Raw feeding menu

I'm going to switch Juno to a raw diet. I think for the most part I kind of have a handle on what I'm doing, but am having a harder time wrapping my head around what each meal should look like.

Raw feeders, could you perhaps post what a week of meals for your dog might look like? The 80/10/10 stuff is what trips me up the most and I think I'd get it better if I had examples of how to balance everything.

I know that for right now, my menu will look different since we're just starting on chicken and have no offal to include--but I just want to make sure we're going in the right direction.

Don't stress yourself out too much, when I first started I was totally freaked out of my mind. But what you got to remember is start simple and slow and add as much variety as possible. And your going in the right direction. Start off with chicken and than slowly add other protien in. I think people usually start with pork and ever week or so add in another protien and watch her poops.

Teagans meal plan is actually not that complicated and really I don't stress about the amount she gets She weights 16 pounds and she gets between 4-7 ounces a day depending on how much I took out of the freezer. I also don't worry about the amount of bone she gets. At least a couple days in the week I give her a whole thigh or a back and those weigh about 4-5 pounds so that in its self is a meal. Watch her poops. If the poop looks good, nice and firm and not crumply than your doing ok!

I try to give her mackeral fish about every day if possible, but if I can't give it to her everyday than she gets it at least every second day. I have to also add I no not stick to a strick schedual I just grab whats in the freezer, but whats in the freezer is ALOT of variety.

So this is kinnda what one of out meal plans can look like, And to give you a better picture I cut everything up in 1 ounce chunks for Teagan.

So Everyday for the bone portian I either give her a chicken or turkey(2-3ounces) neck OR pork ribs. About once a week I also give her for full meals a chicken thigh or back, Also its never the same 10% of bone every day. Again if the poops look good were happy.

For the daily meat she gets a chunk mixture of fish, Bison, Beef and pork, Beef and chicken hearts and pork tongue. Not all at the same day, but I grab about four 3-6 chunks of those for her meals. The Meat mix is never the same. Sometimes I will just give her one ounce chunk of each and WHALA varity!

When it comes to the organs Teagan does not get that much, just a little piece as it gives her sloppy poops.

Remember each dog is differnt. Some need more bone than others, some can eat more organs than others. It just depends on the dog.

And not that I wrote a novel. Good luck, its not nearly as complicated as it looks.

And if you have not already check out dogfoodchat raw forum its awesome!

I dont give Teagan very much

Personally, I find it easier to do organ and veggies once a week, rather than try to get the proper amount each day.

So my adult dog gets breakfast and dinner. For breakfast she gets 2oz Nature's Variety in either venison or bison - this is my mother's preference though, and not something I do when she's with me.

Then for dinner she typically gets a bone-in chicken part, and then some ground beef or beef stew meat to add some muscle meat if the chicken piece is very boney (like a back). On Friday's, her breakfast is replaced with an "organ cupcake" made of liver, kidney, brain, and whatever else. On Sunday's it's a wad of veggie mush with an egg yolk. I calculate the 80/10/10 based on what she eats in a week, and her weekly veggies and organs follow accordingly.

All said and done, she eats about 6-7oz a day. She's a 36lb altered bitch with a very slow metabolism - super easy keeper, despite lots of activity.

The puppy eats way differently, and she eats a TON. For breakfast, she gets 2-3oz of ground beef with a dollop of plain yogurt. Her breeder (who fed the litter partial raw) insists that Cardi pups grow best with some filler, so lunch is about 1.5 tbl spoons of brown rice with veggies, and then 1oz of Stella and Chewies lamb OR a scoop of Tripett canned food (couldn't find frozen green tripe). Dinner is like 5-7 oz of bone in chicken.

She also gets organs once a week, but not veggies since they're in the rice.

Both dogs get grain free kibble as training treats throughout the day. The only supplement I use for both dogs in salmon oil, because I can't afford grass fed beef, and all their meat is high in Omega-6's.

While chicken is the base of their diet, I frequently rotate in bone-in turkey, whole tilapia, pork, lamb, and whatever else I find.

Thanks!

I'm trying not to stress too much lol, I figure even if its not perfect, it has to still be better than kibble.

I picked up some chicken leg quarters yesterday since they were on sale.... Now I need a kitchen scale so I know how much I'm feeding lol.

Yep.

Check out eBay for a cheap kitchen scale. I got mine there.

I have nothing useful to add, other than i don't think it is fair ya'll can feed your dogs 4-7oz a day. When I fed the ferrets raw, they each ate 3oz a meal, so 6oz a day EACH. And they are only 2lbs! (I tried to feed less and they looked like crap)

Variety is key with any raw diet to ensure they are getting the proper nutrients. That being said, make sure you ease them into each new protein source, giving them about 2 weeks or so to adjust.

We get really, really cheap ground beef, chicken and turkey from a supplier in WI. The chicken is backs and quarters ground, so bone included. The turkey is whole turkey, so organs included. We still add organs (liver, kidneys) and green tripe in once a week and whatever other meat I can find on sale (fish, etc). They also get raw eggs (shell included) once a week, and kongs stuffed with low fat yogurt or cottage cheese.

The way we work it, they get whatever protein source for 4 meals and then it's rotated to the next one we have thawed. We feed the beef and chicken together to even out the bone content to preserve solid stools. So they arn't getting a balanced meal everyday, but it's balanced in the long run.

If you need any help or source info for the Twin Cities let me know!

Ugh yeah I wish. Juno's being started on 1.5lbs a day and I am HOPING that is enough to maintain her weight. Actually it would be nice if she gained weight, so that I could cut back! A smaller dog would be easier to feed lol.

I will keep that in mind! There are a couple Oriental markets nearby so I am planning on checking those out to see what I can find--I'm expecting to see a larger variety and hopefully the prices are reasonable as well!


I'm excited for Thanksgiving--I have a large family so we stock up on turkeys, and that means I'll get the giblets and scraps.

This is a great read: How to Get Started | Prey Model Raw

I pretty much followed that to a T when switching Piper to raw.

10wks. in, she gets chicken quarters, turkey necks, boneless pork, boneless beef, fish (sardines), boneless chicken (breast, gizzards, hearts), venison, and for organ I'm just giving chicken liver along with a quarter a few times a week.

It's easy for your first couple weeks; feed chicken quarters, that's it LOL. I did quarters first, then turkey necks, then pork, and so on. I did add in the liver til week.. 6 I think. I usually feed two boneless meals in a row, then a bone in meal.. seems to work to keep her stools good.

I was worried about the 80/10/10 thing too, but I have figured out that as long as she looks good, and her stools are good, I'm obviously doing something right! This is her 9wks. in, needs to gain a few pounds but she's looking amazing since the switch to PMR:

She looks great!
That website is super helpful too.

I'm feeling a little more comfortable about doing this, I just hope Juno's digestive system doesn't make it complicated. She's got a bit of a sensitive tummy and it took forever to find a kibble that didn't give her the runs. So my fingers are crossed that transitioning her to raw isn't such a headache.

Check out Raws for Paws, pretty decent prices and you don't have to pay a ton. If you want meat at like $.19/pound, let me know. We buy in bulk.

If you want to make your own completely (which I find works best) then Pricing from Anderson Produce is AWESOME! That is where I get turkey necks for Megan and I when I am not broke

I don't have the space to buy in bulk. I'm using the side-by-side refrigerator in our garage haha and the freezer is just so narrow and provides no space.

I'm probably going to go broke just because of that.

You could probably still buy some bulk if you just process it and put it in ziploc bags and stack them?

I'll have to see if I can make it work once I get into the swing of things. If we cleaned out our human food freezers I could probably sneak some food in there without upsetting anyone lol but I don't foresee that happening!

I am like, way more excited about this than I should be. Ready for Poop Patrol.

If you have the space, check CL for freezers. I got mine (16.5cu ft.) for $125, and it's in like new condition.

My two were like this too, Aura had super mushy puppy poops that I couldn't get rid of, and Riley had a sensitive tummy, but when I started them on raw chicken their stools were awesome almost instantly. The first month is pretty easy, like everyone has said, start with chicken for the first 1-2 weeks and go from there.

We did chicken (bone in and then boneless) for 2 weeks, then turkey, fish (whole frozen sardines), pork about week 4 (bone in and boneless) and then boneless beef. Working on adding organs right now. Right now I just alternate variety as much as I can with what I have in the freezer. Not too concerned about the 80/10/10 thing as long as they are getting a nice variety and the poops are good. Balance over time.

Every dog is different. You might find Juno loses weight for the first 3 weeks or so, because chicken is pretty lean.

I have to feed Riley just over 2lbs a day to keep weight on him!! It's crazy.

Her poop was so perfect this morning I could have cried lol. The kibble she was on wasn't causing her any problems at all, so it wasn't like we had an issue that needed to be resolved--I'm just SO happy that, thus far, it hasn't created diarrhea. I haven't even been cutting off the skin/fat which is apparently recommended at first... oops.
It was a little bit smaller too. And this is after only 3 raw meals.

Thanks for your help so far everyone! This is so fun.

I only cut the major fatty parts off of the quarters when I first started Piper, and she surprisingly (she DID have lots of stomach issues, that's why I switched her to raw) had no ill effects from it. I never took the little pieces of organ meat off either.

YAY!

It gets to be almost as simple as kibble when you have the hang of it.

As for the freezer thing we only had the little side by side freezer when i first moved here (chest freezer from CL for $60 was awesome) and using the vaccum bags for stuff that was going to be in their for a while so i could stack it was great.

I only buy food once every month or 2 at the most now that i have a big chest freezer and just spend a few hours that Saturday cutting and bagging everything up. Bagging into "meals" also cuts down on time.