puppy question
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Depending on breed/ size... probably chicken necks, but you can use a hammer to crush the bone a bit if they need the help. My cocker spaniel never needed help, though. Drumsticks, too... and you can do the hammer trick if need be.
With puppies, I've had fantastic luck with quick transitions. Definately start raw ASAP, no need to wait. When I breed Pemmies in the future, I plan to wean them straight from mother's milk to raw. Commercial food is just not good enough for my little Corgi babies. lol
With puppies, I've had fantastic luck with quick transitions. Definately start raw ASAP, no need to wait. When I breed Pemmies in the future, I plan to wean them straight from mother's milk to raw. Commercial food is just not good enough for my little Corgi babies. lol
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Yes the hammer trick for sure but you could also invest in a grinder as well if you don't want to be hammering a lot LOL
I wouldn't whack/grind the meat and bone for more than the first week or two, progressively whacking/grinding less and less. You'd be amazed to see how quickly puppies turn into raw eating machines! We started our last Dane pup on chicken wings and drummies.
And start the transition just like you would with any other dog. Chicken in the beginning and then adding meats in. But usually puppies make the switch much faster because they don't have "damage" from kibble to overcome so don't be surprised if you are all the way through the transition in half the time!
I wouldn't whack/grind the meat and bone for more than the first week or two, progressively whacking/grinding less and less. You'd be amazed to see how quickly puppies turn into raw eating machines! We started our last Dane pup on chicken wings and drummies.
And start the transition just like you would with any other dog. Chicken in the beginning and then adding meats in. But usually puppies make the switch much faster because they don't have "damage" from kibble to overcome so don't be surprised if you are all the way through the transition in half the time!
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Don't forget chicken wings cut into individual segments (again, depending on the size of the pup). These are very easy to manage for small mouths and little teeth and have a good meat to bone ratio.
No transition. Don't even buy any kibble. Just stock up on chicken quarters and/or bone-in chicken breasts. Read the labels, nothing enhanced. Sodium less than 100mg per serving. Plain ol chicken. You will do chicken for several days and then you can move on to beef, pork, lamb, turkey, bison, rabbit... whatever you can find and variety is key.The pup is a lab, don't have her yet, but I'm sure that they will be feeding her kibble when I get her.
So no transition period right just go....
Keep your ratios at 80% meat, 10% bone, 5% organ and 5% other organs (spleen, pancreas, kidney, brain, reproductive organs, etc.)
Puppies are very adaptable. No need to slowly ease into it with babies. They adjust very quickly.
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Chicken quarters MAY be a little large for an 8 week old lab. To be honest, It's been a while since I've seen an 8 week old lab so I'm not quite sure what their size is. You might want to use backs, wings, and necks the first couple of weeks. Just be sure he is small enought that he will have to chew those items before he swallows them. Remember that you will want to feed your pup 3 or 4 meals a day for the first couple of months.
I haven't seen any creditable evidence that enhanced chicken is detrimental in any way. It may be or may not be. I know I have fed my dogs a lot of enhanced chicken over the years with no noticable harm to them.
I think you meant for the first "organ" to read "liver". What you just quoted is the mantra of the people on the yahoo rawfeeding list and maybe a few other lists. In the real world, exact ratio's are not critical. Feed mostly meat, some bone, and some organs and you will be find. Exact percentages just don't matter.
Exactly!! :smile:
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Well, I have proof that enhanced doesn't work for my dogs anyway! I gave some turkey that was enhanced but didn't know it at the time and my boy dog was sick for 2 days, diarreah, vomitting it was ugly then I looked at the package in the garbage and it was enhanced with a sodium solution, NOT GOOD!
I accidentally bought enhanced chicken once and my boy had diarrhea and was itching like crazy. So it does affect some dogs that way!!
I agree that ratios don't have to be exact, but with someone starting out with a puppy, I like to see them stay pretty close to the 80/10/5/5 guideline until they get their pup grown up a little. It gets them off to a good start.
The worst thing people can do when starting out is not to care about ratios and just throw down a chicken breast and call it good. That's not balanced and very unhealthy. The 80/10/5/5 is ideal, but it is a good goal to strive for. Balance over time is the key with lots of variety and personally, I like to keep red meats over 50% of the diet. That is personal choice though.
I agree that ratios don't have to be exact, but with someone starting out with a puppy, I like to see them stay pretty close to the 80/10/5/5 guideline until they get their pup grown up a little. It gets them off to a good start.
The worst thing people can do when starting out is not to care about ratios and just throw down a chicken breast and call it good. That's not balanced and very unhealthy. The 80/10/5/5 is ideal, but it is a good goal to strive for. Balance over time is the key with lots of variety and personally, I like to keep red meats over 50% of the diet. That is personal choice though.
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Enhanced means the meat has been soaked in or injected with a brine solution of salt, water, and sometimes other additives (spices usually).
A serving of "unenhanced" chicken contains about 40 to 65 mgs of sodium compared to more than 330 mgs of sodium in an enhanced chicken — that's five to eight times more.
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Not balanced according to who? What does balanced mean? How was balance decided? Unhealthy in what way? What will the symptoms be? How will you know that you feed an unbalanced diet to your dog? How do you measure bone content? How do you measure organ content? What is unbalanced about a chicken breast?
What authority says it is ideal? What happens if you miss the ideal?
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