As long as you supply your dog with the correct amount of fresh meat, organ meat, and bones, he will be getting all of the nutrients that he needs. Therefore, there is no need to add vegetables to his diet. In the wild, wolves usually do not eat the stomach contents of their prey, unless it's a very small animal like a mouse or a rabbit. Dog's teeth do not have the ability to crush vegetables in a way where they can obtain nutrients from them, so for them to extract any nutrients at all, you must puree them. However, as long as your dog is on a sufficient prey model diet, there is not need to add any vegetables. Wolves in the wild almost never eat them. Wolves may occasionally eat some in the stomach of very small prey and or nibble on some grass, so if you would feel better giving him just a small hint of pureed vegetables a few times a week, it couldn't hurt.

Hope I could help!:smile:

 

Thanks Todd, I guess adding some once a week won't do any harm!

 

They wont harm your dog :wink:

But do make sure that you are feeding liver and kidney at the very least as far as organ meats go. Green tripe does not replace these two essential parts to a raw diet. They are the only organ meat that we feed our dogs. Heart is not an organ, its considered muscle meat, but is very rich so it can be hard for dogs to adjust to it.

Good luck!

 

I would highly suggest adding RMB's (raw meaty bones) to their diet so they get the dental benefits from it. The act of crunching and chewing bones naturally scrapes tarter off their teeth. There is no better way to prevent tarter buildup. By raw meaty bones I mean something with a bone/bones that has attached meat to it...for example a chicken quarter or back or turkey neck or beef rib bone.

Its is great that you have ground up bone for the nutritional part of it, but you want bone in for the recreational part of the health too!

 

Hi, thanks for your reply.
I occasionally give my dogs a cow shin bone to chew on but the next time i'm in the butchers I'll ask him for some meaty cow rib bones, I give my dogs rawhide chews every day which they enjoy but they can be quite expensive!

 

I've also heard that too much ground bone can cause constipation because it doesn't digest like whole raw bones do. I wouldn't recommend adding the veg mince since dogs have no use for it so all it's really going to do is loosen your dog's stools, which totally defeats one of the biggest reasons I love raw (among all the others), but if you don't mind that, then I guess you could continue with it.

As far as the ground raw you get from your butcher, I'd have to see the ingredients in it to determine if your dogs are getting everything they need in the correct proportions. I, personally, like to be more in control over what my dogs are getting, how much, and I also like it to be as natural as possible for them so I just give them whole parts of whatever I'm feeding them including cuts of meat with bone in it, organs, and eggs.

 

Oh boy be careful with both of those chews you're giving them! Cow shin bones are very hard and made to withstand much more pressure than your dogs' teeth can exert, which could lead to broken teeth! Also, rawhide can be dangerous because it is not easy to digest as it expands in the dog's GI tract.

Rib bones are definitely a much better and safer option!

 

OK thanks, I'll get rib bones ASAP!

Are meaty Pig rib bones safe enough, I see them for sale in ASDA's and I'm tempted to try them on my dogs!

 

Yep pork ribs are a great safe choice too!

 

Generally, most of the "dog food mixes" that butchers sell are made up of the cheap stuff. Way too much fat and bone and way too little meat. Your dog is missing some of the benefits of bone by eating them ground. I would stay away from cow bones except maybe the rib bones. Pork bones are softer and easier for your dog to eat.

Rather than the "dog food mix" from the butcher, It would be much more beneficial to your dog to feed him whole animal parts such as chicken quarters, backs, and breasts as well as turkey necks, wings, and drumsticks and pork roasts and rib racks. That way you know your dog is getting real food and not garbage that your butcher would otherwise throw away.

Stay away from rawhides. They can and often are dangerous to your dog and serve no useful purpose other than a play toy.

 

Hi, I just found your page about raw feeding, very interesting.
I have a few pictures of the mince I get from my butcher, it comes in frozen blocks so it's easier to manage, there is very little fat included and the cow meat is Aberdeen Angus,the best meat on the market!
My dogs do love it and eat every bit.

 

Do you have a list of ingredients so we know what all is in it?

 

I'm not sure of the fat content but there is pork meat,beef meat,lamb meat,heart,kindney,liver,chicken carcases which the boney bits must be in the mince, I can't remember if there is tripe in there also!?(doesn't smell like it)lol.

 

Regarding beef rib bones, there is one thing about them I've yet to see mentioned among the PMR people that might be worth noting.

Generally when the rack of ribs is sawed away from the spine, there is a small piece of vertebrae attached by ligament tissue to the base of the rib. As the dog eats the meat away, they usually separate this small piece of bone from the rib and it's just the right size to present a choking hazard to some dogs.

I remove that little piece of bone with a sharp, thin boning knife and discard it before I give a beef rib to either of my dogs. Admittedly, some dogs are large enough to swallow this piece of bone whole. But some dogs that aren't large enough to do this will try anyway.

Also, RFD has mentioned this before and it's worth repeating. If you feed ribs to a large dog, it's best to give them 2 or 3 connected ribs from the rack (depending on the size of the dog and the size of the ribs) so they are forced to chew their food. My dogs are small enough that even a single pork rib requires them to work at breaking it down into chunks they can swallow but a larger dog may try to swallow it whole. You have to make judgment calls as you prep their food based on the size of the dog and the size of the food. Watch them eat and you will get a feel for what size their food should be after awhile.

My dogs love both beef and pork ribs but they can't actually eat a beef rib bone completely. It takes them an hour or two to strip all the meat off, then a couple days to whittle the bone down to the point where I have to throw it away. But they both eat pork ribs completely, even my little 16 lb. daschund/cocker mix. It's a great source of bone for them and it's easy to eat. Their teeth are immaculate too!