mumtoshelley Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 Hi I went shopping for raw food for Shelley today I cam home with. 7 chicken marylands beef bones 10kgs of pet mince ( has lamb,pork,beef,chicken offcuts) 6 lamb hearts 3 beef hearts 2 beef kidney 2 packs of lamb kidneys 2 lamb livers 2 sardines in oil we get fresh eggs every day from our chickens All that cost me $60, The pet mince will last a while, I think so should the liver and kidneys, But everything else will probably only last a week. I'm not sure if i calculated probably but if i want Shelley to weigh 28kgs i should be feeding her 560grams is that right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormie Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 560g would be a starting point, yeah. But you may find you need to up or down that. 2-3% is what I went by. That's a fair bit of liver, kidney and hearts. Just be careful when you feed that - Orbit gets terrible black tar diarrhoea from anything more than just a little bit of that, even from hearts which is still muscle meat. Also make sure you worm her regularly with a wormer which does hydatid tapeworms Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumtoshelley Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 Now i don't know what to do my mum is complaining about what I am feeding Shelley. I weighed her meal and it came to 570grams,Well my mum looked at her meal and then turned and said that isn't enough food. 570grams came to 1 chicken maryland,half a lamb heart and about tablesppon of pet mince. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Fox Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 It depends on a lot of things - fat content of the meat you're feeding, how active the dog is, if the dog is overweight/underweight, etc. Unless she is underweight I'd be starting off at around 2-3% of her body weight and see how she goes. So say 600-700g per day including all training treats and snacks. If she starts losing weight then up it and if she gets porky cut it back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacqui835 Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 It must also depend on activity level. When my dog was about 9 months old, he was about 28kg and I had to feed him ALOT more than that. Even so, he was and still is a very thin, very fit dog. He does at least 1-2 hours of running a day, and today for example went for a 3 hour mountain hiking session with me, carrying about 8kg in his backpack. He has access to dry biscuits at all time (puppy ones because he refuses to eat any variety of adult), but also eats a whole chicken once every 2 days, about 750g of beef 3star mince from coles (half of the 1.5kg pack) once every 2 days, a tin of sardines in olive oil every day, a serving of lamb fry or kidney twice a week, and 2-3 eggs a week. When we make it out the awesome butcher, he gets like some special rabbit, chicken and kangaroo loaves. When he was 9 months old, he had slightly less mince and only the chicken carcass, but more eggs and I'm positive it would have been more than 560g. He used to also have a lot of kangaroo, but we don't live near a reliable source of that anymore. He also gets a lot of leftovers from us, a bit of spag bol and the fatty bits we don't want when we have steak etc. He is at least 35kg now (that's how much he weighed at his 12 month checkup which was the last time he went to the vet), probably more, but there is not an ounce of fat on him. He's not desexed, and I can barely get him to not look skinny let alone make him fat so my approach has always been to just feed him as much as he'll eat. He eats very little dry food. How active is your dog, and how much do they weigh now? ie are you just trying to maintain weight or gain or reduce? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumtoshelley Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 Shelley is a female golden retriever right now she weighs 35kgs would like to get her down to 28-30kgs. Her exercise varies some days she gets 30 minutes some days an hour or more and some days we don't go for a walk. Most of her exercise tho is offlead runing or swimming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMAK Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 (edited) i think organs like you have mentioned should only make up 10% of the dogs meal/s as in large abouts can do more harm then good, not that long ago i spent $70 just on fruit and veg all for my two dogs Edited March 5, 2011 by catherine.b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 (edited) Now i don't know what to do my mum is complaining about what I am feeding Shelley. I weighed her meal and it came to 570grams,Well my mum looked at her meal and then turned and said that isn't enough food. 570grams came to 1 chicken maryland,half a lamb heart and about tablesppon of pet mince. Ignore your mother. The test of whether your dog is getting enough to eat is not in the dish but on the dog itself. Get your mum to feel Shelley's ribs. If she can't feel rib with the flat of hand, Shelley needs to lose weight. An obvious spine means she could use a bit more. Edited March 5, 2011 by poodlefan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormie Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 Don't worry about it looking like not enough - dry food and raw is completely different. The concept of a food not looking like it is enough is a very common reason for overweight dogs. We compare what they're eating to what we would eat, but we must remember that they are a completely different species. Perhaps just try to ask for her support and explain why you want to do it, health benefits, cost benefits etc. Or if she's really worried, you could add some veges to bulk it up, like broccoli, pumpkin etc. As for how much you feed, it will also depend on how fatty the meats are you're feeding. So for eg, Orbit generally needs about 1.5kg food per day, but if he's getting Roo, he needs quite a bit more because it's so lean. Again I know that heart is still muscle meat, but I would start with less than that or perhaps give her a few days on the raw first to see how she goes. Maybe Orbit is just weird, but one lamb heart is enough to give him terrible diarrhoea (and he weighs 60kg). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenGirl85 Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 You know Stormy Ive really only just looked at your pics of Orbit...I always thought he was a Weim...I think he looked a bit like a Weim in the pic of him in the pool you used to have...he is a Dane right? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 Liver. kidney and heart are very rich foods..liver especially needs to be used sparingly! Chicken carcasses and lamb flaps are great to feed, as they are bone and meat all in one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumtoshelley Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 Ok i went shopping again and came home with lamb meat with a bone in the middle 2kgs worth some beef chunks of meat 1 and half kgs worth 2 lamb shanks pack of turkey necks pack of chicken frames All that came up $50 so all up i have spent $110. My mum isn't impressed and reckons it is a waste of money. She reckons i should spend that on myself. So far Shelley seems very happy with her new diet, She actually can't wait till dinner time. I do have a question with feeding eggs should i breck open the egg and crush the shell or should i just put the whole egg in the bowl? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 people who feed lots of bones/raw tend to not recommend WEIGHT BEARING bones, like legs... ie: shanks as they are very hard..and can splinter into very sharp pieces ..as well as being possibly a bit hard on teeth . brisket bones. pelvis bones, skulls, roo tails, oxtails, chicken frames ..al these are good digestible chewing bones Shelley is a lucky girl!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumtoshelley Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 people who feed lots of bones/raw tend to not recommend WEIGHT BEARING bones, like legs... ie: shanks as they are very hard..and can splinter into very sharp pieces ..as well as being possibly a bit hard on teeth .brisket bones. pelvis bones, skulls, roo tails, oxtails, chicken frames ..al these are good digestible chewing bones Shelley is a lucky girl!! Thanks for mentioning that i won't bother with lamb shanks anymore then. Shelley has had them before. I just thought cause they had a fair bit of meat on them they would be good. Yep Shelley is a lucky girl, the things we do for our dogs hey lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuffles Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 All dogs are different. For example, yesterday, my 36kg boy got about 1/2 cup of kibble for breakfast and one chicken frame (about 250 grams) for dinner. It looks like such a tiny amount of food for a dog his size but any more and he gets porky! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormie Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 You know Stormy Ive really only just looked at your pics of Orbit...I always thought he was a Weim...I think he looked a bit like a Weim in the pic of him in the pool you used to have...he is a Dane right? lol we got that all the time with him growing up! (no offence to Weimies!!) Yep, he's a big silly Dane! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenGirl85 Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 You know Stormy Ive really only just looked at your pics of Orbit...I always thought he was a Weim...I think he looked a bit like a Weim in the pic of him in the pool you used to have...he is a Dane right? lol we got that all the time with him growing up! (no offence to Weimies!!) Yep, he's a big silly Dane! Thats alright lol, look at Lexis short coat...she must be part Lab...ummm no Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sayreovi Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 I do have a question with feeding eggs should i breck open the egg and crush the shell or should i just put the whole egg in the bowl? Depends on the dog, give her a whole one and see what she does. If she manages to break it open but doesn't eat the shell then next time put it all in her bowl opened and crushed ;) Feeding raw does get cheaper especially if the bulk you feed is chicken frames like I do, once you get it down to an art form you will know all the best places to shop at the best times to get it as cheap as possible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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