[shortstack]

Hey guys! im looking for some tried and true cuts that you raw feeders LOVE to feed.. by size that is.. So if you could shoot me some ideas that would be super
My dogs are both mixed breeds at 130 lbs and 69 lbs 3 and 2 years old

What meat cuts would you use more than others.. what ones do you find are cheaper? When using the "whole" chicken how to you cut it up? just in hunks some bonier than others?

TIA y'all rock

Oh and so far the cuts I have been using are:
Chicken:
necks (too small im finding they hardly chew but it was a great starting meat)
thighs
split breasts
drumsticks (so not really comfy with this one yet though)

The only Pork I have purchased was shoulder meat. do you feed the skin too?

 

[txcollies]

when I feed the fryer chickens, I cut it into 4ths. Just divide it up and feed.

I used chicken quarters a lot.

 

[lovemygreys]

Our staple chicken is chicken backs and frames that we get from a chicken processing plant...sometimes the neck is still on as well as some offal. Turkey necks, wings and leg quarters sometimes as well. If we can find a good deal, we'll also sometimes do rabbit, but that's pretty expensive. DH just lops them in 1/2 or in 1/3s depending on the size.

Our dogs will just swallow chicken necks whole, so we don't ever use those.

The bulk of their meat is ground beef, tongue, heart, tripe, etc...

 

[Kathyy]

Max really likes beef and pork heart and beef tongue. Beef shank minus the really hard bone slice is nice and chewy. HE loves chicken backs but I prefer to give him the rib sections as they are hard to swallow whole. Any lamb is a favorite, I gave him the bone from a lamb leg with about 1.5x his usual feed left on the bone last week. Sort of tender but harder to eat than his usual stuff as it was large. Tripe, he cannot say enough about how yummy that is.

He shares whole chickens with us as I don't think chicken is nutritious enough to be a large part of the diet. We get the skinned breast meat, he gets the ribs with quite a bit of meat left on. We get the legs and thighs, he gets the back. He gets the bony wings, neck and innards. Love that, only toss the wrapping and leg bones of the bird. Would work for larger dogs if you cut the breast meat off without cutting the wings off first. Wings alone aren't large enough for middle sized and up dogs.

Pork, beef and lamb shoulder is usually the cheapest cut. It is fatty and except for the shoulder blade of pork and lamb the bone is inedible.

I have only fed pork neck. Cheap but mostly bone. The 2 pound single vertebrae section worked well for a too large meal where most of the bone wasn't eaten. Max doesn't seem able to eat vertebrae. Beef neck bone would be too tough but he would try and I would love to find lamb neck. Don't get the cut up pieces, get the large strangely shaped whole bone.

Lamb and pork ribs are edible for him but fatty. He has been fine eating single ribs but that can be risky.

No ground beef for him. Unless I find the 95% meat stuff it is incredibly fatty and he doesn't get enough protein as it is unless I work hard to find lean stuff like the heart and shank. HE likes the fat but he gets fluffy very easily. Poor old guy. I know it sounds like I am giving him only protein and no fat but he gets 55% fat calories and the rest protein with me trying to keep fat low!

 

[phoebespeople]

Whole stewing chicken, usually about $1.25/lb, cut in to one pound chunks, weather it's all bone or mostly meat, it averages out at the end of the week. Sometimes turkeys are on sale for $1.50/lb, they aren't the young turkeys but the tough old ones. I saw frozen ducks for $1.78/lb last time I was in the grocery store, I could probably get about 6, one pound chunks out of one of those. Beef hearts are a perfect source of muscle meat, we go through lots of those. Pork shoulder and whole pork legs are sometimes as low ar $.98/lb, but for some reason I try not to buy pork, for ourselves or phoebe. Beef liver, clicken liver, beef kidney, sardines in water, and green tripe round out her diet.

 

[shortstack]

Wow you all are so wonderful!

Right now im getting thigh meat and drumsticks at .98 per lb.. Pork should was .89 per lb, and I can get beef ribs for 1.59 per lb.. but like I said im not done shopping..

So can we review my menu with the cuts specified better please?

Also do you prefer to feed one feeding or 2 .. in the beggining i liked 2 cause it gave them a very SMALL amount of meat for their bellies, but im thinking if i did one feeding they might not act so hungry all the time, cause they would get more, and use more effort

This sample will be based on one feeding per day - provided that is approved
3x's per week - whole chicken or turkey (halved or what not depending on size)
1x per week - beef
1x per week - pork
1x per week misc fun food (duck, lamb, venision, rabbit etc.)
1x per week fish - now when you feed fish do you feed by the lbs again?

 

[lovemygreys]

*disclaimer* I believe there are LOTS of good/safe/ok/acceptable ways to feed raw...I"m not posting this to get into a debate about how we feed it. We've done our research and our dogs do well on this mix. Feed your dogs your way, we'll feed ours our way.

That said..

We do a morning meal of rmbs and an evening meal of meat/offal/veggie mash.
Our staple rmb is chicken frames or backs (.20/lb) though once or twice a week we will switch that up to some other animal rmb. The meat meal is pretty much always ground beef and beef parts (tongue, heart, tripe)...maybe ground turkey occasionally. An egg here or there. Some fish once in a while. The veggie mash is seasonal veg grown at the farm down the road when possible. In the winter we usually need to buy from the store. We blend it with apple cider vinegar...They don't get much and we've tried eliminating it b/c veggies aren't "necessary", but I think the dogs just do better with a little bit of veg in their diet (plus they loooooooove it).

We'll do venison if we can get it during hunting season, but feed it sparingly as it's pretty rich and can give some of our pups the runs.

 

[shortstack]

Wow again thanks! man oh man I found a screaming deal on whole chickens this weekend My normal Grocer had "young" chickens for .98 per lb! The only stipulation was it had been pre frozen (which was fine by me and meant for easier cutting....)

I pulled the offal out and cut it into tiny pieces and froze it (the boys haven't had any organs yet..)

Okay so we are into week 4.. they are still getting mostly chicken (obviously) but they ate the pork shoulder no problems.. no squirts no vomit.. BUT my pup did practically swallow the whole thing! I really need to get him to slow down.. although his tearing/crushing techniques when eating thigh meat is impressive!

So I bought a rack of ribs this weekend as it was 1.59 per lb and well, they needed to try beef this week

Would you add more meat? (I am impressed with how much meat per bone..) I did cut them down to their portions I will have to reweigh them the day I feed to remember if I did a whole days portion or 1/2 a day,,

So far so good.. Oh one last question on that.. as I am introducing the new proteins, should they only get chicken plus the new protein that week? (for example last week it was pork, but I only gave them one day of it...)

OR can I give them both last weeks protein and this weeks? (for example..their normal chicken meals but then wed give them pork again and Friday or sat give them their beef?)

Also not sure its been answered yet.. Do you guys see benefits for feeding once per day VS. twice? (heather I know your answer lol) The reason I ask is I figure the more meat/bone they are offered in one meal the more my pup has to work to eat.. My big dog takes his sweet time.. licking and playing with it first.. but the pup gorges even when we separate them AND the funny thing is the hunks of meat are virtually identical.. My big boy just gets more....

*heather I would never judge you for feeding veggies! I was actually thinking that once a week or so they would get pulverized veggies as a treat!

I'm a little concerned im going to have to double the pups food.. He dropped 7 lbs in the first week and a half - im to too worried yet, cause I was feeding them both about half of the goal weight in the beginning, now they are eating more and he's starting to put a little weight back on.. but if by the start of next week his weight isn't back up to normal I'm going to have to up his food (and both dogs will be eating almost the same amount!!! lol....)