[magicre]

my dogs have graduated to beef....yay....and are doing very well with bottom roast...

what other cuts of meat would be beneficial to them..keeping in mind that one of them is a pug....

beef ribs were fed early on, but the fat content was too much for both of them.....they don't do nearly as well with fattier cuts of meat...i think they are still getting used to fat....

or i suspect that they are smaller dogs, so they can only eat so much fat in one day...

 

[DaneMama]

Given your dogs histories I would stick with very lean cuts of beef for a while and slowly adding in more fatty cuts. Unfortunately beef is rather expensive and there really isn't any appropriate bone-in cuts for smaller dogs. You can give bee ribs but they won't be able to eat the bone so in essence it's like feeding a boneless cut of beef.

I would try and stay away from bones like T bones just because they have been artificially cut and pose a choking hazard because of the weird shape. Also, ground beef is not the greatest thing to feed either because it's been processed and it gives the opportunity for increased loads of bacteria which can cause digestive upset just like too much fat. Some people feed it on a regular basis because it's cheap so it's not the worst thing to feed, but I would hold off on it with your little guys until you think they can handle it digestively.

The only two cuts of beef that we feed are ribs and heart because they are cheap and readily available.

 

[magicre]

you're right -- my dogs ARE small, so too much fat in one sitting does not do their bodies good....

we did give them beef ribs and oh how they loved them and then had cannon butt for three days LOL

so, right now it is lean cuts of meat...which i get from either my co op or on sale..mostly on sale....i have an order of calf ribs coming, which will be nice for them...

and they are starting to get fat added back in....and skin, so they are doing better. we're almost at the two month point....transition is going much better...thanks

what about oxtails? can they eat them? they are always on sale here....

 

[DaneMama]

I have never fed oxtails. They have a weird shape to me and seem to be the perfect size for my dogs to swallow so I don't feed them. But considering your dogs are smaller I would say give them a shot and see how they do.

 

[whiteleo]

Re make sure when Lisa puts up the order for the grain fed beef on the co-op you get some, it is really lean and you can get as much or as little as you want, and you can't beat the price!:biggrin:

 

[bdb5853]

Heart is a great red meat as is tongue. You can also do beef cheekmeat which is cheap also, but both cheekmeat and tongue are fatty, so you'd have to feed in moderation.

You could also try the ethnic markets, either asian or hispanic. Alot of times they have some really nice beef or other meats for very reasonable prices.

 

[magicre]

Heart is a great red meat as is tongue. You can also do beef cheekmeat which is cheap also, but both cheekmeat and tongue are fatty, so you'd have to feed in moderation.

You could also try the ethnic markets, either asian or hispanic. Alot of times they have some really nice beef or other meats for very reasonable prices.

i have a market that sells beef tongue and heart and fairly cheaply, too....so that won't be a problem

initially, i thought my dogs were having a hard time with fat. but the reality is they are not large dogs, so they really shouldn't have a lot of fat.

beef ribs are nice, but they can't eat them and for their size, too much fat, not enough balance bone/fat/beef for them.

we did give them baby back pork ribs, which has more fat and we added skin back in, too....and they are tolerating well....

i also belong to a co op and will be able to get calf ribs....seems every one is having a beef sale where i live....so we've been stocking up a little here and there.

i guess, sometimes, having smaller dogs, gives us different requirements and different latitudes...

 

[DaneMama]

Feeding small dogs raw is MUCH harder than feeding large dogs. I did it for like a week with two mini dachshunds and it was so challenging not to give them too much of anything. You really do have to be careful of how much you feed those little guys because it doesn't take much to send em over the edge with too much fat, etc. I applaud those who raw feed their small breed dogs!!!

Those calf ribs sound ideal for your little ones! Score!

Just feed tiny bits of heart in the beginning and you should be fine.

Oh, I wouldn't feed any beef source more than a few times a week. Like on average we give beef heart once and a rack of ribs every week or so.

 

[magicre]

Feeding small dogs raw is MUCH harder than feeding large dogs. I did it for like a week with two mini dachshunds and it was so challenging not to give them too much of anything. You really do have to be careful of how much you feed those little guys because it doesn't take much to send em over the edge with too much fat, etc. I applaud those who raw feed their small breed dogs!!!

Those calf ribs sound ideal for your little ones! Score!

Just feed tiny bits of heart in the beginning and you should be fine.

Oh, I wouldn't feed any beef source more than a few times a week. Like on average we give beef heart once and a rack of ribs every week or so.

i agree that it seems harder...especially with the weights and all...one dog gets 10 oz a day and that's the 36 pounder.....

the good news is that weight gain and loss are pretty easy to spot within less than a week...they are pretty active.

now, for the question....

why would i NOT want to give beef...not necessarily heart...i understand that it's the bridge between muscle and organ and different due to its function and anatomy...

since dogs are carnivores....why wouldn't i want them to have red meat often?

 

[whiteleo]

I was always under the assumption that the more red meat the better, and if you go back through some of these old posts on raw feeding you'll find it somewhere.

In fact I think I'll go look for it right now!

 

[DaneMama]

Just for variety sake. BUT I do feed other types of red meat in my rotation. I would say that our dogs get red meat 1/2 the time, or possibly even more since I don't really keep track of what they get every day. We feed beef, venison, and pork on a very regular basis.

The issue that you will run into is finding a good balance with red meat and bone content. Because you have smaller dogs and they can't really chomp through as many bones as our big dogs can you might have some issues. What I would do in your situation is feed red meats along with a bone in meat such as chicken during the same meal. There isn't any reason why you shouldn't feed more than just one type of meat in one sitting.

Other than that, there isn't any reason why you should feed it often. If I could pick one single meat source to feed it would be venison. Which is a red meat :wink:

 

[whiteleo]

I found it and tried to copy and paste the link but of course it didn't work for me again, I'm so tired of being stupid on the computer!

page 29 of raw feeding "Am I missing something in the diet?"

 

[DaneMama]

Found it for ya :wink:

If you just highlight the link and right click and hit "copy" and then right click in the response box and select "paste" that should do it!


http://dogfoodchat.com/forum/raw-feeding/1010-am-i-missing-something-diet.html

 

[magicre]

i thought i had read the same thing here and elsewhere......thank goodness...i have staved off senility for one more day LOL

i hear ya, natalie...my dogs are small, so feeding them beef with a bone might not be in their reality....

and that kind of sucks, unless they can eat oxtails or flanken beef or i can get the butcher to cut differently...they might not get the benefits that beef bone offers....


since i can't change their size or shape of their mouths...what you suggested is what we are doing....

we found out last night, that, both can eat baby back pork ribs.....bubba takes longer, but by golly, he did it...

and they get bottom round roast along with it....

for whatever reason, all of the stores around here are having meat wars....plus the 2-3 dollar coupon off for being close to the pull date.

because we're not dealing with 7-10 lbs per day (that is daunting)...i buy these little gems every week....until the freezer is full...

when life is not as bountiful, they will be getting less beef....

they have had such a rough time since february, it's like i'm trying to build them up again....

 

[DaneMama]

Kudos to you for your hard work and diligence with your furkids. They will forever thank you for it.

We definitely go through times of greater variety than others, but then again that is how it is in the wild. Except it's times of feast and famine.

 

[magicre]

Kudos to you for your hard work and diligence with your furkids. They will forever thank you for it.

We definitely go through times of greater variety than others, but then again that is how it is in the wild. Except it's times of feast and famine.

it's that little bit of OCD that i have that makes me so diligent LOL......

there's going to come a time when we won't have all this bounty available to us....or even the money to pay for it...

let's face it...with the price of food these days...as long as there are food wars going on, we'll benefit and keep the per dollar costs down and doable...

when the food wars stop....or we have a bad financial week....certainly, we've eaten chicken and turkey until we begin to look like them. won't kill us or them

i just wanted to make sure that i read what i thought i read ...to give them red meat as often as possible because that's the protein which is best for them....that we give fowl because of cost and it's fine for them....

 

[DaneMama]

To be honest, I wouldn't choose to just feed one meat source of I had the chance, only if there was nothing but one to choose from. I think it's best to feed as many protein sources as possible and that it's just a perk that chicken and turkey tend to be cheap!

 

[magicre]

To be honest, I wouldn't choose to just feed one meat source of I had the chance, only if there was nothing but one to choose from. I think it's best to feed as many protein sources as possible and that it's just a perk that chicken and turkey tend to be cheap!

my bad. i should have been more specific....you're absolutely right....and had i not been typing faster than my brain, i would have specified the meat sales included lots of different meat sources, not just one...

i'm learning every protein has a benefit....

 

[magicre]

To be honest, I wouldn't choose to just feed one meat source of I had the chance, only if there was nothing but one to choose from. I think it's best to feed as many protein sources as possible and that it's just a perk that chicken and turkey tend to be cheap!

so when i think red meat, i need to expand my thinking to venison, bison, ostrich, llama, goat, etc...and not just cow....? is that right?

 

[DaneMama]

so when i think red meat, i need to expand my thinking to venison, bison, ostrich, llama, goat, etc...and not just cow....? is that right?

Absolutely correct, but I'm not sure that ostrich is considered a red meat.

Red meats are those that still appear to be "red" or at least not white when cooked. I personally wouldn't get too hung up on the term "red meat" and just simply feed as much variety as possible.

Red meat