# Starting Raw!



## happygirlx3 (Feb 22, 2010)

I started my 25lbs Basenji girl, Molly, on raw today. I've known for a long time now raw is the way to go, but couldn't work up the courage to start. I'm excited I finally took the plunge.

I decided to go with 3% of her body weight which is 0.75lbs. When I went to our local grocery store today, the man weighed up a leg and thigh as a "quarter" and it was around 0.70lbs. I figured less is better at the beginning anyway. 
I tried to find chicken backs, but they didn't have any. I'm going to make a trip to the butchers tomorrow to see what I can find.

I do have a few questions if you don't mind. :smile:

My mother fed her about 1/3 of a can this morning. It was the Smothered Comfort Merrick can that contains a whole chicken thigh. All she got was a bit of the juice and small piece of the chicken really. She had no kibble today to my knowledge. 
Tonight around 6:30pm I gave her the thigh and leg together, she ate both. Am I doing this right? 

Also, would it be better to keep her at one meal a day eating both parts, or have the thigh in the morning and the leg at night? I will be trying to find those backs. Does anyone know how much chicken backs weigh or how much I should feed to her in one day?

Any help is appreciated, thank you so much!


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

First off, congrats for making the switch!!! 

Second, you cant arbitrarily decide to feed 3%. Its really what the dog's body decides what it can handle. And to be honest I always suggest sticking to the lower end of the 2-3% guideline in the beginning because too much raw food can cause some serious issues. It's better to start off slow and low and work more food into their daily diet gradually. That way you don't start off on the wrong foot with a mess of diarrhea.

Third, if you gave her a whole leg quarter in one sitting that's a whole days worth of food, and it's perfectly fine to cut it into two parts and feed morning and evening as long as she doesn't swallow either piece whole. I wouldn't give any more food until you see a bowel movement. If it's normal I would continue feeding one leg quarter a day for the next two weeks. If it's not normal, fast until the following day and only give her 1/2 of the quarter that day. See how she does. Slowly add more food in to maintain her ideal weight. 

Good luck and I hope this helps!


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

Yes to everything Natalie said (as usual). :smile:

Chicken backs vary in size but average about 1/2lb. Don't worry about the difference in size. It all equals out over time. Some meals will just be larger than others.

Actually a chicken leg quarter is about a pound on average. There is part of a back included in the regular quarter.

I suggest feeding 2 meals a day in the beginning (maybe 2 or 3 months). After that you can feed 1 meal a day if you wish or even feed a large meal every other day. It's all up to you. I know some raw feeders who feed 2 or 3 times a week.


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## happygirlx3 (Feb 22, 2010)

Thank you both very much! I really appreciate the helpful advice. I will plan to give her half in the morning and half at night from now on.

Thanks again! :smile:


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## happygirlx3 (Feb 22, 2010)

Today was Day 4 on her new diet. She seems to be absolutely fine so far, no changes in anything, stool is good as far as I can tell. I'm pretty excited. 

She is still getting a thigh every morning and a drumstick at night. Should I keep her like this for the next two weeks or so? Or is there anything else I should add? 

I do love how cheap it is to feed her! $1.50 for 4 days! Since we don't have a large freezer, I think I'll just buy her meals a week in advance. I can get most anything at our local grocery store, but she'll probably end up eating mostly chicken. Is that okay?

Also, should she always have a meal with bone AM and PM? Or is that just for the first two weeks? Could she have boneless meat in the AM and like a chicken drumstick for supper? I'm a bit clueless on actual meals for a 25lbs dog. 

ANY advice is greatly appreciated. I'm reading all I can and following the threads here, it helps so much! Thanks again everyone! :smile:


Here's a picture of Molly - she is a 25lbs Basenji:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

happygirlx3 said:


> Today was Day 4 on her new diet. She seems to be absolutely fine so far, no changes in anything, stool is good as far as I can tell. I'm pretty excited.


Awesome news! Keep up the good work!



> She is still getting a thigh every morning and a drumstick at night. Should I keep her like this for the next two weeks or so? Or is there anything else I should add?


Keep this up for about another 10 days as far as stools stay normal and she stays her happy self. Don't add anything in right now, or you might make her take a few steps back. Just be patient, there is all the time in the world to add more proteins in.



> I do love how cheap it is to feed her! $1.50 for 4 days! Since we don't have a large freezer, I think I'll just buy her meals a week in advance. I can get most anything at our local grocery store, but she'll probably end up eating mostly chicken. Is that okay?


Yes!!! Raw can be (most of the time depending on location/situation) cheaper than anything else worth feeding. It becomes a part of life shopping the meat sales and finding good deals on meat. A diet of mostly chicken is perfectly fine, just make sure that you get a good variety of other proteins in variably. I know some raw feeders that feed at least 50% chicken and their dogs handle it just fine.



> Also, should she always have a meal with bone AM and PM? Or is that just for the first two weeks? Could she have boneless meat in the AM and like a chicken drumstick for supper? I'm a bit clueless on actual meals for a 25lbs dog.


For about the first month you want to always feed bone in meals. After that (after adding in turkey) you will want to start feeding boneless meals. Then once you're all the way through the transition period you will get a good feel at how much bone your dog needs to stay healthy, some dogs need more than others. Usually dogs handle alternating bone-in with boneless meals very well. If you feed too many boneless meals, your dog can end up with loose stool...which is of course nothing to worry about if you know what is causing it (not feeding enough bone).

As far as meals go...in my opinion when feeding raw is that once a day feedings are better because you can feed a larger portion or larger raw meaty bone. This is advantageous because it gets the dog to chew more (increased dental health and mental stimulation) and lessens the chance of swallowing/choking on a smaller raw meaty bone or chunk of meat. I only feed once a day with my dogs (after about 4-5 months of age, before that they need more frequent feedings), occasionally 2 times a day.


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## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

If there is any reason for 2+ meals a day, it would probably be to keep her entertained and full(or at least less hungry), so she doesn't go off looking for things to munch on between meals.
If she's prone to that anyways, otherwise, one meal a day will do it.


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## happygirlx3 (Feb 22, 2010)

Week 1 is complete! Molly is looking better and happier by the day! Thanks again for the help and advice everyone, I still have more questions. :biggrin:

Molly has gained a few pounds already lol... Today I stocked up on a weeks worth of chicken drumsticks and wings instead of thighs. Do you think this will help? She hasn't had loose stool or vomited once since we've started raw.

Also, when I go to buy turkey later this week, what parts of the turkey do you recommend starting with and how should I incorporate it into her meals? I do intend to feed her once a day after she's fully transitioned.

I ordered a pack of chicken backs that will also come in this week. Because they are about half a pound, which is all she should eat for the day, should I cut them in half? What do you think a weekly menu of turkey and chicken should look like for now? I'm still learning how to do this whole menu thing lol.

I'm also thinking about buying a freezer. A seller nearby has one listed for $125. It's a 16 cubic feet freezer, do you think it will be large enough? We definitely are running out of room in the family freezer!


Hmmmm I think that is all the questions for now, but ANY other advice, tips, or comments would be greatly appreciated! :smile:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

So I just now responded to your PM so that answers your questions on the weight issue and turkey question...sorry it took me so long to get back to you! Sometimes I tread the pm and won't have time to respond right away!

ETA: from PM...

Feed your dog alternating once and twice per day. Like Monday, wednesday, and Friday feed only one meal and tuesday, thurs and Saturday feed twice per day. How much is your dogs ideal weight? And how much are you feeding her?

For turkey I would start on necks for sure. The bones in turkey wings are pretty darn dense.


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## happygirlx3 (Feb 22, 2010)

Thank you so much!! I've never sent a PM before so I was worried you hadn't gotten it lol. Thanks for taking the time to answer. 

My dog's ideal weight is between 20-25 pounds. She's about 26lbs as of last night. She's been very thin all her life, about 20lbs, so this is a surprise! I would like her to be about in the middle, not so much worried about weight, but fitness. She's gotten a bit chunky in the front, wider looking.

I bought some chicken wings to use instead of thighs. Together they weigh a little over half a pound. Should I give her a wing in the morning and a drumstick at night tomorrow, then both at the same time for one meal, then twice a day again like that? 

The butcher told me a turkey neck would be over a pound. Should I cut them maybe in thirds and feed it as the only meal that day? I think I'm overthinking too much... :redface:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

For the days you feed once, you only want to give one meals worth. So in essence you're going to feed a wing in the morning and drummie at night the days you feed twice and maybe just a thigh on the days you feed once. The whole point of doing this is to eliminate one whole meal from every other day to decrease the amount of food you're giving her.

I would cut a turkey neck in half or thirds depending on how long they are and how big they are.


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## jjcj (Nov 26, 2010)

mandy loves her turkey necks and depending where they are from i cut them in half for some reason it never works right in half so she gets just a neck on the big half day and on the small half day she gets a beef testicle with it.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

*Feeding*

My sheltie went from 20 pounds to 25 in a month. Ihad to back her off a bit also. We are able to get duck necks here and they are the perfect size for a bony meal. She gets chicken mostly becaus eshe loves it, turkey and cornish game hen. She will also eat lamb. She does not care for beef and only nibbles at pork but we are working on it. You might want to check into duck necks for your guy.


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## happygirlx3 (Feb 22, 2010)

Thanks everyone!! I'll start alternating her feeding days like that and see if she can lose a few pounds. She wouldn't eat at all tonight. She licked her drumstick and walked back inside. Guess she wasn't hungry? 
She hasn't acted like she wants anything to eat tonight. I'll just wait until tomorrow morning and feed her like usual, I suppose.

And I'll definitely ask about duck necks when I pick up next week's meat. That's a great idea! Thanks! :smile:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

happygirlx3 said:


> Thanks everyone!! I'll start alternating her feeding days like that and see if she can lose a few pounds. She wouldn't eat at all tonight. She licked her drumstick and walked back inside. Guess she wasn't hungry?
> She hasn't acted like she wants anything to eat tonight. I'll just wait until tomorrow morning and feed her like usual, I suppose.


This isn't uncommon for raw fed dogs...especially for dogs that don't have much of an appetite to begin with. One of my dogs is like that. She just wont eat sometimes and I figure she just isn't hungry and I don't worry about it. As long as your dog doesn't show any signs of sickness or in any way not herself, there's typically no reason to panic :wink:


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## happygirlx3 (Feb 22, 2010)

Tomorrow marks Molly's 4th week into raw! I think she's doing pretty well, no loose stool that I know of... I'm rarely home to see her poop and at night I don't feel like chasing her through our huge backyard to watch her poop. Either way, she hasn't woken me up to go outside! lol

I started Molly on turkey necks earlier this week. It took her about 15 minutes to eat the whole thing, then the next day she wouldn't eat it at all. I took it away after a bit and gave it to her again that night. Again she wouldn't eat it. Her stomach was literally keeping me awake at night with the rumbling. I gave her a piece of cheese just so I could get some sleep! Luckily, the next morning she ate it with no problem and has been doing well since, it just takes her a while compared to the chicken wings. Today my mom was cutting up a piece of chicken and gave her a huge round piece of a liver! I was sure she'd have really bad diarrhea all day, but nope! I'm so confused.

I tried to find duck necks, but Schnucks doesn't know if they can order them or not yet. They didn't seem optimistic. 
However, I did pick up some pork ribs for tomorrow. They are about half a pound each, so should I give her that as her only meal tomorrow? The only problem with feeding her once a day, is that she acts like she's starving at night. Any advice?

Also, tonight I happened to see her poop and it was painful looking. The sides of her butt were red almost bloody looking, but the stool wasn't bloody. It was crumbly and a little soft, kinda mucusy looking. She's been eating a turkey neck in the morning and usually a wing or drumstick at night. What should I do?

One more question, how do you all find chicken so cheap? The cheapest I've found chicken wings are $2.19 a pound at our local grocery store. I think it's because I live in Memphis where 3/4 of the population are African-American lol... I have a Schnucks, Kroger, Superlo, and Walmart. The only ethnic market we have is one that is in a very bad part of town. I'll try to check it out tomorrow or later this week. Honestly, price isn't a big issue, I just like finding cheap stuff lol. Any tips for finding good deals?

What do you think I should start her on after pork? She's only 25lbs and eats half a pound a day. What do you all feed small dogs?

Thanks for the help, I don't know what I'd do without this forum! 

Here are some pictures of her eating a turkey neck yesterday morning. Do they look right? 



















Video


And are these okay for her to eat? The butcher at Schnucks said the bone wasn't too hard.











Thanks again!


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

danemama08 said:


> A diet of mostly chicken is perfectly fine, just make sure that you get a good variety of other proteins in variably. I know some raw feeders that feed at least 50% chicken and their dogs handle it just fine.


I'm so glad to see this because, if you will recall, I went a little bat spit insane with my first couple of raw meat shopping trips. "I must fill this freezer!!"

I finally stopped myself, told myself to "nok it off!" with buying them meat every single time I went to the store and have been trying to work through the Ziploc bags I have, still. I'm switching to containers, (that I now have), and have room for some of them, but not all of them. So I need to get through what I had purchased.

Tonight, I went out to get two more days worth of food for the zoo and I started pulling Ziploc bags out. I found two that had turkey drumsticks, one that had lamb, three that had ribs but after that?

"Let's see here, what's this? Chicken. Ok. What's this? Chicken. Ok. What's this...chicken....hmmm..and this? Chicken... This? Chicken. Sigh. How about this? Chicken. OMG. Ok, let's look at this one. Chicken? Oy. And this one? Chicken! That one? Chicken. This one...no, let me guess...chicken? Surprise, it's chicken."

I have about 40 fricken bags of chicken. Gah! So, it is very, very, very good to know that I can continue to feed a lot of chicken. I do still have some organs and I do still have a bit of other stuff to change it up but for the next month....we're looking at mostly chicken.

If any of you ever see me in the grocery store buying this much chicken again, you have my permission to smack some sense in to me.


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## happygirlx3 (Feb 22, 2010)

Wow! That's a lot of chicken lol. :smile:


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## BTDogRaw (Dec 8, 2010)

*Chicken!*



SerenityFL said:


> I'm so glad to see this because, if you will recall, I went a little bat spit insane with my first couple of raw meat shopping trips. "I must fill this freezer!!" I finally stopped myself, told myself to "nok it off!" with buying them meat every single time I went to the store .


OMG--this is ME, too! lol. I have a 5 cu ft. freezer 3/4 full of chicken backs and quarters now. For 1 large dog. That's over 2 months of food. It's like I'm convinced now that I feed raw, all the meat in the world will disappear or by the time I'm at a new protein stage, that protein will be gone forever!  So I better stock up...Glad I'm not the only person who's gone through this gobbledy of buying meat. lol. Plus, it's so exciting to be feeding raw and finding great deals. 

Amy J-K
&
Bailey T. Dog


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## sassymaxmom (Dec 7, 2008)

One 38 pound dog who eats 20 pounds a month. If I can see the back of my 14 cubic foot freezer I buy more meat. If I am down to the last pound of tripe I practically panic even though tripe isn't important. There is probably 6 months of food in that freezer now but I am still cyber shopping because I could fit more in there if I just rearrange things.

Just remember, don't stock up unless you know your dog will eat it. No matter how cheap rabbit or fish is if your dog hates it, it cost too much.


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## BrownieM (Aug 30, 2010)

*Happygirl* - I couldn't help but notice you shopped at Schnucks! Do you live in St. Louis? I am a Dierbergs person, myself. :biggrin: 

ETA: Nevermind - I see it says Memphis.


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## happygirlx3 (Feb 22, 2010)

Awwwww! Wish I did live there! I'm having the hardest time finding cheap meat. :frown:


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## happygirlx3 (Feb 22, 2010)

Hey guys, not to be rude or anything, but does anyone mind answering my questions from page 2? Still don't know the answers lol. I'd really appreciate it! Thanks! :smile:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

I'd say go slow with the pork. Start with a half of a normal portion to start with.

Personally I wouldn't pay much attention to her acting hungry or not. Most dogs act hungry all the time but that isn't a reason to feed them or they'd all be fat! As long as she's in good body condition she isn't starving. You could split her meals into two feedings but the meals would have to be smaller. 

Sounds to me like she has fairly normal bowel movements for being in the middle of a transition to raw foods. I wouldn't worry about watching her poops every time. Just keep doing what you're doing and she will be fine.

We buy chicken in bulk 40 pound cases from a wholesale meat distributor or at walmart. They sell 10 pound bags of chicken quarters or about $.50-70 per pound. Just ask an employee to show you where they are located. Chicken wings are expensive because they are a desirable cut of chicken. 

I would add in fish after pork. Whole fresh raw fish are best but canned fish is perfectly fine to feed as well. But I'd wait til after your dog handles all the other proteins just fine before moving on.

The pictures you posted look great!


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## happygirlx3 (Feb 22, 2010)

Thank you sooo much! I actually gave her the whole pork rib which was about 0.5lbs then gave her a chicken wing that night for supper. It was a little more then she needed, but I fed her less the next day. Her poop has been perfect since!

Thanks for the advice on how to find the chicken, I'll definitely check into that. If she only needs half a pound a day, how would you recommend feeding her quarters? Cut them in half? And which type of fresh fish do you recommend for her size?

Whew, I'm glad everything is going so well. :biggrin:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

I would cut the quarters in half at the joint. They run about 1/2-1 pound a piece.

Fish you can feed any kind really, just make sure that any salmon from the pacific northwest has been frozen for at least 2-4 weeks. Just cut fish up into appropriate meal sizes for her.


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## happygirlx3 (Feb 22, 2010)

Thanks! :smile:


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