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!