# Dem Bones



## Neeko (Aug 11, 2010)

How does everyone go about feeding 10% (more or less) bone? IE what calculations do you use, what bone-in items do you feed, how much total do you feed?

If I fed based on stool alone, my two would probably only eat bone once a week. But I know they are important, and they need calcium. 

Most of the bone I feed is in the form of chicken leg quarters with a back portion. I *think* these are about 40% bone. These quarters are typically about 16 oz, which would equal 6.4 oz of bone. In theory, this works out perfect for my girl, who eats roughly 2 lbs a day, if I fed one every other day. My boy eats about 2.5-3 lbs a day. If I feed him a quarter every other day, he has dust poops, even when fed with extra organ. My girl gets dust poops from them as well, but not as bad as him.

What I occasionally do, for an example:
Day One-chicken quarter plus meaty meat and appropriate organs to equal right weight of food.
Day Two-meaty meat and organ to equal right weight of food.
Day Three-5-6 oz duck neck plus meaty meat and organ.
Day Four/One-chicken quarter plus meaty meat and organ to equal right weight (this day starts the cycle over again)

I occasionally feed pork ribs in place of chicken, or 3-4 chicken feet in place of the duck necks.

I'd appreciate knowing how you all figure and feed bone, along with any suggestions and/or critiques of what I'm doing. 

Thanks!


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## KittyKat (Feb 11, 2011)

We feed bone in every meal and still don't get dust poops.


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## NewYorkDogue (Sep 27, 2011)

KittyKat said:


> We feed bone in every meal and still don't get dust poops.


Same here. I feed twice per day, and always add in at least some bony portion...some more, some less. He doesn't get dusty poops either. Nor are they white/chalky. 

The balance seems about right, at this point in time.


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## creek817 (Feb 18, 2012)

I've been a total slacker about measuring stuff lately, but Dobby usually gets some bone every day, even if it's just a chicken foot or chicken neck. Some days he has a turkey neck, or a big meaty lamb bone, and occasionally no bone.

List of bone percentages for bony meat - Raw Food Diet Forum

That link has some of the approximate bone percentages.

Foods List

That link you can type in any food and click Full Report, and at the top it tell you the amount of refuse and what type (it's usually all bone).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v491/mikashi/chickenmodelcopy.jpg

And that one might be helpful as well =)


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## lab mom (May 6, 2012)

*Let the stool be the judge! !!!!!! * I do not weigh, I go by looks/size on what works for each individual dogs stool! 

I usually feed a chicken back or chicken necks every day which usually produces a nice formed stool that is not to hard/dry/dusty/chalky. But, I also work in a little organ regularly. We do not have a all organ day/meal. Occasionally I just do ground necks and backs or ground salmon heads/scraps if their stools seem to hard and dry. About once a month they all get to gnaw on a half a hogs head, which often leads to a hard/dusty/chalky stools and is always a good time to work in a extra organ meat. A raw pork bone with a little meat on them on a rare occasion if their stools are soft, but this tends to make them have dusty/hard/chalky stools. 


I wish I could get a chicken foot connection! For the dogs and us! Chicken feet are supposed to be a great soup base! It not only thickens the broth, but adds Glucosamine and calcium!


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## lab mom (May 6, 2012)

creek817 said:


> I've been a total slacker about measuring stuff lately, but Dobby usually gets some bone every day, even if it's just a chicken foot or chicken neck. Some days he has a turkey neck, or a big meaty lamb bone, and occasionally no bone.
> 
> List of bone percentages for bony meat - Raw Food Diet Forum
> 
> ...


*Love the chicken with the percent of bone on each part!
*


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## Neeko (Aug 11, 2010)

lab mom said:


> *Let the stool be the judge! !!!!!! *


That is where my dilemma lies. As I mentioned, if I relied on stool quality alone, they both could probably go a week or more without eating bone. They both have already went 5 days twice and 6 days once without bone, and had no GI issues. This was not intentional, I simply ran out of bone-in meat and kept forgetting to purchase it.


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## kathylcsw (Jul 31, 2011)

I go by stool. Buster needs a bone in meal every other day and Lola every 3rd day. I really don't figure the percentage at all. When they get bone in meals it is very bone heavy so I am pretty confident that they get at least 10% bone per week. If I gave Lola bone more often she would have sandy poop. I also give them egg with shells 1x per week so that helps with the calcium.


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## Nana52 (Apr 28, 2012)

creek817 said:


> http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v491/mikashi/chickenmodelcopy.jpg And that one might be helpful as well =)


Love the cut up labeled chicken. Need one of those for each animal fed!

I have list I got from I don't remember where that's pretty extensive. It's a PDF file, so not sure how to get it on here, but I'll see if I can figure it out and share. If anyone is interested.


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## GoingPostal (Sep 5, 2011)

I've been feeding bone every other day, it works out because my bone in meats are chicken, turkey and rabbit and then I have beef, pork and venison boneless so we alternate. I feed half organs, half turkey neck once a week which seems to balance it out.


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## KittyKat (Feb 11, 2011)

creek817 said:


> I've been a total slacker about measuring stuff lately, but Dobby usually gets some bone every day, even if it's just a chicken foot or chicken neck. Some days he has a turkey neck, or a big meaty lamb bone, and occasionally no bone.
> 
> List of bone percentages for bony meat - Raw Food Diet Forum
> 
> ...


I had looked at percentages of bone before and I figure i'm feeding well over 10% since they get bone every meal... be it a half a chicken back or a turkey/chicken drumstick or turkey neck etc. 

If you think about wolves as well, their diets would be over this 10% as they eat whole prey.


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## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

i just go by the poops! but Cesar needs a good bit of bone-in every day otherwise WAM! the runs. not cool.
i measured his food once in the begining and have been eyeballing it ever since


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

10,10,80 is just a rough guideline, if you're balancing by day, that's not needed, balancing by week? meh.... balancing by the month.. that's more like it. we just feed what we feel he would like that day, for instance... on his birthday is favorite thing is ground meats that are frozen, so we gave him a few pounds of ground beef, no bone, he's not had bone for 4-5 days... he just doesn't require much of it, BUT his treats are chicken feet which are nearly all bone, i'm not measuring, or calculating anything, i'm just watching his stool looking for abnormality, if he's working too hard, or it's too slippery... about once a week he'll get a bone heavy meal, usually consisting of venison ribs, or some rabbit, just depends on what we have on hand. don't worry yourself too much with a formula. :thumb:


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## pogo (Aug 28, 2011)

Quite simply i don't.

They get fed once a day now, and it has a both bony and boneless in, i've never once worked it out or had any problems


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

I'm sure I feed more than 10 percent bone for Rebel, and I try to feed about 10 percent for Snorkels. 

But I can't figure out every piece of meat and what percent of bone it has - I just can't, and won't. PMR is supposed to be easy. The only thing I worry about is too little bone because of the calcium/phosphorus ratio and watching poops I feel will tell me if I'm getting it right.

Except for Snorkels, who never has diarrhea. So I try to estimate a little closer for her, but not to the point of checking bone content.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

for us, it's an approximation, too.

the guideline, to me, is just that....

i weigh their foods, because i suck at eyeballing and i give bone when i think they need it....not based on the 10%...i'm betting i'm close...because when i do clean up their poop, i don't see dust or chalk...just nice solid poop.

i'm thinking they get a little bone throughout the week, so at least every other meal. some weeks they get more. some they get less.....

in the begining, i was trying to do the 80-10-10 every day and gave myself a nervous breakdown....and realised, eating should not be this hard. LOL

for others, this is soothing to know, but, for me, it was too OCD


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## NewYorkDogue (Sep 27, 2011)

Tobi said:


> 10,10,80 is just a rough guideline, if you're balancing by day, that's not needed, balancing by week? meh.... balancing by the month.. that's more like it. we just feed what we feel he would like that day, for instance... on his birthday is favorite thing is ground meats that are frozen, so we gave him a few pounds of ground beef, no bone, he's not had bone for 4-5 days... he just doesn't require much of it, BUT his treats are chicken feet which are nearly all bone, i'm not measuring, or calculating anything, i'm just watching his stool looking for abnormality, if he's working too hard, or it's too slippery... about once a week he'll get a bone heavy meal, usually consisting of venison ribs, or some rabbit, just depends on what we have on hand. don't worry yourself too much with a formula. :thumb:


I agree. Once or twice I actually weighed and measured his food, just to see if I was on the right track by what I had been "eye-balling." Spot on. So, I just eyeball it, giving a bit more when he's been very active (or going through a growth spurt), less when he's less so.

Same with the bone content. Stools tell us a lot. 

Also, I think it's similar to how we feed ourselves. I mean, I don't count calories, or weigh or measure food...but I just know what makes me feel good, food-wise. However, if one has specific food/health issues, they might have to do so. Might be the same with dog health issues as well...


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## Elliehanna (Jan 16, 2012)

I am with pogo on this, I have yet to really measure, I can give Goren a boneless meal without any ill effects but normally he gets a bone heavy meal but he ALWAYS gets heart of some kind (currently in the freezer I have beef, pork, and turkey heart) so yea pretty rich meals


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

i could feed Snorkels zero bone and she would never get loose stools. I feel your pain. i figure I am a fair guesser.


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## monkeys23 (Dec 8, 2010)

I shoot for balance over the course of a week and generally pair their organs & rmb's together... so with two meals a day they get rmb's four nights a week. Which is right about 10% overally, maybe a little over sometimes if its a big project rmb.


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## lab mom (May 6, 2012)

As I was portioning out my TRIPE I thought of you and your concern about your dogs getting enough calcium!
FEED TRIPE! It has the perfect calcium to phosphorus ratio! It is considered a meat-a source of protein, fiber, fat, probiotics, poly nutrients, some omega 3 &6,. But, to me it seems it should almost be a organ - it does have digestive enzymes! :biggrin:


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## leilaquinn (Sep 7, 2011)

My dog is very prone to major constipation! I have to make most of his meals LOW bone. He loves bone heavy meals, but he won'T poop for days. Even with something like chicken thigh with a bone paired with beef with no bone, he poops DUST


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