[jesirose]

Originally Posted by liveforthis

So you feed chicken to them? how much does that run you? I've read the articles online but i would like to get some info from someone that actually does it.

Hi! I have been feeding raw for just over a week and it is not expensive! If I buy chicken breasts, thighs, etc in the stores I can usually find for under $2/lb. Other things like necks, backs, feet, about $1/lb. I just got a box from prey4pets.com and it's very reasonable, I got about 30 lbs of many different kinds of things (heart, liver, tripe, rabbits, necks, backs, all sorts of stuff) for $60 including shipping, so it's $2/lb for that. That is because I wanted the grass-fed, organic stuff. Once people really get into it and find sources, they say they spend less than $1 or even 50 cents! My local butcher says they have 35lb boxes of chickens for $17. I just don't have the space yet! I have kept a chart of all the money I spent, what I fed and when, and for the cats it's been about 40 cents a day, the dog closer to $0.80-1.00. And I just started. Even though it's a bit more expensive and slightly more work, it's worth it!

[jesirose]

Chicken necks and backs are more bone than you need regularly, you need to add in plain meat as well. The "rule" is 80% meat, 10% bone, 10% organ (half of that is liver). If you do a bit of searching on google or something, you can find lists of how much bone is in each part. Also make sure the parts you give are appropriate size so they chew, not swallow whole. If you give a huge dog a tiny chicken neck, that won't work. But a whole chicken they can pick apart would.

They say do chicken for 1 or 2 weeks, before adding other meats or any organ. But if you just do the real bony stuff the dog will have digestive problems, so you need meat too. I am doing prey-model so just trying to get as close to a real animal as possible, or whole ones, not ground up. If you use BARF you grind it up and add stuff, and I don't agree with it. So for Sadie's first week she got some chicken breasts, a neck, thighs, wings, and even some feet. Then she moved on to a whole rabbit. She even tried liver and gizzards. I went faster with different meats than most people advise because I didn't know to stick to just chicken, but she did fine.

I don't want to tell you what to do because I JUST started but I have gotten a lot of good advice from several yahoo groups, if you go on there, and also the websites on here such as rawfeddogs, and this one: http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html

Go on the yahoo groups and read the past messages and you will find answers to a lot of questions.

[rosemaryninja]

Originally Posted by liveforthis

so i start with chicken for the first week? chicken necks and backs?

Personally, I wouldn't feed chicken necks. Drumsticks, breasts, quarters and backs are fine for the first two weeks. After that you introduce one new meat at a time, very gradually, just a bit at a time. After chicken you can add some turkey, maybe 2-3 weeks later some pork, 2-3 weeks later some beef...and so on.

You will also need to feed organ meat, but that won't happen till you've been feeding raw for about a month.

You also need to do some reading up on how to get your dog's diet properly balanced. It's not at all as difficult as it looks, but some knowledge is required before you delve into raw feeding.

Here are some helpful links:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfeeding/
http://www.daybreakaussies.com/raw_feeding.htm
http://home.earthlink.net/~pawsreflect/nutrition.html
http://www.rawfed.com/myths/index.html

[rosemaryninja]

You can feed them as many times a day as you want. The % value just tells you the amount to feed per day. Your dogs should eat 2-3% of their body weight each day. For example, say you feed 2.5% of your 45lb dog's weight every day -- that means he should get around 1.125lbs of food per day. Whether you feed 1lb in the morning and 0.125 lbs at night, or feed about 0.4 lbs three times a day, is completely up to you.

As for bones, almost anything is suitable. You want to stay away from leg bones because they can be pretty hard on a dog's teeth. Ribs, drumsticks, knuckles, fish bones, chicken backs and quarters...are all fine.

You don't need bizarre meats. You don't need things like kangaroo or alligator. You do need to feed a range of meats, but that just means mix it up a little, don't feed chicken at every single meal. Feed pork, fish, turkey, venison, lamb, beef, prawns, whatever's available to you.

[jesirose]

There isn't a recipe book or schedule. Just feed what works.

How old is the dog? Puppies should eat 2-3 times, adults can do once. Many people do "gorge and fast" where the dog gets a huge meal then fasts the next day. Assume the 80-10-10 ratio is over a week and just feed what fits. My dog is smaller so I use smaller items so hopefully someone else can tell you what items will work for a large dog.

Did you look at this thread
http://www.dogforums.com/5-dog-food-...ere-start.html (Feeding Raw - Where to Start?)

You want to feed 2% of your dog's adult weight to start, and adjust it if he needs more or less. An 80lb dog needs 1.6 lbs of food each day. a 45lb dog only needs .9 lbs. That is over the day so if you feed two meals just split it up.

I don't know anyone who feeds kangaroo, not sure where you're getting that from. You don't need bizzare stuff, you need basics. Chicken, beef, turkey, lamb, pork, fish. Meat, bones, organs.

It's not a "program" that someone has designed - well BARF is but like I said, I don't like that, so if you're talking about the prey-model style that several of us have posted about, you don't follow a program or plan, that says feed chicken one day, beef the next, etc.

This site is good too: http://rawfeddogs.net/Recipes

You could check out the stores near you, find some chicken, and post what you want to feed on here or the yahoo group and people can help you from there, but I don't think anyone will say "feed this this and this exactly". I know, it's overwhelming That's why I waited 4 months to try it.

[jesirose]

Weight bearing bones of large animals like cows are not edible, that means femur (that's a leg right?).

One of the sites we linked to says "If you have a Chihuahua, try a chicken thigh. If you have a Golden Retriever, try a chicken quarter."

I think a lab is the same size as a golden, right? So there you go.

It also says "Avoid feeding the weight-bearing bones of large herbivores—femurs, knuckle bones, etc. These bones can easily break a dog's teeth. These, among chicken necks and wings, are the most complained about bones."

This page has answers for a golden retriever too: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...3150731AA04RUc

Read this one: http://rawfed.com/myths/feedraw2.html

The reason I keep listing websites is because all that info is written down already, by people who know it

[briteday]

There are no specific bones to feed for any particular dog. You just feed size appropriate whole food that includes bones. I have little dogs so I don't expect them to chew down and swallow a beef rib bone. The idea is to feed more whole animal since you will need to balance the calcium and phosporus ratios (not as hard as you think, watch their stools...white chalky stools is too much bone, runny dark stools is too much meat).

Poultry are considered to have a pretty perfect calcium : phosphorus ratio if you feed the whole bird including the little bag of organs they include in the gut cavity of the bird. So feeding poultry is pretty easy if you feed the whole bird over a period of time. You don't just sling a whole chicken at your dogs. I usually cut it into quarters (roughly, dogs don't care), figure out the amount you are supposed to be feeding each dog (2-3% of body weight per day for adult dog, up to 10% of body weight for a puppy), get a little postal scale and weigh the food until you get the hang of what a portion looks like, and put it in their bowls. If the dog is getting too skinny after a couple of weeks then you increase the ration, getting a bit chubby then you cut back. But over time the dog should eat all parts of the chicken (some parts are bonier or meatier than others so it balances out over time) including the organs. For my smaller dogs I tend to take a mallet to the chicken legs as they are too hard for them to crush with their teeth. But a medium to large dog could easily eat anything from a chicken without much trouble.

Once your dog is doing well on chickens (most of us started with chicken because it is a bland protein, easier to digest for most dogs, as it takes time to build digestive enzymes in the gut to process raw food vs. kibble...most of us have seen a bit of GI distress in our dogs during the first few weeks on raw) then you can add a second protein (beef, pork, turkey, fish...all including the bones) the second week. I generally wait a week between proteins just to see if they can handle the new one alright.

After you get them going on various proteins, probably a few months down the road from the start, then you need to add the organ meat especially liver to about 10% of the daily diet.

For more information there is a ton of good stuff at the top of the food section page on the forum giving you all kinds of websites that raw feeders rely on for information. It takes a while to do the research and get it right, as well as stock up a bit on chicken before you start.

[RawFedDogs]

Originally Posted by liveforthis

So you feed chicken to them? how much does that run you? I've read the articles online but i would like to get some info from someone that actually does it.

Yes, chicken is a good starting place. To give you an idea of what it costs to feed 2 Great Danes and 2 cats. Last week I bought 180lbs of "dog food stuff". Chicken backs, quarters, and drumsticks as well as turkey necks and beef heart. I paid $130 for all of it. That works out to be $.72/lb. That much stuff will last me 2 months. I may buy a pork roast or 2 and some beef liver to add to it, but the $130 is the greatest majority of what they will eat the next two months.

Originally Posted by liveforthis

so i start with chicken for the first week? chicken necks and backs?

Check this website for step by step instructions. http://www.skylarzack.com/rawfeeding.htm If you have anymore questions, come back and ask them.

Originally Posted by liveforthis

I know every dog is different but what exactly can i feed my medium (45lbs) to large dogs (80lbs+)?

You can feed him the meat, bones, and organs of most any animal you want to. Chickens, turkeys, pigs, cows, deer, rabbits, squirrels, lamb, goat, all those animals from austraila or most any other animals.

I only feed them once a day? Most articles say a % per feeding...how many feedings per day i assume its one but thats me assuming.

I suggest starting them on two meals a day for the first several months. Feeding large meals CAN cause digestive upset in dogs not used to digesting raw meat, bones, and organs. After the first several months, you can feed once a day if you wish. I know many people that feed every other day and a few that feed 2 or 3 times a week.

Most articles say a % per DAY. It is only a starting point. You will always keep an eye on your dog's build and will adjust amounts up and down depending on whether he is getting fat or thin.

I would like to start this program but not sure exactly what bones are suitable for my dogs.

Read the web page I gave you earlier, it will answer most of your questions. It is a short easy read.

Originally Posted by liveforthis

what i mean is for my lab and ridgeback what kind of bones do i feed them? I guess necks are too small but femurs are too big. I want to know what kind of bones for large dogs basically so i know what i'm looking for when i find a butcher.

Forget the concept of feeding bones to your dogs. Feed animal parts that happen to have bones in them. Feed large things rather than small. For your dogs, a chicken back or chicken quarter would the the smallest I would go. Necks, wings, drumsticks, and thighs are too small.

Don't go to a butcher and ask him for bones to feed your dogs. He has no concept of what your dogs need and he will give you some pretty bare bones. You want a lot of meat surrounding a nice scrumptious bone.

Don't think you can cram all this stuff in your head before you begin. It is a learning process and you will learn as you go. You really don't know the questions yet. Go get some chicken backs and/or chicken leg quarters and give each dog one in the morning and one in the evening for the next 2 weeks. Don't feed anything else. You will know what to feed at the end of that 2 week period. When it's time to add another meat, you will know what it is. You will soon learn what to feed, what organs are best, what bones are best and how to buy the food for your dogs. It will take several months to learn how to buy meat, bones, and organs for and average of $.72/lb. All this is a learning process and you can never learn it all until you begin feeding.