Feeding Raw
With Sachi being off her food and having read more about prey model raw food I am very seriously thinking about switching Sachi onto it once we finish our bag of Earthborn, though given how picky she is being it could be awhile. For those feeding raw (@saya and others?) could you point me to resources that would help lay out a good diet and transferring her on to it? Also it looks like I should feed her 2-4% of her body weight a day but it seems like .78 or a lb (with a bone in) would be tiny! Anyways I would appreciate any pointers, suggestions, anything. Also--is the dog healthier overall? Is there an issue (or fear) with(of) intestinal obstruction?
Thanks guys!
Also this is the main resource I am using: http://preymodelraw.com/how-to-get-started/
Thanks guys!
Also this is the main resource I am using: http://preymodelraw.com/how-to-get-started/
Comments
PERSONAL RAW FEEDING GUIDE a handy spreadsheet that helps get idea on how much to feed
http://www.dogster.com/forums/Raw_Food_Diet/thread/491589
Beginner's Guide To Prey Model Raw
http://www.dogster.com/forums/Raw_Food_Diet/thread/718349
Newbie thread: Everything you need to know about proteins and cuts!
http://www.dogster.com/forums/Raw_Food_Diet/thread/737490
Mineral Content of Bone
http://www.dogster.com/forums/Raw_Food_Diet/thread/738121
Prey model raw how to get started guide
http://preymodelraw.com/how-to-get-started/
Raw Fed Dogs
http://rawfeddogs.net/
And a link to the thread itself: http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/discussion/9663/raw-thread/p1
They say a good starter meat is chicken, mainly since it's pretty cheap and the bones are easier to break. I generally will get leg quarters and chicken backs, and will bulk up on anything I find on sale. The quantities for each of my pups per day are as such: Tetsu at 21lbs gets 0.50lbs, Tikaani at 70lbs gets 1.20lbs, & Miyu at 37lbs gets 0.80lbs.
When you get more comfortable, you can look for other kinds of meat and meat sources. If you are part of any sort of dog clubs or training facilities, you can ask around to see if there are any co-op meat ordering. I recently joined one where I can get ground beef, ground liver, and ground heart for pretty cheap. You can also see if there are any local hunters, sometimes they have frostbitten meat from the previous year or waste pieces from a recent catch. I happened to find a deer butcher, hunters bring their catches to him for preparation, and I was amazed at how much of the meat gets tossed.
A must have is a chest freezer, eventually you'll want to be able to store enough meat to last at least a month. You'll also want to get freezer safe, plastic storage containers. I've tried using Ziploc bags but they're hard to remove from the freezer once frozen and some brands tend to leak blood during thawing.
I do give them raw chicken bones, it helps keep the teeth clean and the poop firm. The bones I avoid are the weight bearing bones of the bigger animals (cow, pig, etc).
Our dogs LOVE raw feeding time, in the summer I'd leave it frozen so it would take a little longer for them to slurp it down, now that it's cold I do thaw it first. They receive anything from chicken, turkey, duck eggs. rabbit or goat (the three latter we raise ourselves and they get more of this) I've also traded some of our milk for organic cow innards. It really has worked well for us.
Keep in mind that you don't need to have every meal or even every day totally balanced, as long as it balances out over a period of time (say, over the week). You can even feed a big meal one day and fast the next.
Haha when Saya was new to raw doing well on chicken, pork, beef liver, and beef kidney I got a beef tongue and had crazy Idea to offer the whole tongue see how she'd react. lol She refused it the item was bit to big for her liking.
She can now eat off a 9lb pork shoulder roast, 4lb, lamb leg with no issue of refusing she'd eat her amount she needs which is about 6oz minimum sometimes she indulges herself and eats 10oz. hehe
Though I don't recommend that for a dog who won't stop eating coarse you can let the dog eat what you think is enough weigh it before then weigh again after the dog had enough to find amount the dog ate.
Links posted above are nice resource. I used prey model raw starting guide and that spreadsheet when starting out.
Saya has been on raw for three years it works well for her.
Her first week on raw she ate chicken thighs, drumsticks and bone in breasts. I took skin off at first then once she did good I kept some on for few meals then kept all the skin on.
First week on raw she did have mucous on her poop which it became normal after a bit.
Some dogs take longer to adjust to skin so don't rush it if you get loose poop take skin off to make it blander.
Be sure the chicken isn't enhanced or marinated by broth the extra sodium can cause poop issues some dogs do fine with some amounts of enhanced, but others don't.
Feeding just chicken is coarse not completely balance meal, but important to not rush into too much variety too soon or you can have upset stomach or loose or worse rocket butt(nicer way of saying diarrhea or watery poop..).
Saya had rocket butt because she had bit too much of something I forgot what it was.
I just went back to chicken meals and tried again a bit slower.
Saya now does well on it can eat chicken, pork, beef, lamb, ewe(adult female sheep), duck, goose, dove, fish, and once in blue moon bison and emu..
She's been on raw for three years though so that kind variety didn't come fast. Plus I don't always have deer, goose, duck or dove.. I portion them into snack and some meal sizes so it lasts longer coarse bone in dove are so small they're already snack or small meal size.
Bone in chicken is pretty edible in bone wise and depending on the dog's size and way they chew you need give proper items to prevent gulping if the dog is prone to it.
Chicken quarters are a good start some even come with bit of back portion or something which has tiny bit of kidney attached to it.
I give Saya chicken quarters once in while depends on the size of them they are usually either two days food or day and half sometimes I let her eat the whole thing or have her drop it and give her bit of boneless as replacement and put the thigh or drumstick back in a ziplock then re freeze for later.
Depends on the dog some might need 3% or 4% instead of 2%, but I'd start out with 2% and see over feeding can cause loose poop too..
Too much bone can cause white or crumbly poop and not enough loose poop.
A dog starting out a bit extra bone can help keep things normal and eventually you add bit of boneless to it.
Once you try liver do it slowly as liver and most other organs like kidney, heart and so on are rich.
Just a tiny bit with one meal then with each meal and eventually you can increase it.. Coarse give it only with bone in meals that way help.
Saya can eat a meal of liver and kidneys no issue no bone in meal or chicken foot, but some dogs need it with bone in meals.
When introducing organs don't worry if you don't get the weekly's portion in the week as some dogs need longer time to adjust to it don't want to rush it.
When Saya was new to beef liver I portioned each weekly bit out and cut it up then put the weekly portions in individual ziplocks and feed a bit on each bone in meal. I froze the tiny bits individually so it was easy to get one tiny bit or two tiny pieces.
From what I've learned other secreting organs are kidneys, thymus, spleen, pancreas, and there might be few other things.. Coarse if all you can find is kidney that is fine I could only find beef kidney at first then eventually found source for lamb kidney and beef thymus.
Heart, gizzards, lung are more like muscle type organ or just something extra like raw green tripe is good for dogs, but not counted as other secreting organs.
Green tripe isn't needed though so if that is something you can't find or feed then no need. It does have a smell to it.. I haven't feed raw tripe in while so can't describe it so well.. Kinda like a barn I guess?
Liver is important part of the diet has some good nutrients like vitamin A and few other things. Feeding one type of liver especially when new to raw diet is fine if you can eventually get chicken and beef liver that would be good..
I rotate between giving beef and chicken liver one week she gets beef other she gets chicken. Right now I ran out of chicken liver and turkey liver so I plan to get some tomorrow.. I'm hoping when Christmas is over butcher will have turkey necks, liver, and hearts for sale.
Sorry for big wall of text! Hope some of it is useful and not too confusing.
No need to worry on liver or other secreting organs till a while though gotta take baby steps.
One more tip if your dog has food allergies or sensitivity to something like beef, duck or whatever no need to feed it..
I know few owners who can't feed chicken or beef..
Also when introducing beef or pork be sure to trim fat you can to reduce it so the dog can get used to it easier.
Probiotics might help with transition too I never used it, but I know one who had to.
And if something comes up be sure to post or ask I seen some people asking for help after dog had loose poop for a week..
Sure loose poop might be expected, but a week seems excessive.
One more thing raw is high value food item it might bring out resource guarding it might not who knows.
This book might be useful if Sachi shows signs of it there might be some good online resources on it, but I dunno..
http://www.amazon.com/Mine-Practical-Guide-Resource-Guarding/dp/0970562942/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1328913609&sr=8-3
A lot of times raw gets bad rap and people think it causes the dog to be blood thirsty.
Most times it's due to it being higher valued. A dog will resource guard bullysticks, antlers, wet dog food or even wet kibble..
Saya did growl at my cat once he wanted to rub on her and she was eating a beef tongue I made the cat move away by picking him up and moving him to the garage.
I feel dumb doing this again, but one last thing before I hit post comment. Be sure to not leave the dog alone just in case. Just to be sure she is eating fine. Saya will sometimes hide her food even when I'm around so if she is done eating I just tell her to come and I then put it back in it's container or ziplock and put it back in fridge or freeze for next time.
Plus things can happen. I know your worried with bones and things, but even ground meat or pre made raw can cause issues. I know a dog who died from ground meat.. The dog was a french bull dog I think the breed tends to gulp and he gulped down too big of a piece and owner tried best, but couldn't help.
I still feed ground meat or pre made raw if I have it.. hare today has some nice grinds of various animals coarse shipping is bit high, but they do have some things I can't get from butchers.. beef lung, green tripe, pancreas etc..
I prefer to feed Saya's ground meat either frozen or semi thawed it helps slows her down someone else mentions mashing the thawed ground in the dog bowl to slow the dog down..
I've fed thawed raw where I mixed it with a egg and bit of caned sardines or ground meat and bit of honest kitchen and she ate it fine I had mashed it a bit down so it was a bit more of a work and she couldn't swallow big thing of it.
I made accident of feeding her a pre made raw nugget and she swallowed one whole.. O_O
Talk about eyes bigger then her stomach! I forgot how much nature variety premade nuggets weigh as I don't get them unless needed like to board.. I think it was 1oz a nugget.
Luckily she regurgitated the nugget fine and rechewed it no problem. After that I only fed that frozen..
Sorry for all this.
I'm not a huge expert as only fed raw for three years so still new. I'm lucky Saya handles it pretty well coarse it didn't go 100% smooth all the time she had a couple rocket butt due to something either too many treats or too much of new item or something.
If your unsure on things could feed a raw meal once a week for dinner or breakfast to see how your dog does on it?
When Saya was 6months I would give her a raw egg as a snack then at 7months I got lamb ribs and gave that, egg and some caned fish as a meal once week then at 8months I got pack of chicken thigh and drumstick and started on raw.
Bella my mom's dog gets a raw meal for dinner instead of kibble twice to three times a week sometimes four. She does good on it so far.
If your dog is picky it might play against you or for you.. Who knows she might like raw and refuse kibble or be so not sure on raw and refuse raw..
It took Saya a week to get hang of eating chicken thighs and drumsticks. For a whole week I had to hold the items and for the week she would strip the bone of meat and then eat the bone..
Now if she eats chicken drumstick she strips some of the meat and then eats the bone with some meat covering it still.
Do you feed raw from the butcher only, or do you also feed frozen raw from the petstore (ex. Small Batch, Primal, Stella & Chewy's, Nature's Variety)? My shiba will swallow chicken wings and drummets whole, so I stick to the ground blends when I started feeding the JA puppy raw
We did a tongue too! It was HIlarious - I cut it into 1/4's, one for each dog and that was the longest meal of their life! lol I was surprised that even the Kai were having to work their way thru it!!!!
Chicken wings drummets must be too small maybe try drumstick, thigh, bone in breast or could get those Cornish game hens? walmart sells then for decent price. let the dog eat amount needed and take away once had right amount.
Usually general rule is feed a bit bigger then the dog's head or even bigger if need be.
Saya can eat chicken wings fine, necks too even Bella 55lb boxer can, but not all dogs chew so well and try to gulp it down. Coarse I rather not feed chicken wing drummets as they're a bit boney and not much meat at all.
Farmer gave me a bag of chicken wings instead of chicken feet I fed them anyways they are the whole wing..
creston valley meats is a good option for California owner. Greentripe.com is in California area I think.
Another option if you feed wing only feed it attached to the breast of the chicken..
When I buy a chicken roaster for Bella or Saya I cut it into portion sizes and the wings stays on the breast.
I know another dog who swallowed a chicken drumstick and digested it fine they did before and after x rays..
Your dogs are young, the chewing needs are different w/ older dogs. I learned about feeding drummets from a shiba breeder/former Akita/Rottweiler breeder I knew. We gave up chicken parts for good after the shiba got older and just don't seem to enjoy chewing. He's much happier lapping up the ground blends which are more similar to canned food
http://greentripe.com/ is very local to us. I didn't think they were well known out of state
Dink ate turkey necks, chicken quarters, boneless meat, heart, and once week tiny bit of liver and kidney. Only thing she would chew on, but at age 15 when she was getting close to 16 she went bit down health wise. so she didn't eat bone in stuff except for chicken feet.
I didn't know your dog was older, but still my advice is good either way chicken wing drummets are pretty small.. the whole chicken wing is better at least bit longer..
Dink was a horrible gulper, but she did good with the long turkey necks and quarters. If she gotten a drummet or even whole chicken wing she'd swallow it whole.
Being young dog has nothing to do with it Saya has regurgitated a 1oz pre made raw nugget before she swallowed the nugget whole.
I prefer to give her frozen ground and her organs frozen helps slow her down on it. With bone in she does fine.
She did swallow and regurgitated a pork rib tip which was my fault it was too small and gulp able shouldn't have gotten it. She rechewed it properly once she regurgitated it though.
"I didn't think they were well known out of state"
I think most raw feeders know of it due to others who get stuff from it or from the show dirty jobs. Mike row visited the place once and showed how things worked there some. I saw it when it first aired.
Coarse some might not know about it. I have it listed on my raw page on shiba side. Wish I could edit the page to update the front page. ah well.
Coarse feeding raw is a know your dog type of thing so if whole items are too much for a older dog that is fine. Not saying your wrong I didn't know your do so just making suggestions based on what I know.
Just saying drummets are too small if a dog gulps it and feeding bigger helps reduce that. Coarse if the dog is older and lost interest in bone in items ground option is just as good.
Saya has eaten raw grinds of goat, mutton and duck before she liked them as yummy snacks.
Goat and had meat, bone, heart, liver, kidneys lung, and green tripe, mutton had same as goat except no tripe and duck just had meat, bone, liver and gizzards.. Yummy.
I've only been feeding raw for three years, but do have some experience feeding a older dog coarse Dink was a bigger dog eventually she did have some teeth issues and once fixed she couldn't chew the bigger items so well so she left them.
She was my parent's and mainly kibble fed so I gave her the raw for treats so once she couldn't have anymore I stopped she still got chicken feet and a egg once week and did fine with it.
I hope my comment didn't come off rude if so sorry. I didn't mean anything by it.
I'm fine with people feeding grinds or pre made raw.. I know some who make their own due to their elderly dog's missing teeth. I'm fine with people who include veggies and fruit with the food or do half kibble and half raw..
I just went by what you posted because sometimes people make mistake of feeding smaller bone in thinking it has less of an issue.. Feeding bigger is usually best for dogs who gulp food..
@Rikumom I'll answer your question even though I'm not from your area.
I get lamb ribs, beef, chicken livers, smelt, sometimes lamb hearts, kidneys and shanks from butcher
Pork chops, roasts, ribs, chicken drumsticks, thighs, bone in breasts, whole chickens and turkey drumsticks from Marsh grocery store
Lamb, shanks, leg roasts, pork heart from Meijer grocery
beef, pork, lamb liver, beef, pork, lamb tongue, beef, pork, lamb heart, lamb ribs, bison, ground ewe, and sometimes beef stew meat from farmer market
beef thymus, heart, tongue from meat processor
mackerel, pacific saury, and dried anchoveys Asian market,
Goat pieces from another ethnic market I forgot which one..
I've gotten whole prey quail(has everything head, organs and feathers), beef pancreas, beef gullet, beef lung, and raw green tripe from hare-today.com
I also got the grinds from there too.
Farmer's market stuff is all grass fed and free ranged. I've also driven to a local farmer to get chicken and turkey feet also duck roasts for Saya..
I get duck, Canadian geese, dove, and deer from dad's work people there hunt a lot and they sometimes have some extra what they can't eat themselves so the dogs get some and we get some too.
Saya has had rabbit too she loves it.
mypetcarnivore.com serves midwest area they have various items to choose from they only do pick ups at certain areas or something like that. I don't think they ship like hare-today.com does..
I haven't tried mypetcarnivore yet I plan to soon though.
Co ops is a good option to get some things.
I don't talk much about Dink as she has passed away due to the pain she was in she had horrible arthritis and at age 16 the pain meds, joint supplements and good diet wasn't enough to help.
I do have some experience with older dog eating raw..
Experience with feeding older dogs YMMV so not all older dogs have same eating habits.
Dink did fine with turkey necks, drumsticks, and chicken quarters. Coarse at age closer to 16 she was in pain with arthritus and her teeth were bad due to a life on poor quality kibble till I finally got mom to change to better brand.
Amazing how slow and low energy she was on beneful and soon she was switched to better quality kibble she perked up and walked more and went on walks with us and kept up off leash. till she got to age 15 she switched to better kibble at age of 13 or so.
Raw bone in items was only thing she would chew on.
Like I said feeding raw is a know thy dog type thing not all dogs can do well on smaller items and need to be fed bigger items or fed ground raw.
I fed Bella frozen quarters till she got used to the food so she ate it slower and eventually fed it semi thawed and then all thawed. It frozen helped slow her down and she mainly licked it and chewed on the meat and eventually it thawed out since it was spring and warm outside.
Very interesting post. I'm really more curious about what other locally available commercial blends people like vs. home made mix from butcher shop. It's my preference after feeding BARF on and off for 9 years.
I think everyone gets a little something out of others' comments. Even though most of it doesn't apply to my situation, others appreciate you taking the time.
ps @cdenney, sorry I didn't mean to hijack your thread
I don't have issue with people who feed barf Saya is so picky with veggies no way she'd eat it if offered..
Once in while she will want a grilled veggie, but if I try to offer it daily or even weekly she acts picky with her food.
I don't know which is best diet I don't think either is wrong long as it is done right and balanced daily or over time..
My dad knows the butcher not sure if from high school or just friend so he sometimes gets free stuff which is nice for us humans to cook and the dogs get some too.
Blue ridge beef is something someone has recommended, but I haven't had room in freezer yet to make it worth it to order their green tripe prices are pretty good for the place in my area.
I've given pre made raw before mostly when Saya was boarded and I recently gotten Bravo brand raw patties and Saya enjoys them as treats. The Bravo has fruits and veggies coarse it is mixed in so Saya doesn't mind it.
I have added fresh cooked ground veggies into the dog's fish fudge along with caned fish and cooked ground meat helps stretch the dog treats so I have more..
I kinda feed a varied on things.. I mostly feed raw though, but Saya has had home cooked meals I made from the honest kitchen cook book before as meals she loved it. Chicken, rice, bell peppers, zucchini all stuff from my garden except for the rice and chicken. haha
I give honest kitchen for snack or small meal once or twice a week sometimes I don't give it.
I use it as back up if power were to go out in the summer.. Saya and Bella can make a small dent in their meat in the freeze, but not enough to help..
Plus it's nice for when I go camping so just need add warm water to it..
I use prey model as guideline and mod things if I need to.
only supplements Saya gets is joint supplements for her health issue..
She used to get salmon oil, but once I found good source of grass fed organs and some meat I don't give it anymore.
All her heart, tongue, liver, kidney are grass fed/free ranged except gizzards and maybe beef thymus I need ask the meat processor where most their cows come from if it's mostly local good farmers or what..
This is a good source for finding farmer's by state. That's how I found sheep dog farm they have very yummy tasting chicken, turkey, pork and duck.. Well I've only gotten a chicken to cook myself, but i'm sure their other animals taste good.
http://www.eatwild.com/products/index.html
Coarse buying grass fed/ free ranged is an expensive thing compared to grocery items..
luckily farmers by me cuts me a deal if I buy a lot at once.. I've compared walmart beef tongue and one from local farmer and I'd say the one from the farmer looked better quality wise.
I enjoy learning how other countries fed dogs before kibble.. recent post on laika forum was interesting with pictures one person posted how they fed their dog.
Saya does well and I think she is much healthier then when she was on kibble. She had smelly breath even when she was done teething.. Probably because she chewed every bit of kibble even tiny kind. her joints seems much more better and she is pretty good endurance wise.
She no longer reverse sneezes every time she eats or at night when she slept. She would do it once at night around same time.
Raw isn't a cure all diet.. I didn't feed it to expect things to get better.
I plan to get a dehydrator soon to make home made dog treats with liver, boneless meat, heart and fish..
One reason I like raw diet you can customize it to work with your dog especially if it has allergies or sensitivities. Though Saya never had issues with grain or grain free type kibbles..
Also no need feed as much variety as I do.. I have a chest freezer and it's easy for me to keep variety stocked and rotate it as needed each week.
Saya has had nature's variety pre made before that was one she swallowed the nugget whole. She did fine on it, but I like Bravo brand bit better.
Pre made seems pretty expensive to feed even for a shiba.. I only get it when I have coupon. If I had feed a grind I'd make it my own with a tough grinder.
I think you mentioned all the big ones that come immediately to mind... Primal, Smallbatch, Bravo, Greentripe, etc. Tucker's Raw is another I've noticed recently (sold at Pet Food Express), and they stood out because they use pork. I've also seen raw goat milk from Answers Pet Food at PFE, but not their raw formulas yet. If you're along the delivery route of Creston Valley Meats, I've gotten a lot of mileage out of a case of their meat grinds + a premix like Honest Kitchen Preference. There's also Pets 'N' Nature, making really expensive stuff based in San Jose ($110 ~ $120 for 20 pounds of their grinds? Ooookay...). My town has a local butcher that sells grinds of really high quality grass-fed beef trim, heart, and organs (not tweaked to AAFCO standards) at $5/pound, as well. Maybe there's something like that in your local network?
And @cdenney, the short version is that yes, both my dogs appear much healthier as a result of feeding raw. I really appreciate the resources on the Shiba side (already linked) for giving me the final push in that direction. I also picked up a few books which have been helpful to have as reference (http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/discussion/9308/nutritiondiet-books/). Haven't really looked back since -- though we don't feed exclusively raw. We also incorporate kibble, dehydrated, home-cooked stuff for the sake of variety, convenience, and balance.
One mistake I made initially was feeding too much bone. So the issue for my dogs wasn't intestinal blockage, but poops that were way too hard. I have since learned how to regulate that.
Thank you for your feedback!! Yes, I'm in the SF Bay Area. We learned about green beef tripe at Pet's People in Los Gatos from a former shiba breeder. Her herding dogs, shibas, and JRT are fed green beef tripe exclusively and do well. From a cost effective perspective, we've been mostly getting the xkaliber blend, they sell for ~$4.60/2 # chub at Pet's People in Los Gatos. The other brands I mentioned are more then $5/2 # chubs, and 2# is about the right size for our two dogs.
I think I might have seen Tucker's Raw at For Other Living Things in Sunnyvale. We've also tried K9 Naturals' green lamb tripe, but that food comes from down under so it's quite pricey. I'll look into the Creston Valley Meats delivery too. Thank you for pointing these out.
RE: goat milk, I've actually been drinking Meyenberg goat milk for years, and my dogs occasionally get goat milk instead of water to rehydrate the dry food. Much cheaper than the Answer brand raw goat milk
You're in a different corner of the SF Bay than I am. But it does impress me that there are so many options in the area... Always trying to keep an eye out. I can't afford to keep the dogs exclusively on commercially prepared raw, but I like to grab a bag every now and then to keep things interesting and balanced.
Once I get room in freeze I plan to give blue ridge beef tripe a try to see how it is quality wise. Saya loved the raw green tripe from hare today her favorite treat..
I want order enough so I can give the dogs twice a week at least. maybe three times.
Today Saya had honest kitchen love formula for breakfast and 2.24oz or so of beef liver for dinner yummy.
I'm glad we can discuss raw without condemning one another for give kibble or things like honest kitchen or home cooked meals I had leave a raw group due to that people jumping on people who gave dog treats for training, kibble for training or kibble for snack or once or twice a week..
I enjoy feeding raw diet works for me, but I know it isn't for everyone and as long as the dog is on good quality kibble or whatever that works for them that what matters to me.
@cdenney you can feed once or twice a day some dogs do better fed twice a day and some dog fine once a day. I'd do twice a day as your dog is used to that anyways.
I feed once a day mostly, but sometimes she gets fed twice a day or has a snack like chicken foot, egg, or bit of caned fish..
I try vary time she is fed so it isn't same time each day I try to do same for Bella sometimes I feed her kibble at three sometimes four, sometimes at five or six etc.
Yes, they're pretty spoiled food-wise. My older shiba is very much an omnivore and loves fruit and veggies. The JA puppy is pickier. I offered them fresh oysters last month, the shiba slurped them down while the JA puppy looked at me as if I'm crazy.
I do think we're in the yuppie world of commercially prepared dog food, raw or dry, so many options here in the Bay Area. I'm also into the NILIF school, so we don't feed the dogs all their meals all in a bowl, only the raw or dehydrated raw stuff for sanitary reasons. The rest are kibble or dry treats used as training treats, and we rotate the kibble brands/protein sources as we finish a bag.
@saya,
RE: "I never heard of people only feeding green tripe."
Well, now you have from two people!
Saya loves fruit mango, banana, apples, peaches, blueberries, pears, and raspberries.
Veggies she is picky with so I don't give it. Fruit are more of a treat. hehe
So I am not sure what to feed next (chicken quarters?) frozen, fresh, slightly cooked?
It must be instinct. Both my shiba and JA pup will bury something that they prefer to consume at a later time in their bedding or our area rugs. It's why I ended up feeding raw dehydrated or raw ground so the pups will at least keep their food in a bowl vs. carry it off to the bedroom...