[Lynn In Tenn]

I gave my dogs raw chicken today. I've really been doing my homework here. I gave them all a chicken wing today around noon. No one hurled or got choked or anything:biggrin: I even gave my old 15y/o BC one. They loved it!!!! The little one took the longest to eat his. I was worried about the 1y/o BC cause she has wolfed her food down ever since I've had her. (about 2 mos) It was funny to watch them eat, just like y'all said it would be:smile: Gave them all a chicken back this evening and so far so good!! I was too chicken(pardon the pun) to give them a neck just yet.
I was getting tired of the high end kibble causing runny eyes and scratching. Hopefully all that nonsense will stop soon.
I will stay with chicken for a couple of weeks and then slowly introduce some wild game since I have plenty on the farm, ie, rabbits and deer.

One question though:I live about a 1/2 mile off of a rural road and I have coyotes on my farm. I have occassionally seen them in the wee hours of the morning out in the pasture rather close to my yard. Ya don't think they will smell the meat I'm feeding my dogs and come up do you???? I feed my dogs outside in the yard. Just wondering. I've seen them in the pasture during broad daylight also.
Thanks for all the info I've gained here.

 

[jdatwood]

Congrats Lynn!!

 

[RawFedDogs]

I gave my dogs raw chicken today. I've really been doing my homework here. I gave them all a chicken wing today around noon. No one hurled or got choked or anything:biggrin:

Great!!! You are doing good. I wouldn't feed the adult dogs anything smaller than a chicken back. Wings are too small for them but should be ok for the puppy. Chicken necks are too small for all but the puppy also.

I was getting tired of the high end kibble causing runny eyes and scratching. Hopefully all that nonsense will stop soon.

I bet those problems will disapear soon.

I will stay with chicken for a couple of weeks and then slowly introduce some wild game since I have plenty on the farm, ie, rabbits and deer.

Cool. Wish I had more access to deer.

One question though:I live about a 1/2 mile off of a rural road and I have coyotes on my farm. I have occassionally seen them in the wee hours of the morning out in the pasture rather close to my yard. Ya don't think they will smell the meat I'm feeding my dogs and come up do you???? I feed my dogs outside in the yard. Just wondering. I've seen them in the pasture during broad daylight also.

I doubt the chcken will be around long enough for them to know that its there. I don't know what will happen if you start feeding large deer parts that will take them a couple of days to eat. Sometimes i feed large deer pieces and i worry about coyotes also but I haven't seen one around here although I know they are all around.

Don't forget to ask questions anytime you have one.

 

[rannmiller]

Congrats on getting started on raw so successfully! I'm pretty sure the raw will help fix any problems you've been having with your pups, just make sure to introduce the new protein sources really slowly. I don't think the meat should be a problem unless like RFD said, you leave whole chunks of dear out that could take a couple days to eat. But that can be easily remedied by cutting the meat into smaller pieces. Do your dogs get to sleep inside?

 

[BGBY]

Do you have a hunting license and a season for coyotes? We have a year round open season with some exceptions... If you can hunt them, bag'em for dog food. :biggrin:

Welcome and enjoy feeding RAW.

 

[Lynn In Tenn]

Do your dogs get to sleep inside?

The 2 rescue dogs do for right now. I am really hoping I can acclimate them to the full basement down under.:smile:

 

[Lynn In Tenn]

Do you have a hunting license and a season for coyotes? We have a year round open season with some exceptions... If you can hunt them, bag'em for dog food. :biggrin:

Welcome and enjoy feeding RAW.

Season is year round. No need for a license if I'm hunting on my own property I think. They're getting to be quite a problem around here. . The boy that hunts deer on my place killed one last year. Didn't know you could feed that to dogs. Sounds kinda like cannibalism:smile:
I do have a .22 Magnum, but I'm no Annie Oakly:smile:
Thanks for all the great info.

 

[Lynn In Tenn]

I think I will only put out enugh food for them to eat rather quickly, otherwise the fight would begin I'm afraid.:smile: Are the weight bearing bonees on a deer o.k.???
I assume all the organs are.

 

[Lynn In Tenn]

Just to make sure I crunched the numbers right. The adult dogs are 30-40lbs and the puppy is 20. I'm feeding all of them around 1lb a day in 2 feedings. Yes????
Seems like all my studying has gone out the window. During the 2 week transition, do I not worry about the organ meat and Omegas. (fish)

 

[RawFedDogs]

Are the weight bearing bonees on a deer o.k.???
I assume all the organs are.

Put the legs out and let them eat the meat off of them. They probably won't show much interest after that anyway. Organs are great. They probably won't be interested in intestines but they might be. I wouldn't feed the bladder.

 

[RawFedDogs]

Just to make sure I crunched the numbers right. The adult dogs are 30-40lbs and the puppy is 20. I'm feeding all of them around 1lb a day in 2 feedings. Yes????
Seems like all my studying has gone out the window. During the 2 week transition, do I not worry about the organ meat and Omegas. (fish)

There is no magic number for the weight of the meals. There is only a starting point. If your dog gain weight, feed less and vice versa. You will find that meals will vary in weight. Some meals will be larger than others. Just keep an eye on their build and adjust the volume accordingly. Most dogs are too fat. You should be able to see the last rib or two. You should be able to see a definate waist line behind the rib cage when looking from above. You should not be able to see hip bones or spine.

I suggest not feeding organs for at least a month or even 2 months. Too much organ meat too early can cause digestive upset. It won't hurt the dogs to go a couple of months without them. We are not too concerned about nutrition during the first 2 month transistion period. There is plenty of time to get the nutrition part down pat. Waiting a month on fish is not a problem either.

 

[Lynn In Tenn]

Sounds good. I found a small grocery that will get me backs in bulk for $.50/lb
They have leg qrts. on the shelf right now for $.69/lb. From reading, that's not too bad, huh??
I'm thinking I'm gonna like this method of feeding:smile:
Thanks for all the help. I'm sure I'll have more questions:wink:
BTW. I bought a cheesy scale at Wally World just to make sure I was in the ballpark when feeding.

 

[jdatwood]

Yeah, those are fair prices. We pay a little less for quarters but about the same for backs

 

[Lynn In Tenn]

I can't get my box of backs till next week. The way they sell them on the shelf is 2 backs and 5-6 necks together. I really don't need all those necks as RFD said I should only feed them to my puppy. Can I go with the leg qrts. instead of backs till next week?? They're priced pretty good right now.

I guess I could get the backs with all the necks and feed my puppy nothing but necks, but don't know if that is such a good idea.
Am I making any sense????
What do y'all think????


Thanks

 

[EnglishBullTerriers]

I can't get my box of backs till next week. The way they sell them on the shelf is 2 backs and 5-6 necks together. I really don't need all those necks as RFD said I should only feed them to my puppy. Can I go with the leg qrts. instead of backs till next week?? They're priced pretty good right now.

I guess I could get the backs with all the necks and feed my puppy nothing but necks, but don't know if that is such a good idea.
Am I making any sense????
What do y'all think????


Thanks

I think that you should stop worrying so much and just feed the dogs already... I think that the dogs think the same thing. :wink:
No scale is needed as a leg quarter is around 1lb and that is about what you need to feed. If it is a little over, that is fine, they won't die! You should be ok to feed the leg quarter to the little guy also. Just make sure that you keep an eye out that he eats it well and doesn't get too excited that he has 'a whole piece like the big guys'! Oh WAIT!! I am thinking of my dogs again!! :biggrin:
Don't worry!! You are doing fine!! Just feed what you have, if it is small in size, watch them while they eat. They should know how to do it, but they just need to remember and figure it out on their own! If the little guy is full, he will most likely just get up and walk away from the 'leftovers'. If that happens, then the other guys will probably walk over and finish it for him!
NO WORRIES MATE!! :wink:

 

[Lynn In Tenn]

I'm trying not to be overly concerned, but this is sooooo new to me Thanks for the vote of confidence EBT. Type A personality shall try to relax:biggrin:

 

[EnglishBullTerriers]

I'm trying not to be overly concerned, but this is sooooo new to me Thanks for the vote of confidence EBT. Type A personality shall try to relax:biggrin:

Ok! :biggrin: Just relax.

 

[Doc]

u wound tighter den a mantle clock. Throw dem dawgs a leg and let em ate. Or a back ifn you gotz any. Old tater, Mutt and Lucy getz all happy when I fling dem some chikn. No need to worry, ifn day ain't hongry, day gonna leave dat chickn rite whar day left it.

 

[Lynn In Tenn]

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I'm much better now.:wink:

BTW, it appears that the runny eyes and itching has nearly stopped and I'm only on day 3:biggrin:

 

[BGBY]

I too have noticed Ava's eye boogers have turned to tears instead of boogers. Also cleaner smelling breath coming from Ava and Casey's stink almost disappear. We're still a work in progress. Let's see, smaller poops are already a BIG plus too!