I'm curious, what are some average prices/lb for leg quarters? I saw a 10 lb pack of leg quarters for $4.09 (on sale) at the supermarket earlier today...think that's a good deal?

Also, I've been on raw for three days now and so far so good. I have been feeding the premix and was planning on introducing RMBs in a couple of weeks. However I'm looking at going back to the supermarket tomorrow to pick up a few packages of the leg quarters. Would it be okay if I started her out on a cut of the leg quarter for her first actual RMB if I crush the bones with a hammer or mallet?

Great price, and I would buy as many bags as you are able to, even if it means bringing an accomplice if there is a two bag limit or something and finding a friends freezer for temporary storage! Hehehe!

They are an OK first RMB, but the bones may be a bit daunting for a Aussie pup new to bones, and the meat is a little richer than breast meat. If you DO use them, take off all of the fat and skin... Backs would be best...

That is a good deal.

Usually w/ leg quarters I'll trim some of the meat off, and use it to make chicken noodle soup for us humans.

That brings the meat/bone ratio closer to correct.

Either that, or I'll feed them with a fistful of chicken necks to bring the bone up.

Ya know, I've wondered this; if we're supposed to be feeding as close to a prey model diet as we can, then if you think about how much meat to bone is in a whole animal...then don't you think sometimes we worry too much about not enough bone? I mean, chicken backs are great, but do we really need to take meat off a leg quarter? Not everything on an animal is equally bony. It seems to me that if you varied the parts enough, you'd reach the same end. I just don't see a wild canid getting precisely the same bone/meat ratio daily.

Think about your dog killing a deer, for example. How much meat to bone is there? I kind of think that as long as we strive for an overall balance instead of balancing every single small meal, they'll be just fine.

I agree. My preferred method of feeding is to take a whole animal (chicken usually but often a turkey, rabbit or duck...) and 'assign' it to one of the dogs and work my way through it. Some meals are bonyer than others.

I will add a little extra bone, like a turkey neck to the next meal if the first meal is little to no bone, like a steak or pork chop, but mostly for the pup who is growing and needs the extra calcium. Each dog is different and has different requirements. I can tell that Quinn does fine at 10-ish% bone, but Havok needs closer to 15-20ish%, his ears fold poorly on lower calcium and his stool is a little loose, both are fixed after two high calcium meals.

HOWEVER, for a person switching a new dog over to raw, I do recommend an extra bony diet at first. Too much meat too early is a huge factor (IME) of loose stool. It is easier to start higher in the bone department and work your way down (within reason...) After the acclimation process, two to three leg quarters a day for a couple of days won't hurt my dogs...

Okay. I'm going to purchase a few bags. I'm pretty excited and would love to add perhaps a leg to her meal tonight. Do you think if I crunched the bones up, they would be in small enough pieces for her? There are bones in the mix I'm feeding and while they are ground up, I can see the little pieces in the meat when I shift it around. I know backs are typically recommended as a good RMB to start out with but the store I'm going to doesn't have them. I will check out another nearby store for backs and try to pick a few up if I find them.

 Quote: Jenni Williams

I mean, chicken backs are great, but do we really need to take meat off a leg quarter? Not everything on an animal is equally bony. It seems to me that if you varied the parts enough, you'd reach the same end.

I think that the time people are fiddling with the meat-bone in this way is when they have (as here) a killer deal on one part and are going to be using that one part as the basic RMB for weeks.

I never even give it a second thought if I am feeding the whole animal over time, as I usually am (I buy Smart Chickens). But when I have the kind of deal that comes along every now and then, I might have to add muscle meat or take some off.

For example, one person here had a steal of a deal on whole turkey breast, a very meaty item. She just sliced off a good slice for human use before relegating it to the dog's 'fridge box, and also added a little fat (cheap ground beef, for example).

I will also thrown in a bony item, exactly as Jessica posted, if I happen to be giving ground buffalo. This is a boneless item, and I can't get it any other way, but I can't turn down the chance to give my dogs grass-fed range-raised buffalo meat when it's on sale. So I make up a bony addition to go with it.

This sounds like a lot of fiddling, but it's not. Once we have all looked at the whole chicken or the whole rabbit and see the approximate meat-bone ratio, it's pretty easy to eyeball a part and decide if it kinda replicates the whole animal.

Chicken backs again -- they are so perfect a beginner RMB, but sometimes are trimmed really close and pretty bony. So backs plus a bit of MM are great.

And also as Jessica says, I too like to start the dog on slightly bonier first few meals. Bonier, lower in fat -- this seems to really avoid any loose-stool issues with the switching-to-raw dog. Backs with the skin peeled off: the perfect beginner RMB.

JMO!

 Quote: Alyssa Myracle

Usually w/ leg quarters I'll trim some of the meat off, and use it to make chicken noodle soup for us humans.

That brings the meat/bone ratio closer to correct.

This depends on the dog.

%-wise leg quarters are boney, IMO. With my dog a chicken 1/4 makes for some pretty firm poo. Even fed over a week, the end result is very hard.

I feed like Connie and Jenni in that balance is achieved over time.

If boney chicken backs are fed for a couple days, then the next meal may be an all meat meal. Over those few day, everything gets balanced at some point in time.

Jasmine, you'll find out which your dog is. Don't let all this ratio talk mess with your head. Base the diet off RMB's, and then adjust accordingly depending on what your dogs poo tells you.

 Quote: connie sutherland

For example, one person here had a steal of a deal on whole turkey breast, a very meaty item. She just sliced off a good slice for human use before relegating it to the dog's 'fridge box, and also added a little fat (cheap ground beef, for example).

My thinking and this thinking come to the same end result.

Where they make it right in a day by removing some meat, I'd feed as is, and add something boney the next meal.

Both ways are "right".

Edited by Michael_Wise (08/01/2009 03:25 PM)
Edit reason: Not directed at you, Connie, just info in general.

Knowing how old your dog is, I don't think she'll have any problems with the chicken leg bones as long as she knows she's supposed to eat them. It took Suzzie a few days to realize it was good to eat. Now she crunches through leg bones like nobody's business.

The thing for me was that a whole chicken quarter is usually more than I wanted to feed at one meal. Suzzie only eats a pound or so a day and those chicken quarters are typically a pound and a half or so each. I have some really nice Cutco scissors that can cut through chicken bone pretty easy. This let's me cut the quarters down to the proper portion size. However, I make no special effort to cut up or smash or otherwise fragment the chicken bones beyond cutting for portion size.

BTW, the best price I've seen on chicken quarters is $0.49/lb. I've been pricing around this week and found whole chickens in my local Kroger for an "everyday" price of $0.88/lb and Costco has them for $0.89/lb. Their organic, free-range whole chicken in $2.25/lb.