# Started raw today Yipee!!!



## Lynn In Tenn (Aug 20, 2009)

I gave my dogs raw chicken today. I've really been doing my homework here. I gave them all a chicken wing today around noon. No one hurled or got choked or anything:biggrin: I even gave my old 15y/o BC one. They loved it!!!! The little one took the longest to eat his. I was worried about the 1y/o BC cause she has wolfed her food down ever since I've had her. (about 2 mos) It was funny to watch them eat, just like y'all said it would be:smile: Gave them all a chicken back this evening and so far so good!! I was too chicken(pardon the pun) to give them a neck just yet.
I was getting tired of the high end kibble causing runny eyes and scratching. Hopefully all that nonsense will stop soon.
I will stay with chicken for a couple of weeks and then slowly introduce some wild game since I have plenty on the farm, ie, rabbits and deer.

One question though:I live about a 1/2 mile off of a rural road and I have coyotes on my farm. I have occassionally seen them in the wee hours of the morning out in the pasture rather close to my yard. Ya don't think they will smell the meat I'm feeding my dogs and come up do you???? I feed my dogs outside in the yard. Just wondering. I've seen them in the pasture during broad daylight also.
Thanks for all the info I've gained here.


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## jdatwood (Apr 13, 2009)

Congrats Lynn!!


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

Lynn In Tenn said:


> I gave my dogs raw chicken today. I've really been doing my homework here. I gave them all a chicken wing today around noon. No one hurled or got choked or anything:biggrin:


Great!!! You are doing good. I wouldn't feed the adult dogs anything smaller than a chicken back. Wings are too small for them but should be ok for the puppy. Chicken necks are too small for all but the puppy also.



> I was getting tired of the high end kibble causing runny eyes and scratching. Hopefully all that nonsense will stop soon.


I bet those problems will disapear soon.



> I will stay with chicken for a couple of weeks and then slowly introduce some wild game since I have plenty on the farm, ie, rabbits and deer.


Cool. Wish I had more access to deer.



> One question though:I live about a 1/2 mile off of a rural road and I have coyotes on my farm. I have occassionally seen them in the wee hours of the morning out in the pasture rather close to my yard. Ya don't think they will smell the meat I'm feeding my dogs and come up do you???? I feed my dogs outside in the yard. Just wondering. I've seen them in the pasture during broad daylight also.


I doubt the chcken will be around long enough for them to know that its there. I don't know what will happen if you start feeding large deer parts that will take them a couple of days to eat. Sometimes i feed large deer pieces and i worry about coyotes also but I haven't seen one around here although I know they are all around.

Don't forget to ask questions anytime you have one.


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Congrats on getting started on raw so successfully! I'm pretty sure the raw will help fix any problems you've been having with your pups, just make sure to introduce the new protein sources really slowly. I don't think the meat should be a problem unless like RFD said, you leave whole chunks of dear out that could take a couple days to eat. But that can be easily remedied by cutting the meat into smaller pieces. Do your dogs get to sleep inside?


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## BGBY (Sep 22, 2009)

Do you have a hunting license and a season for coyotes? We have a year round open season with some exceptions... If you can hunt them, bag'em for dog food. :biggrin:

Welcome and enjoy feeding RAW.


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## Lynn In Tenn (Aug 20, 2009)

rannmiller said:


> Do your dogs get to sleep inside?


The 2 rescue dogs do for right now. I am really hoping I can acclimate them to the full basement down under.:smile:


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## Lynn In Tenn (Aug 20, 2009)

BGBY said:


> Do you have a hunting license and a season for coyotes? We have a year round open season with some exceptions... If you can hunt them, bag'em for dog food. :biggrin:
> 
> Welcome and enjoy feeding RAW.


Season is year round. No need for a license if I'm hunting on my own property I think. They're getting to be quite a problem around here. . The boy that hunts deer on my place killed one last year. Didn't know you could feed that to dogs. Sounds kinda like cannibalism:smile:
I do have a .22 Magnum, but I'm no Annie Oakly:smile:
Thanks for all the great info.


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## Lynn In Tenn (Aug 20, 2009)

I think I will only put out enugh food for them to eat rather quickly, otherwise the fight would begin I'm afraid.:smile: Are the weight bearing bonees on a deer o.k.???
I assume all the organs are.


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## Lynn In Tenn (Aug 20, 2009)

Just to make sure I crunched the numbers right. The adult dogs are 30-40lbs and the puppy is 20. I'm feeding all of them around 1lb a day in 2 feedings. Yes????
Seems like all my studying has gone out the window. During the 2 week transition, do I not worry about the organ meat and Omegas. (fish)


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

Lynn In Tenn said:


> Are the weight bearing bonees on a deer o.k.???
> I assume all the organs are.


Put the legs out and let them eat the meat off of them. They probably won't show much interest after that anyway. Organs are great. They probably won't be interested in intestines but they might be. I wouldn't feed the bladder.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

Lynn In Tenn said:


> Just to make sure I crunched the numbers right. The adult dogs are 30-40lbs and the puppy is 20. I'm feeding all of them around 1lb a day in 2 feedings. Yes????
> Seems like all my studying has gone out the window. During the 2 week transition, do I not worry about the organ meat and Omegas. (fish)


There is no magic number for the weight of the meals. There is only a starting point. If your dog gain weight, feed less and vice versa. You will find that meals will vary in weight. Some meals will be larger than others. Just keep an eye on their build and adjust the volume accordingly. Most dogs are too fat. You should be able to see the last rib or two. You should be able to see a definate waist line behind the rib cage when looking from above. You should not be able to see hip bones or spine.

I suggest not feeding organs for at least a month or even 2 months. Too much organ meat too early can cause digestive upset. It won't hurt the dogs to go a couple of months without them. We are not too concerned about nutrition during the first 2 month transistion period. There is plenty of time to get the nutrition part down pat. Waiting a month on fish is not a problem either.


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## Lynn In Tenn (Aug 20, 2009)

Sounds good. I found a small grocery that will get me backs in bulk for $.50/lb
They have leg qrts. on the shelf right now for $.69/lb. From reading, that's not too bad, huh??
I'm thinking I'm gonna like this method of feeding:smile:
Thanks for all the help. I'm sure I'll have more questions:wink:
BTW. I bought a cheesy scale at Wally World just to make sure I was in the ballpark when feeding.


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## jdatwood (Apr 13, 2009)

Yeah, those are fair prices. We pay a little less for quarters but about the same for backs


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## Lynn In Tenn (Aug 20, 2009)

I can't get my box of backs till next week. The way they sell them on the shelf is 2 backs and 5-6 necks together. I really don't need all those necks as RFD said I should only feed them to my puppy. Can I go with the leg qrts. instead of backs till next week?? They're priced pretty good right now. 

I guess I could get the backs with all the necks and feed my puppy nothing but necks, but don't know if that is such a good idea.
Am I making any sense????
What do y'all think????


Thanks


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## EnglishBullTerriers (Sep 10, 2008)

Lynn In Tenn said:


> I can't get my box of backs till next week. The way they sell them on the shelf is 2 backs and 5-6 necks together. I really don't need all those necks as RFD said I should only feed them to my puppy. Can I go with the leg qrts. instead of backs till next week?? They're priced pretty good right now.
> 
> I guess I could get the backs with all the necks and feed my puppy nothing but necks, but don't know if that is such a good idea.
> Am I making any sense????
> ...


I think that you should stop worrying so much and just feed the dogs already... I think that the dogs think the same thing.  :wink: 
No scale is needed as a leg quarter is around 1lb and that is about what you need to feed. If it is a little over, that is fine, they won't die! You should be ok to feed the leg quarter to the little guy also. Just make sure that you keep an eye out that he eats it well and doesn't get too excited that he has 'a whole piece like the big guys'! Oh WAIT!! I am thinking of my dogs again!! :biggrin: 
Don't worry!! You are doing fine!! Just feed what you have, if it is small in size, watch them while they eat. They should know how to do it, but they just need to remember and figure it out on their own! If the little guy is full, he will most likely just get up and walk away from the 'leftovers'. If that happens, then the other guys will probably walk over and finish it for him! 
NO WORRIES MATE!! :wink:


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## Lynn In Tenn (Aug 20, 2009)

I'm trying not to be overly concerned, but this is sooooo new to me Thanks for the vote of confidence EBT. Type A personality shall try to relax:biggrin:


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## EnglishBullTerriers (Sep 10, 2008)

Lynn In Tenn said:


> I'm trying not to be overly concerned, but this is sooooo new to me Thanks for the vote of confidence EBT. Type A personality shall try to relax:biggrin:


Ok! :biggrin:  Just relax.


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## Doc (Jan 17, 2009)

u wound tighter den a mantle clock. Throw dem dawgs a leg and let em ate. Or a back ifn you gotz any. Old tater, Mutt and Lucy getz all happy when I fling dem some chikn. No need to worry, ifn day ain't hongry, day gonna leave dat chickn rite whar day left it.


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## Lynn In Tenn (Aug 20, 2009)

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I'm much better now.:wink:

BTW, it appears that the runny eyes and itching has nearly stopped and I'm only on day 3:biggrin:


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## BGBY (Sep 22, 2009)

I too have noticed Ava's eye boogers have turned to tears instead of boogers. Also cleaner smelling breath coming from Ava and Casey's stink almost disappear. We're still a work in progress. Let's see, smaller poops are already a BIG plus too!


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## Guest (Oct 11, 2009)

Wow. Raw feeding sounds a lot more complicating that it should be.


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

How do you figure? Lynn is just a new raw feeder so she has extra concerns and is freaking out a little and asking lots of questions as anyone who is new to anything normally does. We're reassuring her that she's overcomplicating things because she's just nervous about starting new and letting her know it's not that complicated. What's complicated about that? I'm confused


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## Guest (Oct 11, 2009)

I said, "sounds a lot more complicating ...." just because it SOUNDS that way to me, not necessarily because it ACTUALLY IS complicating. Of course I do understand that with ANYTHING new, lots of questions come up.


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Oh ok gotcha. Well for the record, it isn't that complicated. No more complicated than feeding kibble, anyway.


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## Guest (Oct 12, 2009)

Yep, I know that.


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## Doc (Jan 17, 2009)

I was a kibble feeder for all my life until a few months ago. I tried home made diets that took hours to prepare after grinding all sorts of vegetables, potatoes, etc.

I switched to a modified prey model and haven't looked back. It is simple, takes no more time than feeding kibble, and for me is cheaper than premium kibble.

Hush RFD, I do feed some of that useless stuff, but it is raw and it makes me feel good - roflmao.

When I'm lazy, I just feed them a turkey neck or chicken back. I'm happy, the dogs are happy, and momma is happy.


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## Lynn In Tenn (Aug 20, 2009)

It's not complicated now that I've figured out I don't have to have the food measured to the ounce:smile: I really do like this method of feeding and my dogs seem to also. I did notice some white stuff in 2 of my dogs eyes this morning, but it wasn't yellow like it had been. Only been doing this for 5 days so I think that will clear up in time. 
Thanks for all y'all's help


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## Lynn In Tenn (Aug 20, 2009)

O.K. I do have another question. RFD said to hold off on the organ meat for a month or two and the fish for a month. Can I feed some other meat besides chicken during the transition period, or should I stick with just chicken????


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

After the first two weeks, add in turkey for a meal once a week. Then slowly start working in other protein sources in meals maybe twice a week.


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