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Organs and raw

2K views 20 replies 9 participants last post by  taquitos 
#1 ·
We are starting raw tonight, I've done a bunch of research and feel almost 100% comfortable with what I'm doing (we are doing prey model) my only question is the organs. I've read you can do one meal a week of just organs, or a little bit of organ every day. This is the only thing I'm not comfortable with yet. If someone could just go a little farther into the organ part of raw, I'd really appreciate it!
 
#2 ·
I have more experience with cats, and most dogs have tougher tummies, I think :p. But most cats can't handle a full meal of raw, it'll make them hurl. So splitting it up into 3 or more meals a week is better. This may be the same for dogs, although like I said, they are scavengers and have tougher digestive systems. But it wouldn't hurt to split the organs into a few meals, or a little bit every day. Whatever works best for you is the best way to do it :D.
 
#4 ·
If you're just starting, wait until your dog is used to eating raw to introduce organs and then intro very slowly. You should really start with one kind of meat, usually bone-in chicken, and then slowly add variety. Ultimately, you'll be feeding a wide variety of meats & organs but too much, too soon can create digestive problems and loose stools. How much/often you feed organs will depend on how well your dog's system tolerates them. This is a journey of discovery. I give a small piece of some kind of organ nearly every day because larger portions create pudding poop in my dog, Molly. She'd never be able to handle a full organ meal. There are lots of helpful stickies in the food forum with links to good sources for info as well as some very experienced raw feeder members here. There's also a Facebook group for raw feeders with a sister Yahoo group and the folks there are a wealth of info & support, too. Good luck and welcome to raw feeding!
 
#5 ·
Max even got a bit of liver and a bit of kidney daily for quite a while. I have worked all the way up to organs every other day with bony stuff and meat only on the other days and likely will stay at that point. Max adores organs and eats it first every time. If he got a tummy ache he might be put off them. Sure don't want that to happen!

Don't be too concerned with getting the exact suggested amount daily. Buy the organs and divide it roughly into how many bits it ought to be. Max is supposed to get an ounce of organ a day so it is super easy to cut a pound liver and kidney into 16 bits. Now I cut into 8 bits and plop one into each 2 day meal bins and don't even worry about alternating liver and kidney. Each time I cut and pack bins it is for about a month so over a month's time he is getting the right amount of liver and kidney.

I waited to introduce organs until Max was okay on chicken, beef and pork. I put several daily sized portions on a cookie sheet to freeze then shaved a chunk as small as I could. He got one shaving the first day, two the next and so on. By the end of the week he was successfully eating a full day's worth of that particular organ and I repeated with the other organs. Always serve up with bony stuff at first.
 
#6 ·
honestly what I did even in the beginning was to feed everything. My dog's stomach is relatively tough but still went through a few bouts of diarrhea. I've never done organ only meals. I've always portioned out every meal equally instead of just feeding whatever on separate days. All it takes is a kitchen scale and 30 tupperware containers plus about an hour of time. :p
 
#7 ·
Thanks everyone. I am only starting them with chicken. For about a week, then I'll introduce turkey and probably beef last. I'm just trying to prepare since I don't entirely know where to buy the organs. We went to sams club tonight and got a bunch of chicken to start out with. I'm pretty excited! I'll check out the FB link!
 
#8 ·
You can usually find chicken liver at Walmart and most grocery stores. Beef liver seems fairly common too. other organs can be harder to find. I finally found a small, independently-owned grocery store in a multi-ethnic neighborhood that has beef kidney and pork liver. Other than that, I usually have to buy from www.hare-today.com :/.
 
#9 ·
Honestly you need it to be as natural as possible. I started getting live animals and having my dog make the kill and then eat what they want from the carcass to ensure the natural process isn't disturbed. It makes a mess in the living room but it really helps since it's natural. Pretty much cured my dog's allergies, kidney disease, and cancer.
 
#10 ·
Lolz. So, what does Mr. Commercial Food recommend for a dog with IBD?
 
#11 · (Edited)
What I do is after shopping I package meals into tupperware. Some get just meat -for example, I'll do a bunch of beef heart meals- but most I will add organ. My dogs eat about 13 oz each per day, so I'll aim for like 10oz meat and a few oz of organ (which works out to 4-5% organ in the tupperware). So let's say I have chicken liver, pork brain, and beef sweetbread. I may put beef sweetbread in with pork shoulder. I'll put chicken liver in with chicken leg quarters, and I'll put pork brain in with turkey thighs.
 
#12 · (Edited)
I feed organs everyday. I go by the 80 percent meat, 10 percent organ, 10 percent bone formula. But I don't feed half of the organs as liver, since that will give my dogs the runs. I split a card stack sized piece over the week.

I split the meals into bones + meat for breakfast and organs + meat for dinner, I found this be less cumbersome than trying to get the 10% right for every meal.

BTW: Don't feed any organs the first week/10 days. Start out feeding whole chicken wings to get your dogs accustomed to the raw diet. Then introduce different protein sources, like pork, beef, duck, turkey or deer. Then introduce organs, go slow with the liver. Too much will give the dogs the runs. It's not funny, believe me.
If the poo is too runny add more bones, if it's too dry reduce the amount of bone. The poo should be nice and compact and quite hard, but not so dry that it will break.
(You'll become an expert in poo when feeding raw :D )
 
#13 ·
Yeah most dogs will not be able to handle a meal with just organs (explosive diarrhea yay lol). I would feed organs with a boney part if you just wanted to do it a few times a week. I just cut all the organs into daily portions for me.

Also, slightly OT, but my cats can handle full meals of just organs just fine -- I find it's mostly dogs that can't handle it too well.
 
#17 ·
He might have just eaten too fast. Give him a couple days to figure out how to eat it.
 
#18 ·
Okay I kind of figured that. It's kind of gross but that's why I let him eat what he puked up. It was still pretty much whole. He just horks his food!! When he was on kibble I just dumped his food on the garage floor so he'd slow down. Thanks for your help!
 
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