# First RAW meal on Monday



## Maligatork9 (Feb 8, 2012)

I am planning on feeding my dog her first raw meal on Monday. I am planning on following the getting started with prey model raw write up that is often referenced here. I was able to get about 15 lbs of chicken backs from a local shop. They came in 4 "bricks" wrapped in paper. I'm guessing the butcher just piled them up while making the cuts, wrapped them and stuck them in the freezer. 

As you can imagine, they are hard as a rock. I took a hammer to one pack today and got one pack split up enough to fit into a decent size tupperwear container to thaw in my fridge. Looking at the frozen mass, I couldn't tell exatcly what part of the chicken it is. I'm hoping the chunk that broke off will contain enough meat/bones. I'm probably waaaay over thinking this, but I am excited to get started! 

I am looking into a local co op that has chicken backs / green tripe / turkey necks etc. I'm hoping the chicken backs from this are packaged better than what the local place does! 

My dog is a belgian malinois and will be turning 8 next month. I look forward to starting this adventure!:biggrin:


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## Cliffdog (Dec 30, 2010)

Congrats and good luck! Try not to worry too much


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## kathylcsw (Jul 31, 2011)

How exciting! Why don't you just leave the chicken sitting out today until it thaws enough to separate and repackage? Then just re-freeze in more easy to manage chunks.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

kathylcsw said:


> How exciting! Why don't you just leave the chicken sitting out today until it thaws enough to separate and repackage? Then just re-freeze in more easy to manage chunks.


What she said - stick it in the sink and in a few hours you'll be able to pry it apart. You don't have to thaw in the fridge for dogs.

If they are all chicken backs, you should have plenty of bone in there no matter what part you ended up with in the Tupperware bowl.

I'm excited for you. It's so much fun to feed raw, and so amazing to see the change in the dogs, and a great feeling to know you are giving them the food they were born to eat.


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## werecatrising (Oct 15, 2010)

Pictures of your dog are a must. I love mals!


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## Maligatork9 (Feb 8, 2012)

I will definitely get some Pics up here!

Soooo, I couldn't wait and started tonight! I put out 16 ounces of chicken back. It was two pieces. She initially looked at it like "Um, is this ok?". Took a little, but she caught on. She only ate one (about 7 ounces) and meandered around the other one for about 5 minutes. I picked it up and will give it to her tomorrow morning. I know less is more at this point so I'm perfectly happy with the results so far!


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## Maligatork9 (Feb 8, 2012)

She ate about 10 ounces of back today. No movements so far so thats better than mud butt! I am going to feed her another 6-10 ounces tonight since by her weight, she should be getting about 20 ounces. I will start alternating quarters tomorrow or Wednesday. 

Here are a few pics of Olympia:


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

don't be in a rush to increase amounts...wait for that first stool.

she seems to be self regulating..which is more than many of us can say....

welcome and it is exciting, isn't it?


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## Maligatork9 (Feb 8, 2012)

Will do. She really never has been an inhaler when it comes to food. She is so not a normal dog when it comes to that. Still waiting for that movement lol. 

It IS exciting. I love watching her eat. My girlfriend was watching her eat this morning and she said, "I don't know why, but I'm fascinated by this." haha


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Maligatork9 said:


> Will do. She really never has been an inhaler when it comes to food. She is so not a normal dog when it comes to that. Still waiting for that movement lol.
> 
> It IS exciting. I love watching her eat. My girlfriend was watching her eat this morning and she said, "I don't know why, but I'm fascinated by this." haha


it is just so primal - like dogs are meant to eat. I agree, it's fascinating. i think part of it is because we aren't used to seeing dogs do things like they would do if wild. We think they are clean, for one thing 

One of my dogs, snorkels, took almost four days to poop right at first. i know she's constipated all the time, but it didn't do her any permanent damage.


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## werecatrising (Oct 15, 2010)

Beautiful girl!


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Welcome to the wonderful world of raw feeding! You've only just begun, your excitement and fascination with watching your dogs will grow as you introduce more things! Don't hesitate to ask any and all questions!


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## Maligatork9 (Feb 8, 2012)

Oh I know I will be asking lots of questions! Thanks for all the support!

We have poo and it's solid and already smaller! Woohoo! Lol


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## Maligatork9 (Feb 8, 2012)

So this morning I woke up to some caughing and then found a small puke pile on the ground with some pieces of bone. There also was another stool sample outside which was even smaller than the last. Still firm! So she is obviously handling the backs well. I know the bone in the puke is fairly normal during the transition. She ate her morning meal without any issues. She was a little stubborn at first (which is normal for her) but she ate it after just a couple of minutes. All in all I would think she is progressing well! 

Now, I don't want to rush anything but I have fed backs since Sunday night. No bowel problems so far. There was a good amount of skin and even a small amount of organ (I think) on them. Since I've had 2 solid movements, I am wondering if I should give her a quarter tonight or give her the other back tonight and the quarter tomorrow. She should be eating about 20 ounces a day and today she got just about an 8 ounce back for her morning feeding. If I did give a quarter tonight, I would make sure it wasn't any larger than 10 ounces. Thoughts?


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

It sounds like she is doing really well and I am so glad for you. I would give another day or two of backs just because she is an older girl and if you get diarrhea started sometimes it is a pain to get back in control. My babies are the easiest but I do tread gently with the older dogs. JMHO


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

what liz says.

don't be in a rush with older dogs.....stick to backs for at least a week, even a week and a half before you start adding in some boneless chicken.....just take your time.

you'll be rewarded in the end.

diarrhea is a real pain. hard to get stopped once started.


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## monkeys23 (Dec 8, 2010)

She's beautiful!!!! I have the gator fever something fierce and unfortunately I get to wait at least another couple years to satify that need!

What everyone else said on keeping progress nice and slow. Its better to just do it right the first time and not have any explosions.


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## Maligatork9 (Feb 8, 2012)

Will do! Thanks everyone. I'm going to hit up a freezer sale open to the public for a local co op in San Francisco Thursday. Hopefully I can load up on some good stuff!! They should have turkey necks, quarters, beef heart, tripe etc. all the good stuff!


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## Makovach (Jan 24, 2012)

Gald to hear your pups is doing great with her transition!


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## Maligatork9 (Feb 8, 2012)

Day 3... 10 ounces of back about an hour ago. She pooped again (it's about once a day) and this time it was even smaller. Very compact, yellow and looked like deer droppings. I didn't see her go so I don't know if she had any "problems" going (straining etc). No throw up this morning either. I woke up to what sounded like a cough but that was it. 

I think I'm going to use this thread as an online "diary" of her transition and progress. Any comments and or help is always appreciated!


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

The yellow is probably chicken fat. Glad she is doing so well!


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## Maligatork9 (Feb 8, 2012)

I was thawing and taking apart a large chunk of chicken backs the butcher gave me and I noticed this pack looked different than what I had before. I'm guessing this pack is the back with the neck attached. I also have a handful of just necks (at least I think they are). The necks alone are roughly 3 inches long. Are those okay to feed along with the back (at this stage)? Also, should I feed the ones with the neck attached to the back as is, or should I cut the necks off? 

Thank you!


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## Maligatork9 (Feb 8, 2012)

Well, we are on day 6 and doing well. I slowly have added a little more meat to her chicken backs the last 2 meals. I basically fed a back plus some good chunks of meat from a quarter for 2 meals. Stool is still nice and firm. I think she is ready for quarters so this morning she got a whole quarter (skinned). It was about 11 ounces. 

Tonight I am think about giving a small back and a couple chicken necks like the ones pictured above (about 9 ounces total). If she handles it well, I plan on alternating one day of quarters only and the next backs for about a week before introducing turkey necks. How does that sound? 

Also, I have a bunch of green tripe (6 two pound packs) how long should I wait to start introducing a little bit of that? I would guess at least until after she is good on the turkey necks??


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Are her poops doing ok? If so it sounds like you are doing great.

Is it beef tripe? If it were my dogs and their poops were good I'm sure I'd be feeding it to them, but that's not the general advice to take it slowly and introduce it when you get to red meat.


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## Maligatork9 (Feb 8, 2012)

Thanks! Yep, nice and solid little poops haha. It is beef tripe, I have it frozen now so when the time was right I was going to thaw it enough to cut it up and then re-freeze it in slices. That way when I feed it, I can just grab a frozen slice and drop it in a bowl. I'll see how she handles the turkey necks next week and go from there.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

i got this foster dog who has to eat soft foods for 30 days due to teeth extractions and so I can't feed him any bones.

I am feeding him Snorkels' ground up-with bones food so he'll get enough calcium, and it's got organs in it. So far he's pooping ok, just a little softer than normal. 

I keep wondering if, because of the few dogs that really react badly to organs, fat, etc. right at first, we are overly cautious with dogs that could handle all that stuff just fine right from the beginning.


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## Maligatork9 (Feb 8, 2012)

Started week three with a turkey neck this morning. It looked like a welcome change from chicken. She ate the whole thing without any issues. She is a good chewer so I don't have to worry about gulping! Her stools are very dry so I'll probably remove all of the meat from a chicken quarter and feed her boneless tonight. If all goes well with the turkey this week, would you suggest pork or fish next?


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Maligatork9 said:


> Started week three with a turkey neck this morning. It looked like a welcome change from chicken. She ate the whole thing without any issues. She is a good chewer so I don't have to worry about gulping! Her stools are very dry so I'll probably remove all of the meat from a chicken quarter and feed her boneless tonight. If all goes well with the turkey this week, would you suggest pork or fish next?


I think either would be fine. Although I think pork is supposed to be red meat even though the pork I get sure doesn't look like it.

Being the totally impatient person that I am, my foster dog has eaten chicken, turkey, pork, fish, tripe, and kidney and he started on raw 10 days ago. No beef yet, though. So far poops are great.


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## Maligatork9 (Feb 8, 2012)

Yeah, I'm thinking I can move her along without any problems as long as I dont throw in a bunch of anything new. She was pretty happy to be eating something other than chicken! I may have to get the tripe out of the freezer this week and give that a shot.


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