Forgot to mention that I have read Ed's articles on the subject, and am reading that little 9.00 book he suggested. But it still takes a little mind adjustment to make such a change. Thanks

As far as wholesale places go. I live in North Pole, Alaska....not a major metropolitan area by any means but our local grocery store can and will special order anything I want. Have you checked with your meat section at the local grocery store? My grocery store is a Fred Meyer. I would think any of the major chains would be able to special order 20-30 pounds of necks. I pay 23.00 for 30 pound box of turkey necks.

We have had our 6 month old German Shepherd mix about 2 months and are now feeding a raw diet. I have read all of Ed's articles and also K. Shultze's book.

She swallows chicken necks whole and I wonder if it is a problem.

She also seems to stay very hungry, to the point of being frantic. Should we ignore her and feed by the book or feed her more til she seems satisfied?

Jo Ann

I guess you are asking quantity? I would adjust your amounts according to the dog. My male gets 4 turkey necks and 2 1/2 cups hambuger a day. As long as your dog stays thin I would increase her food. You can also switch to turkey necks as they are quite larger and need to be chewed, but swallowing those whole should not be a problem. I use the books as a guideline and adjust accordingly. You have to remember too that your dog is growing rapidly and will need more food until it reaches its adult height and weight. How much are you feeding?

Hi. We are guessing her weight to be around 30 - 35 pounds. And according to Schultze's book, I am feeding her more than the top amount for a 50 pound dog. I'm giving her about 1 1/4 cups of ground meat plus 4 chicken necks. I haven't given her more because I was concerned about her swallowing them whole. Plus she also gets the 3 tablespoons of veggies and the supplements.

Jo Ann

I just re read my post...

Those amounts are per day.

We also add about 1/3 cup Nutro Puppy food (trying to get rid of it) about 5 times a week.

Jo Ann

The general idea about the amount of food to feed is 2-3% of your dogs IDEAL weight. Adjusted to activity level. I have 2 male intact gsd that weigh the same but one eats almost 1 1/2 times as much as the other. He is on the move all day.

I have been BARFing for 6 years and found it hard for the first year to find cheap good meat. I now have many reliable sources that will order chicken necks and backs, lamb and pork necks, beef/chicken hearts and beef femur bones for recreation chewing. The chain grocery stores would never order anything for me. But the smaller local meat monger, when you get to know him, will get just about anything for you. They always laughed at me. Now when I walk in these stores the meat monger will chase me down with outdated meat that he sells cheap to get rid of it. Last week I got 30 lbs of salmon filets, one day outdated, for $20. I now have certain days they know I am coming and will save or freeze stuff for me. Tonight my dogs got leg of lamb for .99 per lb. So get a freezer and buddy up to the local meat monger!
Nancy <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Thanks.

Is there any way to know what a dog's ideal weight will be? When we got her at 4 months, she weighed 23 pounds and all the vets guessed her at no more than 50 pounds adult. What they didn't consider was that she was extremely underweight. (Back bone sticking out all the way down and was very sharp -- does that make sense?) Within one month she was weighing between 30 and 35 pounds. Looks much better, still showing alot of ribs. We know she is a mix of German shepherd, some type of husky (curled over tail) and chow (3 black spots on tongue). Must be something else to make her small and shorter haired.

Thanks,

Hi all, I am new here but have wanted to feed our dogs a raw diet, but haven't been given the push in the right direction. Would someone give some pointers on how much and what to mix in, my dogs love veges, and chicken but haven't given bones yet, I would appreciate help.