first timer Qs - how long can we keep the left over meat?

[OurPreciousLilWookie]

Hello Everyone,
we just had our first day of raw feeding experience. We adopted a schnauzer + Poodle mix back in aug who is about 2.5 yrs old. We had been thinking of switching to raw diet and today was the 1st day finally. I think it went fairly well. he ate kibble this morning and we had salmon for lunch late this afternoon and we thought of giving him a couple of small pieces of salmon fillet and he totally loved them.
Later on this evening was the real test when we gave me him a small piece of chicken thigh (off of leg quarter that we had got) for dinner and he kinda licked it n took some bites and chewed on the bone may be a few times but didn't really eat the whole piece. He was also moving the chicken thigh around a bit (he kinda dragged it out of the area where we had kept it for him to eat which is his usual spot for the meals) etc so I was wondering if its normal? Is there anything we can do to better manage this
Another more important question I had was, is it safe to keep the left over piece (the thigh that he didn't eat fully) in the refrigerator or freezer and offer him at the next meal or how long its safe to keep it?

Thanks in advance

[DaneMama]

First, hello and welcome to DFC. Glad you've joined and happy to have you here.

Second, I would really suggest reading through this link:

How to get started | Prey Model Raw

That will go over the whole transition process to a raw diet, because to be completely honest it sounds like you're already setting your dog up for failure with what you've fed him already today. What we suggest here is to feed nothing but BONE IN chicken parts for the first two weeks straight.

How much does your dog weigh?

[OurPreciousLilWookie]

Thanks for the reply. We did feed him bone-in thigh piece. He had already eaten in the morning and as I mentioned he also ate a few little pieces of salmon so we cut the full leg quarter we had in half n only gave him the thigh piece for dinner. I did look at that website before and have bookmarked it and we're going to follow the schedule mentioned for 1st two weeks from tomorrow. Wookie is about 15 lbs

[werecatrising]

oops, wrong thread

[DaneMama]

Thanks for the reply. We did feed him bone-in thigh piece. He had already eaten in the morning and as I mentioned he also ate a few little pieces of salmon so we cut the full leg quarter we had in half n only gave him the thigh piece for dinner. I did look at that website before and have bookmarked it and we're going to follow the schedule mentioned for 1st two weeks from tomorrow. Wookie is about 15 lbs

Ok, dogs should really be fasted for 12-24 hours before feeding their first raw meal. And only be fed bone in chicken for the first two weeks. Fish isn't added into the diet until about 6 weeks or so.

To start for tomorrow I wouldn't feed a morning meal and only feed a small dinner, because he had kibble today and a few other raw things. I would start with chicken wings and drumsticks based on your dogs size. I would only give one chicken wing with skin removed for the dinner meal. The next day I would give a de-skinned wing for both the morning and evening meal. Repeat that for the next few days. Then start adding in drumsticks (since they are a little less bone content) that have been de-skinned. Alternate de-skinned wings with de-skinned drummies for the remainder of the first two weeks as long as things are going well.

Hope this helps!

[OurPreciousLilWookie]

Thanks. I think that was very helpful. We'll follow the plan with wings and drumsticks for a couple of weeks. A quick couple of questions -
a) Do we alway deskin the meat or its only for the intial part?
b) If Wookie doesn't eat his full meal say for 1st few days, can we actually keep the leftover meat (say wing or drumstick) and use it again with the next meal or not really?

[DaneMama]

I would for the at least the first few days/week to minimize the risk of diarrhea. Once all goes well for the first few days/week and you see normal bowel movements, then gradually cut less and less skin off. Eventually you want your dog to handle a whole chicken piece with all the skin left on.

Yes, you can keep leftover meat in the fridge for up to a week or so. Dogs can handle past date meats just fine, so this shouldn't be an issue.

[jjcj]

Mandy wasn`t sure about raw meat till i started feeding it partially frozen.
She eats it any way now but took to it much better at first if frozen.
Casey eats in anyways he gets it lol

[OurPreciousLilWookie]

I just wanted to give an update on the dinner for Wookie this evening. It went very well with the chicken wing as you suggested. We made him fast and gave 1 chicken wing just a few mins ago for dinner and he ate the whole thing and totally loved it. My wife was saying it was kinda scary to hear him break the bones n eat them :)
We just wanted to say thanks to you. One quick question, is he supposed to drink water right after the meal every time? Earlier when he was on kibble he'd drink water after the meal which he didn't do tonight so I was just wondering. Thanks again

[Northwoods10]

I just wanted to give an update on the dinner for Wookie this evening. It went very well with the chicken wing as you suggested. We made him fast and gave 1 chicken wing just a few mins ago for dinner and he ate the whole thing and totally loved it. My wife was saying it was kinda scary to hear him break the bones n eat them :)
We just wanted to say thanks to you. One quick question, is he supposed to drink water right after the meal every time? Earlier when he was on kibble he'd drink water after the meal which he didn't do tonight so I was just wondering. Thanks again

First....yeah it is scary the first time to hear them crunch through bone. But, thats what they're meant to do! They are designed to do that and thrive on this diet. You will get used to it very soon.

Second.....you will notice much less water intake when they are on a raw diet. Raw has so much more moisture content and will quench their thirst in a way. They won't need as much water as they do on kibble. When my girls were on kibble I would have to fill a water bowl 2-3x a day. No joke. On raw the 3 of them don't even go through a whole bowl of water in a day.