Homemade Raw FOOD! How to make it?

[shandoggy1]

How do you guys that feed raw diets go about doing it yourself? Is it as easy as picking up a pack of perdue chicken or a piece of steak and serving it?

[Mom2Many]

When I feed RAW that is exactly what I do although they usually don't get steak! LOL! Whole chicken carcasses, whole fish, whole rabbit, etc.

[Owned by Lucy]

That is exactly what I do. Open the fridge or freezer and hand them a hunk of meat, sometimes with bone and sometimes without. Usually not "steak" but chicken, turkey, pork, deer (during hunting season), beef, fish and anything else I can find. I only use human grade food with the exception of green tripe.
And absolutely no veggie cutting, cooking or blending or adding a multitude of suppliments.

This is not to say she doesn't get other stuff. If I have cooked something for the people in the house she may get leftovers from whatever we had as a treat. Maybe some cooked meat or fish (never cooked bones), leftover cooked veggie (especially a treat if they were cooked with the meat), yogurt, potatos chips, ice cream or pretty much anythig else. These items do not make up more than 5% or so of her diet

[gaddylovesdogs]

Well, you need to make sure they're getting all the nutrients they need if all you're going to be feeding is raw. When I get my girls on completely raw we'll be adding supplements and measuring things out to make sure they're getting everything they need, but if I'm just adding it to their kibble, I usually just dump it in they're bowls and let them eat.

[Owned by Lucy]

I figure that Mother Nature is the best guide to follow when feeding my carnivores. I try to get as close to real pray as possible so I know they are getting the right nutrition without complicated recipes or suppliments. When at all possible I get whole animals (chickens, rabbits, fish) with all parts attached. When I feed larger things (beef, pork store bought chicken or turkey) I get as many part as possible to recreate a pray animal - frankenprey. By doing this I am following natures model and my pets are getting all the nutrition they need

[elegy]

yep, i feed frankenprey too. i get whole chickens and cut them up into meal-sized portions, they get pork parts (shoulder and neck mostly), turkey when it's on sale, beef ribs which i can get reasonably cheaply. most of what they eat is raw meaty bones (emphasis on the meaty). they also get other muscle meats (heart, gizzards, whatever's on sale cheap) and they get liver once a week (much to their collective dismay). i feed canned fish as well once a week or so (though i was checking out whole tilapia at the store today lol).

i do feed veggies (pulped) pretty regularly because they like it and i figure it's not going to hurt them and it may benefit them. i feed eggs with shell pretty regularly. i feed dairy (yogurt and cottage cheese) pretty regularly.

the only supplements i give is fish body oil when i remember and apple cider vinegar.

[Owned by Lucy]

I do give FBO (to the dogs and me) because we I don't get to feed a lot of oily ocean fish and we could all use the extra omega-3 becuase most of the meat we eat is pack with omega-6 but little to no omega-3. I use ACV as a rince after a bath but never internally (not for the dogs anyway, does make a great salad dressing).

Lucy loves eggs. Have you tried freezing them? It is great fun to watch them try to get into them. Great treat for the summer. I would only object to the veggie slush and dairy stuff it is taking up a lot of room in the diet that should be meat, bone and offal. If they are getting veggies at the expense of what they were designed to eat then I would say it can hurt them. The only time I use a large amount of veggie (more than 5-8%) is if I have a dog who needs to lose weight. Veggies are a great filler. I am careful with dairy because many canines become lactose intolerant after getting out of the puppy stage. If I give to mcuh to Lucy (more than a spoonful or so) she get bad diarrhea so I tend to say way from it.

[elegy]

their veggies is maybe 1-2% of their diet. just a spoonful here and there. if i feed a big meat meal in the morning sometimes i'll just give an egg and veggies in the evening so that my empty-belly puker will have something in her tum.

i've been really lucky with my dogs and their guts. nobody's had *any* loose poops since i switched, no matter what i've fed- even an entirely organ meal goes down well. it's interesting because part of the reason i switched was because luce had constantly loose stools on any kibble but evo.

[calgal]

One thing about "real" food is it won't cause the major medical problems as most dog food do, and you can just switch over all at once without a problem.

[Sheltiemama]

There are several dog nutrition books avaliable that will help you measure just how much your dog should be eating by calorie intake, as well as nutritional value. If you are interested in home cooking rather than raw (I personally can't do raw for my dog) There is a site in Yahoo Groups called Totally home cooking that is made up of a group of people who home cook for their dogs. They have a page for FAQ as well as a bunch of swell recipies.
This will be a commitment on your part too because it will require at least an hour of your time to prepare and freeze a weeks worth of food at a time as well as space for freezing the food. Check it out if your interested. I've been using them for about three months now and I feel very confident that Magic is getting the best I can give her.

[shandoggy1]

Okay, I was at the dog park today and there was this guy there with his two pitbulls. Well, the female was not spayed and was having a false pregnancy. He had taken her to the vet and when he had mentioned the raw meat diet the vet had pointed out that alot of our meats we eat have steroids and hormones in them so it was causing this on his female. He has since switched to innova and skipped the raw diet. I thought you are supposed to give dogs organic meats not just any old supermarket stuff?

[Mom2Many]

First of all, where are the studies that have been done about the effect of hormones and steroid use on meats in our animals? Although it is better to buy hormone and steroid free food if the hormones and steroids are so bad for them then how can they be approved for our consumption.
False pregnancy happens, they don't really know why. Leave it to a vet to knock raw, most of them do because they have no instruction on canine nutrition.