Toy Dog raw feeders

[Laurelin]

Can you guys give me some tips about balancing your dog's meals? I feel like that part of raw feeding has to be easier with a larger dog. There's just so few bones they can really eat.

What are some examples of what you feed?

 

[Kat09Tails]

It goes by weight on figuring out amounts. It also depends on your dog's willingness to chew - not gulp - some dogs must eat ground/minced for safety reasons and because they simply will not chew larger pieces. Not many papillons are gulpers as oh say labradors but the only raw fed fatality I personally know of was a papillon choking on a chunk of chicken neck.

Traditional:
A common raw meal around here is Chicken neck, a little bit of ground something, giblets,liver, veggie pulp from my juicer.

half a chicken back-the leftover veggies from dinner

lambneck with liver and veggie pulp

porkrib (if the dog eats the bone)- liver or kidneys-veggie pulp

Another is 1/2 a small rabbit forequarter with a loin, veggie pulp, kidney and a lil bit of chicken skin.

Prey Model

1-2 small fish depending on size

half a whole quail. Feathers still on.

two large mice

1/2 medium rat

 

[~Jessie~]

I feed mine premade raw because I'm not comfortable doing it myself. My dogs eat really fast and I'm just paranoid they'll end up gulping a bone.

 

[Laurelin]

I've done raw before. Had to stop when I moved and am wanting to start again. Summer is a pain to try to raw feed. I have not had much luck with her except for on premade raw and even then she'd skip meals left and right (that was after being on it for months).

I want to feed at least RMBs several times a week. Summer's teeth are pretty nasty and I really would like to avoid getting them cleaned just yet.

I've thought about getting a meat grinder too, but how do you go about balancing bone in those?

So far I've been stocking up on cheap chicken and have a ton of ground venison as well. I'm going to go to the feed store and see what they have for premade raw just for the days I need to run and get the

We have about a half bag of TOTW leftover so I'll probably start in about a month.

 

[Maxy24]

Well I raw fed my 9 pound cat. His bones were pretty much limited to chicken wings (and I had to assist him a little on that, but dogs should be better chewers I'd think), chicken ribs, the occasional chicken neck, Everything from cornish hens, and many rabbit bones (don't remember exactly what he could and could not handle but he LOVED rabbit bones, I feel like he found them easier to eat than chicken bones). Chicken wings were the easiest and cheapest to get.

 

[HayleyMarie]

Laur, have you tried pork ribs?

 

[Emily]

You know, not quite the same, but when Keeva was ittybitty I had great success with taking a hammer to the bigger bones (I use mainly chicken frames). I didn't have to pulverize them too much, really, just mash them a little to give her a head start. I smashed the bones inside of the meat, so I would end feeding her a slightly flat drumstick, or the like.

Worked well for us and I've read of many breeders doing the same thing for litters raised on raw. It allows you to use the whole chicken frame (over how ever long your dogs take to eat it), which has a nice meat to bone ratio.

 

[JustaLilBitaLuck]

Jack is an extremely picky chewer. He loves raw marrow bones or raw knuckle bones, but RMBs (chicken backs, turkey necks, etc) are a battle with him. He mostly just crunches a few times and then spits out a gross mess on the floor and leaves it.

I opted for premade raw because a) I can get it super cheap from work and b) I don't really want to buy a grinder to make sure he gets enough bone.

 

[Sapphire-Light]

If you are worried about gulp you can feed ground, and this way it's easier for toy dogs to balace the amount for their weight using a small kitched scale.

Wit Pompadour I prefer to feed ground, he is not a gulper but if the meat is in fajita cuts he loves to play wit his food making a big mess


As for the bones he eats chicken wings since his jaw and teeth are so small, he really enjoys the wings.

 

[Saeleofu]

Summer's teeth are pretty nasty and I really would like to avoid getting them cleaned just yet.

Will she let you hand-scale them? I got a scaler thingy at Walmart for a couple bucks, and both my dogs have always let me do it (Gavroche let me do it from day 1, surprisingly, given his unknown history). My friend does her doxie's now, too, and he's good as long as there's someone to hold him. It won't get *everything* but it';; get the big chunky nasties off.


As far as raw for little dogs, I have no idea - I'm thinking of putting Tango on premade raw (since he's small enough I might actually be able to afford it) but aside form that I just don't know.

 

[JacksonsMom]

Will she let you hand-scale them? I got a scaler thingy at Walmart for a couple bucks, and both my dogs have always let me do it (Gavroche let me do it from day 1, surprisingly, given his unknown history). My friend does her doxie's now, too, and he's good as long as there's someone to hold him. It won't get *everything* but it';; get the big chunky nasties off.

The only thing that scares me about that is scaling can create pits, so the teeth may need to be buffed after. The tartar on the visible portions of the teeth are just a cosmetic issue. It would be really hard for an owner to scale as close to the gum line as they should. And if the head is moved at all, the gums can be injured and bacteria introduced. And between the teeth, especially those back molars, would seem almost impossible... And when a dental exam is done under anesthesia, the vet gets a chance to look at the back teeth. To each their own, of course, I've just heard a lot of iffy things about scaling at home, especially on a dog whose teeth are really bad. I think dentals are so important if they seem necessary. Dental disease is pretty serious.