[dieterherzog]

Taking the advice of members of this forum and reading up on books, websites and raw feeding groups, I've switched my dog over to completely raw for about 1.5 weeks now. He's had his bout of diarrhea but everything seems to have cleared up now and I'm thinking of transitioning him from plain chicken to adding organs and another protein source. I was wondering if this looks like a good raw menu for a 12lb. mini-dachshund - he needs about 3.8oz of muscle meat and 0.48 oz of organs, liver and bones a day:

Monday
AM: Chicken breast (meat only)
PM: Chicken back/neck, liver and organ meat

Tuesday
AM: Beef stew meat pieces, fish oil, vege mix*
PM: Beef back ribs, raw egg

Wednesday
AM: Chicken thighs (bone in), liver and organ meat
PM: Chicken wings

Thursday
AM: Beef stew meat, fish oil, vege mix*
PM: Beef back ribs, raw egg

Friday
AM: Chicken drumstick, raw egg
PM: Half chicken breast with carcass

Saturday: Sardines in water (AM & PM) and one raw egg, vege mix*

Sunday: Oxtail (AM & PM), beef liver

* I know that on the prey model you're not suppose to feed your dog vegetables but my dog seems to do a little better with vegetables in his diet and I always have leftovers from the CSA, so I will puree some raw squash, carrots, celery and leafy greens with kelp, alfalfa, nutritional yeast and garlic (for fleas), apple cider vinegar (for overall health and tummy bacteria) and pumpkin (for anal glands) and use about 2 tbsp. per serving. He has tons of skin allergies and the vegetables and fish oil helps his skin. I'm also planning to supplement 3x a week with Vitamin E.

Can anyone offer any suggestions or ideas? Are there enough bones and organ meat or should I add more? I am only in my 3rd week of feeding raw, so I want to limit my protein sources for a while until I see how he reacts to raw beef.

[DobManiac]

Are you planning on making this transition cold turkey next week? It might be a better idea to go in steps. Start adding in the chicken organ meat at 2 weeks, but only give a VERY small amount. You can slowly increase the amount every day, until you are at the correct weight.

There is also the possibility your dog will refuse the organ meat. If that happens, I would mix the puree the liver with your vegetables. You can then freeze in an ice cube tray for easy measuring. I think each cube is roughly an ounce. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong.) Do your own calculations for how much meat to veggies and see what works best for you.

You can then add another protein source every week after and slowly include than animals organs over the week. Of course start out with a small amount of the new meat and add a little more every day until he is getting a decent amount without stomach issues.

Now your basic menu looks pretty good. But I was wondering way you have separate chicken and beef days. In my experience it seems to be easier on their stomachs to have balance meat to bone over the day. That keeps the dog from going back and forth between constipation and diarrhea.

Why not make the morning your bone and organ meal, and the evening your muscle meat meal? I was also wondering why you chose to feed so many types of different pieces of chicken. Are you buying the whole bird and cutting it up? Or are you planning on buying all of this in separate packages? If this is all separate packages that is gonna take up a lot of freezer space. Buying the whole bird will be more convenient and cost effective in the long run.

But the basic idea you have going looks good. That’s just a few suggestions to think about. You might also consider adding pork or turkey as an additional protein source a little later on.

[phoebespeople]

It look slike you have a good system going, well done!
Don't worry about the veggies not conforming to the prey model, a scoop of veggie puree with any or all meals is fine. Some might say that it's not necessary, but it's definitely wont hurt.
How is he doing with the beef back rib bones? I know it would take Phoebe about an hour to get through those and she's 50 lbs.
You can also feed turkey necks, they are a great source of a bone rich meal that also has good nutrients from all the other stuff in the neck, and they're cheap.
See if you can find some green beef or lamb tripe in your area. I think it's really an important part of a RAW diet, like yogurt for us, green tripe for dogs.
When you buy chicken, try getting a whole stewing or boiling chicken, they tend to be cheaper and you get the right ratio of meat to bone, and the different types of meat. I chop the whole thing up in to appropriate sized chunks with a cleaver.
You might want to see if beef heart is cheaper than stew meat, I know it is in my local market. I also look for the $1.00 off stickers on anything i can.
Make sure to try adding lamb, duck, pork, rabbit, mackerel, salmon, etc...
Variety is the key.

[dieterherzog]

Thanks for your responses! This is very encouraging.

DobManiac: I've already put him on chicken for about 1.5 weeks. I gave him liver this morning and he gulped it down - he's a dachshund so I don't that's a problem for them since they're bred to be greedy . I think you have a good suggestion about bone + organs for one meal and muscle meat for the other. I will switch that around and try that out. I feed so many different parts of chicken because I get a whole chicken from the butcher and he cuts it up very nicely for me.

phoebespeople: I haven't fed him beef back ribs yet, I was tentatively planning the menu and I would go out and buy all the stuff this weekend. What kind of beef cut would you suggest as the RMB? I'm trying to see if there's green tripe anywhere in my neighborhood so I don't have to buy it in bulk online!

I'm not sure if I want to add pork to his diet until maybe a few months in - turkey, duck, rabbit and lamb for sure. I have a great butcher shop that sells of these things, although it's a little more expensive, he cuts everything up and it's all small-farm owned, which is why I'm actually ultra excited to be feeding him raw.

Thank you guys so much for your suggestions!