Hmm, I think it depends on the size/appetite of the dog? I know Stella and Chewy's was outrageously expensive, so I never touched it. When I started out, I fed Bowdu Primal raw nuggets for about two months, and we were running about $80/month for a 30-pound Shiba on the turkey and sardine recipe (which is not the cheapest, but also not the most expensive).
Bowdu did take to the pre-made raw diet pretty quickly, while Bowpi was a little more resistant. I found in both cases that tempering the meat seemed to make things a little more appealing -- bringing the meat something a little closer to warm-blooded animal temperatures (without cooking it, obviously). I know some dogs have no qualms about eating frozen raw, but temperature was definitely an issue with mine, especially as they were starting out.
I just seal up the meat in a bag and submerge it in really hot water (from the hot water boiler) for a few minutes. It's not hot enough to cook anything, but definitely enough to bring the outside temperature, at least, to something more "life like." Easy peasy!
Thanks! I will try that tomorrow. We managed after many hours and several attempts for her to eat all the meat. She did crunch the bone (twice) but dropped it after each crunch.
We don't do pre-made raw, it was ridiculously expensive here. I think it was costing us close to $400 a month to feed only Wraith at the time, who was around 30-40lbs. [ that was on Primal, Nature's Variety was a little cheaper, but it made Wraith sick...of course this was 2 years ago so no idea how it is now ]
We feed chicken leg quarters, chicken livers, chicken necks, chicken tenders, chicken gizzards, chicken hearts, beef hearts, beef liver, ground beef, ground turkey, chicken feet, duck feet, eggs, cornish game hens...whatever is on sale.
Costs me $45 a week to feed 4 dogs. One is 35lbs, One is 30lbs, One is 80lbs, & one is around 40lbs, but eats as much as the 80lbs LOL [ he's a growing puppy ] I also give them whatever scraps from what I'm cooking. IE: if I'm cooking beef or chicken, I trim the fat off & give it to the dogs. Likewise, they get potatoes, zucchini, sweet potato, celery, pumpkin...Wraith LOVES bell pepper. But these are just random "extras" not calculated into what we feed.
Generally, we feed once a day. Every couple weeks or so we fast them for a day. They get water & treats, but not a "meal."
I don't worry about obstructions. Generally speaking, when we first switch them over from kibble to raw, we hold it to make sure they're actually going to chew, not just swallow it whole. Well, Aggro, the latest pup, snatched it from our hands & swallowed a drumstick whole. [ gave me a heart attack ] But, he was fine. I have noticed, if they eat a piece too big, they tend to re-gurge it back up that second, then re-chew it, then eat it. Not saying other dogs will do the same, it's just what I've seen mine do.
Aggro now chews up whatever you give him, no more swallowing things whole. haha
That's about how we feed, too, Sangmort. We don't fast though. They get too keyed up if we do (I remember way back when I first learned about raw feeding, like 12 + years ago, and the book I was following suggested that. It said it gave them "more energy" and I discovered, yes, it does, and I don't need my dogs to have quite that much energy! *lol*)
@shibamistress - glad I'm not the only one! They do get a bit antsy on fast days. To be honest, we decide to fast them when we run out of food. haha Usually once every 2-3 weeks. They get "extra" the following day tho. I use the fast days to my advantage to do some training. Actually, I feed all the pups at night so that the "Treats" during the day are more valuable for training.
Oh, the only other thing I can think to add is that Fate likes his cut up into small pieces. He use to not care, but since his ataxia has gotten worse, we chop it up small for him. Only way to get him to eat. ~
Sorry she isn't taking to it right away might take more time for her.
Some people on dogster usually suggests to sear the meat just enough to give it a smell, but not enough to cook to the bone that usually helps.
Would be hard with backs as the bone is pretty close to the skin.
Would she eat a piece of raw meat in a smaller piece?
Saya does the bury thing when I feed her something big like pork shoulder, lamb leg roast or whatever. She eats her fill then tries to bury it with the towel or if outside she walks away.
If not eating keeps going maybe try some home cooking to keep something in her?
Would she eat caned dog food?
It Took Saya whole week to get used to eating chicken she would strip just the meat off of the bone then eat the bone.
Sometimes she wouldn't eat the drumstick so I tried later and if she still refused she got a little bit of kibble.
I hope it isn't anything bad.
I'm not against chicken backs Saya has eaten them when I gotten whole chicken or cornish hens. Since she is used to raw I usually add a bit of organ, egg or ground meat..
Farmer sells chicken backs and necks, but gotten sold out quick. I rather get whole chicken So I can cut it up into various sizes.
She did finally finish a thigh, after leaving it out all day and comibg back to it more than once. I think cracking the bone freaked her a bit so I was able to split it more. Once she discovered raw marrow she ate half of it. I finally tossed the other half. I thought with that much meat she would have a touch of the hershey squirts but seems stopped up like the Hoover dam. I left her today with a bit of kibble because I couldn't for with her for an hour and help her eat it. I think room temp or warmer might be the key. Did saya go straight for the egg or did it need to be cracked raw first?
We have different reactions with our 3 dogs - Kitora and Kunai don't care where they are fed the raw - they each like their own space to eat it though. Both of them will chew on a piece for a little bit, break the bone in a few places but their food goes down the hatch pretty quickly (and not really in small bites) regardless of its temperature. Both of them will break their own eggs too. Mirra is very particular however; she won't eat large raw chunks in the house - she will actually carry it to the door and request to go outside with it where she can go around the corner of the house to slowly and peacefully gnaw away on it by herself. Takes her a long time compared to the others to finish her meal. I also have to pre-crack her eggs for her. She's always been extremely "polite" with her eating habits. She's the the only dog I've ever had that was this way. She doesn't ever want to be rushed with it. If I feed the raw in the house I do cut it up, only because it makes less of a mess for me to clean up later as they aren't flopping it around chewing it themselves. We use a cleaver to cut through the bones. Works very nicely for us. )
Oh - also - Mirra will self regulate unlike any other dog I've had too. She will eat more/less depending on time of year and depending on how much energy she has expended. Way cool to have a dog that does that, but most def. not the norm I think!
Wow, this is all very interesting to me and something we can do since my son is in FFA and is raising chickens and a pig. We still have some pig left over from last year, so it is good to know the dogs can have some. We do give the pork bones (cooked) to Kaji and he isn't aggressive enough that he hurts himself or breaks the bones open, so we don't worry about him breaking teeth. My son's pig from last year has really tough bones and they don't splinter the way commercial pigs' bones do. The meat is very different from store bought pork too.
Are the chicken legs declawed/denailed? The chickens we are raising for show now have huge claws and I'm pretty sure I can ask the butcher to save them for me. I just need to know what to do with them when I get them back. Is salmonella a risk to dogs and worms? Should meats be frozen before giving them to the dogs, and then defrosted? Do you wipe the dogs down (paws and face) when they are done eating? Is everyone feeding indoors on towels? We get coyotes/raccoons in the back (our backyard is wooded) so I don't want the dogs eating in the back, so indoors is our only option. We also have two cats... does anyone feed raw foods to their cats? I can already see both cats meowing for some...
I would like to try some raw, but not completely. More or less, just to help use some of the foods I have a lot of.
@amti Under the towels for me is a mat that I can wipe down and clean the towels.are changed daily if I feed her in a bowl she flips it and just on two or three towels, she burys it. I largely feed it to her by hand and the bone goes on the ground. We freeze before I feed it to her but she likes them somewhat warm so I wash it under hot water for a couple of seconds after its defrosted in the fridge (plus it gets what ever junk was on the surface off).
@amti - the boy gets fed on the porch in a bowl and we hold it for the girl over a plate otherwise she drags it everywhere. When we didn't have a yard we used his bowl in the crate and admittedly cleaned it with bleach after every meal. I do wipe their faces (unscented baby wipes) but not paws but neither of my guys use paws.
Salmonella is a risk, but less of one than it is for people. I personally feed meat without freezing (I wouldn't if I chose to feed fish) but I feed them meat from farmers I know, and I know the kill date and how the animals are raised.
Since you know the source, I would feel comfortable feeding without freezing. My vet (who is not holistic or a proponent of raw) thinks freshness is the biggest factor and liked the condition of the pups on raw.
I also declaw feet but the nails looked sharp enough to scrape intestines so I didn't want to take a chance. Bones that are too sharp I toss. Raw bones are softer, but can still cause issues (just significantly less probability than cooked) so try to make sure your pup(s) chew thoroughly.
I fed one raw meal, one grain free high end kibble. Just separate the meals enough and try to balance your flesh, bone, organ ratio over the course of a week. I know of some dogs that don't do well on pork, so be cautious. If your pup has a sensitive belly start with poultry and incorporate pork incrementally. It's not fun to wake every 30-45 minutes because you incorporated a new protein too quickly.
I feed chicken feet with the claws even turkey feet, but if your worried you can clip them off.
I haven't had a issue with the claws, but I do understand they do look sharp so if you feel safer with them cut off that is fine.
I prefer raw bones.. I've fed cooked pork bones that have been in slow cooker for long time cooking in apple cider vinegar, but I don't do it often and it's only the jointed part I let the dog eat as it's so soft a butter knife can make a good dent in it.
I've fed fresh meat from the groceries no issue.. Only meat I purposely freeze for a few months is wild game like deer, goose, duck, pheasant or bluegill fish.. most times though those things except for blue gill has already been frozen for long time by the hunter.. I just take the extra meat off his hands since he needs make room for new items.. Not necessarily freezer burned meat, but still good.. I made grilled dove for my family it was yummy..
We share the meat between us and the dogs. free meat is always nice for us humans and dogs.
You can feed outside or inside. If inside is your preference you can feed on a towel, tile or in crate something easily cleaned up.
Saya is fed on a layer of towels I have four towels on top of each other once the top towel is dirty I wash it and the first towel below it.. It works for me.
I feed outside too especially if it's something like a fish, whole bunny or whole quail.
I have coyotes, raccoons and opossums even badgers and skunks.
I never had any issues with them much.. I always around when I feed outside so if they did came around I'll give them a piece of my mind.
I normally see the coyotes in my yard at night as rabbits tend to come around my yard at night time so makes sense they will hang around to get them..
I've seen coyotes during the day, but they tend to stick in the woods or field then in my yard.
We used to have a issue with a skunk at night would come into the yard dig holes and scare me half to death because I see it's eyes shining in the distance and it's black and white coloring.. I'm like Sorry Saya we are going out front to potty..
Cleaning up depends on the dog.
Saya rarely ever uses her paws to eat her food not even if she is eating a whole quail, lamb leg roast or pork shoulder roast..
Only one thing have gotten her to use her paws and it is beef ribs.
I don't recommend beef ribs to a dog new to raw as some might be too eager and might try crunch it in half and beef bones tend to be very hard.
I gave her first beef rib at age of three years old and she has been on raw at 8months old..
Depends on the dog too some just don't do well with that type of bone.
It isn't a edible type bone like bone in chicken, pork ribs, lamb ribs etc...
I mainly gave it for the work out of getting the meat off the bone as it was a lot of work for her.
She could grind a little bone off of the beef rib, but not a lot. once it's completely clean of meat I toss the bone.
I prefer giving softer bones that are not too hard.
Bella my mom's boxer she gets a bit messier then Saya being that she has floppy boxer lips. I wash her lips or anywhere she touched raw with a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water.
If you don't feel that is enough to disinfect germs you can add a tiny amount of dish soup to it..
I feel the vinegar and water is fine enough..
I have never became sick from the raw nor have my family or my 83year old grandpa who stayed with us for 6months or the young cousins my dogs meet.
My grandpa is diabetic and has heart issues he didn't take his meds right so he needed some more serious care so we got him healthy..
I think if my dogs had germs from eating he'd be one to show signs of sickness from it..
The dogs loved him and was gentle with him and would let him pet them or they licked his hands and wagged their tails.
I am always careful any plate, cutting board or knife is cleaned up if I used it for meat same deal I do for human meat prep..
I know people who own long floppy eared dogs have to put a cover up type thing to keep the floppy ears clean like a snood or something.. looks so funny on the dogs. haha
Salmonella is not as bad of a issue for dogs, but it depends on the dog. Coarse go slow on introduction don't offer too much variety if dog isn't used to it.
Coarse I never fed my dogs meat that is ripe.. smell is yucky.
I gotten chicken for myself to cook and soon I opened it up the smell was so yucky! I would never dream of giving it to the dogs due to the yucky smell..
Dogs can handle yucky things, but still I don't want to risk it.
I tossed the meat as the grocery was pretty far we no longer get meat from them.
I make sure the food is good on sell by date.
I can only afford to just get organs from local grass fed/free ranged farmers. I sometimes get ground meat, stew meat, or lamb ribs from the farmer when they have nice deals on it.. Luckily he cuts me nice deals with the liver, kidneys, heart and tongue if I get a lot.
Other half is from Asian market for fish, grocery, and butcher. I also get some things from the local meat processor they sell meat, frozen fruit, veggies, and cheese.. Also nice spices too.
I get some beef thymus from the meat processor for a good price and beef tongue and heart too.
I know of raw fed cats.. I know they are harder to switch then dogs as cats can be super picky on raw..
Whiskers was such a prince his raw had to be cut in tiny bits..
Our rescue cat he loved raw sadly he was missing teeth not sure why he was like that when we found him must had a hard life.
He loved to chew on a whole chicken wings despite his missing teeth he got all the meat, skin and even ate a small portion of the bone. I would offer a wing once week..
Can't offer much advice as never fully transitioned them to raw more like a once week treat.. If you feed a cat raw full time you probably should research things they need.. Like supplementing taurine.
I know heart is rich in taurine, but not sure how much and how much does freezing affect it.. I know mice are a good source of taurine could be wrong on that.
Will add this pork is one thing some people freeze before feeding.. I have fed it fresh from grocery store no issue, but some feel it's needed..
Worms isn't a issue unless your feeding whole prey and it had parasite?
As most parasites are in the intestines and stuff some can be in the muscle too.
You can check it out if your unsure as different animals might have different precautions like salmon/trout poisoning..
I'd never feed carnivore meat. Some people feed bear and even coyotes.. I don't like that idea of feeding another canine.
It seems to much like cannibalism plus they might get sick from something I dunno. It seems taboo to me..
I would never feed a scavenger like raccoon or opossum, but that is just me. They seem pretty wormy from one video I seen.
Not saying your thinking of feeding that, but some people do so thought I'd post my take on it..
With the chest freezer most meat is already frozen for while before fed as I prep things into portion size freeze individually and then put into organized sections.. middle is organs and dog treats, left is boneless and fish, right is bone in items.. Easy to find stuff despite it being a chest freeze.. upright is more organization options.
I don't freeze meat before I feed it, except with pork sometimes. I feed the dogs on a towel in their crates (well, one eats out of her crate) inside the house.
It never occurred to me to wipe off their muzzles or feet after eating so I never have. I've fed raw for about 12 years and never had any problems with salmonella or anything like that, and honestly, over time, we've gotten rather lackadaisical about cleaning habits (meaning in the beginning, like many people, I was all about spraying down counters and cutting boards and shears with hydrogen peroxide, and constant washing of dog dishes, etc. Now we don't do all that so regularly and still everyone--canine and human--is fine.)
I buy my meat from the grocery store or Asian grocery store.
Raw is even better for cats that are more true carnivores than dogs. (There's a more technical name for that kind of carnivore, but I'm not remembering it right now).
I think raw is good for cats as it provides a lot of moisture. cats supposedly need a lot of moisture. I'm more of a dog owner then a cat so not too sure on it, but what I know is moisture is good in their diet I dunno though.
I've only fed it once or twice a week to the cats as Whiskers is very picky with stuff and our other cat loved the raw stuff, but had horrible time trying to eat it due to loss of teeth.
Our cat Boudreaux probably would done best on raw if he had all his teeth.
Course not easy task.. I'm not sure what all can can eat in terms raw meaty bones.. rabbit, Cornish hens, chicken wings my guess?
Boudreaux would catch and eat some mice. He even caught a juvenile rabbit he didn't eat it, but who knows if left alone maybe he would have.
He handled whole chicken wings well was a good workout getting the meat and skin..
I kbow with raw there is less waste but how less is less? Sachi is eating voraciously and digesting fine ( no noises) with no vomiting but only tues once every two days or so. Normal? She hasn't lost weight either.
Saya is 20-22lbs haven't weighed her in while last she was 20lbs. She poops once a day sometimes two if she had a bone in meal.
Is her poop normal looking, or is it white, chalky? Or loose?
Tiny pellets?
Saya tends to have white poop when she had bone heavy meal, but day later it goes back to normal since she had boneless meal. normal bone in poops usually is half white and half tan sometimes all tan or blackish if she had organs like heart, liver, kidneys.
Blueberries will make her poop a black color too.
She eating things well? What has she been eating?
Saya did once go two days without pooping it was raining very hard most of the day and she didn't want to go number 2 in the yard only number 1..
I never had issue of pooping once every two days when weather is fine.
We are on a rotation of chicken back, chicken quarter, turkey mix (pre made with organ and bone) and freezdried liver. Usually it is liquid or solid but always brown.
@saya's diagnosis on white poop is consistent with what I've seen. So your dog is on a 100% meat/bone based diet, no fruit/veggies as treats? The pooping every other day might be due to lack of fiber, and that's not to be concerned. I fed my JA pup green beef tripe blend for her main meals one day, total about 1#, her poop the next day was <1 cup in volume.
I'm more concerned that you say it's usually liquid or solid... Liquid might mean too rich or too rapid of transition on the protein rotation. Have you started tracking which proteins give her solid vs. liquid output?
If you have the stomach to look at some formalized scoring chart in the blog link below, I try to make sure my dogs' poop stay in 1-3 range. 4 and up means either upset stomach or food is too rich. When I see 4 I can usually give the some yogurt or FortiFlora right away, and cut back on the rich stuff (like liver and pork treats), usually solves the problem in 24 hours. Liquid over time = diarrhea, no fun
when she gets a lot of freeze dried liver is when it is most solid. it literally alternates and backs are every other meal. I am trying to switch her on a premade raw blend for now to see if that fixes it. she gets fruit occasionally but I might add more intentionally, or cooked rice?
Hum... that's odd that freeze dried liver correlates with solid stool... it sounds like she does better on process foods. I'm wondering if it's the higher in fat content in fresh raw you give her, or protein allergies that is causing liquid poop
Normally when a dog is having diarrhea, you give them rice and cooked chicken breast (which is fat free) to rest their tummies. If you continue to feed raw rotation plus rice, it'll be hard to pinpoint the problem (IMHO, bowel movement every other day is not a problem)
Perhaps you try to feed a single protein pre-made raw blend for a while (like 2 weeks), see if you can consistently get solid stool, then try rotating onto another protein? While I'm a big advocate on protein rotation, we know another puppy that had not only grain but poultry allergies. It took the new owners a while to figure out that's why the pup kept having loose stool and was hungry all the time... poor thing.
Comments
Bowdu did take to the pre-made raw diet pretty quickly, while Bowpi was a little more resistant. I found in both cases that tempering the meat seemed to make things a little more appealing -- bringing the meat something a little closer to warm-blooded animal temperatures (without cooking it, obviously). I know some dogs have no qualms about eating frozen raw, but temperature was definitely an issue with mine, especially as they were starting out.
We feed chicken leg quarters, chicken livers, chicken necks, chicken tenders, chicken gizzards, chicken hearts, beef hearts, beef liver, ground beef, ground turkey, chicken feet, duck feet, eggs, cornish game hens...whatever is on sale.
Costs me $45 a week to feed 4 dogs. One is 35lbs, One is 30lbs, One is 80lbs, & one is around 40lbs, but eats as much as the 80lbs LOL [ he's a growing puppy ] I also give them whatever scraps from what I'm cooking. IE: if I'm cooking beef or chicken, I trim the fat off & give it to the dogs. Likewise, they get potatoes, zucchini, sweet potato, celery, pumpkin...Wraith LOVES bell pepper. But these are just random "extras" not calculated into what we feed.
Generally, we feed once a day. Every couple weeks or so we fast them for a day. They get water & treats, but not a "meal."
I don't worry about obstructions. Generally speaking, when we first switch them over from kibble to raw, we hold it to make sure they're actually going to chew, not just swallow it whole. Well, Aggro, the latest pup, snatched it from our hands & swallowed a drumstick whole. [ gave me a heart attack ] But, he was fine. I have noticed, if they eat a piece too big, they tend to re-gurge it back up that second, then re-chew it, then eat it. Not saying other dogs will do the same, it's just what I've seen mine do.
Aggro now chews up whatever you give him, no more swallowing things whole. haha
Anyway, hope that helps someone
~
@shibamistress - glad I'm not the only one!
Oh, the only other thing I can think to add is that Fate likes his cut up into small pieces. He use to not care, but since his ataxia has gotten worse, we chop it up small for him. Only way to get him to eat.
Some people on dogster usually suggests to sear the meat just enough to give it a smell, but not enough to cook to the bone that usually helps.
Would be hard with backs as the bone is pretty close to the skin.
Would she eat a piece of raw meat in a smaller piece?
Saya does the bury thing when I feed her something big like pork shoulder, lamb leg roast or whatever. She eats her fill then tries to bury it with the towel or if outside she walks away.
If not eating keeps going maybe try some home cooking to keep something in her?
Would she eat caned dog food?
It Took Saya whole week to get used to eating chicken she would strip just the meat off of the bone then eat the bone.
Sometimes she wouldn't eat the drumstick so I tried later and if she still refused she got a little bit of kibble.
I hope it isn't anything bad.
I'm not against chicken backs Saya has eaten them when I gotten whole chicken or cornish hens. Since she is used to raw I usually add a bit of organ, egg or ground meat..
Farmer sells chicken backs and necks, but gotten sold out quick. I rather get whole chicken So I can cut it up into various sizes.
If I feed the raw in the house I do cut it up, only because it makes less of a mess for me to clean up later as they aren't flopping it around chewing it themselves. We use a cleaver to cut through the bones. Works very nicely for us.
Oh - also - Mirra will self regulate unlike any other dog I've had too. She will eat more/less depending on time of year and depending on how much energy she has expended. Way cool to have a dog that does that, but most def. not the norm I think!
Are the chicken legs declawed/denailed? The chickens we are raising for show now have huge claws and I'm pretty sure I can ask the butcher to save them for me. I just need to know what to do with them when I get them back. Is salmonella a risk to dogs and worms? Should meats be frozen before giving them to the dogs, and then defrosted? Do you wipe the dogs down (paws and face) when they are done eating? Is everyone feeding indoors on towels? We get coyotes/raccoons in the back (our backyard is wooded) so I don't want the dogs eating in the back, so indoors is our only option. We also have two cats... does anyone feed raw foods to their cats? I can already see both cats meowing for some...
I would like to try some raw, but not completely. More or less, just to help use some of the foods I have a lot of.
Salmonella is a risk, but less of one than it is for people. I personally feed meat without freezing (I wouldn't if I chose to feed fish) but I feed them meat from farmers I know, and I know the kill date and how the animals are raised.
Since you know the source, I would feel comfortable feeding without freezing. My vet (who is not holistic or a proponent of raw) thinks freshness is the biggest factor and liked the condition of the pups on raw.
I also declaw feet but the nails looked sharp enough to scrape intestines so I didn't want to take a chance. Bones that are too sharp I toss. Raw bones are softer, but can still cause issues (just significantly less probability than cooked) so try to make sure your pup(s) chew thoroughly.
I fed one raw meal, one grain free high end kibble. Just separate the meals enough and try to balance your flesh, bone, organ ratio over the course of a week. I know of some dogs that don't do well on pork, so be cautious. If your pup has a sensitive belly start with poultry and incorporate pork incrementally. It's not fun to wake every 30-45 minutes because you incorporated a new protein too quickly.
I haven't had a issue with the claws, but I do understand they do look sharp so if you feel safer with them cut off that is fine.
I prefer raw bones.. I've fed cooked pork bones that have been in slow cooker for long time cooking in apple cider vinegar, but I don't do it often and it's only the jointed part I let the dog eat as it's so soft a butter knife can make a good dent in it.
I've fed fresh meat from the groceries no issue.. Only meat I purposely freeze for a few months is wild game like deer, goose, duck, pheasant or bluegill fish.. most times though those things except for blue gill has already been frozen for long time by the hunter.. I just take the extra meat off his hands since he needs make room for new items.. Not necessarily freezer burned meat, but still good.. I made grilled dove for my family it was yummy..
We share the meat between us and the dogs. free meat is always nice for us humans and dogs.
You can feed outside or inside. If inside is your preference you can feed on a towel, tile or in crate something easily cleaned up.
Saya is fed on a layer of towels I have four towels on top of each other once the top towel is dirty I wash it and the first towel below it.. It works for me.
I feed outside too especially if it's something like a fish, whole bunny or whole quail.
I have coyotes, raccoons and opossums even badgers and skunks.
I never had any issues with them much.. I always around when I feed outside so if they did came around I'll give them a piece of my mind.
I normally see the coyotes in my yard at night as rabbits tend to come around my yard at night time so makes sense they will hang around to get them..
I've seen coyotes during the day, but they tend to stick in the woods or field then in my yard.
We used to have a issue with a skunk at night would come into the yard dig holes and scare me half to death because I see it's eyes shining in the distance and it's black and white coloring.. I'm like Sorry Saya we are going out front to potty..
Cleaning up depends on the dog.
Saya rarely ever uses her paws to eat her food not even if she is eating a whole quail, lamb leg roast or pork shoulder roast..
Only one thing have gotten her to use her paws and it is beef ribs.
I don't recommend beef ribs to a dog new to raw as some might be too eager and might try crunch it in half and beef bones tend to be very hard.
I gave her first beef rib at age of three years old and she has been on raw at 8months old..
Depends on the dog too some just don't do well with that type of bone.
It isn't a edible type bone like bone in chicken, pork ribs, lamb ribs etc...
I mainly gave it for the work out of getting the meat off the bone as it was a lot of work for her.
She could grind a little bone off of the beef rib, but not a lot. once it's completely clean of meat I toss the bone.
I prefer giving softer bones that are not too hard.
Bella my mom's boxer she gets a bit messier then Saya being that she has floppy boxer lips. I wash her lips or anywhere she touched raw with a 50/50 mix of vinegar and water.
If you don't feel that is enough to disinfect germs you can add a tiny amount of dish soup to it..
I feel the vinegar and water is fine enough..
I have never became sick from the raw nor have my family or my 83year old grandpa who stayed with us for 6months or the young cousins my dogs meet.
My grandpa is diabetic and has heart issues he didn't take his meds right so he needed some more serious care so we got him healthy..
I think if my dogs had germs from eating he'd be one to show signs of sickness from it..
The dogs loved him and was gentle with him and would let him pet them or they licked his hands and wagged their tails.
I am always careful any plate, cutting board or knife is cleaned up if I used it for meat same deal I do for human meat prep..
I know people who own long floppy eared dogs have to put a cover up type thing to keep the floppy ears clean like a snood or something.. looks so funny on the dogs. haha
Salmonella is not as bad of a issue for dogs, but it depends on the dog. Coarse go slow on introduction don't offer too much variety if dog isn't used to it.
Coarse I never fed my dogs meat that is ripe..
I gotten chicken for myself to cook and soon I opened it up the smell was so yucky! I would never dream of giving it to the dogs due to the yucky smell..
Dogs can handle yucky things, but still I don't want to risk it.
I tossed the meat as the grocery was pretty far we no longer get meat from them.
I make sure the food is good on sell by date.
I can only afford to just get organs from local grass fed/free ranged farmers. I sometimes get ground meat, stew meat, or lamb ribs from the farmer when they have nice deals on it.. Luckily he cuts me nice deals with the liver, kidneys, heart and tongue if I get a lot.
Other half is from Asian market for fish, grocery, and butcher. I also get some things from the local meat processor they sell meat, frozen fruit, veggies, and cheese.. Also nice spices too.
I get some beef thymus from the meat processor for a good price and beef tongue and heart too.
I know of raw fed cats.. I know they are harder to switch then dogs as cats can be super picky on raw..
Whiskers was such a prince his raw had to be cut in tiny bits..
Our rescue cat he loved raw sadly he was missing teeth not sure why he was like that when we found him must had a hard life.
He loved to chew on a whole chicken wings despite his missing teeth he got all the meat, skin and even ate a small portion of the bone. I would offer a wing once week..
Can't offer much advice as never fully transitioned them to raw more like a once week treat.. If you feed a cat raw full time you probably should research things they need.. Like supplementing taurine.
I know heart is rich in taurine, but not sure how much and how much does freezing affect it..
I know mice are a good source of taurine could be wrong on that.
Worms isn't a issue unless your feeding whole prey and it had parasite?
As most parasites are in the intestines and stuff some can be in the muscle too.
You can check it out if your unsure as different animals might have different precautions like salmon/trout poisoning..
I'd never feed carnivore meat. Some people feed bear and even coyotes.. I don't like that idea of feeding another canine.
It seems to much like cannibalism plus they might get sick from something I dunno. It seems taboo to me..
I would never feed a scavenger like raccoon or opossum, but that is just me. They seem pretty wormy from one video I seen.
Not saying your thinking of feeding that, but some people do so thought I'd post my take on it..
With the chest freezer most meat is already frozen for while before fed as I prep things into portion size freeze individually and then put into organized sections.. middle is organs and dog treats, left is boneless and fish, right is bone in items.. Easy to find stuff despite it being a chest freeze.. upright is more organization options.
It never occurred to me to wipe off their muzzles or feet after eating so I never have. I've fed raw for about 12 years and never had any problems with salmonella or anything like that, and honestly, over time, we've gotten rather lackadaisical about cleaning habits (meaning in the beginning, like many people, I was all about spraying down counters and cutting boards and shears with hydrogen peroxide, and constant washing of dog dishes, etc. Now we don't do all that so regularly and still everyone--canine and human--is fine.)
I buy my meat from the grocery store or Asian grocery store.
Raw is even better for cats that are more true carnivores than dogs. (There's a more technical name for that kind of carnivore, but I'm not remembering it right now).
I think raw is good for cats as it provides a lot of moisture. cats supposedly need a lot of moisture. I'm more of a dog owner then a cat so not too sure on it, but what I know is moisture is good in their diet I dunno though.
I've only fed it once or twice a week to the cats as Whiskers is very picky with stuff and our other cat loved the raw stuff, but had horrible time trying to eat it due to loss of teeth.
Our cat Boudreaux probably would done best on raw if he had all his teeth.
Course not easy task.. I'm not sure what all can can eat in terms raw meaty bones.. rabbit, Cornish hens, chicken wings my guess?
Boudreaux would catch and eat some mice. He even caught a juvenile rabbit he didn't eat it, but who knows if left alone maybe he would have.
He handled whole chicken wings well was a good workout getting the meat and skin..
Is her poop normal looking, or is it white, chalky? Or loose?
Tiny pellets?
Saya tends to have white poop when she had bone heavy meal, but day later it goes back to normal since she had boneless meal. normal bone in poops usually is half white and half tan sometimes all tan or blackish if she had organs like heart, liver, kidneys.
Blueberries will make her poop a black color too.
She eating things well? What has she been eating?
Saya did once go two days without pooping it was raining very hard most of the day and she didn't want to go number 2 in the yard only number 1..
I never had issue of pooping once every two days when weather is fine.
So your dog is on a 100% meat/bone based diet, no fruit/veggies as treats? The pooping every other day might be due to lack of fiber, and that's not to be concerned. I fed my JA pup green beef tripe blend for her main meals one day, total about 1#, her poop the next day was <1 cup in volume.
I'm more concerned that you say it's usually liquid or solid...
Liquid might mean too rich or too rapid of transition on the protein rotation. Have you started tracking which proteins give her solid vs. liquid output?
If you have the stomach to look at some formalized scoring chart in the blog link below, I try to make sure my dogs' poop stay in 1-3 range. 4 and up means either upset stomach or food is too rich. When I see 4 I can usually give the some yogurt or FortiFlora right away, and cut back on the rich stuff (like liver and pork treats), usually solves the problem in 24 hours. Liquid over time = diarrhea, no fun
http://boogiebt.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/what-is-my-dogs-poo-telling-me/
When did the liquid start how often is it compared to firm poop?
I agree keeping a journal what the dog has eaten each day and if poop was good, ok, not so good etc. Might help show a pattern.
Maybe with hold the freeze dried liver untill poop gets to normal.
Normally when a dog is having diarrhea, you give them rice and cooked chicken breast (which is fat free) to rest their tummies. If you continue to feed raw rotation plus rice, it'll be hard to pinpoint the problem (IMHO, bowel movement every other day is not a problem)
Perhaps you try to feed a single protein pre-made raw blend for a while (like 2 weeks), see if you can consistently get solid stool, then try rotating onto another protein? While I'm a big advocate on protein rotation, we know another puppy that had not only grain but poultry allergies. It took the new owners a while to figure out that's why the pup kept having loose stool and was hungry all the time... poor thing.