Raw Food Fun

One thing i love about feeding raw is just how darn much fun it can be. I always find myself popping into little ethnic markets looking for anything new. I have found asian markets to be just awesome. The Mexican ones are great too but here in the Seattle area they are far less common than they where back home in California.

I found a new Asian market. I stopped in there and sure enough, lots of fun goodies. Live talapia for $0.99 per lb! So i bought me a few of them suckers. A new fish called a milk fish that I hope Mihoshi will find tasty. I have been meaning to feed her more fish seeing how it is such a superfood.

I also bought some pork neck and back bones, that is awesome because those havent been the easiest to find and when you do find them they are usually pretty cheap.

But the best of all,, wait for it,,,,DUCK HEADS!!! I saw them sitting there in like a 12 pack. It was just so strange I had to do it. So, let's see how duck heads go over :)

Comments

  • edited March 2009
    My pets seem to be eating much better than I do. Is that hypocritical of me?

    I haven't done a lot of research on using RAW food, but what do you do to prepare them? I know you posted on another thread of mine that it's okay to feed the fish whole. Does that include the eyes, insides, scales, fins, and bones? There are a couple fish that has a ton of bones (ie. ladyfish) Is this okay to feed the dogs with? We sometimes keep even the little fish and use it as fertilizer for our plants, but I might start feeding them to the pets.

    I regularly go saltwater fishing whenever I am at my parent's house and we never end up empty handed.
  • edited November -1
    Zinja,
    My best advice is you just gotta experiment. Some dogs will not touch any fish, other love it. You can usually feed the whole fish. On a Talapia because they have a very thick and sharp dorsal fin I cut that off with scissors. But I feed the rest, heads, bones, guts all of it. Mihoshi loves the heads. She will always eat the head first. Sometimes I can get a whole bag of heads, in that case dinner is about three fish heads.

    I have nnoticed that she likes the white meat more mild freshwater fish. She does really enjoy sardines but she won't touch something like a mackeral. I love that fish so i buy that for myself.

    Stick to the cheap fish, no use spending big money on something like Sockeye Salmon when a $1.00 Talapia or perch will do :)

    I tried frogs once, that went over like a dead baloon.

    Actaully, when it comes to turkey backs, necks, chicken backs or pork back Mihoshi will eat these things frozen. This really makes life easy as it also cuts down on the risk of cross contamination and it makes everything less messy.

    Mihoshi hates organ meat (not counting whole fish here) so i don't mess with it. Plus, organ meat is really rich and can cause bad runs so eiether go light on it or skip it. You could end up with a bunch of chicken kidneys you don't need. trust me on this :)
    Have fun with it, eperiment and trust me both you and your pets will be hooked.
  • edited November -1
    Kissui - if you never feed organ meat, how is Mihoshi's diet well balanced?
  • edited March 2009
    I do use solid gold green tripe as well as a good solid live culture yogurt as supplemental foods. Free range egg yolks are also used on occasion.
  • edited March 2009
    I just want to throw you a precaution, Joe. While raw feeding can be fun, it is first and foremost work. You can't just give your dog some raw meat and hope for the best. You need to first know why, how and what - because you are now dealing with bacteria and potential parasites. Better to take precaution than harm your pet.

    There are a couple types of raw feeding principles. They exist so your dog is never lacking in nutrients, creating deficiencies that are harmful to the dog (especially a growing dog). There is prey model, BARF and rotation. Prey Model requires specific ratios of raw meat, raw meaty bones and organs to create a balanced diet.
    BARF combines raw meat, raw meaty bones, vegetation and sometimes grains to create a balanced diet.
    Rotation (recreational) is feeding some kibble here, some raw there, etc.

    There is a reason I asked Kissui how he balances if he doesn't feed organ meat. If you are feeding prey model or BARF or relying some other way to feed solely raw with no other added nutrients (either found in commercial foods or vitamins), you never skip organ meat. Lack of nutrients and amino acids only found in organ meat is very harmful to a dog if you aren't supplementing somehow.

    You never want to harm your dog, and you know your dog better than anyone on this internet forum. The first rule in dedicated raw feeding in any form is "know thy dog". Research before you experiment and get to know the different methods of feeding, why you would feed some parts of a fish and not others, why a pork or beef bones are probably too large for a shiba (and can cause dental harm), learn how to properly handle and prepare.
    I know its daunting, and really seems time consuming, but its not, and its better safe than sorry. And then you can begin to have fun with it.

    http://www.dogster.com/forums/Raw_Food_Diet
    http://www.netrophic.com/rawfeeding/
    http://mypetcarnivore.com/
    http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm
    http://www.usrmb.net/
    http://www.rawmeatybones.com/
    http://www.for-petes-sake.com/RawFoodBasics.pdf
    http://www.manteega.com/packlunch/resources.htm
    http://www.rawlearning.com/
    http://www.healinghope.net/downloads/canine_raw_food_diet_basics.pdf

    Mercury levels in Fish:
    http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/sea-mehg.html
  • edited November -1
    Thanks for the links! We should have an article on RAW food. I know Osy made one for dry food.

    I am pretty apprehensive on what I feel my dogs. The information you provided will help me out immensely. Thanks
  • edited November -1
    I have been feeding raw for some time now. I have never had a problem with parasites, ever.

    Some dogs won't eat organ meat, some will. Mine won't eat it.

    Green tripe is another story, it is good stuff along with a natural live cultured yogurt make great supplements.

    There are a lot of opinions on these topics. Many of them are designed to get soemone to buy expensive supplements or a commericaly avalible "raw diet." All one has to do usually is follow the money trail.

    In Japan Akita Inu are often fed a diet of raw whole fish and white steamed rice and that's it. They do well on this type of diet.

    I have also fed kibble, but I can tell you the differences by my own experience.

    On raw teeth condition is much better. Breath has no odor. Coat is much better, brighter, more shine. Less greasy coat. Stool are much smaller and no odor. Also only need to deficate once per day.

    Eyes are brighter on raw as well. I have been doing what I am doing with excellent results. Now if I have a dog drop dead from raw feeding I will let you all know.
  • edited March 2009
    Thanks for the Links Jen. I have been looking into RAW and also cooking for the dogs since I already make them sweet potato treats. I will have to go through all those sites and read up.

    I know there have been other memebers on this forum that have posted photos (before and after) of the changes certain diets or supplements have had in their dogs. ROMI for example recently posted photos of Ninja's coat after adding Seameal powder and it was great to see the side by side photos to see what an improvement it made.

    Does anyone have any before and after photos of their dogs since switching to RAW? Just curious.
  • edited November -1
    My cats gets raw as an occasional treat, they're too messy for me to want to deal with on a day to day basis. They love it.
  • edited November -1
    What do you feed your cats? I have thought of switching my beloved Charlie to raw but his jaw seems so small that he couldn't possibly get through a chicken neck :)
  • edited November -1
    So far they've only had chicken, a couple of different types of fish and beef. I haven't really put any effort into it but I'd love to get them some rabbit, deer and other wild game sometime in the near future (hint hint Gen lol) Mine haven't been interested in the chicken bones at all, they eat around it haha.
  • edited November -1
    We don't generally feed our cats raw, but I know my mother has been giving then raw chicken liver as a supplement and treat. Her cats get plenty of raw meat during their hunts, so it kind of balances out.

    Raw is an interesting diet, but with my lack of meat parasite knowledge, and such, I would be too nervous to take the plunge. All I have to say is freeze the meat for a month to kill off the parasites and germs. We do this with any meat we eat, and it helps reduce the risk as cooking doesn't always kill everything, especially if you like it bleeding.
  • edited November -1
    Thanks for the info Jen!
    You surely have done your homework and have a lot of experience to share.
    There's loads of info to digest there, I'll be taking a closer look at it soon.
    I'm sure Kuma would like to sink his teeth into something raw.
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