Pork Necks & Other Pieces

Someone asked if we feed pork neck bones, a RMB (raw meaty bone) often mentioned in the books and on the assorted raw lists.  Actually, I do not feed them, but not for any specific reason.  The dogs get ground pork occasionally if it is on sale. Very occasionally.  They like it OK and seem to do fine.  There is/was a lot of controversy about whether it is safe to feed raw pork, and arguments pro & con as to whether freezing kills the trichinosis that was the reason pork "was" always fed cooked.  I suppose that is something I should look into - is there still trichinosis (or whatever it is that causes it) in raw pork?  Does freezing kill it?  How cold and for how long?   The main reason I do not feed pork necks is probably because the bone seems too hard, a dense flinty bone.  It does not seem like "edible bone" to me, and that is what we are feeding.

Raw feeding involves the owner's "comfort level" - what YOU are comfortable feeding your dogs.  Maybe you aren't comfortable feeding raw at all, or perhaps you feed a home made cooked diet.   Perhaps you are not comfortable with any bones and feed chopped meat and a calcium/bone meal supplement, or perhaps you grind everything for your dogs.    My comfort level does not really extend to pork necks (too hard), lamb necks (too fatty), turkey wings (too large & brittle), turkey drumsticks (same as necks), and I don't particularly like feeding chicken leg quarters (large brittle bones).  I have several friends who feed the latter regularly - they are generally one of the most affordable RMBs and are often on sale for a very good price.  I've fed them, but was not comfortable doing so, at least not the big ones that are generally on sale. I'd probably feed the smaller leg quarters, and do in fact feed small chicken thighs -  very handy when traveling.

IF I had a big grinder that could handle turkey wings and leg quarters, I would probably feed both.

Price Increase

Went into Swanson's Raws For Paws website to place an order as we are down to the last 5# tube of ground turkey.  I've been buying the "good stuff", ground turkey thigh and paying $31.00 for 20# (intended for human consumption).  Expensive, but top quality.  This week the price is suddenly $39.80.  ARGH!  I may have to rethink this.  I'll check with Anderson's and see what I can buy from them.  It's nice having two wholesalers to deal with.  I can buy 40# of ground turkey necks and backs (ground as pet food, of course) which is sometimes a good product, but it often very fatty.  Really want to buy the 10# of bison ox tails ($19.50) this week.  The dogs will enjoy crunching the bones, and Josie who gets itchy from beef does fine with bison.  We were able to purchase ground bison VERY cheaply for awhile, but it must have been due to an overstock and the price is much higher now.

Variety is important, and sometimes it's a necessity!

Sources

Woody's has a new store in my neighborhood.

Someone asked me yesterday how much it would cost to feed a raw diet to two Dalmatians.  That's a question with no definite answer because it all depends on your sources and whether or not you are willing to buy in bulk and repackage.  Chicken backs are available for as little as $12.00 for a 40# box.  40# gives you about 30# of usable meat and bone once you cut off some of the surplus fat and drain out the liquid as the backs thaw.  It takes some time to repackage and refreeze the backs, but it's an economical base for a healthy raw diet.  Chicken necks cost about the same amount and are easy to repackage and feed.  Turkey necks vary in price, but are often affordable and sold in bulk.  The trick is FINDING a supplier.   Sometimes you can order them through your own supermarket, or through a wholesaler.  Because we have so many raw feeders in the Twin Cities area, we have several wholesalers who gladly sell these products to us.

If you only have one dog or are only feeding small dogs (not Dals) there are other affordable option.  Whole Foods sells 3-packs of nice meaty chicken backs (and will order cases if you want them).   You can also buy chicken leg quarters very affordably on sale if you wish to feed larger pieces, or grind them.

We also have a Pet Food Deli  available to us.  Woody's just opened a second store, so business must be good.  They have a great selection of items, both cooked and raw, strictly meat or ground with bone (raw only).   Check out their menu.  They also have some good articles on feeding a raw or cooked diet.  I can't afford to feed 4 adult Dals with their products, but I do buy them to add variety.  The ground rabbit was well received, but the ground duck was greeted with suspicion by Argus.  He'll get his mixed with turkey today.  It often takes the dogs a few days to get used to totally new foods.

How Much?

One of the biggest problems for new raw feeders is trying to figure out how much to feed.  As we all know, the amounts listed on the bag of kibble are only approximations.  For example, not ALL 50 pound dogs need the 2 3/4 cups per day that may be listed on the bag - that's just a guideline.  That 12 year old spayed bitch may only need 1 cup per day to stay in good weight, while your 10 month old male pup, or the dog who goes to Agility 3 nights a week may need 5 cups of the same product.  IF you have learned to keep your dogs in correct weight by using the "eye ball method", you can apply the same principals to raw.  Take a good look at your dog(s) every day and decide if he looks too heavy, too lean or just right and adjust the food accordingly.  You can also weigh him several times a week if that helps.  Keeping a food journal listing amounts fed can also help.



This chicken back weighs about 11 ounces

It might be helpful to weigh the dog's food at first.  Some raw feeders always weigh the food.  Start with the idea of feeding 2% of your dog's body weight per day - that's the approximate requirement for the average adult dog.  A fast growing puppy needs far more, sometimes as much as 10% of his weight.  Seniors often require less than 2%. You are figuring this percentage based on the dog's ideal weight.  If Spot is chubby at his current 60 pounds, then use 50 or 55 pounds for figuring.  If your Dal weighs/should weigh about 50 pounds, then start with 1 pound of food per day.
 
The large meaty chicken back sitting on the scale weighs about 11 ounces.  If our goal is to feed 1 pound of food per day, this would make a perfect dinner for our dog.  Then feed a second meal that weighs perhaps half a pound or a bit less.  1/2 cup ground turkey, 1/4 cup raw veggies and an egg weighs about 7 ounces and would be fine.



These chicken backs vary a great deal in size.

 This works better than saying feed one chicken back per meal.  Raw meaty bones vary a great deal in size, depending on your source. The large 11 ounce chicken back came from a 3-pack of backs purchased at Whole Foods.  The small back came from a 20# of backs purchased from a wholesaler.  The backs in that box varied in size, but this one was typical after I trimmed off a large chunk of fat.  If I was feeding the bulk backs I would give two of them for a meal - or feed a larger ground meat & veggie meal.

Remember, you don't have to get the amounts right each day.  It's just the average over a few days or a week that matters.  If I am low on ground meat, or forgot to thaw veggies, I may give the dogs a smaller ground meat meal but add an extra back to the second meal.  Works just fine that way.

Never Stop Reading

My bedside table always contains a stack of books and magazines just waiting to be read.  My current project has been reading several new raw feeding books, and re-reading the others.  It amazes me all the variations there are to feeding a natural diet to dogs, but why should it be any different than "the best" diet for people?  There is no right or wrong to raw feeding, and once you learn the basic principles you can decide what works best for you, your schedule, the availability (& affordability) of products, and what works for your dogs. 

All raw diets are based on meat - on the bone, off the bone, and ground with or without bone.  Some feed just one or two meats, while others feed a huge variety, including but not limited to chicken, turkey, fish, seafood, beef, pork, lamb, goat, elk, bison, and rabbit.  The list is seemingly endless.  Then you decide whether or not you will feed veggies and fruit (either raw and ground, cooked, or a mixture of the two). Some people feed no veggies at all, although most Dal owners include veggies everyday.  Grain is a very controversial topic, with some feeding absolutely no grain, some feeding it occasionally, and some feeding it every day.  One of the reasons most of us switched to raw was because we did not want to feed grain-based diets, which is what kibble basically is, but some feel there dogs do better if they get at least a small amount of cooked grain.  Dairy is another controversial subject, and many add at least yogurt to raw diets, while others would never consider feeding dairy to adult dogs.

There is no "best way to feed raw, and it's up to you to decide how you want to feed your dogs.  It is not hard to feed them a healthy diet, but do as much reading as possible before you even consider switching your dog(s) over.  I can't emphasize enough that if you are not going to take the time to learn, a good quality kibble is probably a better option.

Raw Diets Can't Cure Everything

I had an interesting comment posted to my blog yesterday, but it was a bit long to use.  The writer was using a nice variety of natural foods for her two Dals, with the exception of feeding exclusively chicken.  She was concerned with the fact that her Dals were itchy, despite the fact that they were getting no grains.  What was she doing wrong? What could she add or change that might help?

While grain-based foods can be the culprit here,  there are many other possible causes. Removing grain does NOT guarantee a dog won't be itchy. Although a raw & natural diet can solve or improve a lot of health-related issues, and prevent others (such as gingivitis), it is not a miracle cure for everything.  My own feeling on the subject is that removing grain is better for curing digestive issues than it is for eliminating itchy allergic-type problems.

If the itchy Dals were mine I would make two changes right now.  If you make too many changes and things improve, you'll have no idea what made the difference.  First, I would change the protein source.  Dogs can become sensitized to any type of protein, and that includes chicken.  When everyone fed beef or chicken-based kibble, the "new" (at the time) lamb-based foods were advertised as "hypo-allergenic".  What a crock!  Dogs can become sensitized to lamb, just as they can to any other protein source.  In this case the problem "might" be chicken.  If the dogs were mine I might switch them to a turkey based diet for two months, using turkey necks and ground turkey and absolutely no chicken.  I've noted a number of postings to various lists stating that the writer's dog(s) did not do well on chicken.    One of my own dogs Josie, gets itchy when she eats beef.

The other thing I would do is change the dogs' grooming routine.  The dogs are bathed every two weeks with a Neem Oil shampoo.  Those poor dogs probably have no natural oils left to protect their skin from anything.  NO Dalmatian needs to be bathed every two weeks, and most pet dogs rarely need bathing.  If they are bathed, it should be with a hypo allergenic soap-free shampoo, cool water, and they should be blotted dry.  No rubbing to heat up the skin.  An oatmeal rinse might be helpful.   Even the dogs we show do NOT get bathed every week or two.  Also, if the skin is inflamed or irritated in anyway, brushing is not the way to go.  A rub-down with dampened hands will remove loose hair safely.

This posting might have been more appropriate on my other blog, but I just wanted to make the point that feeding a raw diet will NOT solve all problems.  Also, food allergies are far less common than inhalant allergies, and chances are the two itchy dogs are allergic to pollens or other things in their environment rather than anything they are eating.  (We'll save a discussion on food allergies and food intolerances for another day.)

New Book

I started a book last night, the newest addition to my collection of dog feeding books.  The author Lew Olson, breeds, shows and judges Rottweilers and has fed a raw diet to her own dogs, as well as an assortment of foster/rescue dogs, for many years.  One of the best things about this book is her attitude on home-prepared diets; she's not a fanatic in any way.  She presents the facts so that you can make the decision on whether to stay with kibble, buy a better brand of kibble, add extras to make your commercial food better, use a combination of kibble and home-prepared foods, or make the switch completely to a home-prepared cooked diet, raw diet or combination of the two.  It's a refreshing approach.

Her chapter on the history of commercial dog food is one of the best I have read.  She starts with James Spratt's creation of "Spratt's Patent Meat Fibrine Dog Cakes" patterned after the "hardtack" eaten by sailors on long ocean voyages.  Commercial dog foods were originally advertised as being an economical way to feed dogs because they utilized waste products such as grain hulls, sweepings, and meat that was unfit for human consumption, and that meat "made dogs' finicky.  And so it goes.  The history of dog food reads like the history of marketing, and commercial foods went from being a cheap alternative to better foods to convincing the pet owning public that commercial diets were the best and safest way to satisfy the dog's complex nutritional requirements.  At the public bought it, hook, line & sinker.  Or perhaps bags & cans.  It's an interesting read indeed.

This morning I spoke with a woman whose dog is having a problem digesting kibble.  They've tried a variety of products and additives with no improvement.  I was MOST impressed that her vet actually suggested considering a raw diet.  We've come a long ways in the past ten years!  Although raw feeding was originally labelled a "fad" it is obviously here to stay, and the recent situation with melamine sickening and killing so many dogs convinced a lot more people that they needed to take control over what they were feeding their dogs.

Twelve-year old Coral keeps her teeth clean by eating
turkey necks and other raw meaty bones.

A friend of mine at work has a dog with gingivitis.  He has already lost a lot of teeth and she was getting ready to schedule him for another dental cleaning - which of course requires that he be anesthetized, yet again.  The dog is obese, has chronic ear infections and chews his feet frantically.  You don't have to be a rocket scientist (love that expression) to know that he needs to have his diet changed.  But no, she won't listen, the dog continues to suffer, and only their Vet benefits from the situation.  Oh well.  You can provide people with information, but you can't make the decisions for them.

When I sell a pup, I provide the buyer with information about feeding a raw diet, but do not require it.  It IS amazing how many understand the logic and have no qualms at all.  There's so much information available now, and plenty of people willing to mentor.  Try it, you'll like it - and so will your dog!





Question About A Commercial Raw Diet

Yesterday I received the following question concerning raw diets -

Below is a list of ingredients for Bravo Balance ground raw frozen dog food. This is the chicken. In your opinion, is it better to use this and maybe add my own veggie mix or order only the ground chicken, which is chicken, frames, organs, and do a veggie mix? There doesn't seem to be many veggies. I do not know what ferrous sulfate, and manganous oxide are.   I can order chicken backs and necks, and turkey necks, but for the ground version, I am not sure which is best. Thanks for your comments.

Ingredients:
chicken, chicken frames, chicken organs (liver, gizzards, hearts), green beans, broccoli, acorn squash, salt, potassium chloride, vitamin E, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, ferrous sulfate, manganous oxide, potassium iodide, vitamin D

Bravo seems to be a quality product and I know a number of people who use it.  Some use it regularly, while others use it when they travel, if they board the dogs or have a house sitter, or when just too busy to prepare the normal diets.  The ingredients list sounds fine, although I don't see a source of EFAs (fish oil or flax seed or something similar).  Prepared raw diets can be very convenient to use, but of course you have lost control of what you are actually feeding your dogs.  If this was fed once a day, the other meal could be used to add some other type of protein source such as turkey, eggs, or possibly cottage cheese if you choose to feed dairy products.

I have two concerns here. 

1. When we feed raw to Dals, organ meats are always something to consider.  Because organ meats are high in purines, and because purines can trigger urate crystal/stone formation, that can be a problem.  On the other hand we don't KNOW whether most kibbles contain organ meats and it's quite likely that many of them do, as it's highly unlikely they contain only muscle meat.  Even the best kibbles would be made from a variety of "body parts", so a good raw diet may not be higher in purines than the kibble you might otherwise use. 
2. And although green beans, broccoli and squash are all good food items for Dals, the first two are relatively high in oxalates.  Oxalate crystals/stones are relatively rare in Dals, but are common in some other breeds.  That's the reason veggies mixes should contain a variety of fruits and vegetables, so you are not unwittingly adding too much of something that could conceivably cause problems.

If the Dals being fed are females, and if they have not had a problem with crystals or stones, the diet is probably safe to feed.  If the Dals are males, you might choose to be a bit more cautious about knowingly adding organ meats.  Although organ meats are suggested for almost all homemade raw diets, most Dal people do not add them.    One of the reasons I feed lots of eggs is because I don't add organ meats.  On the other hand, our chicken backs often come with a few organs attached and I don't remove them before feeding.  I have several friends who feed a lot of Bravo and are very pleased with the quality and convenience.

Remember that all Dalmatians have the ability to form urate stones, but the vast majority of them will never have a problem.  The health surveys submitted to the CHF show just 3% of the dogs having had a problem with crystals or stones, and a huge percentage of those dogs are males.  It's just wise to remember that when feeding Dals we want to be sure they are drinking well (to keep their urine well diluted) and to remember that purines are the culprits in urate stone formation.

Simple Meals



There's nothing easier!

There's nothing easier than feeding turkey necks, unless you count opening a bag of kibble and pouring it in a bowl, then adding water (remember, with Dalmatians we ALWAYS add water to kibble).  Take the bag of necks out of the freezer and leave it in the sink to thaw for 8 hours and you're good to go.  You can rinse them off if you wish, or run them under warm water to warm them up, which makes them a bit more palatable to some dogs, but basically you just put them in the bowl and feed the dog(s). Because turkey necks take real chewing, they are great toothbrushes.  If feeding multiple dogs these should probably be fed in a crate as some dogs eat them much faster than others, and may try to "help" their room mates finish their necks.

The prep work is easy with turkey necks too as they rarely come with anything that needs to be removed.  We order ours in 20# boxes, thaw them slightly for rebagging in freezer bags.  They stack and store nicely too, and thaw quickly because the bag is flat.

Turkey necks vary a lot in size as do all RMBs - remember raw meaty bones, the edible kind.  They can be purchased at some meat counters, especially near Thanksgiving, but it's generally more economical to purchase them in bulk and refreeze.  The Tom Turkey necks are sometimes HUGE.  At one time that's all we could find, and before I fed them to the dogs I would chop them in several pieces.  I've still got notches on my deck rail where I missed the cutting board and took a chunk out of the rail.  About the only thing that works to cut them up is a heavy meat cleaver or an axe.  Some people feed those necks whole, but a large turkey neck can be challenging for a small dog.    One morning I chopped up necks before going to work and forgot to check the mirror before I left.  Was horrified to find that I had bits of turkey flesh and bone adhering to my forehead and cheeks - good that I stopped in the washroom before going to my desk.  I wonder what the people riding up in the elevator with me thought???

We are usually able to purchase hen necks, as seen above.  One or two of them make a nice meal for all but growing adolescents who might need a 3rd neck.  Because turkey necks are rather low in fat (and remember that dogs use fat rather than carbs for energy) we don't feed them every day.  RMBs make up about 60% of our dogs' diet, and that is primarily chicken backs, chicken necks and turkey necks (more on that later).  Poultry parts are generally easy to find, affordable, and palatable. 

Dogs should always be supervised when they are eating turkey necks, just in case someone decides to swallow one whole. Remember that dogs are able to regurgitate at will, and if a dog swallows something large without sufficient chewing, they will bring it back up and rechew it. Experienced raw eaters rarely do this, but it is not uncommon in new dogs.  Just let the dog re-eat the RMB and try not to get too grossed out! Dogs who are not used to eating turkey necks will sometimes bring up a few undigested turkey vertebrae the necks morning.  Just a nice neat pile of small bony (not sharp) pieces with a little foam.

Raw Meaty Bones - Not For The Squeamish

IF you are bothered by the sight of blood, and the thought of handling raw meat turns your stomach, raw feeding may not be for you.  Even if you can face a couple of raw chicken wings without gagging, can you manage a 40# box of half thawed chicken backs that need to be rebagged and refrozen in smaller portions?  There's a certain amount of grunge work involved in feeding raw!  If you are feeding more than one dog, you will probably end up buying the food in bulk, and SOMEONE will have to do the repackaging. 

We all have our own comfort levels in dealing with such things.  I readily admit to having a box of disposable plastic gloves sitting by the sink.  I use them whenever I handle raw chicken parts, and yes, a lot of my friends tease me about it. But hey, I truly don't like chicken fat under my nails.   It's not the blood that bothers me, just the way chicken backs FEEL.

OTOH, I can't remember the last time I washed a dog dish.  When we first started feeding raw, the dog dishes got washed in hot soapy water every night, but what was the point?  By the time Josie gets done cleaning everyone's dish, not a morsel or drop of raw food remains - and if the dogs were eating raw meaty bones, the food only stayed in the bowl long enough for me to put it in a crate.  I wipe off each dog's face with a paper towel when it's finished eating - if I remember, but that's not a big deal to me, and I don't cringe if a meat eating dog gives me a kiss and leaves dog germs.  I just don't like the feel of raw chicken!

Vegging . . .

While everyone else was probably doing something interesting, or at least watching TV, I spent the evening Vegging.  No, not "vegging out" (relaxing), just vegging.  Or maybe it was vegging up?  Whatever.  What I did was spend a few hours making ten 24-oz containers (cottage cheese cartons) of veggie mix for the dogs.  It should be enough to last a month at least, thank goodness.  NOT one of my favorite chores!  Not difficult, just tedious, BUT it makes a great mix for adding to ground meat/fish/eggs for the dogs' breakfast most mornings,

No veggie mixes are the same and this one included things I already had around the house and things that I purchased specifically for the mix.  Some of them have more leafy greens and less fruit, while others are based on whatever might have been on sale.

Items I had on hand included -

• an apple with a soft spot, an extra kiwi  & a bag of frozen blueberries
• half a red pepper & some elderly radishes
• parsley & oregano from my herb garden
• several tomatoes with bruises & a couple of shriveled garlic cloves
• a head of romaine, half a head of cauliflower, & 4 stalks of celery

Items I bought for the project included -

• a bunch of carrots with tops
• a Savoy cabbage
• bunches of Swiss chard, collard greens, and kale

I purchased the new items at the Mississippi Market Coop and they were all organic, but if I'd had the time I could have saved money by going to the Farmers Market or one of the warehouse supermarkets.  If I had done that I would probably also have purchased a more variety lettuces or a bunch of spinach, a cucumber, a large zucchini, green beans, broccoli and possibly some beets with tops.  If I'd planned ahead I would have picked dandelion leaves, wood sorrel, plantain, and other nutritious weeds. The nice thing about the veggie mix is that you can make it with just about anything, and it's a great way to use up leftover bits of this and that.  The trick to making a good veggie mix is a LARGE variety of food items, particularly leafy greens (NOT iceberg lettuce which has no nutritional value).  I generally don't use much fruit but last summer I froze blueberries when they were on sale, and apples sweeten up the mixture a bit.  Wish I'd had some soft bananas to add.  Sometimes I use twice this many ingredients, but two hours is enough!

All the produce gets carefully washed, and any bad spots get discarded.  Juicers do a really good job of breaking down the cell walls so the nutrition is accessible to the dogs.  I've used juicers in the past and mixed the juice back in with the pulp, but it's easier to just use a food processor and chop everything as small as possible, adding only enough water to get the job done.  I generally freeze most of the containers of mix, as freezing also helps break the foods down. One container stayed upstairs to be added to ground rabbit for the dogs' breakfast.  A cottage cheese containers of frozen veggie mix will thaw overnight and provide enough veggie mix for 2 or 3 days.  At least two days a week I'll use a single item, such as sweet potatoes, broccoli or cabbage, things I know the dogs like, but they'll willingly eat the less palatable veggies as part of the mix when combined with meat or fish, eggs and a squirt of salmon oil.

Tonight We Grind

Nothing went quite as anticipated yesterday.  I stopped at Woody's Pet Food Deli at noon on my way back to the office and the sign on the door said, "Back Soon".  Fat lot of good that did me as I had to get back to the office.  Was planning to stop at Mississippi Market for greens after work, but instead I went to Menards to look at patio doors.  So, a project still awaits me.

Normal boring meals for the dogs.  Turkey necks last night, and a mixture of ground turkey, canned salmon, fruit mix and a raw egg for breakfast.  We don't use much fruit, just add a couple of assorted pieces to an otherwise veggie-based mix, but last spring I had lots of ripe bananas and a couple of soft apples, and as I recall some wilted parsley, so I made two containers of "fruit mix".  Dogs eat it OK, though none are big fruit eaters.  They will rarely eat a piece of banana or a chunk of apple - unlike many Dals I have owned in the past.

A Time To Grind

No time for posting as I spent my writing time on my other blog at paisleydals.blogspot.com, but I have several good topics for upcoming entries to this blog.

Today I will stop at Mississippi Market, a health food coop and pick up a variety of organic veggies to grind for veggie mix.  It's a boring job, but quite easy and it pays off.  Stay tuned!

Where To Feed

Oh yuck!  Where am I going to feed my dog(s) if I switch to raw?  That was one of my major problems when we first starting switching the dogs over.  For the first few months I actually fed them outside, and when I was "dabbling in raw" before finally switching over, I took pictures of the dogs out on the deck in the snow eating their Raw Meaty Bones, in this case just chicken necks.  Guess it was my salmonella paranoia at it's best!  As with anything else, there is no one right way to do this.

Because I have dog crates in my kitchen, I feed my dogs in their crates.  The ground meat/veggie meal is easy of course, and they eat it from bowls, the same as eating kibble.  The RMB meals are also fed in crates. Some people pull out the crate blanket and put down newspapers or bath towels, and that works fine.  Most of us just feed the dogs and never give it a second thought.  If you are concerned and want to be extra cautious, it's easy enough to dip the RMB is boiling water for a few seconds, or wash them in the sink under running water.  Because any bacteria that might be present will be on the surface of the meat, that should do the trick- or at least make YOU feel better.  The dog won't care.  Many dogs new to raw prefer the RMBs warmed up anyway.  Just don't cook them!

Raw-feeders who don't have crates handy generally have a bath towel or washable throw rug for each dog, and the dogs learn to stay on the towel or rug until the bone is finished.  If you are not in control and your dog does not understand stay, put the dog on leash before feeding, and insist that he stay on his rug until done chewing.  They catch on quickly.  OR you can feed outside, at least in nice weather!

Dogs have had pretty boring meals for the past few days.  Ground turkey for breakfast with an assortment of added veggies.  One day I had nothing handy and opened a can of green beans.  Green beans or carrots work nicely and I always keep some on hand for the dogs.  I added an egg most days.  Yesterday I had some left over cabbage, an apple that was getting soft, an extra tomato, and some limp celery stalks. Chopped everything into bite-sized pieces, added a bit of water and put it in the microwave for 5 minutes.  Dogs love these mixtures and get a variety of vitamins and minerals from vegetables.

Dinner has been chicken backs, always a favorite.  They'll have chicken backs again tonight, then we'll switch to turkey necks for a few days.  See, this isn't hard at all!

Did you know that properly rawfed dogs almost never have problems with their anal glands?  Eating the way nature intended seems to solve that problem, even for the dogs with chronic problems.  Like many others, I am convinced that processed grain is one of the causes of many of the health issues common to dogs.

What, No Pictures?

While flipping through the thousands (millions?) of pictures on my computer, I realized that there were almost none that were related to raw diets.  A major oversight and one that needs to be rectified!

There are homemade raw diets, homemade cooked diets, and there all the ones in between.  Ours fits near the "raw end".  Most of what we feed is raw, and all meaty bones are fed raw, but some of the food is actually cooked, at least to some degree.  Our veggies mix is a mixture of raw veggies and a few fruits that have been run through a food processor, juicer or grinder, but when using individual vegetables we often steam or microwave them to save time, add variety, and to make them digestible by canines.  As much as Spotty may enjoy those raw baby carrots, they pass through him in little hard chunks rather than being digested.  Grinding or cooking those veggies make them more digestible.   Argie's "birthday dinner" steak was cooked enough to leave grill marks, but he would have been just as happy to eat it raw.  The sweet potato and cabbage were nuked.  He would have eaten the cabbage raw, but gotten very little out of it, and the sweet potato would have been ignored, or just chewed up on the rug.  If I were to give the dogs grain in any form I'd cook it thoroughly, although there are some who soak oatmeal in yogurt and feed it that way.

We feed canned salmon, mackerel and sardines from time to time and they are of course cooked, and the canned duck meat I purchase at the pet food store is heat processed.  There are a number of canned meats that add variety to the dogs's diets.  If I were a purist, I would feed none of the canned or cooked items, but I'm not.  Using them occasionally adds nutrients and interest - the dogs may not care, but I do.  Our motto is A Variety Of Fresh Healthy Foods.  We also want this diet to be easy, and using canned foods occasionally is handy.

One of the nice things about feeding this way is that we can give leftovers to the dogs.  Not everything of course, but most leftover veggies, some meat scraps, and even occasional pasta with sauce.  Because the dogs are used to a variety of foods, they are able to digest odd things.    As long as the leftovers are made of healthy foods, are not loaded with cooked fats or highly seasoned, they make good additions to the dog's bowl.  Mine really enjoyed the Eggplant Parmesan this week!  I'd make a big pan of it and after 3 meals, we decided the dogs could have the rest.  Eggplant, eggs, tomato sauce, Ricotta & Parmesan cheeses, basil & mushrooms, nothing there a dog can't eat.  I don't give them cheese as part of their regular diet, don't actually use dairy at all for adult dogs, but as an occasional treat it is relished!  They each got a small chunk with both their daily meals.

Before You Begin . .

Read, Read, READ!  I can't stress it enough!  Before you make the decision to switch your dog to a home-prepared raw diet, you should read everything you can get your hands on.  There are a number of excellent books on the subject and no two give you exactly the same information.  It's best to read a number of them and take the ideas and information that work for you, always remembering that you are feeding a Dalmatian, not a German Shepherd or a Pekingese.  The book pictured is one of my personal favorites and I consider it to be an excellent "first book" on raw feeding.  You can easily find a variety of books on-line,  I generally order from Dogwise or Amazon. 

While thinking over this posting I checked into Amazon and noticed two books that I had not read, one of which I had been planning to buy and one that I didn't know about.  Rottweiler breeder Lew Olson helped many of us as newbie raw feeders and I ordered her book "Dogs - The Definitive Guide To Homemade Meals".  "Real Dogs Don't Eat Kibble" by Sandra Bailey was just an impulse purchase.  I have a whole shelf full of books on the subject and it's interesting to note the variety of advice - as I will constantly try to remind you, there is no one right way to feed a dog.

I'm currently reading "Unlocking The Canine Ancestral Diet" by Steve Brown (yes, the Steve Brown of Charlee Bear Dog Treats and the frozen dog food "Steve's Real Food For Pets").   I was NOT impressed with his first book "See Spot Live Longer" but decided to give the new one a try  It's tough going as he explains his ideas on which fat supplements should be used with the basic raw diet - different fats for different meat sources.   He hasn't convinced me that I should be using flax seed, chia seed (Chia? I thought that was just for growing green pets for the Holidays!) or sardines, rather than salmon oil, but his theories are interesting.

Remember that if you are not willing to take the time to read about raw diets and understand them, then it's much better that you should stick to a good quality kibble.  Raw feeding is not for everyone.

Dogs had pretty boring fare today.  Ground turkey, canned salmon, and the last of the cabbage/apple mixture for breakfast, and chicken backs for dinner.  The 10# bag of chicken backs generally lasts for 3 days, and the dogs never get bored with them.  Chicken backs are probably the favorite RMB (raw meaty bone). here, and are generally available, affordable & palatable.  They make good "first RMBs" as they are big enough to require chewing, are relatively easy to chew, and are very digestible.  They are often too fatty for all but the most active young dogs, but are easy to trim.

Still Needs Work!

Ugh, I still hate the color scheme on this blog.  Guess I need to play around with it a bit more.  This blog site is definitely "user friendly" as long as the user has the time and patience to work with all the available tools.

The dogs ate pretty standard fare today.  The rest of the ground turkey, more of the ground rabbit (then I froze up the rest to save until next week), left-over green beans from our Sunday dinner, and salmon oil.  Tonight they had the rest of the turkey necks and Argus got a chicken back as well since the necks were small.  They also shared a large nuked sweet potato.  Although the meat is generally raw, the veggies may well be cooked so the dogs can digest them.

I brought up a new 5# tube of ground turkey thighs as I want to feed fish (to the dogs) tomorrow and I generally mix it half and half with ground turkey or chicken.  I'll use one or two cans of salmon or mackerel, mixed with turkey and veggies.  I rarely add water to our raw meals but sometimes add it to fish meals since the canned fish is supposedly higher in purines.  I don't worry much about purines, but it's become a habit to add water to fish meals.  Some days I split a can of sardines among the dogs and because there is actually so little fish, I don't bother with the water.

One thing I figured out a long time ago, well before the stone god got on board, was that the secret to preventing a problem with urate stones is to be sure the dogs get enough water.  That's an important consideration with any kind of stones, whether we're talking dogs, cats or people.  Over the years it's become second nature to watch the dogs drink (and pee), being sure that the boys at least were drinking plenty of water to keep their urine properly diluted.   The dogs get a bit of organ meat from the scraps attached to chicken backs, but we pretty much stay away from it otherwise, although I do use heart from time to time - it's a muscle meat, not an organ meat.  The purine charts have a lot of conflicting information, but for the most part poultry is lower in purines than beef, pork, lamb, and most fish, and organ meats are very high.  For this reason and because chicken and turkey are less expensive, most Dalmatian raw diets are based on poultry parts.

Tomorrow I'll probably pay another visit to Woody's Pet Food Deli which just opened a store in my neighborhood.  I was driving along one day, saw the new store, and almost did a U-turn in traffic.  It would be a perfect place to shop if I was feeding one dog or several small ones, but it would be too expensive to buy my regular food there.  It does provide a good chance to pick up hard-to-find items, like the frozen whole ground rabbit that the dogs have been eating.

I'm also working on another project, one I started about 6 years ago, a booklet on feeding a raw diet to Dalmatians.  There are lots of good books on feeding raw to dogs, but this booklet is on feeding raw to Dalmatians.  I've shared the partially finished project with many people over the years, but this time I have vowed to get it completed.  We'll see.   Gee, maybe if I get the booklet done I might also get to my website too.  Hahahahaha 

Waiting For The Thaw

A 10# bag of chicken backs is thawing in the sink. I brought them up last night and they will be partially thawed by this evening.  I'll trim some of the extra chunks of raw fat off and the backs will keep nicely in the fridge for about 3 days.  One of the bottom shelves is the dog food shelf and contains whole and/or ground meat, veggies and whatever leftovers will go into the dog's bowls.

Last night the dogs got ground rabbit with cooked cabbage and apples.  Everyone liked the fresh ground rabbit the second time around.  Fortunately, I might add, as the rabbit was $25.00 for a 5# container!  We won't be feeding it often, and chicken parts and turkey necks are far less expensive.  Although variety is optimum, some raw feeders only use chicken and/or turkey and that seems to work just fine for them.

This morning they will eating their basic "breakfast".  Ground turkey, veggie mix, salmon oil, and the vitamin mix.  Takes no longer than pouring kibble in a bowl and adding water.  Tonight it will be one or two chicken backs apiece and because I have a nice ripe extra tomato, I'll quarter it for the dogs.

A Work In Progress

Not sure how I want to set up this blog - guess I will need to take some time to sit down and work with the new design features that are available.  For now the posts will be pretty basic, pictures and links to follow. I've thought for a long time that I should do a raw food blog but I never seem to find the time - so I decided to do it anyway.  One more thing to have hanging over my head!

The most helpful thing for new raw-feeders is having a mentor, so hopefully this blog will provide that, as well as the encouragement you need to give it a try.  

Where to start . . .   What have the dogs eaten this weekend?  Guess that will work, so here goes.

Saturday morning was pretty typical.  The dogs ate ground turkey with an egg, some of the veggie mixture, the vitamin supplement we've been using lately, and salmon oil.  I buy ground turkey thigh meat, as dark meat is more nutritious than white meat and has more fat.  Because dogs use fat for energy (rather than carbohydrates) we are not trying for a low fat diet. 

Eggs are generally fed raw and are generally fed 3-5 times a week, one egg per dog.  Raw eggs are safe for dogs - remember that salmonella is not an issue for them.  The old rumor that dogs should not have raw eggs because they destroy biotin is just that, an old rumor.  Raw egg whites apparently DO, but raw egg yolks are packed with biotin, far more than egg white would destroy, and eggs are a wonderful source of nutrients.  So don't feed raw egg whites, feed raw eggs.  Of course you can scrambled or soft boil them if you wish, and I have been known to make omelets for the dogs, just for kicks.

We're working on one of the last containers of veggie mix (more on that later), so I will soon have to go to the market and pick up a variety of leafy greens and other veggies plus a few fruits to grind and freeze.  In the meantime we will use more whole veggies until I get around to making a batch.  Planning ahead, I chopped up and microwaved a large chunk of cabbage, an apple, and added some left over spinach and arugula salad mix.  The dogs don't love the veggies mix, but with meat, egg and salmon oil added they don't complain.  They do like things like cabbage, broccoli and zucchini and will eat them unadorned.  Please note that all veggies are either juiced, put through a food processor, or (horrors!) cooked.  The dogs may love those baby carrots, but if you look closely you will see that they are not being digested.

We don't use any vitamins consistently, but I do buy them from time to time.  Right now we are using a container of  "Canine Complete" from Wholistic Pets Organic.  The dogs normally get salmon oil every day, although occasionally we use olive oil instead.  I've purchased the last few bottles from the same company.

Normally they would have had raw meaty bones for their evening meal, but I had purchased a container of frozen ground rabbit from Woody's Petfood Deli and I was curious to see if the dogs liked it.  I mixed it half and half with ground turkey and added some veggies.  Only Josie was a little fussy, but she finally ate it too.  Normally the dogs get veggies only once a day, so this morning they got raw turkey necks, one moderate sized neck per dog.

Not sure about dinner tonight.  I need to thaw a bag of chicken backs, but it take about 24 hours to thaw the 10# bag, so perhaps they will have turkey necks again - or perhaps rabbit and the cabbage mixture.  The secret to raw feeding is "balance over time" so we can be flexible from day to day!