Raw/natural Chitchat

[Gayle.]

I forgot to defrost anything for the dogs yesterday and they had their first meal of kibble in months

If I forget to defrost, I feed them tinned tuna, grated carrot, eggs and cheese. Just mix it all up and serve, they love it!

[huski]

I forgot to defrost anything for the dogs yesterday and they had their first meal of kibble in months

If I forget to defrost, I feed them tinned tuna, grated carrot, eggs and cheese. Just mix it all up and serve, they love it!

That's what I normally do, but I'd run out of about everything that I'd normally throw together

[GSD's 4EVER]

I forgot to defrost anything for the dogs yesterday and they had their first meal of kibble in months

If I forget to defrost, I feed them tinned tuna, grated carrot, eggs and cheese. Just mix it all up and serve, they love it!

Yum !!

[BCPuppy]

I am doubting I have enough time to make raw, I can barely have enough time to feed myself.

Last week I worked 6 x 13hr shifts - bit stuffed on my days off.

Can't wait til the weekend I have 13hr night shifts to look forward to

OOh I love this discussion. Neats, I am pretty new to raw, and puppy I have found it doesnt really take a lot of time, just have to be organised., helps if you have a freezer. I buy bulk, split into smaller bags, meat into handfulls, bones into twos or more, chop up offal & freeze in ice cube trays. Take out enough for say two days at a time and shove in a plastic container to defrost, weigh the amount if you need to until you are confident you have an eye for it. When defrosted, throw in some vegies, egg, oil, garlic, anything else you desire quick stir and voila! Toss a bone as you leave for work and you are done. If you forget to defrost just get out a frozen bone! Just make sure plastic container is labelled DOG or someone else may decide to cook it for tea ;)

[Gayle.]

It takes me about an hour to make a BIG batch, divide into meal portions and freeze. I use a big aluminium soup boiler to mix everything in....grate the veges first, chop the offal (god, that's such a gross job, easier if it's partly frozen), cook rice if I'm using it in the mix which I sometimes do, and cook the pumpkin or sweet potato...they get that skin and all. I don't have a food processor so it's easier that way.

Once it's mixed, I have a tall jug that is just the right size for meal portions for the two dogs, so I line it with a freezer bag, fill almost to the top of the jug then tie up the bag ready for the freezer. Doing it this way saves a heap of time because I don't have to weigh the portions.....I know if I fill the bag almost to the top of the jug it will be exactly right.

Dusty has the most important helping job of all.....she gets to lick the soup pot out afterwards.

[GSD's 4EVER]

Dusty has the most important helping job of all.....she gets to lick the soup pot out afterwards.

A dog's version of licking out the mixing bowl & beaters when your Mum made a cake.

[Guest Pandii]

I often feed frozen if I forget to thaw it out, my dogs still munch through it, although I feel mean in winter, but better than being hungry

[Gayle.]

A dog's version of licking out the mixing bowl & beaters when your Mum made a cake.

Yep, it sure is. And you know when you were a kid and you'd hang around the kitchen and try and stick your grubby fingers in the cake mix when mum wasn't looking? Well, Dusty hangs around and tries to stick her tongue into whatever I'm doing and hopes I don't notice. I have to tilt the soup pot towards me and wrap one arm around it to steady it so O can mix it properly.....Dusty wiggles in between the kitchen bench and me, paws on the edge of the bench and waits for the flicky bits to land in her mouth.

[Got Spots]

I have finally given things with raw a little try

We had a constipation issue the other day so have started them on pumpkin at night for the last few nights + half a rabbit BARF pattie / or casserole (liver, kidney etc)

They love pumpkin - huge surprise for the worlds fussiest dogs, they eat it without me mixing things up

The pup now leaves the kibble - Artemis

[OSoSwift]

I finally managed to get a bag of turkey necks, dogs thought they were very yummy. But a turkey neck then lamb flaps the next day had the little Whippy looking a little porky, so she was on small dinners for a few days!

[Tru Borders]

Any Barfers had probs with broken teeth?

Asher had a premolar removed about 7 months ago, we think due to bones.

Nooki is having one of hers removed tomorrow, we think because of the bones also.

We dont feed alot of Weight Bearing bones. I think it was the lamb shanks on both occasions.

Nooki has great teeth, Asher's are good also but not quite to her standard, so bad teeth decay is not a factor.

And to wrap up this dental Q & A ..... anyone brush their dogs teeth? Vet recommended we start doing this as when the premolar in particular is removed, the other side of the mouth is used predominantly so tartar build up is going to be higher.

If you do brush your doggies teeth, what do you use and any tips.

Sorry to get a little off topic.

[GSD's 4EVER]

Dusty wiggles in between the kitchen bench and me, paws on the edge of the bench and waits for the flicky bits to land in her mouth.

Awww, Mummy's little helper.

[OSoSwift]

Any Barfers had probs with broken teeth?

Asher had a premolar removed about 7 months ago, we think due to bones.

Nooki is having one of hers removed tomorrow, we think because of the bones also.

We dont feed alot of Weight Bearing bones. I think it was the lamb shanks on both occasions.

Nooki has great teeth, Asher's are good also but not quite to her standard, so bad teeth decay is not a factor.

And to wrap up this dental Q & A ..... anyone brush their dogs teeth? Vet recommended we start doing this as when the premolar in particular is removed, the other side of the mouth is used predominantly so tartar build up is going to be higher.

If you do brush your doggies teeth, what do you use and any tips.

Sorry to get a little off topic.

I have seen dogs with broken teeth from bones, but usually from beef femur bones. Usually the softer ones are okay. I feed chicken carcasses, lamb flaps, necks etc for this reason.

I don't brush my dogs teeth, but you can get very easy to use three sided brushes so they brush all sides of their teeth at once. You do need to do it religiously every day to make sure you keep ontop of any plaque on the teeth.

My old Stafford has some missing incisors from having a terrible bite, but has all his other teeth so can't he;p you there either. Good luck.

Maybe just try sticking with softer bones and not using the shanks to see how they go. Hopefully you get enough of a clean from the softer bones.

[GSD's 4EVER]

After bones just got left around the back yard, I had to throw them out when the flies were too much to cope with. As Mish got older & started to "shit bullets", I switched to frozen chicken carcasses. All my lot have lovely, clean, white teeth. Even Mish's are in pretty good nick for an old girl. They're only a wee bit of a very light yellow colour just at the gum line.

[Tru Borders]

Thanks for your replies Rommimum and GSD's 4EVER.

We feed mainly softer bones, eg chicken, lamb necks, etc so will definitely eliminate the harder ones like shanks. Shame really, the furries love them!

Think I will do some teeth cleaning aswell. Cant hurt I guess even if we are still feeding bone. Especially on that one side where the extra tartar will build up.

Nooki will be having her op soon. Fingers crossed all goes well

Thanks again

[Guardienne]

Well, we've done it! Sarge and Madeline are on a raw diet... and processed kibble is completely off the menu now

I can't believe how much I've learned in the past couple of months, and considering I ran my own pet food shop for almost 10 years (and thought that not feeding preservatives, additives and chemicals was I knew all I needed to know), I'm so glad that I opened myself up to looking into things further

I managed to slowly get the dogs onto all raw (no more cooked meat) and they have bones every two to three days.

Here is their current diet... input appreciated

I mix up a large batch and freeze it in small packs.

For a diet like this can anyone give me rough idea of quantities to feed daily. I have dog that doesn't know when to stop eating.

I have a 19kg very small border collie - small in stature not in weight

and an 7-8 kg Dandy Dinmont (small but stocky terrier type dog).

[Staranais]

Feed as much as you need to to keep your dog at an appropriate body condition.

For most adult dogs, that's accomplished by feeding about 2 - 3% of their body weight daily. So for example, your 19kg dog "should" eat between 380 - 570g of raw food per day. But just use that figure as a starting point - if your dogs need more or less than that, then feed them more or less.

[Guardienne]

Feed as much as you need to to keep your dog at an appropriate body condition.

For most adult dogs, that's accomplished by feeding about 2 - 3% of their body weight daily. So for example, your 19kg dog "should" eat between 380 - 570g of raw food per day. But just use that figure as a starting point - if your dogs need more or less than that, then feed them more or less.

Thanks Staranais, I will use that as a starting point and see how we go. I might try feeding the lower end of the range and see how we go, she is a little on the chubby side

[corvus]

Check it out, Erik had his first whole fish today.

He is 14 weeks tomorrow. I think it's interesting that he got stuck into that fish without batting an eyelid. It took Kivi a little while to warm to them, but he loves them now.

Erik has a little Red Spot Whiting. They are about the size of sardines and very cheap at about $10/kg. I've found sardines to be a bit oily and they used to make Penny throw up, so I usually stick to Whiting. Kivi got a Sand Whiting today, because they are more his size.

[Got Spots]

Awwww he is sooo cute with his fishies

I got a juicer cheap the other day on ebay - breville juicer plus - its so quiet

Tried the dogs with some steamed pumpkin and they loved it - shock horror

plus it thinned my fatty down a little - she gets fat at the smell of food

Also solved a bit of a constipation issue we had for a couple of days

Plus I like it too - yuuummmm

Just had another thought - for supplements try this site:

www.callicoma.com.au

they have a great selection at great prices

no affiliation

Edited September 27, 2009 by Neats