The last day our dogs ate kibble was
June 9, 2007. For some time I had been exploring the idea of
making the switch, and had recently tried a couple of different premium
foods. For years I fed Iams mini chunks or Eukanuba. I had
no problems to speak of, except for the lack of appetite of the boys at
many times and of certain of the girls when traveling. What
prompted me to finally make the switch was the loss of Kimi-Willow in
April in the midst of the major dog-food recalls. It is quite
possible that there was no link between her kidney failure and melamine
or other dog-food contamination, but I will also never be sure that
there wasn't a connection.
I did not gradually introduce raw ingredients to my dogs: I switched cold-turkey (pun intended). The first week I did feed them a mix of ingredients which included cooked rice. The next weekend I took some time reading through the archives of http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfeeding and I became convinced that dogs do not need cereal.
At this writing I am 7 weeks into what is no longer an "experiment". We have settled into a routine with a weekly menu. At this point I am not including a fast day as some do, fearing a mutiny. Not one dog has skipped a single meal in the entire time. It did take Huxley a couple of weeks to decide that he did like raw chicken, bones and all. Kathy Fish (a long-time raw feeder) suggested that it could be because his jaw needed exercise to build the muscle strength for chewing. As Huxley has never been one of the big-chewer-upper-of-forbidden-objects I believe that is entirely possible. On the other hand, old toothless (in front) Julie has absolutely no problem muching up chicken carcasses. She never outgrew the puppy-chewing stage and has always had great jaw strength.
Our current weekly schedule looks like this:
Use entire can for Huxley & Digger,
2 pieces for girls (divide 1 extra piece as desired)
Vegetable, egg, cottage cheese as with beef mix below
Beef mix = 1/3 cup mixed vegetables
1 egg
1 spoon cottage cheese
Dash of kelp and alfalfa
Ground beef – by weight chart
Sunday only: divide two lbs organ meat equally, reducing beef accordingly
Treats: meaty bones of various types, chicken jerky strips. I do plan to order some green tripe. At this time I am not using any of the pre-packaged raw foods due to price and local availability. My current cost is averaging about $1.25 per dog per day, which is less than the price per lb of most of the pre-done chubs. I do price-shop, and have found consistently good prices and quantities of foods at Food 4 Less in Medford. Chicken is regularly $.69/lb for one cut or another or for whole chickens, and this has been for good Foster Farms chickens which we would eat ourselves.
The dogs are fed by weight, and I measure each portion with a small kitchen scale. They are getting around 3% of their body weight each per day. Kacy gets a little less due to her extra-efficient metabolism. Alice seems to be getting a little plus so I may be reducing her to 1/2 cup as well, once she has been in heat and (fingers crossed) whelped and reared her final litter.
I feed one large meal in the evening, just as I did before. But now the dogs are more satisfied.
I have quickly become a true believer in feeding carnivores like the meat-eaters they are. The difference in their attitudes about food and meal time is amazing to behold. New coats are coming in shiny, teeth are sparkling white. We have had no incidences of dogs passing bacteria to us through licking or through their waste in spite of annecdotes I had heard or read. And speaking of waste, that has been dramatically reduced in both volume and smell.
I detailed my early progress via blog entries, and will continue with updates from time-to-time.
I did not gradually introduce raw ingredients to my dogs: I switched cold-turkey (pun intended). The first week I did feed them a mix of ingredients which included cooked rice. The next weekend I took some time reading through the archives of http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfeeding and I became convinced that dogs do not need cereal.
At this writing I am 7 weeks into what is no longer an "experiment". We have settled into a routine with a weekly menu. At this point I am not including a fast day as some do, fearing a mutiny. Not one dog has skipped a single meal in the entire time. It did take Huxley a couple of weeks to decide that he did like raw chicken, bones and all. Kathy Fish (a long-time raw feeder) suggested that it could be because his jaw needed exercise to build the muscle strength for chewing. As Huxley has never been one of the big-chewer-upper-of-forbidden-objects I believe that is entirely possible. On the other hand, old toothless (in front) Julie has absolutely no problem muching up chicken carcasses. She never outgrew the puppy-chewing stage and has always had great jaw strength.
Our current weekly schedule looks like this:
|
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
Sunday |
|
Chicken |
Beef mix |
Chicken |
Beef mix |
Mackerel |
Chicken |
Beef mix
Add organ meat |
Chicken = Chicken quarter – by weight chart
Mackerel = each can 15 oz has 3 pieces,Use entire can for Huxley & Digger,
2 pieces for girls (divide 1 extra piece as desired)
Vegetable, egg, cottage cheese as with beef mix below
Beef mix = 1/3 cup mixed vegetables
1 egg
1 spoon cottage cheese
Dash of kelp and alfalfa
Ground beef – by weight chart
Sunday only: divide two lbs organ meat equally, reducing beef accordingly
Treats: meaty bones of various types, chicken jerky strips. I do plan to order some green tripe. At this time I am not using any of the pre-packaged raw foods due to price and local availability. My current cost is averaging about $1.25 per dog per day, which is less than the price per lb of most of the pre-done chubs. I do price-shop, and have found consistently good prices and quantities of foods at Food 4 Less in Medford. Chicken is regularly $.69/lb for one cut or another or for whole chickens, and this has been for good Foster Farms chickens which we would eat ourselves.
The dogs are fed by weight, and I measure each portion with a small kitchen scale. They are getting around 3% of their body weight each per day. Kacy gets a little less due to her extra-efficient metabolism. Alice seems to be getting a little plus so I may be reducing her to 1/2 cup as well, once she has been in heat and (fingers crossed) whelped and reared her final litter.
|
Julie |
Kacy |
Alice |
Phoebe |
Huxley |
Digger |
|
¾ lb |
½ lb |
¾ lb |
¾ lb |
1 lb |
1 lb |
I feed one large meal in the evening, just as I did before. But now the dogs are more satisfied.
I have quickly become a true believer in feeding carnivores like the meat-eaters they are. The difference in their attitudes about food and meal time is amazing to behold. New coats are coming in shiny, teeth are sparkling white. We have had no incidences of dogs passing bacteria to us through licking or through their waste in spite of annecdotes I had heard or read. And speaking of waste, that has been dramatically reduced in both volume and smell.
I detailed my early progress via blog entries, and will continue with updates from time-to-time.