# It's Been 9 Months But I'm Still A Novice



## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

Serious editing since I apparently talk too much...

what do you feed that has bone in it.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

You talk too much! Lol Bone in meals consist of pork ribs,, goat ribs and pieces, lamb necks, calf necks, duck necks, I also use trachea as a constipator when needed but quite honestly unless I go over board feeding the new bison liver, the dogs are golden with the poo.I feed a lot of boneless meals consisting of venison or lamb heart. You worry a lot and i think you need to just look at the ---! Lol


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

My guys need bone everyday for solid stools. If they didn't I would definately feed backs and such either with organ or rich meats like heart to balance them out. We feed chicken, turkey, duck necks, pork ribs, pork neck ( when I can get it whole), lamb trachea, and rabbit. Don't throw away boney parts just mix with organ or very rich meals. You may have to experiment a little with ratio like half a back and half hearts but it is worth it not to throw meat away. Hope that helps.


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## Pimzilla (May 1, 2011)

Why don't you just feed the chicken frames together with their boneless meals instead of looking for other bones to buy for them?
I don't think the 10% bone content is absolute for every dog, but since you didn't want the advice to look at the p** I'll not say anything about it. But if they do fine with several boneless meals I'd not worry about getting other bones for them. 
When it comes to how the bones are cut I'm not sure I know what you mean, don't think I would worry about that. I just worry about not giving weight bearing bones of large animals.


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## FL Cracker (May 4, 2011)

Well I took a "no nonsense" approach to all of it. I started CoCo out on Chicken....then moved on to Venison (because I had it)...then to pork...beef...fish...lamb...and so on.
Now I have an amount of bone in every meal...but I can't really say that it's 10% every time. Pork ribs have been great, and easily broken down by CoCo...I still feed chicken for the bone content. 
In every meal I feed CoCo...variety is my goal. No meal that I feed is one meat, if I can help it.
For example...this morning I had sliced beef heart, chicken liver, one raw egg, sardine, pork rib, and chicken feet. Tonight she get's a whole rainbow trout.
Tomorrow, chicken quarter with some beef kidney....tomorrow night, pork rib, chicken breast, chicken liver, and chicken feet.
Everything is weighed out to equal 2 - 2.5 lbs/day.


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

whiteleo said:


> You talk too much! Lol Bone in meals consist of pork ribs,, goat ribs and pieces, lamb necks, calf necks, duck necks, I also use trachea as a constipator when needed but quite honestly unless I go over board feeding the new bison liver, the dogs are golden with the poo.I feed a lot of boneless meals consisting of venison or lamb heart. You worry a lot and i think you need to just look at the ---! Lol


I talk too much? 

Ok.


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

Fish is a source of bone and it might be cheap up in Maine, otherwise you can feed the frames along with boneless meat, like 1/2 chicken back and 1/4lb of pork meat (just to use an example). I feed entire meals of backs with no problem.. Bishop has been on raw for almost a year and has never had a problem with too much bone.


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## lucky (Jan 8, 2011)

When I buy small whole chickens I usually cut the rib/chest part of the frame in half and feed it with her liver or kidney meals. The spine part of the frame she has as 2 whole meals because that part is normally quite meaty (she only eats about 120g a day). The most common bone in meals I feed lamb ribs, the cheapest pork ribs and pork chops, I also get pork shank joints but my husband has to cut through these for me as lucky is so small it makes about 6 meals, sliced oxtails (when they are on offer) and obviously chicken/turkey wings/thighs etc ...


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

You really worry a lot about trivial little things. :smile: I know they don't seem trivial to you but most of them are. Copy this next sentence and attach it to your freezer door. *FEED MOSTLY MEAT, SOME BONE, and SOME ORGAN.* If you follow that you won't feed too much or too little of anything as long as you keep ean eye on that stuff we aren't supposed to mention. :biggrin:




SerenityFL said:


> When it comes to organs I feed, still, smaller amounts and typically do that on chicken days. I feed liver and whenever I can, kidney. (Typically I can only find them in beef or chicken flavors.)


Cool, there is no problem with that.



> We are currently working on beef heart and upping the amount to at least two-three bite sizes. Nonetheless, here, the beef heart is rather expensive. I don't know if I'll ever feed them an entire meal of beef heart because of it.


I don't understand that because heart is the cheapest part of the cow around here, particularly because its all meat and fat and no bone. Remember, for our purposes, heart is not an organ ... its very rich meat and fat.



> But that's the question...am I not feeding enough bone? What I mean is, should they be getting bone every meal or it is bone some days and the rest just meat and organs? Seems VERY expensive doing it this way.


This is one of those trivial things that just doesn't matter. If you feed hardly any bone at all you are feeding all you need for the calcium. If you feed too much bone, the extra calcium is either stored in bones or excreeted via the kidneys. They don't build up too much calcium. They get rid of what they don't need. Again, this is mostly a poo thing and not a "what does the body need" thing.



> I understand that I can give pork ribs and that will balance the meat and bone thing for a meal but I'm still, to this day, confused about WHICH ONE I can give. People keep saying something about how it's cut and to me, it all looks the same. Seriously. I don't understand what people mean about "jagged" cuts or edges because they ALL look like the same, to me. And what if the store doesn't have the one kind I'm allowed to give? What do I do then?


I just get things labeled "pork ribs". I avoid "country cut" ribs which have short little ribs a couple of inches long. My dogs can and do swallow those thing whole. Just a slab of pork ribs is what I feed. I cut the slab in half and give each dog a half slab but im sure my dogs are a lot larger than yours. I don't know how many ribs you should give your dogs but when you figure it out by weight, cut that many ribs off the slab and hand it to them whole.



> I can't just give them chicken every day to try to get their bone to meat ratio right, (or turkey), so what do you all feed as far as other raw meaty bones? What do you feed beef wise that is a raw meaty bone? I can't give soup bones or weight bearing bones and apparently, from what I've read, I can't give them the beef ribs....so what do you give?


I don't personally feed beef RMB's. My dogs get all the bone they need from chicken. They do get bone in Boston Butt pork roasts once a week but some of those don't have any bone. They get a little bone in fish. I don't really care if they don't get any bone except whats in the chicken they get.



> And, I'm also still hesitant about the bone even in chicken. Sometimes I will get a whole chicken, cause it's cheaper, and cut it up. I am a master at the legs and the wings, (wings for the cats), and the bag of goodies. But where I stall is the frame. I have, yes, thrown the entire thing out because I'm afraid it's too much bone.


Depending on the size of the dog, you can feed the whole frame, or cut it in half with kitchen shears available real cheap at Walmart. If you have dogs that would eat a half a chicken in a meal, you can just cut the frame in halve leaving the legs and wings attached. Yes the frame has way too much bone but you balance that out by feeding boneless meals too.



> What I typically do with a whole chicken, (or turkey), is cut off the legs for the hoodlums. I cut off the wings for the cats, (although with turkey, it seems I could give that to the hoodlums since it's a bigger wing?),


I suspect a turkey wing is too much for a cat.



> I cut off what I think is the thigh and give that to the hoodlums or the cats and I cut off the breast meat and whatever other tiny pieces of meat I can salvage. I'm then left with the frame. Isn't that too much bone and not enough meat?


If that is the only thing you are feeding, then yes but remember, you are feeding boneless meals too. Don't worry about one meal being too boney or not enough bone. Worry about over time like a week or even a month.



> And if it's not, how do I cut that up to give to all the pets? Am I not "splintering" the bone or giving it "jagged" edges if I do this? It seems too much to give to one animal, even the boy.


Just cut it and don't worry about it. Thats one of those trivial things. Cut the wings and drumsticks off and the thighs if you wish then just cut the frame in half or feed the whole frame. IF you are feeding more than one part in a meal, TRY to leave them attached. In other words, you want to feed as large of pieces as you can. Idealy each meal would be only one piece. It's safer and more challenging for the dog and he enjoys playing with it more. :smile:



> I feel like I'm throwing things away that I could actually feed and wasting a lot of money but I'm just not really sure about the frame of a chicken or turkey, the beef ribs, the KIND of pork ribs I can give, what other bones with meat on them I can give.


Don't throw ANYTHING away with few exceptions. Throw those big beef weight bearing bones away. Throw away those bones on pork chops. Cut the pork chop meat off the bone, feed the meat, throw away the bone. Other than that, I can't think of anything to throw away.



> And with the pork shoulder picnic roast thingie, it has a thick layer of skin around one side of it. Typically I have cut this off and thrown this away. Should I be feeding it and if so, how much is too much skin?


Depends on the size of your dogs. My dogs eat it. Its a lot of work but they seem to enjoy it. They never get up and walk away from it.



> I've thought about pork chops...but the bone seemed weird so I passed. I've thought about cuts of beef but again, the bone was either round with the hollow center, (isn't that a sign of a weight bearing bone?), or weird cut and I was afraid to give it.


Anytime you don't feel right about the bone because of its shape, just cut the meat off it and feed meat only.



> What I'm doing now is I give chicken pieces, (or turkey), a few times a week that have bone and the rest of the week I give meat only meals...which is mainly pork from the roast thingie, very rarely beef because it's expensive and either gizzards, hearts, liver, kidney, whatever...but I can't shake this feeling that I'm wasting money somewhere and I'm not giving them things they could have and I'm not giving things I could be buying because I'm taking some of what I'm reading far too literally.


Pour yourself a glass of wine, sit down and enjoy it while the dogs eat and don't worry about it. I feed my dogs chicken, pork, fish, and beef heart, beef liver and venison when I can beg some off other people. I don't spend 5 seconds a month worrying about whether they are getting all they need. I attribute Abby's long life to her diet that she has been eating for 9 years now.



> So, what do you give, for bone in meals, besides chicken and besides turkey?


Rarely anything else.



> I'm asking so that I know what other meats and cuts I can give and I'm asking about things I've typically thrown away that maybe I CAN feed them if I just know HOW to feed it. (Also, keep in mind, this is from the grocery store as I do not have, at this time, access to any other types of meat. I'm only asking about from the store.)


Keep an eye out for sales and "expired" meats. Look for lamb. It is real expensive around here and I almost never feed it. It seems to be a lot cheaper in other parts of the country.


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## lucky (Jan 8, 2011)

I wasn't aware pork chop bones were dangerous, will have to start cutting them out now


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

SerenityFL said:


> Serious editing since I apparently talk too much...
> 
> what do you feed that has bone in it.


who says you talk too much. you're like a garrison keillor for animal stories.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

SerenityFL said:


> I talk too much?
> 
> Ok.


Did you not see the Lol Seriouly! It was a funnu!


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## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

Well I missed the original post, whatever it was (though I suspect it's what RFD replied to), but anyways.

For bone-in meals I feed chicken quarters, turkey "drummettes", nice size for cats and small dogs, (thought you could probably feed a large drumstick).
Now, besides chicken and turkey, I'll feed pork ribs, aaannd veal breast/rib. For your dogs I'd probably go with the full-length ribs. I feed almost any ribs, even the short ones, but I imagine a cat wouldn't eat them, and a large dog would try to swallow them whole. You could try beef ribs too, although they are more dense your dogs should handle them fine.

Some of the things I avoid are whole chickens/turkeys, only because some part are very bony or very fatty and I end up not using them anyways, or my brain explodes trying to figure out how I'm gonna cut small portions of certain parts. The other thing I avoid is the pork shoulder roast, it has a lot of skin, fat, and a huuge bone, even if I use the fat/skin to make "chicharrones" and get myself fat, I end up throwing away the bone which makes up a nice portion of the weight that gets paid for.


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

Mollie gets 95% bone in meals, chicken legs or quarters (when I'm feeling generous), pork ribs, (no beef ribs anymore after the broken tooth incident), turkey drumsticks, wings, necks, even pork picnic roasts, skin and all. Now and then I'll give her pork chops or beef steak of some type thats on sale. Or mince (ground beef or turkey).
If the bone in the chop looks too small, or too sharp, I just cut it out and give her the meat. But thats not too often. I know her, she chews pretty thoroughly so I don't fret too much.

And, you, sunshine......don't shut up. OK?


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

I will try to keep this as brief as possible.

I asked about bones. I asked if I was not feeding enough. NOT because their poos are dusty or crumbly, their poos are fine..which is why I said I wasn't looking for an answer that said, "look at their poo".

I questioned chicken frames..was it too much...it still seems too much. By the time I get done taking off meat for the cats, there's not a lot of meat left on that frame..if any. Can I feed a naked frame? I questioned ribs because people say jagged edge and cut wrong and the like. I've heard people say not to give beef ribs..and Molly Woppy presents why...her dog chipped a tooth. But some people say it's fine. Which is it?

What prompted this thread was a) I feel like I'm not giving enough variety and maybe there are foods out there I don't know about or thought I couldn't feed that I can, b) I think I'm wasting where I don't have to and need to know HOW to feed what I think I've been wasting...ok, so they can eat the skin off the pork shoulder roast thing...but HOW much? It's a LOT of skin. And c) I read this site:

rawmeatybones and it seems that they are more about bones than meat. I opened a PDF and saw this:

"Chicken and turkey carcasses, *after the meat has been removed* for human consumption, are suitable for dogs and cats." (emphasis mine)

And I started to wonder...am I not giving them enough bone? What can I feed? What does a jagged edge look like? As I said, it all looks exactly the same to me. Can I or can't I feed beef ribs? Finally, I'm trying to find an economical way of doing this because it IS expensive for me. Beef hearts here are $2.99 a pound...so, no, not cheap. It seems that if I can find other ways to feed bone with meat surrounding it, as I have read on this forum should be done, maybe this won't be so expensive. It is expensive trying to find ways to give them boneless meals. As 3Muskateers pointed out, that pork shoulder picnic roast thing has a lot of skin and big bone that counts for most of the weight. Unfortunately, it's the cheapest meat I can find at 69 cents a pound. Problem is, I go through one for a meal for all the pets because of that skin and bone. That is not inexpensive. Perhaps if there was another protein source that has the meat and bone, such as the chicken has, it won't cost me so much. Is it worth it? YES! Can I continue to afford it...IF I can find a way to keep it economical. I need ideas. I don't think that is trivial.

Thank you all for the replies.

Edit: Oh and PS, magicre, I have no idea who garrison keillor happens to be. ???


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

Serenity, you are WAY over thinkng this. You are worrying too much about tiny little details. Don't be concerned about bone amounts. You are feeding plenty. More than you need to but don't worry about that because excess calcium will be filtered out via kidneys. Forget bone ... forget bone amounts .... don't worry about bone ... you are fine.



SerenityFL said:


> I asked about bones. I asked if I was not feeding enough. NOT because their poos are dusty or crumbly, their poos are fine..which is why I said I wasn't looking for an answer that said, "look at their poo".


But the way you determine that is by looking at their poo. You ask how do I determine the amount but don't tell me to look at the poo. Looking at the poo is how you determine it. There is no other answer.



> I questioned chicken frames..was it too much...it still seems too much. By the time I get done taking off meat for the cats, there's not a lot of meat left on that frame..if any. Can I feed a naked frame?


Frames are boney. If all you fed were frames, you would be feeding way too much bone. Taking meat off for the cats doesn't help the situation. I feed my cats chicken drumsticks and it works fine. No need to give them meat from other parts of the chicken.



> I questioned ribs because people say jagged edge and cut wrong and the like. I've heard people say not to give beef ribs..and Molly Woppy presents why...her dog chipped a tooth. But some people say it's fine. Which is it?


Both ... most dogs handle beef ribs fine. Some might chip a tooth. It depends on the dog. Personally, I don't feed them, not because I'm concerned about my dog's teeth but because pork ribs are cheaper and easier to eat.



> What prompted this thread was a) I feel like I'm not giving enough variety and maybe there are foods out there I don't know about or thought I couldn't feed that I can,


I have read a lot of threads here about what people feed. That is the place to get that info but basically you can feed any meat you buy at the grocery store but watch out for those weight bearing bones.



> b) I think I'm wasting where I don't have to and need to know HOW to feed what I think I've been wasting...ok, so they can eat the skin off the pork shoulder roast thing...but HOW much? It's a LOT of skin.


Yes there is a lot of skin on the shoulder roast. You don't have to feed it all at the same time. Cut off some of it and feed it with a frame or something else. Spread it out over several meals.



> And c) I read this site:
> rawmeatybones and it seems that they are more about bones than meat. I opened a PDF and saw this:
> 
> "Chicken and turkey carcasses, *after the meat has been removed* for human consumption, are suitable for dogs and cats." (emphasis mine)
> ...


Yes, you are feeding more bone than they actually need. Most of us do, including me. In that PDF, what Tom is calling chicken and turkey carcasses is the same thing we call frames which you are feeding. Frames already have the human usuable meat removed. The meat is removed by machines and there is some meat left which is what we feed.



> Finally, I'm trying to find an economical way of doing this because it IS expensive for me. Beef hearts here are $2.99 a pound...so, no, not cheap.


It seems different things are cheap in different parts of the country. I pay around $1/lb for beef heart in bulk but lamb is way way expensive here. Can't find any lamb for less than $4/lb ... most is more. Other places lamb is around $2/lb.



> It seems that if I can find other ways to feed bone with meat surrounding it, as I have read on this forum should be done, maybe this won't be so expensive.


Don't worry about bone. You are feeding plenty of bone in the chicken parts you are feeding. If you feed pork ribs, there is even more bone. Don't worry about looking for bone.



> It is expensive trying to find ways to give them boneless meals.


Yes it is but that picnic roast that has that big bone in it would be close to the price of boneless meats if you bought it without the bone.



> Perhaps if there was another protein source that has the meat and bone, such as the chicken has, it won't cost me so much. Is it worth it? YES! Can I continue to afford it...IF I can find a way to keep it economical. I need ideas. I don't think that is trivial.


Most of what I feed IS chicken. I feed 14 meals a week to each dog and cat. 11 of those meals are chicken. I figure i can afford a pork meal & a beef heart meal & a fish meal a week. If you can get some other cut of beef cheaper, get it instead of heart. If you see something else on sale such as lamb at a reasonable price, get it.



> Edit: Oh and PS, magicre, I have no idea who garrison keillor happens to be. ???


(Waving hands in the air) I know!!!! I know!!! call on me!!! call on me!!! :biggrin: I suspect if you know who he is, it proves you are an old fart.


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## Grandiose (Apr 2, 2011)

3Musketeers said:


> The other thing I avoid is the pork shoulder roast, it has a lot of skin, fat, and a huuge bone, even if I use the fat/skin to make "chicharrones" and get myself fat, I end up throwing away the bone which makes up a nice portion of the weight that gets paid for.


Oh!! I LOVE those for my guys! But I think it depends a lot on the size dog you are feeding - I cut most of the meat off, leave the bone fairly meaty, toss the bones in a freezer bag in the freezer and give them to the dogs to work over on the weekends when I'm here to supervise them. Takes them about 2 to 3 hours to eat the entire bone. They love it. And then they get a boneless dinner of pork meat. The fat doesnt bother my dogs, but I've never picked up any pork roasts of any kind that were insanely fatty. The most recent ones I picked up did have skin attached, and I just left it on when I cut it up (made them chew a little more  )
Feeding high-metabolism/high energy dogs gives me a little bit of a different outlook on what I am willing and wanting to put into them...but I'm glad to toss them a fatty chunk of meat every now and then. Never seen anything bad come out the other end because of it (knock on wood!)

But I couldnt see tossing one of the big pork shoulder bones to a toy dog!


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

bill, i am an old fartette....

garrison keillor, serenity, is a magical being when it comes to stories.

he was on national public radio....and, well, here is a page about him..one of his most famous writings was a prairie home companion. i thought it very good, but there were others i liked better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrison_Keillor

he has a lyrical way with words.....and is a natural born story teller....many stories about lake wobegon, minnesota.....

YouTube - ‪A Prairie Home Companion: The News from Lake Wobegon, February 14, 2009‬‏

he just has a way of talking, just as you have a way of telling a story....first one for me that got me was the story of you, the hoodlums and the grocery store buying your first set of chicken and meat.....

YouTube - ‪The Witty and Urbane Garrison Keillor in 1985‬‏

want to add more bill? 

what i feed my dogs for bone content....chicken drumsticks and carcasses.....lamb ribs, goat ribs and other bones...they are smaller dogs than your hoodlums so they could maybe power through whole lamb necks..not the cut ones...lots of meat on them....


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## Khan (Jan 17, 2010)

magicre said:


> garrison keillor, serenity, is a magical being when it comes to stories.
> he just has a way of talking, just as you have a way of telling a story....f


I second, third, and fourth this!!
I love love love reading serenity's words!!
I can hear the words as if I were sitting in your living room and you were talking to me directly!

I guess what I'm trying to say serenity is we love you and don't change a thing!!
I knew that whiteleo was kidding, it's just that sometimes sarcasm/smarta$$  LOL! doesn't come across in this format!!


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Khan said:


> I second, third, and fourth this!!
> I love love love reading serenity's words!!
> I can hear the words as if I were sitting in your living room and you were talking to me directly!
> 
> ...


Thank You Khan! I was hoping that someone could see it was suppose to be a serious laugh! I guess some people don't get me. Maybe because I'm older and didn't grow up on a computer and still have trouble! Lol


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

whiteleo said:


> Thank You Khan! I was hoping that someone could see it was suppose to be a serious laugh! I guess some people don't get me. Maybe because I'm older and didn't grow up on a computer and still have trouble! Lol


Ok. I thought you were saying not to write so much...I've had people tell me that before...can't help it, I love to tell a story and I've been writing stories since I was a kid...I can be a bit sensitive to that because I've had a LOT of people do this to me:

"tldr"

(Too long, didn't read) which I think is rude to say to someone. I don't talk much but I do love to write and tell stories in the most entertaining way I can because it actually gives me pleasure to think that I'm making someone laugh or enjoy something I've written...they are all true stories, I just try to use humor when telling it.

Bill...I'm not trying to overthink anything...I AM hesitant with bones ever since the "incident" with the boy...it was very unpleasant, I felt horrible and some times I think I don't give enough bone because of it. I mean, I really shy away from bone unless it's in a drumstick or a thigh. I want to be comfortable around bones, not afraid to serve them up. That's the most important thing. The second most important thing is trying to figure out how to make this more affordable so I NEVER have to go back to some horrid death kibble. In the 9 months I've been doing this, I've spent almost 3 grand on the pets' food. That is a LOT of money for me.


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## mischiefgrrl (Oct 28, 2010)

$3k in 9 months?!? Ouch! Time to check out where the cheaper meat supplies are in town! I remember your story about the one hoodlum pooping bone in front of the hillbilly neighbors. Tanis mostly gets bone in chicken and a pork kidney for something boneless and organ. Sometimes his poops are dusty, sometimes they're perfect (well, for poop.) For both dogs I spend about $50-60 a month. Groceries are NOT cheap in So Cal but I check all of the ads for deals and found a great store that is styled after the grocery chains in Mexico that always has something I can find for under $1/lb.


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## bumblegoat (May 12, 2010)

I cut up frames/backs/carcasses all the time. I often feed it to my cat actually, and she wants small pieces. The bones are so soft, so any jagged edges doesn't bother me at all.

My dog is quite sensitive and usually needs a lot of bone, but the other day I gave him a gorge meal, and it was something similar to a picnic roast with bone and skin (we don't have the exact same meat cuts here). He ate all of the meat and skin, and he chewed the bone a bit before I took it away. I doubt he could eat it even if he got the chance, and I didn't want him to chew it too much because of his damaged teeth. 

Anyway, my usually extremely sensitive boy handled this just fine! It gave him a really good workout too, so I would definately try feeding the skin if I were you.


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## Kofismom (Sep 14, 2010)

magicre said:


> > bill, i am an old fartette....[QUOTE/]
> > love that!
> > that must mean we are kindreds!
> >
> > ...


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## Kofismom (Sep 14, 2010)

Dang it! I was trying to extract the first sentence! It's been awhile, so this old fartette has forgotten how.
Magicre, love your posts!


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

whiteleo said:


> Thank You Khan! I was hoping that someone could see it was suppose to be a serious laugh! I guess some people don't get me. Maybe because I'm older and didn't grow up on a computer and still have trouble! Lol


i talk to you on the phone all the time..and there isn't a mean bone in your body.....sarcasm? sure...aren't we all, us older folk.....

actually, when you called for help on your computer, you did quite well....you'd be surprised if i told you there are those who are just computer stupid...and will always be thus....my sister in law, to name one.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

SerenityFL said:


> Ok. I thought you were saying not to write so much...I've had people tell me that before...can't help it, I love to tell a story and I've been writing stories since I was a kid...I can be a bit sensitive to that because I've had a LOT of people do this to me:
> 
> "tldr"
> 
> ...


it took a while to be comfortable with bones....i think it's not so uncommon...and right now, if the bones that let you sleep at night are chicken bones....then do so..they will be fine...honest.

when you do feel better and you're over the incident which would scare anyone....maybe you'll venture out to the world of pork ribs....very soft, very edible....especially with your guys...three or four cut off the rack....even my pug can eat pork ribs...

but this is supposed to be a grand transition for them and a grand experience for you.....there is nothing wrong with feeding chicken for bone....until you are ready.


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## 3Musketeers (Nov 4, 2010)

TLDR is beyond ruuuudeee when someone writes it to ya. Saying it yourself before a post however would probably get all those rude-sters to go away before they even bother to start. 
Not you whiteleo, I know yours was just teasing lol.


One thing you could try for finding cheap meat (although it looks like you're having better luck in Maine) is ask the meat manager/stocker where they buy their meats from, you might be able to find a few distributors, then you just gotta get all your neighbors to start raw so you can buy in bulk :biggrin:.
I just look at the tuesday market-specials that come in the mail and look for deals (like this week there's turkey drummettes for $0.78lb), then proceed to buy enough to stuff my lil freezer and wait until the next nice specials (doesn't always last that long xD).

That or maybe find a co-op if it exists.


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## Grandiose (Apr 2, 2011)

Ouch! $3000 in 9 months?!?! How many dogs are you feeding? That's over $300 a month if you break it down...


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## Northwoods10 (Nov 22, 2010)

SerenityFL....I enjoy your posts too. Don't change a thing. And its ok to worry about stuff, thats what we're here for is to help out when there is a question or concern! 

For bone in my pups get: Turkey Necks, Chicken backs, chicken quarters, chicken thighs, chicken drumsticks on occasion and pork ribs. They have had turkey drumsticks but that depends on the size of them as well, some I have found to be too big. 

Feed what you are comfortable with.

ETA: Are you buying in bulk or are you buying small amounts at a time? If you're not buying in bulk, I highly suggest it as it will save you oodles of money in the long run. We've had to tweak the pups diet accordingly to what is available, affordable and appropriate.


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

Grandiose, I feed two hoodlum dogs and 7 cats. (All rescues....no one can say I don't try to save abandoned animals, right?)

The boy hoodlum gets 1 lb of food a day.
The girl hoodlum gets 1/2 lb of food a day.

Two of the cats get 4oz of food a day.
The other 5 get 3oz and sometimes a bit more, not to exceed 4oz, of food per day. (Ever since we moved, I've had to up the amount because they lost some weight in transport...poor things. Not the transports fault.)

So, I feed about 3 lbs of food per day for all the creatures. In Miami, the food was expensive. I never, ever, ever found meat for under a dollar a pound. Never.

Here in Maine, my "go to" meat, the pork shoulder picnic roast thingie...that was 69 cents a pound...I just found out was a sale, apparently a long sale, and is now back up to over a dollar a pound. Ugh. It's now $1.39 a pound. Sigh. And a lot of that weight is the bone. And the skin but I guess I can feed the skin and it will be okay so I won't throw that away anymore.

I was also feeding the cats Cornish Game Hens until they really learned to eat raw...so they got those for probably a good four or so months. Those were $4-5 a pop and pretty much one hen fed most of the cats but I had to add something else in. 

On average, it was about $9 a day to feed these pets...with the prices I got there. Here, it could be different, I'm hoping so. 

I went bat spit crazy when I found chicken pieces in a family pack that was marked down in price with the "manager's special" sticker and then another sticker on some of them for another $2-3 off. I bought them all up. However, I don't know how often that will happen so I've yet to gauge, correctly, how much it will cost to feed them.

I am going to look at pork ribs and see if that comes out more economical than the pork shoulder thingie....but even here, unless it's got a sticker on it, (and that's not every time I go), nothing is under a dollar a pound...not the liver, not the heart, not the gizzards, not the chicken and especially not the beef. The absolute closest to a dollar is the chicken at $1.19 a pound. So, at three pounds a day, I'm still looking at about $4 a day to feed everyone if I ONLY fed them chicken and absolutely nothing else. If I try to put in variety, the price goes up. 

The three thousand is rounded up. It was roughly $2500 or so. Yes, $9 a day. Yes! Unless I stuck with chicken only but I was trying to feed them a variety and the prices were indeed around $2.50 - 3 or more per pound for my "boneless meal" days. 

I fed bone in chicken, pork shoulder roast thingie, (skin and gigantic bone removed), fish in cans, (for the cats...expensive!!!), Cornish Game Hens, (for the cats because bones were smaller...again, expensive!!), turkey, gizzards, (not a lot), liver, (not a lot), kidney, (not a lot), and sometimes I could find beef heart but not often. And it was difficult to talk to the butcher because they spoke Spanish and I spoke English. Every once in awhile I'd get them beef but rarely because that sometimes got over $4 a pound and seriously, I love my pets but no. Sorry, you'll eat well but not have a home anymore since I can't pay the rent.

Here the prices are a little lower and beef is about a dollar per pound cheaper but we're still looking at over $3 a pound for beef, over a dollar a pound for chicken, (up to $2.50 a pound), pork is running from $1.39 a pound to close to $3 a pound, turkey is about $2 a pound, beef heart is $2.99 a pound, gizzards, if I can find them, are over a dollar a pound, liver is almost $2 a pound...so yah, not cheap.


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## tem_sat (Jun 20, 2010)

After Googling a bit...

Have you tried PawfectlyRaw?


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## Grandiose (Apr 2, 2011)

Wow. That seems outrageous! I know of a few people in the NE area that feed raw and manage to find bulk chicken fir under $0.50 a pound...seems like with what your paying, it would be cheaper to drive for a few hours to pick up a bulk order every few months!! Yikes!!

The pawfectly raw site that just got posted looks interesting, worth looking into, from the glance I took at it.

Do you pick up meat at walmart? All our local grocery stores (walmart included) sell the 10 lb bags of chicken quarters for $6 to $7. I've seen people all over the country post about the bags of quarters on here...

I can honestly say, my dogs would still be eating kibble if raw cost me that much, or if I had to rely on grocery store meat!! We do about 500lbs every two months, spend less that $350 every two months (which is cheaper that kibble at $250 to $300 every month!) for 6 dogs...buying in bulk can be a huge money saver (the exact same packs of turkey thighs i got with my last bulk order for $0.80 a pound are selling at the grocery store for $2 a pound....)


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

Grandiose, I just got home from stocking up on those 10 lb bags! Haha.

For bone, it is all chicken right now as finding turkey doesn't seem to be working for us. We have found a few local butchers that we are going to check out and that seems like our best bet. We are working on boneless beef right now so all of their bone is definitely coming from chicken. 

I think your best bet is to utilize your local Walmart, as they always have chicken for under $1 a pound. Those bags are always available. They are red, if you want to know what they look like. Occasionally, I can find whole organic chickens for about 88c a pound. I buy chicken pretty much for my dogs. Not for us. They get the meat that goes on the chickens. I tried boneless meals but it just doesn't seem to work for them. Their poo is golden if they get bone with every meal. 

Another thing is to find your small local butchers. The only one we have gotten a chance to look at so far is willing to sell us chicken backs in bulk for a steal! They sometimes throw a lot of stuff away and if they find that they can sell that too, they will, usually for pretty cheap too.


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## trikerdon (May 14, 2011)

This has been one of the best threads for feeding info that I have seen yet. I discovered I'm not really doing anything wrong and how to do it better.
Thanks All.....


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## tem_sat (Jun 20, 2010)

After Googling a bit more...

You may want to call some of these meat wholesalers: Maine Wholesale Meat Companies

then...after you have saved a bundle, you can splurge on this: ME Water Buffalo Co. - LocalHarvest


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## Jynical (Jun 22, 2011)

I'm absolutely loving this thread. Just thought I'd share.


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## Grandiose (Apr 2, 2011)

Another thing....I'm not sure if they all do it or not, but my local walmart will mark down meat to sometime 50% off the day before the "sell by" date on the package. Its mostly poultry that has those dates, but if you need to stock up cheaper, it's worth looking for the mark down tags! They tend to go fast in my local stores....


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## trikerdon (May 14, 2011)

Grandiose said:


> Another thing....I'm not sure if they all do it or not, but my local walmart will mark down meat to sometime 50% off the day before the "sell by" date on the package. Its mostly poultry that has those dates, but if you need to stock up cheaper, it's worth looking for the mark down tags! They tend to go fast in my local stores....


Just make sure where the chicken comes from: snopes.com: Chicken from China


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

tem_sat said:


> After Googling a bit...
> 
> Have you tried PawfectlyRaw?


Appreciate it...that's over 300 miles to get there...over 600 miles round trip...(meaning, closest pick up location to me).


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

SerenityFL said:


> Appreciate it...that's over 300 miles to get there...over 600 miles round trip...(meaning, closest pick up location to me).


Have you been to save-a-lot? I looked it up and their chicken quarters are .59/lbs!!:biggrin:


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

Scarlett_O' said:


> Have you been to save-a-lot? I looked it up and their chicken quarters are .59/lbs!!:biggrin:


There's one in Brewer...which is close to Bangor but I've never been there so did not know about this store. However, I will definitely look in to it. I went to the Hannafords again today to get some supplies, (not pet food), but looked at the meats anyway. Prices keep rising and as far as pork ribs...well, they had a ton of country style ribs and one or two packs of another type of rib but that type of rib was $4.99 a pound. Yikes.

I did, however, find that they put out some containers of chicken livers. There were four, I grabbed three. I got three pounds, (each container), that was marked at $1.79 total with a 50 cents off sticker so, what's that, 9 pounds of chicken livers for $3.87...that's good! Their whole turkey and whole chicken is about the only thing close to a dollar a pound. Again, the chicken, (whole), was $1.19 a pound and the turkey, (whole), was about $1.79 a pound. Everything else that I saw was almost $2 a pound up to $7 a pound for some things! Tha hell!!

I'm going to figure out how to get to Brewer and learn my way around that little town. Thanks for the recommendation. Here's hoping. I'm also going to check out a few butchers I've seen and see if they'll sell to me....probably do that later this week. What I do know, I cannot afford this by continuing to go to the grocery store.

Edit: Looking at a map, it's right up the road from me. Literally on the same road, (the road changes names but it's the SAME road). Take me about 20 minutes to get there. COOL! Thanks!


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

I know when we lived there we lived out of save-a-lots and walmarts because of how expensive the other grocery stores were!!!


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## SerenityFL (Sep 28, 2010)

Scarlett_O' said:


> I know when we lived there we lived out of save-a-lots and walmarts because of how expensive the other grocery stores were!!!


I've never even heard of Sav A Lot so that's helpful. I don't know if I have room in my freezer right now to stock up on that sale on chicken but with that price, I could get 40 pounds of chicken, (almost half of pets' monthly intake), and only spend $24. Holy cow, what a difference that would be!


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

SerenityFL said:


> I've never even heard of Sav A Lot so that's helpful. I don't know if I have room in my freezer right now to stock up on that sale on chicken but with that price, I could get 40 pounds of chicken, (almost half of pets' monthly intake), and only spend $24. Holy cow, what a difference that would be!


Ya exactly!:smile: I know that I wish there was that kind of sale here!LOL I know the cheapest Im getting chicken for is at wally for $7 for 10/lbs of leg quarters, or whole chickens at safeway for $.85/lbs. But DRAT $.59 is AWESOME!:biggrin: Time to get a freezer, or 2nd one!AHAHA


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