Best least expensive raw meat diet for a dog?

[Crow]

@lostforgottensoul I've bought large amounts of meat (kanga) and had a local butcher grind it for me. I'm not confident in my ability to keep the grinder clean so for like $8 a local butcher processed about 100lbs. Just throwing it out there. Only did it once but it's an option. Also check local weekend farmers markets. Some family farms will process bone & organs on request.

 

[Deadman]

@lostforgottensoul Check out this article for bone broth for people: Dead Link Removed . He isn't my favorite health writer but it gives a good starting point. All those Jewish and Scottish grandmothers that claimed bone broth was good for everything may have been right :)

 

[Deadman]

I don't know if anyone else has already mentioned it but I also make 'glop' for my dog. There are lots of fancy recipes online but I keep it simple. I throw all my over ripe fruit, veggie end cuts, forgotten lettuce heads etc into a bag in the freezer next to the bones. When I have a full bag I toss them in a pot with some water and simmer until it's a big soft gloppy mess. I add a bit to my dog's meal whenever I think of it.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

Thanks @CrowFeather! A 100 lbs of gound bone? That's a ton!

@Deadman, we did that "glop" thing for my old dog in high school, a pit/lab mix. It was old left overs and stuff though and its cause my parent's refused to buy dog food and so the food I couldn't buy or steal, that sort of made up for it. Not advocating for that but she was healthy and lived to be 16 so I don't know.

It seems dogs do need a small amount of fruits and veggies as it is in every single raw diet I have seen online. So sounds like a great idea!

I'll check out the article! Thanks!

 

[Deleted member 8714]

I had to convince my husband to feed our dogs raw food back in 2010. I wanted to start our dogs on raw. Finally he agreed to trying it. Now he and I would never feed any other way.

Our typical week consisted of chicken in the morning alternating with heart or beef or lamb or salmon for dinner. For organ meat we tried kidney but neither dog liked it. So it was liver all the way. They got occasional eggs and preferred hard boiled, especially one of dogs. He loved to suck the yolk out through a small hole he placed in the side of the egg. For bone we fed chicken breast, however we found with a rescue that this was too much bone for her. So we cut back to bone once a week in the form of turkey necks.

Sometimes we'd add yogurt or cottage cheese or scrambled eggs. Sometimes they had fruit usually blueberries which were a favorite. Although Barnum loved any kind of fruit including oranges and grapefruit and strawberries. Unusual for a dog to like such tangy fruits. And we also fed them vegetables as well, cooked and mashed if needed. Bailey had his favorites: peas, lima beans, French-style green beans, and carrots and peas. His all time favorite was brussel sprouts.

I do know a Leonberger owner who only feed chicken breasts to her dog. No organ meat. Her dog lived to 12 years of age. Rare for a Leonberger who usual life expectancy is between 6 and 10 years, usually more like an average of 8.

I do believe that is why Bailey lived as long as he did with bone cancer. He had been on the raw diet since he was 2 years old. That's one of the recommendations for dogs with cancer is to switch to a raw diet.

Our next Leonberger will get fed raw from day one.

Our dogs' teeth remained sparkling white after the third week into the raw diet. The rescue Leonberger we got had the most terrible teeth. After three weeks on the raw diet her teeth were white as can be. She was eight years old.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

I do know a Leonberger owner who only feed chicken breasts to her dog. No organ meat. Her dog lived to 12 years of age. Rare for a Leonberger who usual life expectancy is between 6 and 10 years, usually more like an average of 8.

That's rare in general as red meat and organs are important for health.

Our dogs' teeth remained sparkling white after the third week into the raw diet. The rescue Leonberger we got had the most terrible teeth. After three weeks on the raw diet her teeth were white as can be. She was eight years old.

Chopper's are real good. White, no plague that I can see. Not sparkling white but very healthy. I have always fed him beef knuckle bones, other real bones, and antlers (more current). Not raw though. But real bone nonetheless. I think raw bone is even better for the teeth?

 

[Deleted member 8714]

How do you make the switch then?

I found a raw food dog forum online and got support from them when I switched. I went cold turkey. They recommended the last meal of dry food at night and then in the morning start with raw, giving more bone than usual to start, which was in the form of chicken hindquarters. They all followed a specific protocol which I'll go back to with my new puppy. Later of course, a routine was developed by my husband and I after we learned which foods our dogs preferred over others.

I have spent months researching and months weighing pros and cons

Same here. I'm an avid researcher already and so it was easy to do it for the raw diet.

premade is outragous

My only concern for premade is contamination from the equipment not being sanitized well enough. It's happened more often than one wants to believe. I looked into this option and then I watched for the recalls for contamination. Several from one brand and another in one year. Now that would be more costly than feeding raw right from the refrigerator. Plus all the down time in dealing with a dog's illness. And some types of contamination can kill.

Fortunately for my husband and I we don't eat meat except the for turkey and salmon. So we can afford to feed our dog(s) the meat we would normally eat.

Ever since I learned about the evil deeds of my father I lost all interest in beef and anything that is initially red meat (color).

Chicken followed after some from one packer had stuff on the market which smelled so bad neither one of my dogs would eat it. It didn't taste good either. Finding chicken they would eat was difficult. Apparently the packer was supposed to use a vinegar bath and then thoroughly rinse it. They didn't rinse it. This is the scoop I got from the FDA themselves after they investigated the stench for us.

 

[Deleted member 8714]

I have always fed him beef knuckle bones

I've read that those types of bones wear down their teeth and some dogs with powerful bites have lost teeth.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

My only concern for premade is contamination from the equipment not being sanitized well enough. It's happened more often than one wants to believe. I looked into this option and then I watched for the recalls for contamination. Several from one brand and another in one year. Now that would be more costly than feeding raw right from the refrigerator. Plus all the down time in dealing with a dog's illness. And some types of contamination can kill.

Yeah, I don't want that. It seems many don't grind meat or bones. Do you grind it? I am worried about not sterlizing it enough and he is a service dog in training so even more important he remain healthy and free of illness. I am fearful I may accidently cause contamination.

Chicken followed after some from one packer had stuff on the market which smelled so bad neither one of my dogs would eat it. It didn't taste good either. Finding chicken they would eat was difficult. Apparently the packer was supposed to use a vinegar bath and then thoroughly rinse it. They didn't rinse it. This is the scoop I got from the FDA themselves after they investigated the stench for us.

Yuck! I don't give him cooked meat that smells different or any hint of bad. I am careful in that sense.

those types of bones wear down their teeth and some dogs with powerful bites have lost teeth.

In 2 yrs he has never had an issue. He did bite a long bone about as thick as my arm in half with one bite and that went in the trash right away. The knuckle bones he doesn't bite but grinds. I get the biggest most circluar ones I can and he just lays there grinding on it. I watch him with any sort of smaller bones and I also watch him with the knuckle bones when first bought until any small piece is off and its just a white bone. Until then it gets picked up when I am not there. Once its white and all traces of anything small is gone then he can have it with the rest of his toys.

He has a few small slices of a long bone sold for small dogs due to my parent's chihuahua that was living here and those are down. He normally will grab a big one but he has never attempted to swallow a small one. They are just in there cause he never takes it but if I see a small piece of a bone or something with a sharp edge it gets tossed. And of course I will throw out those smaller ones if I become worried about them.

I don't give him rawhind due to safety reasons and I am about as cautious as one can be.

 

[Deleted member 8714]

It seems many don't grind meat or bones. Do you grind it?

Everything we give in the way of meat except salmon is raw. We don't grind anything. We keep it in the freezer, individual packages, and the refrigerator, enough for a week, in the meat drawer. Chicken on one side and other meat on the other side. We served frozen Popsicle liver which the dogs loved, especially on a hot day. So no big preparation except for the added vegetables and fruit and preparing them. We just opened the refrigerator and pulled out the meat and placed it in their bowls. The less processing the better.

Our dogs only got turkey necks after 2013 for their bones. The turkey necks are raw not cooked. This is how their teeth are cleaned.

Anytime I feed one I remember the whole turkey we fed to our dogs one Thanksgiving Day. That was the first time they had a whole turkey and we weren't feeding turkey necks yet. Bailey, the older Leonberger, found the turkey neck and started chewing on it. While Barnum decided he'd take the rest. He dragged the whole 20 pound turkey over to his spot and started gnawing on it. It was hilarious to watch.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

Our dogs only got turkey necks after 2013 for their bones. The turkey necks are raw not cooked. This is how their teeth are cleaned.

Most of the videos I see of raw, most like turkey necks. Including the ones with pitbulls.

Everything we give in the way of meat except salmon is raw.

I saw someone giving a raw salmon, with the head. I think the entire thing was raw. Any reason you cook fish?

Almost all research I did it was beef, chicken, turkey, odd here and there rabbit, bison, vension, etc. And then respective organs from beef & chicken, fruits, veggies and ground bone (in all the research), raw egg and ground egg shells, yogurt and green tripe. I never saw fish. Saw fish oil but never fish itself until I happened upon a service dog handler I follow (whom vlogs the most of her dog eating raw). But in the research it never mentioned fish. So was wanting your take on fish.

 

[Deleted member 8714]

Dead Link Removed
Prey Model Raw

You might want to read on the websites above about raw feeding. I'm a member on dogfoodchat.com. There's some people on there who've been feeding raw for years. One person, DaneMama, is quite knowledgeable.

Feeding raw salmon isn't good because it contains bacteria and worms that aren't healthy. My husband knows this because he's got a degree in Fisheries Biology. So if he says it isn't good I'll believe him over anyone's opinion.

Also feeding certain wild animals are not healthy such as bear meat and wild boar. Same problem with bacteria and other contaminants.

We usually fed canned salmon. All of our Leonbergers loved it. And then gave salmon oil as well. Occasionally we made salmon for ourselves and prepared a fillet for Bailey too. We offered him the same food we were eating in one of those meals including mashed potatoes, lima beans or brussel sprouts, and his salmon fillet. The first time we did that he loved and we kept up the tradition.

My husband says that other fish are not as critical. Though he would rather serve cooked fish to our dogs.