Bulldogs World

.....if you want to make your own  vs a commerical blend.....its 80% meat...10% bone....10% organs.....you would feed 2 to 3% of expected adult weight....

as for grinding or whole pcs i leave that up to the person.....i see nothing wrong with grinding....my dogs like to chew and it cleans their teeth...i use lamb rib bones....once or twice a week...plus i feed pig hocks that have alot of bone.....i go by my dogs stool if their really loose i add bone...to firm i dont feed bone....

dogs dont digest vegetable and their no benefit...except medical herbs i add to my dogs diet.....

most people start with chicken as its inexpensive and easy to start with......stay with it for at least a month...then add in what ever you would like.....

i just brought to my home two spina bifida puppies 10 wks and 5 months...they came last night and got their raw dinner...they loved it.....i dont do a transition for any rescues that come to my home...i may lightly sear it the first couple of times...to make it seem good to an older dog.....i do use my chinese wok to give things a quick stir...just for their and my enjoyment.....

i only use cod liver tabs for the omegea...i also use sardines fresh and wild salmon once or twice a month.....

as for doggie poop   remember that kibble uses a stool firmeer in their ingredients....a dogs poop should not always be hard and formed...they should differ every now and then from what their eating....     kibble takes alot to digest vs raw...raw is much easier on the dogs stomach,,,,,,

just keep asking questions......and have fun with it...you become much more involved in your dogs life when you feed raw as you have to think about it....and interact with the dog...instead of putting down a bowl.....

its very very easy.... what i tell people is....just do it on the weekend to start...if your making your own...commerical...dump the kibble and jump right in...everything is pre measured the two i like...instinct...and bravo...on a raw diet you always need to add in cod liver tab..or salmon oil as pure as possible.....

so wilson is about 52 lbs and get 1 to 1 1/2 lbs a day......i adjust to how thin or fat he is getting.....remember your not feeding all those fillers that are in kibble...chicken is the best to start with its cheap and easy...just do some breast....give some hearts.....organs i like lamb or calf liver....i love chken necks and turkey necks nice and bony and i can give them as healthy treats...good for bone content....its not written in stone...not every meal i feed is exactly 80/10/10.......i feed twice a day...easier on my sb crew.....so in  the am no organs just meat...then in the pm organs no meat a couple of chicken necks.....some sardines maybe......my feeding routine changes all the time.....

the important thing is no enhanced meats...watch those sodium levels and any additives.....so this saturday morning give your dogs a small chicken breast  nothing else for breakfast......buy some cheap chiken gizzards.....a little afternoon snack.....just a coupl..if your butcher has some a couple of necks no more than two to start...once you see everything is ok...do it sunday...build your confidence up....dont try to do everything...when your not comfortble......if you want an exact feeding schudule let me know and i will give you one to follow......

I'm not sure anyone that feeds raw has a real feeding schedule.  I belong to a co-op so I feed whatever is stocked in my freezer.  We have a database and different meats come up on the calendar every couple of months.  I'm lucky to have such a wonderful raw co-op.

So here is what I usually feed.  I do not feed whole bones of any kind.  I had a bad experience and almost lost a dog feeding course ground chicken that I was buying.  The problem was I did not know the bone content and my dog was not digesting any of those bones...they were going right through to his colon and he got impacted.  Lots of sharp bones, he was lucky that his colon did not puncture.  Just my experience.

So I grind my own Whole chickens and the bones are pretty non existent. I also get chicken necks that I grind with skin on. I feed chicken often because it is the least expensive protein. I get whole chickens from Costco and only Washington Foster Farm chickens with no additives. 

From the co-op I get:

Ground Venison, Venison Scrap, Ground Beef, Green Tripe, Organ meat blend, Sardines, Buffalo.  I can also get duck, lamb, rabbit, pork...but I have not ventured on to those yet.  They are more expensive.  There are also meat and vege blends if you like and sometimes I do get the vege blends.

There are a number of raw food businesses/companies that our co-op uses, and we get great prices because of the volume of orders.

I always feed 2 protein sources (ie chicken with either beef or venison)

I use liquid Glucosomine and Salmon oil.  I will try Cod liver after my salmon oil is gone, for a change.  Coconut is evidently good as well.

I save egg shells and crush them in my food processor.  Haven't given whole eggs yet but many do.

I have 60 lbs of Vension Scrape coming in a couple of weeks, just picked up 20 lbs of whole fresh frozen 7" sardines, the chicken necks came in a 30 lbs...so you can see it is large volume that we buy.

Tonight my dogs are getting...ground chicken, venison, 1/2 sardine, plus the supplements. 

Too keep their gums good they get bison or beef marrow bones to chew on, which they love....and they are also big chewers on their nylabones.

I do grind myself.  I bought a grinder from Cabela's, I had a gift card that needed to be used so that is why I got it from there, and my sisters bf who is a hunter had the same grinder and was happy with his.  So far it has done fine with the chicken. It is a little time consuming.  I usually do 4 or 6 chickens at a time and freeze them in containers that hold about 2 lbs.  But I'm told it is important to have a variety of protein sources so that is why I always fed something else with the chicken.