Hi Everyone,

I'll be receiving an 8wk old gsd puppy around Nov & im doing all the research i can on feeding a raw diet. I have ordered the suggested books from Ed's site. those will be here shortly & i have also been reading through the forum & everywhere else i can so i can be well prepared.

my puppy will be being fed Royal Canin for the first 8 wks and i will gradually switch her over to raw once i receive her. it seems like chicken backs are the place to start with such a young pup and it sounds like i will be just mixing those in with her kibble diet until i have her gently weaned off the kibble and fully on raw. anything else i should mix in or is that a good plan to switch her over? should i throw in some salmon oil or vitamin E or eggs or just wait with all those until her stools look normal and she is fully on raw?

The main question i also have, that it seems no one ever mentions, is this… Is it not possible to just buy, say for example, a whole chicken from the grocery store and cut that up yourself since they come with everything.... necks, backs, frames, wings, gizzards and all? everyone talks on this forum and everywhere else about going to a butcher or a grocery store and special ordering chicken backs and chicken necks, and frames, and ordering this and that. but i feel like just buying the whole chicken is the cheapest and best way. i could just buy the whole chicken and cut it up into individual meals, prepackage em, and throw em in the freezer. These things only cost me about $2 or $3 each and if the core majority of my dogs diet, especially in the beginning, is all the different chicken parts than this would come to a very cost effective diet. This seems like what people probably do but for whatever reason i havent read a single thing about anyone saying this specifically so it got me wondering lol

in my research Ive also fell upon this site ( http://www.azrawbones.com/order/ ) which is a co-op that orders from this site ( http://www.suzysdoggiedelights.us/ ) this looks like a good company that i could order my dog's menu from but I was hoping some experienced experts out there could take a look at them and maybe give me some feedback on prices, quality, just general thoughts and opinions on em…. They look good to me but I don’t have yrs and yrs of doing this to base anything off of like I know most everyone on here has. Thanks for all the help everyone!!

HI there and welcome. In response to a couple of your questions, don't actually mix the raw and the kibble in one meal... For my dog, I just went cold turkey to raw with chicken first. One food at a time. As for chicken, in my area I have found that to be the cheapest when I buy whole and on sale (just got whole ones for 49 cents per pound the other day) I cut it up myself into equal meal size pieces (which for my 61 lb dog is generally 7 pieces (3 1/2 meal bases when mixed with ground beef veggies and liver)... So, my dog at her weight eats 2 chix and about 3 lbs of ground meat per week. I add all the other stuff to these meals: eggs, yogurt, veggies, sardines (on sardine sundays :cool liver or any offal and of course the fish oil and vit E, etc.

Others are way more knowledgeable than me on this. They will help you as well.

thanks! ya i was also considering for the transition phase to keep feeding the kibble the first few days or week or so when i receive the pup just since i dont wanna put to much on her all at once. and than just going cold turkey and making the switch and just doing chicken and some pumpkin depending on look of stools

Please dont' mix raw and kibble. The day you decide to switch to raw, simply switch. It's not as big a deal as you might think. But only if you don't over-do it on variety all at once. This is the single biggest mistake that new raw feeders make. Your pup will be just fine eating NOTHING but chicken parts for a week or so. Then add ONLY ONE new thing at a time, gradually introducing variety over the course of a month or two. And go EASY on any organ meats at first. If you follow that plan, you probably won't even need any pumpkin.

You can buy whole chickens if you want to. Nothing wrong with it at all. A small pup may have trouble with the knob at the end of leg bones at first, but the rest of the chicken will be totally consumed. (Sam's club sells whole chickens by the case for pretty cheap. I do sometimes buy those.) But whole chickens won't be cheaper than buyintg "parts." Few humans eat backs or necks (I suppose they are mostly used in making stock), so those parts bought in bulk are ridiculously cheap. Wings and breasts bought as parts are more desirable, so they are more expensive. Leg quarters (leg and thigh attached) are often on sale and are usually cheaper than whole chickens.

Since you have a few months before you get your pup, It would be worth you while to start calling around to your local butcher shops, smaller grocery stores, restaurant supply houses, meat packers, etc. and inquire about buying things like backs and necks in bulk. It will also be helpful when you then start to add in muscle meat--which is, I find, the more expensive ingredient in a raw diet. Oddball meats like beef and pork heart are usually about the cheapest you can find---but very few ordinary grocery stores carry those items. If you find a supplier, it will open up a whole new world of strange "parts" that make great raw dog food, but you seldom see in the meat counter...duck necks, chicken feet, gizzards, kidneys, tongue, etc.

If you are (like me) interested in keeping costs down, while still giving your dog a wonderful, varied raw diet, then buying in bulk (usually 40 or 50-lb. cases) is the way to go. Which means you'll need a freezer to hold that much food. A perfectly good used freezer can be found on Craigslist for next to nothing, and will more than pay for itself in the savings you'll realize by buying bulk.

Co-op buying clubs can be a good way to go--I don't know anything about that one. I wish there were one near me. And the other site looks like a good resource for things like green tripe or rabbit, or some of the other items you might (later) feed, but can't get locally. But I wouldn't buy chicken/turkey/beef from a vendor like that--you can buy it cheaper yourself.

"The day you decide to switch to raw, simply switch. It's not as big a deal as you might think. But only if you don't over-do it on variety all at once. This is the single biggest mistake that new raw feeders make. Your pup will be just fine eating NOTHING but chicken parts for a week or so. Then add ONLY ONE new thing at a time, gradually introducing variety ..... And go EASY on any organ meats at first."

Needed emphasizing.




PS
And each new item is added only after good poop is seen from the last new item.

sounds good! thanks everyone! i will definitely do the cold turkey switch. i kept reading different opinions on that and im glad i got some expert advice on which way to go with that. and yeah, that was the exact idea i had as well with those co-ops and distributors. they just seemed like a good option for me down the road when i needed those off the wall type things that i cant really find in a big metro city of phoenix where i am located. its funny cuz i was actually on craigslist looking at freezers right before i came on here lol

Thanks again and im sure after i read those books i have on the way ill be in a much more confident mindset for doing this diet. Its very nice to know i have this forum to come to for any clarification tho. very much appreciate all you guys do! im sure ill talk to you all soon

Actually, in a big metro area, you'll have great luck finding oddball "parts"---you just need to go to the smaller non-chain grocery stores in an ethnic neighborhood. Asians, African-Americans and Latinos all include more exotic cuts of meat in their diet--so they'll be more likely to hook you up with things like gizzards, necks, backs, etc. They'll be glad to have your business too.