Commit To Change
Make the switch, cold turkey, no pun intended! You do not want to start off your dog on raw feeding while still eating kibble. The two do not mix well together because it “confuses” the body about what it’s digesting. Feeding raw and kibble at the same time causes digestive upset and it is not recommended. If you do not want to throw away the kibble you have left, either donate it to a local animal rescue organization, they probably need it more than you do, or finish it.
Make the decision to switch and stick to it. This is a gradual process that takes patience sometimes, so keep that in mind. Remember that you are doing this because it IS the best thing that you could ever do for your canine companions.
Prepare yourself.
You will need to get the appropriate supplies needed to make feeding raw as hassle free as possible. Depending on how many dogs you are switching to raw, the amount of supplies will vary greatly. We have 4 giant dogs that all eat raw, so we definitely need more room than say a person with just one Chihuahua to feed.
I recommend getting at least one small dedicated freezer even if only feeding one dog. This way you can keep stock on a bunch of different types of meat at any given point in time. Some people do just fine using the space in the freezer they use for their food, but when getting into raw feeding you will find yourself continually looking for new sources of meats. Its best to always be able to take meat on a whim, and have space to store it. For example, lets say you come across someone on craigslist that is wanting to get rid of some elk meat, but they have 20 pounds of it. You should be able to take it all off their hands and repackage it into meals to last a long time so that you are not feeding anything but elk for 2 weeks straight. Keep in mind that you will also have a stash of chicken, turkey, pork, fish, beef, etc that needs to take up space as well!
Chest and standup freezers are both available on craigslist on a regular basis, and usually if you look hard enough you can find some really good deals.
You need to think, and prepare how you are going to store the meat in the freezer. Some people package meat into individual meals or into packages that are several days worth of food. Looking at containers is a good thing so you can plan out how many will fit in your freezer, etc. I prefer using containers that hold 2 days worth of food for our 4 dogs because they are reusable and more economical. I know others that use freezer bags as well.
Getting a scale is also a tool that you might want around in the beginning. A scale is used to measure out the amounts of meat per meal or per day.
Most importantly, set up connections with other raw feeders out there. Join forums, become active on them and gain the friendship and trust of the people who can offer you their advice and experience. Trust me, these connections are just as valuable as the health aspect is to your dog. These people will help you through all the steps of they way, tell you when you should relax or panic in a situation, in essence they will try and keep you sane through the process.
Do some research. Find raw feeding groups on groups.yahoo.com that are applicable to breed or location, there are plenty to choose from. Find a yahoo coop group and join it to get good deals on group buys and such. Find a wholesale meat distributor and set up a relationship with them, ask them if they have a program for raw feeders that they can get you signed up on (what we use for most of our meats).
You can find a list of resources on this website to make it even easier for you!
Doing a bit of Math
The feeding guideline is between 2-3% of the adult dog’s ideal body weight per day (keep in mind that this is for IDEAL weight…and that your dog might need to lose or gain some weight so adjust the amount accordingly!). For example, if a dog weighs 60 pounds, he should be getting 1.2-1.8 pounds of food per day. The 2-3% is just a guideline, and you should also take into account your dog’s energy level, age, breed, etc into account when figuring out how much to feed, which just might mean you would be giving more like 4% per day.
I will be honest here, we have never measured anything out. I find it much easier to just keep an eye on body condition, if they are looking heavy I cut back or vice versa. But there is absolutely nothing wrong with measuring different cuts of meat out in the beginning so you can get a feel on how much to feed. We know exactly how much to feed from just experience, as you will once you get the hang of it!
If starting a puppy, this takes a bit more math. Start off feeding 10% of its current weight, meaning if a puppy weighs 10 pounds, feed 1 pound per day. If this puppy is supposed to be 60 pounds full grown, its ideal amount of food per day is 1.2-1.8 pounds per day. Once the puppy reaches ~18 pounds, or the 3% amount of adult body weight, you should back the amount down the 2-3% for normal feeding. You will only be feeding 10% for a little while, which is normal. Its better to split this amount up into several smaller meals since this will be a lot of food for a little growing puppy. Remember, this is just a guideline and that every dog is different.
The suggested guideline when figuring how much to feed of what is: 10% whole, raw bones, 10% whole, raw organ meats and 80% skeletal muscle meats. This 1:1:8 ratio best represents the average amount of bone, organ and meat tissue within prey animals. The way I see it, you should be feeding some bone, some organ and mostly muscle meat. I don’t do the math to figure out how in pounds/ounces to feed of each to my dogs. I just feed things that I know are mostly meat, some bone and some organ. If you want to do the math explicitly, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but you might have a hard time figuring out how much bone to meat there is in a turkey neck (which have a lot of bone in them by weight!).
What to Feed, What Not to Feed
The more the variety the better, which goes for all muscle meats, bones and organs. Feed pretty much anything you can get your hands on, but the main staples that you will find are chicken, turkey, pork, beef, and fish. There are many others out there like elk, deer, rabbit, duck, quail, bison, etc.
When it comes to organs, make sure that you feed at least liver. Liver and kidney is better. Liver, kidney, pancreas, lungs, etc is even better. Heart and gizzard are both considered muscle meats when it comes to nutrition and do not count as organ meat.
There are only a couple of precautions with types of meat. All fresh fish coming from the Pacific Northwest should be frozen for at least a few weeks to kill off a parasite that transmits a disease that is called salmon poisoning. Second, don’t feed weight bearing bones from larger ungulates, like cows, buffalo or elk. Dogs have the potential to break teeth on these bones because they are designed to carry around up to several thousand pounds and you do not want your dog to chomp down on that! Ground meats should be fed at a minimum, I would say no more than once a week. Ground meats have a tenancy to have more bacteria and don’t provide any dental benefit to your dog. Lastly, stay away from oddly shaped or cut pieces of bone, like T-bones for example. These bones are more likely to cause a blockage.
A good rule for picking out pieces of meat to feed, is that your dog should never be able to swallow anything whole without at least crunching down on it a few times to make it fit down. If your dog can swallow something whole stay away from it. The risk of choking or getting a blockage goes up if your dog can swallow it whole. For example, its not recommended to feed chicken necks or drumsticks to large breed dogs because they tend to swallow them whole. Chewing through bones is one of the biggest benefits from a raw diet, so you might as well make them chew their food! Keep in mind that dogs don’t chew their food like we do, they don’t need to. They just have to make it small enough to fit down the hatch, so don’t panic if you see your dog crunch a chicken quarter 3 or 4 times and then swallow it.
This site is called Prey Model Raw because it is all about mimicking the diet that dogs would thrive on if they were still wild. It differs from the BARF diet by not including vegetables, fruit and dairy. There is the age old debate of whether wolves/dogs are true carnivores and should have plant matter included in their diet. We here at PMR don’t believe they are a necessity. Will they harm your dogs? Probably not, maybe just a bit of digestive upset. But are they necessary? Absolutely not.
Taking the Plunge
So, at this point you know what to feed, what not to feed, how much to feed, where and how you will store it, where to find good meats, have plenty of support from experienced people, set up connections with meat distributors or butchers. If so, I think you are ready to begin with the actual process!
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