hopenfox

I would think that they wouldn't be that much harder than chicken frames to cut up...Maybe if you cut between the ribs, you could just snap the backbone.

Just a reminder that butchers everywhere are piling up turkey frames at this time of year and most just throw them out. I asked my local butcher about them last year and he's happy to keep them for me if I can pick them up during Christmas. He charges less than $1 per frame (a huge box for $5)...If only I had a bigger freezer! hopenfox

Only fresh salmon from the Pacific North West can carry a parasite that can be dangerous to dogs, but freezing kills it, and I doubt very much that such salmon will be found here in Australia anyway (and if it is, it will have been frozen for the trip over). ~ ~ ~ I too love hunting for meaty bargains and get so excited when I find something new! I once nearly bought out a supermarket when they had a sale on meaty (human grade) lamb necks for $1.49 pkg! And I was recently given 4 whole (fur on) wild rabbits...yay - free meat! I get salmon heads for 50 cents each and Fox loves them as fishcycles!

I feed my ferrets and dogs prey model raw, with one of the dogs fed inside (she needs very strict supervision due to a throat condition). She eats on an old bath towel, spread out on a vinyl tablecloth over the carpet. I treated it like a training exercise, put the food on the towel, and each time she moved it off, I'd return it to the towel quickly, saying 'On the towel!' and praising. She learnt very quickly and will now move it back to the centre of the towel herself when I say 'On the towel!'. I started my food journey with dry food, then dry food with some raw meaty bones, then home-made BARF and RMBs and now Prey Model Raw. My dogs and ferrets are the healthiest they have ever been in their life, with each change of diet showing noticeable improvement in coat shininess and softness, and body, teeth, gum and skin health. All my future pet carnivores will be fed Prey Model Raw... A great PMR feeding resource is the yahoo raw feeding list; rawfeeding

Our Cavy, Nicky (RIP) had dry eye and our vet recommended a dry eye solution over the counter from the chemist (around $5-10). It worked fine. We put it in 2 to 4 times a day, whenever he needed it, for the rest of his life.

My first dog, Nicky, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was fed chicken necks most of his life. Since he almost sucked his meaty bones till they dissolved, we were quite happy to feed him necks...then one day when he was 12 or 13 years old he decided to swallow one whole! It was the perfect size and shape to get stuck and it did. He collapsed unconscious, his legs jerking. Dad was fortunately close by and raced over, pulled the neck out and did CPR. A couple of gasps later he was alive/conscious again....VERY scary! It took him a couple of hours to fully recover. So now, no matter how well a dog can chew, there is no way I will ever feed a Throat Plug (chicken neck) to a dog again, and wings only under close supervision. Much better to feed larger more complicated foods anyway.

Really? Interesting. I'm sure I read eons ago somewhere, it was only the seeds...off to research... Sorry! You're right, don't listen to me! They have no idea what part or parts of the grape are toxic.

Another thing that will help clean teeth is provide chunks of food large enough that he has to bury his teeth deep into the food and work really hard. Things like chicken quarters, turkey drumettes or wings, or lamb necks or shanks. For my dogs, I've found the best teeth cleaners are ox tongues (the tough meat and abrasive taste buds really scrub the teeth) and pork hocks or pigs feet. Raw pig skin is really tough and chewy and cleans teeth well. I'm actually really aware of teeth cleaning stuff now that one of my dogs isn't allowed to swallow bones due to a throat condition. I did try brushing her teeth at first, but since she healed enough to move from minced food to the ox tongues and pork hocks, I don't need to brush at all.

To clarify, its the grape seeds that can cause problems, not the fruit.

(i) what breed is your dog Koolie/BC.............Kelpie (ii) was the dog obtained as a puppy or adult 4 months..............10 months (iii) if obtained as an adult, did the dog have any prior training (eg., ex-show dog) No training (iv) how was your dog taught the hold/retrieve? eg: clicker training, purely positive, forced retrieve/ear pinch Purely positive - Held a toy, wagged it around a little in a playful manner, letting them mouth it, threw the toy, called the dog to me, grabbed the toy & played a little tug then threw it again... Taught 'Hold' later, by getting them to sit, 'take it' (they knew this from playing tug), 'hold it' (I use/d body language and voice tone, sort of froze, and drew out the command - 'hoooooooold iiiiiiiiiiiiiit', with a hand gently resting under their chin), 'give'...'YAY!', instant game of tug &/or fetch. (v) have you previously trained other dogs to retrieve - if you have, did you find this dog learnt faster than your previous dog? My very first dog, a Cavalier, I attempted to teach the formal retrieve without first teaching it as a game with a favourite toy, and followed the recommendations of the instructors at my local Obedience Club...Put the dum-bell in his mouth, hold it in there while saying 'hold' and praising, then saying 'give' and allowing him to spit it out. He never enjoyed this and took maybe a couple of weeks to learn to hold it till I said give. I then slowly lowered the dum-bell to the ground, till he was picking it up for me, then throwing it further and further away until he could fetch pretty good...He never enjoyed this, wasn't consistent, and sometimes chose to refuse to retrieve. After training my current 2 dogs to retrieve the 'fun' way, I've used this way to teach my foster dogs to retrieve, and they've all picked this up in a couple of training sessions. They have included six 6 week old Jack Russel/Foxie/Chihuahua puppies, a 3 year old BC, and a 6 month old Staffie/Greyhound. I did keep the lead on the Staffie/Greyhound pup because she did originally want to run off with the toy.

Artificial colours also add to staining... Also, I was delighted to discover that my Cavalier's tear stains (and also the stains around his mouth) cleared up completely after changing him to a totally Raw diet.

Thanks Seita!

I want to have Fox assessed to become an Assistant Dog and was told he needs (minimum) a current vaccination for Kennel Cough. Can I get a titre test done for Kennel Cough? Do you think they (Delta) will allow a titre test or will I have to re-vaccinate (I had planned to never vaccinate him again)? Will Vets vaccinate for just K C? Also which other diseases would I need to have tested for if I were to use a titre test as proof of immunity when joining a dog club? Thanks, ~ hopenfox

Just thought I'd post this very interesting article for all those who are still under the impression that dog's aren't wolves or carnivores... http://achinook.squarespace.com/journal/20...eps-plight.html

I do this with new adult dogs and older puppies, and have found it really helps the dog to settle...when loose, they often whine and wander restlessly around, not knowing what to do with themselves. Being tethered to me gives them purpose and relieves them of making any decisions. As others have mentioned, it also helps heaps with house-training, leadership and bonding.

Turkey drumsticks are great to feed - only the legs of huge animals that support a lot of weight are too hard to feed, like cow, buffalo, camel, deer, and maybe emu. Turkey, chicken, rabbit, goat, kangaroo & sheep legs are all fine to feed. Definitely, hearts can be fed as much or as often as you like...they are a little richer than normal muscle meat, so you may have to keep an eye on bowel tolerance if you feed a lot at once. Yep! Eggs can be fed every day if the dog can handle it.

Fish oil is only really needed if you're unable to find enough grass fed meat to provide omega 3s in the diet. Here in Australia I think most of our lamb and beef and of course kangaroo and rabbit are grass fed, so FO shouldn't really be needed unless your dog's main diet is chicken. I don't use FO at the moment, instead I feed as much grass fed red meat as I can find, and a raw salmon head or bunch of fresh sardines once or twice a week. Recently I've noticed one of my dogs has dandruff, so I'll be upping his whole raw eggs to maybe three a week for a while and see how I go. If no change, then I'll be trying the fish oil... Whole raw meaty bones - pork shoulder roasts, lamb leg roasts, most other roasts, maybe whole chickens or turkeys but they'll need more meat added in the long run, whole raw fish, and maybe lamb shanks and pork hocks (a little high on bone). Perfect would be a whole prey animal (lamb, goat) chopped into pieces and fed until gone. I've found it's much easier to go with a not-so-meaty bone like a lamb neck or chicken frame, with added boneless meat. One of my dogs gets a tiny bit of meaty bone with a separate hunk of meat every day, and the other dog gets a meaty bone one day, then a boneless chunk the next. Every dog is different... Examples of (affordable) boneless meat would be Ox tongue, beef heart and lamb heart, but if you look around, I'm sure you could find others - some butchers sell off-cuts that can be quite meaty.

Thanks kelpiechick and Silvawilow! Congratulations on all your passes, and your title too Silvawilow!

I was there with Hope & Fox. Hope came second in her first ever Masters Agility, missing out on a pass by .09 seconds, and Fox got a pass in Excellent Agility. How did you two go?

I've found it's very easy to control my dog's weights feeding raw. Mostly just adjust amounts; gaining weight - Feed less, losing weight - feed more. You can also select leaner or fattier meats to feed, just remember that fat provides energy, so is essential to keep a dog healthy and active. 'Gorge & rest' feeding works well too to keep weight stable...feed two days worth of food on one day, than something tiny or nothing at all the next. But make sure you work up to this by slowly feeding more one day, less the next, or you risk runny poo. I agree with rose of tralee; Lack of routine is a good thing...your dog won't be looking for food (and making you feel guilty) if he never knows when it's going to arrive.

Go for 2 - 3% of ideal adult weight...Heres a great calculator to help work out amounts; http://www.raw4dogs.com/calculate.htm And don't forget dogs need to use their teeth! The larger and more complicated the meal the better. Think whole or half chickens, lamb roasts. etc. Necks can be a choking hazard for large dogs. ETA; Forgot to say - congratulations on coming to this decision! Your dog's will love you for it and feeding will be so much more fun!

You definitely need to add more digestible food to his diet. Dogs need mostly meat, a little bone and a little organ. Chicken is quite lean, so red meat would probably help a lot. Some suggestions for meaty meat are lamb & beef hearts, lamb off-cuts, lamb flaps, lamb necks and any other meaty portions of lamb & beef. Pork is good too, but needs to be introduced really slowly to prevent digestive upset.

Egg shell isn't necessary since your dog is getting plenty of calcium and minerals from bones. One of mine eats the whole egg, shell 'n all and the other always leaves the shell. Whole fish is also not vital as a food, but it is easy to obtain 'whole prey', with eyes, brain and most body parts still intact, which is always great. One of my dogs will only eat his whole fish as a frozen fishcicle, so you could try offering the fish frozen. Tinned fish is cooked, so isn't as good.

I've read in a wolf book that wolves will often pee on an area after they've finished eating to let other pack members know that the food's all gone and there's no point in returning to that 'kill'. My dogs often pee on the ground where they've just eaten meat or bones too. It's totally normal. Just be happy he doesn't pee in the bowl! I've heard some even like to pee on their food before they eat it!

I second the baking soda!