first pork - advice

[BrownStandardPoodle]

Hi!

Bought by first pork picnic whatever. So now what to do??

How should I introduce it?
1) should I cut off the fat?
2) should I give a whole meal of the pork then in the evening give some chicken wings (I can't seem to find backs anymore). Then the next day a whole meat of chicken quarters then wings in the evening.
3) or should I give chicken quarters for every meal with about 1/4 cup of pork, and then chicken wings in the evening.

Thanks everyone!

Carol

[DaneMama]

I would just give a very small piece of pork with a bone in chicken meal once daily. By small I mean the size of a walnut or something. Less than a quarter cup. Do this every other day unless you see diarrhea. If you see diarrhea wait a few days before giving it again.

[BrownStandardPoodle]

Okay, I fed the dogs the pork. Hope I did it right!

1) I cut off the fat
2) I mixed it up - I gave
Toffee (85 lbs) - 1 chicken quarter, 1 chicken wing and a palm size piece of pork about 3 inches tall.
Jellybean (54 lbs) - 1 chicken quarter left over from yesterday (pretty much the whole thing), 1 wing. Little bit of pork which she didn't eat at all (why am I surprised - although she didn't need the pork for her calories - I just wanted her to taste it)

I'm not going to give them anything to eat tonight, since I think they're at their calorie limit for today.

Do you think they need more bone for today?

Can anyone help me decide what to do tomorrow, etc.

I'm also about to bag up my cut up meat, but I don't know whether I should cut off the fat.

And what about the bone? Is it too much for them at this point?

Thanks!
Carol

[BrownStandardPoodle]

Okay, I just saw Natalie's post. So I probably overfed Toffee. Jelly didn't eat any, so I'll try your advice tomorrow. Maybe I should give Toffee some chicken wings tonight - for bone?

Carol

[bdb5853]

I assume your guys are doing well on chicken wings? Some big dogs snarf them and they are the right size to be a choking hazard to a greedy gus. But if no problems, then they are fine. It's a case of knowing your dog!

Are you feeding about 3% of their ideal weights?

If you fed a big meal, just feed smaller tomorrow. It doesn't have to be exact. Keep an eye on body condition. If they are looking ribby, feed more. If they are getting chubby, cut back.

Cutting the visible fat off was OK. Pork is a fattier meat. A little fat is OK. A big glob may cause loose stools.

Are stools still OK?

For tomorrow, I would do a repeat of today. If stools are good, then you can increase the pork a little and cut back some on the chicken.

I think you are doing awesome!

[DaneMama]

I wouldn't give anything else for today since you already gave him bone. He could just as easily get diarrhea from overfeeding...

I wouldn't adjust the amount you're giving them even if their stools are good tomorrow. You want to very gradually increase portions but not every day. I would go at least one day in between before giving pork again.

Ideally on a raw diet, you should strive to feed a different protein source every day...ie chicken on Monday, pork Tuesday, turkey Wednesday, beef Thursday, fish Friday, game meat on Saturday, rabbit/organ alternating Sundays. This is a hypothetical feeding schedule (that you could actually follow if you want...) that portrays a good balanced raw diet. Of course most raw feeders have a "base" meat source like chicken that gets fed every day. So you'd give chicken first meal and then another protein source for the second meal of the day. Depends on if you feed once or twice daily. So to get to the bottom of it, you could feed pork only a few times in the first few weeks of transitioning, and not everyday. Make sense?

[BrownStandardPoodle]

Yes, their poops are still okay. Haven't had a single problem so far. Yeah!!

So more pork tomorrow? I thought they were to have a day of rest of the new food? But okay - you certainly know more that I do about it!!

Thanks so much!

Carol

[DaneMama]

Yes, take at least one full day off the pork...if not more like 2 or 3 days before you give pork again. No reason to feed it everyday.

[BrownStandardPoodle]

So I'm to feed them pork every other day for a week or for 2 weeks? Then I start on the next type of meat - say fish?

Oh, and the fat I was cutting off, was not fat, but the skin of the pig. Should I have cut off the skin?

Thanks everyone!

Carol

[DaneMama]

Is pork the second protein source you're adding in?