Hey Jennifer,
can I ask the weight of your dog?
Your routine seems pretty simple and easy to follow but I was wondering about the rations.
Tucker's about 75-80lbs right now....so I would like to compare to see if I would have to increase the amounts you use.

Hi Robbin. While I've "been OK" (I guess) with a vet who is neutral on the subject of raw feeding, I set out to find a supporter of raw feeding only recently. Our GSD female has some hormone issues, and a couple of other things going on, and I realized I'd rather spend my money to research her issues with a vet who might be able to offer proactive diet advice. I don't know that her issues are diet related, I just want a vet (where I'm spending my hard earned $$ anyway) to be on the same page with me, and be able offer MORE information potentially, than what I can find on the internet.

I was able to get a personal recommendation from someone in my area who is into holistic care, but here is a more general web link. http://www.ahvma.org/ Don't know if that might be useful to you or not...or maybe someone else knows more about the credibility of that organization for finding holistic oriented vets.

Beth

 Quote: Wendy Lefebvre

Hey Jennifer,
can I ask the weight of your dog?
Your routine seems pretty simple and easy to follow but I was wondering about the rations.
Tucker's about 75-80lbs right now....so I would like to compare to see if I would have to increase the amounts you use.

Yup, they're around 50 pounds. The adult is a bit less, the puppy is less but is fed according to his predicted adult weight for his breed.

As a rule of thumb, feed 2% to 3% of your dog's IDEAL adult weight (regardless of age) and you should be okay. If your dog is very active, feed even up to 5% of adult weight. On raw you really don't have to worry so much about portions in terms of rapid weight gain like on kibble.

wow! you guys are amazing and what awesome ideas! This really helped me big time. I am excited again about raw feeding. I actually took out some whole fish that hubby caught on a deep sea excursion that doesn't seem to be being eaten by the humans. Can I give the pup half of a raw fish? I can give the big dogs a whole fish, head and all right? I actually did get a ton of chicken backs and necks for the dogs from a butcher that I found in town. Guess I shouldsn't give them that every night huh? I can get livers/gizzards pretty cheap usually. Where does one buy tripe? Is it expensive? Give the shells on the egss to the dogs?? Do I crack them first or just put them in their bowls like the easter bunny? Where do I find rabbit? I have eaten rabbit before and it is wonderful (cooked of course) I haven't seen rabbit since I was a kid (long time ago).

I am now anxiously awaiting my little boys dingle balls to drop...eventually.

what kind of fish is it, and where did your husband catch it?

don't feed salmonids (trout, salmon, steehead, etc.--anything that swims up fresh water to lay eggs) from the pacific northwest. feed only salt-water fish.

you can toss whole eggs in the blender to grind up the shells along with the egg. or grind them up with veggies, also in the blender.

you can only feed rabbit if it is available locally (unless you want to spend a fortune). that's why i said your first task is to find out what you can get locally, easily, and cheap. and that's what you should feed.

As someone who lives on the far Southwest fringes of Chicago, good fresh fish really isn't in my plan. We do feed canned Mackerel once a week, for better or worse (including the regular supplements, veggies, etc).

On the eggs, I just smack 'em into the bowls. They are cracked and oozing, but not ground up or anything like that. They get eaten just fine along with everything else.

I would love to feed more "game" like rabbits, and just need to get on the stick and figure out my sources. But in the mean time, whatever I feed, my dogs all spend plenty of time on 5 - 6 acres, and enjoy plenty of prey they catch on their own - whether I like it or not. The Squirrel Buffet is a big deal at this time of year (they are recently fattened up for the winter, and IMO slower).

If I lived on a smaller property, I might prefer my dogs to eat only what I give them, and hence control other concerns like worms, etc. But they get a ton of joy from running around here, and catching prey per their natural instincts is just part of it that I accept.

Robbin, I hope you read the menus for pups and adults here on Leerburg WRT raw feeding. I don't think you can go wrong with that advice as a great start.

(and I wouldn't be worried about that testicle just yet)

Beth

 Quote: RobbinMann

Where does one buy tripe? Is it expensive? Give the shells on the egss to the dogs?? Do I crack them first or just put them in their bowls like the easter bunny? Where do I find rabbit? I have eaten rabbit before and it is wonderful (cooked of course) I haven't seen rabbit since I was a kid (long time ago).

There are online raw feed suppliers that can provide you with green tripe and WHOLE prey animals such as rabbit. It can be delivered. This site is good: http://www.greentripe.com/ and they don't deliver to Canada but I wish they did... I can't give you a review, but looks like they'd be worth checking into.

There was also a site but I can't for the life of me find it (doesn't deliver to Canada either) but they sold WHOLE prey animals including rabbits and chickens, fur/feathers and all. Unguttted. They also sold skinned/gutted carcasses too if you're squeamish. I will try to find it but it looked EXCELLENT. Another one I wish delivered to Canada.

Sometimes I honestly wish our country border would just disappear. I'd be happy to be American if it meant we could get the same great stuff you folks do!

Her are a few good places for raw meat and good rabbit.
http://www.hare-today.com/

 Quote: Angelique Cadogan

Her are a few good places for raw meat and good rabbit.
http://www.hare-today.com/

That's the web site I was thinking of!!!! Thanks Angelique! I was disappointed to find they didn't deliver to Canada but I guess it makes sense considering it's... Well... Dead animals.

funny , you gave out the tripe Co.I was going to gave out! LOL,
You would think that in Canada they would have a supplier of Rabbit meat. I haven't order from that company yet but I am putting an order this week-end.Hope the dogs like it!
They love the tripe however.