After talking with the nutritionist at our local natural store (who is also Lucy's alternate dog walker, so I know she cares about my dog's health since she's such a fan of the pooch!), it looks like a gradual shift to raw might be in order.
I know some of you aren't fans of the Primal products, but I'm going to state this now: In order to see if my dog even LIKES this form of eating before I contaminate my house, I'm going to throw a few cubes of their prepared food with her kibble at first to see how it goes (interest, end poop product, etc). I also think knowing THIS type of product works for her is important in terms of her being able to eat when others are watching her. We live in a city with very little space (I have no laundry room, no extra fridge/freezer or 'small' grocery stores with butchers). However, we DO have farmers markets where if I go for it, I could probably try to get a discount on leftovers at the end of the market. I will not feed my dog crap from the Safeway meat section. Ick.
So anyway....she's 88-90lbs, which is roughly 1.8lbs of food per day on this diet (.9 a meal and yes I have a scale).
What do I feed her? I am moderately willing to handle chicken livers, but I think in terms of organs that'd be about as far as I could go.
Do I really just throw a chicken leg in her bowl? Aren't those bones small?
In terms of amount, as long as it equals about a pound of food, does it matter what it is? If I have ground chicken because it's on sale, and some cottage cheese and an egg does that work?
She currently gets marrow bones as treats (the other treats tend to be bully sticks, but not many other treats).
I suppose my biggest question is what does her diet need to look like? I am a vegetarian without any extra space, but I have a pair of tongs I could use to toss her some food! If I know what body parts for a larger mastiff mix, I could take the list to the farmers market and see what they have or what I have to order.
a three day rotation would work best, and I really don't have access to much beyond cow, chicken, and buffalo (DC isn't a big hunting town).
Thanks in advance, and please don't send me to more links. I'm read out over these past couple of weeks!
I know some of you aren't fans of the Primal products, but I'm going to state this now: In order to see if my dog even LIKES this form of eating before I contaminate my house, I'm going to throw a few cubes of their prepared food with her kibble at first to see how it goes (interest, end poop product, etc). I also think knowing THIS type of product works for her is important in terms of her being able to eat when others are watching her. We live in a city with very little space (I have no laundry room, no extra fridge/freezer or 'small' grocery stores with butchers). However, we DO have farmers markets where if I go for it, I could probably try to get a discount on leftovers at the end of the market. I will not feed my dog crap from the Safeway meat section. Ick.
So anyway....she's 88-90lbs, which is roughly 1.8lbs of food per day on this diet (.9 a meal and yes I have a scale).
What do I feed her? I am moderately willing to handle chicken livers, but I think in terms of organs that'd be about as far as I could go.
Do I really just throw a chicken leg in her bowl? Aren't those bones small?
In terms of amount, as long as it equals about a pound of food, does it matter what it is? If I have ground chicken because it's on sale, and some cottage cheese and an egg does that work?
She currently gets marrow bones as treats (the other treats tend to be bully sticks, but not many other treats).
I suppose my biggest question is what does her diet need to look like? I am a vegetarian without any extra space, but I have a pair of tongs I could use to toss her some food! If I know what body parts for a larger mastiff mix, I could take the list to the farmers market and see what they have or what I have to order.
a three day rotation would work best, and I really don't have access to much beyond cow, chicken, and buffalo (DC isn't a big hunting town).
Thanks in advance, and please don't send me to more links. I'm read out over these past couple of weeks!