Printable Shopping List

Help me feed a raw diet?

To all of you raw feeders out there, I’m looking for some input. I’m trying to get my dogs into raw, but it’s a little harder than I’d expected. I’m having issues finding different meat sources (thus far I can get chicken, beef, pork, venison and eggs easily – everything else is harder to find) as well as a bit of, uhm, financial issues (my dad’s was laid off for 7 months, got called back for a month, and has just been laid off again, probably until late fall. And I can’t find a job anywhere). I was just wondering if anyone would be willing to give me some advice? I’m looking for a sort of diet plan, ie what to feed each one of them each day – maybe like a 7 or 10 day rotation menu? I know about the different amounts of meat/bone/organ per day, but being so new at this I’m afraid that I’ll screw it up – especially since my vet’s made it clear that he won’t help me in this situation. Also, having a basic shopping list per week would be handy so I can figure out pricing and whatnot. I have a 7 year old GSD/husky mix and a 3 month old husky pup whose ideal weights are 85 pounds (he weighs 90 now) and 45 pounds (she weighs about 15) respectively. I'd appreciate anything you all could help me with =] Why not? If a raw diet is obviously healthier and better, there's nothing wrong with wanting to learn and looking for more help. Ahh, thanks Bindi =] I love the dogster raw forums, but I don't use it too often. Thanks for reminding me ^^

Public Comments

1. Why? Any decent dry adult feed is complete & balanced.....& easy & cheaper & safe ...especially when you don't know wtf you're doing.
2. Start with chicken for a couple weeks, then slowly add in the other stuff. You can do a raw diet with chicken, beef, pork and venison just fine as long as you are getting the 80/10/10 ratios of meat, bone and organ. Venison isn't something I get to feed often, but the other three are staples around here. There are also alot of good sources here http://www.dogster.com/forums/Raw_Food_Diet/thread/431875 Start your GSD at 1.7 pounds of food a day and watch his condition. 1.7 pounds is 2% of 85 pounds. For the husky pup feed 1.13 pounds and watch her condition. Adjust amounts accordingly, to thin feed more, getting pudgy feed less.
3. Bindi said it all - you can also feed vegetable scraps - also check out www.rawmeatybones.com for more information. the only other bit of advice I can give you it to buy in bulk if you have a place to store it. you can buy bulk from a meat distributor - but you're looking at 40lb boxes.
4. Most said above. You can chuck in a tin of sardines for each once a week once they have settled on it all, and also raw eggs. I chuck any egg shells in a pestle and mortar and ground them up after a couple of days when they have dried, and they go into a powder and this is a good form of calcium for them. Go into butchers and see if you can get anything free. They often give pork trotters, varied necks, hearts and chicken carcass free of charge. I always freeze and defrost before feeding. Friend of mine feeds whole pork heads, and whole rabbit with fur on is another to find. I do stuff like - if I have chicken for myself then cut the feet off and the wing tips before cooking and these are good for them.