike gets everything that he needs to grow up to be healthy and strong!

This morning he had a 1lb exactly chicken leg quarter.

I also found an old hand meat grinder that I think I can grind bones in too. I have some turkey necks, and before we went on the chicken leg quarters only diet, he had been getting them some. It seemed like he got bored, and wouldn't stay and eat all of it. I was thinking about grinding those up tonight.

Sorry if this is random .

Just a quick P.S.

The problems were soft poops.

The diet was backed up briefly until perfect poops happened, and now the rest of his needs can be introduced gradually.

I'd first add organ meat, but at the rate of a teaspoon a meal for the first day, and check the poop (based on this pup's tendency to have soft poops).

Sorry it took me so long to get back Connie! I figured I'd go ahead and make a thread on here, since I'm sure I'll have lots of questions .

I have chicken livers in the freezer that I'll use for this.

 Quote: MeganMcCallister

Sorry it took me so long to get back Connie! I figured I'd go ahead and make a thread on here, since I'm sure I'll have lots of questions .

Yep! As I mentioned in PMs, this is the board to talk to.

 Quote: MeganMcCallister

the problems I was having were due to too much MM and not enough bone.

Were you feeding a lot of meat off the bone? Soft or runny/water stools?

Asking to get an idea for how sensitive we are talkin'.

I was mainly feeding turkey necks as the bone source w/ other ground meat. He wasn't finishing the turkey necks in their entirety. I then switched to chicken leg quarters where he was eating it all, but was also giving too much ground meat.

His poop was soft, and then at then end kinda runny if that makes since.

It is now not too firm not too soft .

The ideal ratio of meat-to-bone is something you'll get the hang of by just doing it and watching poops. Every dog is a bit different, and every hunk of RMB is different, so you just learn by practice.

Chicken leg quarters are a staple in my dog's diet, often making up about half the diet by total weight. The rest of the diet is where I rotate in as much variety as I can find--turkey, duck, pork, venison, beef, fish are the main protein sources I feed.

After you and the pup are happy with the results on chicken, then you could add a new item...say, turkey. You can buy either whole turkey or parts, or ground turkey meat. Turkey leg bones may be a bit large for a small pup, but before long he'll be able to crunch them as easily as he does chicken legs.

After you're comfortable with turkey (or whatever you decide to go with as a second source), then add another new item...perhaps pork. Then continue like that, adding a new item every week or so until you've built up a repertoire of different meat sources that you can rotate in the diet. You can feed meals with only one item, or you can have different meats in the same meal.

As you get comfortable with the bone-to-meat ratio that's best you'll be able to guesstimate. A very bony turkey back or pork neck bones will need a bit of muscle meat with it for balance. Conversely, if you've got a lot of beef heart, you'll want to cut all that muscle meat with a bit of bone from something else--like chicken parts.

Gotcha!:smile: Not terribly sensitive, but definitely needs bone in every meal to hold it together.

After you get organ meat in the meals successfully, you might try to find rabbit for another source of RMB.

Since you've already done turkey, I think that rabbit would be a good next food.

Are you able to leave fat and skin on the 1/4er's?

Since he is a baby still yet, and I had been having poop issues, I have skinned and defatted (to the best of my ability) two 10lb bags of leg quarters . We just started the second bag, and after its gone, I'm going to try to give it with the skin and fat.

If he doesn't finish a 1/4 in his first meal, then I let him finish in the second with out adding anything else. He will usually then eat an entire one in his thrid meal. Forgot to add that.

That's how his first and second meal went today, so I'm getting ready to give him a tid bit of chicken liver.

I try to feed 3x a day with him, but stuff happens and sometimes its only 2x. He most certainly isn't underweight, Connie thought he might be eating too much which could cause the loose stools as well. We've been doing it like this since we started doing 1/4s only, and I'm thinking it might have helped too.

Michael, would you suggest: chicken then turkey then rabbit, or chicken then rabbit then turkey. And I'm not sure if I can find rabbit. I think there are some rabbit hunts going on in my area, but I don't know of any hunters right off hand. If I can come up with any, that'd be a great source.

I guess I just got paranoid reading about puppies not getting all the nutrients they need on a raw diet. But with everyone's help I'm gaining my confidence back up .