Tripe is loaded with probiotics and enzymes so I wouldn’t add those. You can add veggies and vitamins to balance the meal though. Or if you’re not feeding it as the sole diet and your dog’s other meals are balanced you could certainly feed it for a few meals a week on its own without throwing anything off – tripe is a pretty well rounded food.
Thanks! pugmomsandy, so, I shouldn’t add anything to the green tripe? Or I shouldn’t add any other protein source? I’m pretty sure I should add veggies and fiber/probiotics/enzymes/vitamins, no?
Hi mah4angel!
I don’t really follow any “recipes”, I kind of make it up as I go along. I’m still in the “adding new things” phase. I posted what I was feeding, at the time, a few weeks ago, in the other thread just to get HDM’s opinion on if I was doing ok. What I was feeding then, has since changed a bit because I’ve added a few more things to Bailey’s diet.
Right now, I mix up ground beef, beef organ grind & ground green tripe and I give her about 1/2lb of that in the morning along with either a cage free egg or a pouch of sardines (I do one or the other every other day) & Dr. Harvey’s Multi Vitamin Mineral & Herbal Dog Supplement , and a half of a one a day vitamin, some coconut oil and a spoonful of yogurt. I just started giving her ground whole prey rabbit, so I’ve been doing that every other morning instead of the beef, organ, tripe grind.
For dinner she gets either a half of a turkey neck or a chicken back & a chicken foot and either chicken or turkey livers, chicken gizzards and chicken hearts. I usually rotate the livers and gizzards and heart and do 2 of the 3 every day. I also fast her Sunday evenings.
I get all my grinds and the heart and livers from Hare Today. I still have yet to find a really cheap place to get things, but I’m not spending all that much. I have a local butcher that I get my turkey necks and chicken gizzards from.
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This reply was modified 12 years, 6 months ago by
Cyndi.
Thank you very much. Based on the standard of less than 3.5g/1000kcal of calcium, I have added Darwin’s beef raw frozen food to my Rottweiler puppy’s diet. She’s also eating Primal’s Duck (1.22% Ca DMB), lamb (1.28 % Ca DMB), and Venison (1% Ca DMB). I’ve looked at several other varieties from different brand of raw frozen but haven’t found anything else with an acceptable calcium level. Any other suggested brands/varieties?
When I get it at a store it was about 3 or 4 bucks a lb retail markup. When I buy with my co-op it’s at a bulk discount rate 1.60-1.95 per lb. I’ll have to see if it saved me anything this time around with splitting the delivery fee with the group to Texas. I bought 3 cases.
5lb rolls (40lb case): Retail Price 500lb 1500lb
Green Tripe (GT5) $1.85/lb ($9.25/roll) $1.70/lb $1.60/lb
Tripe/Trachea (TT5)$2.00/lb ($10.00/roll) $1.80/lb $1.70/lb
Xkaliber (XT5) $2.15/lb ($10.75/roll) $1.95/lb $1.85/lb
*Green Tripe Puppy (PT5)$2.35/lb ($11.75/roll) $2.15/lb $2.05/lb
2lb rolls (40lb case):
Green Tripe (GT2) $2.00/lb ($4.00/roll) $1.80/lb $1.70/lb
Tripe/Trachea (TT2) $2.15/lb ($4.30/roll) $1.95/lb $1.85/lb
Xkaliber (XT2) $2.30/lb ($4.60/roll) $2.10/lb $1.95/lb
Tripe/Organ Meat (TOMB)$2.00/lb ($4.00/roll) $1.80/lb $1.80/lb
I wouldn’t necessarily add anything to the xkaliber. Tripe on it’s own is perfectly balanced with a calcium to phosporus ratio of 1:1. The xkaliber has additional bone which probably balances out the addition of organs in this particular blend. You would have to contact the company to get the exact numbers on the calcium and phosphorus in the the xkaliber since there is only a nutritional info link on the “tripe” product only. It seems to be a compete food in of itself. When I make a batch of food I make sure to add certain amounts of meat/organs/bone to be balanced and I’ll add some tripe. But when I feed tripe, it’s by itself. Is that confusing? I can’t seem to get into words what I mean to say!! Also you might want to introduce tripe slowly as it is high in fat – 95% fat to protein ratio!
http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/the-stink-on-tripe/
This article mentions Mary Voss who is greentripe.com:
http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/11_7/features/Raw-Green-Tripe_16043-1.html
Uhm…nothing in kibble form is similar to a raw diet – especially not a kibble like CC with only around 30% protein. It’s decent as far as kibbles go (although a little heavy on plant protein), but no comparison to a raw diet.
Hi dnaolson –
I feed my dogs a raw diet and they get raw meaty bones daily – these are great for dental health. My dogs are aged 11 months to 8 years and none of them (even my senior) have smelly breath or build-up. I try to brush their teeth daily – I forget sometimes, but they generally get their teeth brushed at least 5 times per week. Aside from specially formulated prescription kibbles (like T/D) the only food that’s going to promote dental health is a raw diet with raw meaty bones. There are some dental chews available but I have yet to see any with quality ingredients. And regardless of what your dog eats you need to be brushing its teeth, all dogs should have their teeth brushed at least 3 times per week. Hope that helps.
I’ve been feeding raw for a few years so I have a good feel for balancing – I know what foods contain which nutrients, how much bone to feed, how much organ meat, which types of fats to add, etc. I started off using recipe books, but for the most part I now formulate my own menus. A lot of it is just variety. Each meal doesn’t have to be balanced but if you feed a variety of healthy and species-appropriate foods the nutrients should balance over time. Just like with people – each meal we eat isn’t completely balanced but we eat a variety of foods. I actually have several of my menus posted under the “Recommended Raw Food Menus” topic on the raw thread if you want to check them out. Towards the end I actually have a couple that I ran a full nutrient analysis on – just for kicks – and they conform to the AAFCO nutrient profile for all life stages.
Not this thread, the other one about starting off with raw feeding ^_^
Thanks you guys!!
You should post some of your recipes, Cyndi! I read through this thread and your story with Bailey is awesome! I’ve been incorporating little bits of raw into my Louie’s diet already and HIS POOPS ARE SO GREAT RIGHT NOW! 😀 I think the addition of the flax seed and the yogurt has really helped his tummy (enzymes and fiber), but I really think the raw has been helping. Maybe I’m just crazy (I am crazy but, still… hehe) 😀
HDH, I wanted to get the EXKALIBER grind from greentripe.com, how would I use that in a well-balanced diet (since you mentioned boneless meat and not only is the EXKALIBER not boneless, it also has organ meat as well)? In general, it looks to be a good idea to sometimes incorporate bone-in grinds, and sometimes use boneless meat. I also wanted to be feeding RBM’s (I’ve already started with pork necks) for dental health 😀
That’s awesome. 🙂 I’ll have to look into wholesalers around my area.
How do you make sure with raw that you’re giving a puppy everything they need in a balanced way?
That would be my main concern were I to go full raw with him.
How much is the green tripe and the XKALIBER? It says to call for pricing, but it’d be much easier to just ask here and then head off to work and check back later lol.
mah4angel, I know exactly how you feel. I have only been feeding my dog raw for a little over a month and a half, but I researched and read everything I could for a few months before I finally pulled the trigger and did it. I don’t feed my Bailey nearly as complex as what HDM and other feed, but my dog IS 100% completely on raw now and doing great. I feel silly now for being so nervous about starting, but I agree I did get REALLY overwhelmed and almost decided not to get into raw feeding. But, luckily you, like I did, found this site and any questions you have someone can answer them. If it wasn’t for HDM and others on here, I don’t think I’d still be feeding raw to my dog. I had so many questions and everyone so graciously answered them. It DOES get easier, trust me! If I can do it, anyone can! Good Luck! 🙂
I agree with Patty. Also wanted to note – Tripett is a canned product. Even if there were parasites in the tripe, they aren’t going to be alive after processing. Same goes for freezing. Freezing food for at least two weeks kills most parasites. My dogs have eaten raw for years – including green tripe (lots of it!) and whole prey animals in which they consume the stomach and intestines. My dogs get fecal checks about every 4 months and none have ever tested positive for anything since I’ve been feeding raw (I don’t use any chemical intestinal parasite preventatives either).
It’s really not that bad once you get used to it – it can be intimidating at first though. Sandy had a good suggestion with gradually incorporating a little raw until you get more comfortable. Also keep in mind my recipes are bit more complex because I choose to balance the nutrients without the addition of synthetic vitamins and minerals – you certainly could simplify a recipe with a multi-vitamin. i.e.) 1 lb. boneless meat + 1/4 lb. cooked veggies + 1 multi-vitamin + 800 mg. calcium + fish oil – using this general recipe you could provide variety by rotating between different protein sources (turkey, beef, chicken, etc.) and adding “extras” such as yogurt or eggs on occasion.
Hi EHubbam –
Glad he’s enjoying his food with the canned!
Raw can be done cheaply or it can be done very expensively. I’ve gotten VERY savvy at cutting costs over the years and am now feeding all three of my hounds for ~$350 per month (not too shabby when you consider I’m going through around 200 lbs. of meat a month + fruits/veggies and other extras like eggs and kefir + supplements). Homemade is MUCH cheaper – I get all my meat from a wholesale supplier that supplies local restaurants and grocery stores (truck come right to my house, I order ~300 lbs. per shipment) and I order my supplements from Swanson’s (low cost human supplements).
Day 3 on mixing in some canned food and he is LOVING it. 🙂 I’ve never seen the boy eat so voraciously!
We’re doing NV Instinct Rabbit Kibble right now, going to get a bag of the LID Turkey when he runs out of this. Then I’ve got a few different varieties of canned that I just add a decent size tablespoon of to his kibble and mix it in. Right now I’m just using NV Instinct cans until I get Cal/Phos numbers back from Hound and Gatos. At which point, we may try mixing in some of those as well. I’m rotating the canned recipes every meal to keep him interested (So far, so good!).
(Side note: Apparently in Sept 2013 H&G’s is releasing a line of grain-free kibbles, so I’m interested to see what those will be about!)
I talked to a friend about going partial raw/full raw and she said it’s not quite as expensive as I’d think, so we’re looking into that as well.
Thanks again for your help! I don’t think I would be near as confident with our food choices had I not found this thread and all the great help you have given!
Mine don’t last that long.
mah4angel,
If you want to incorporate some raw into the diet you can use up to 20% of raw food to your current regime without worrying about unbalancing the diet. An easy way to add raw is to feed green tripe. It is a perfect food by itself as well. greentripe.com for raw tripe and Tripett for canned tripe. Actually, Merrick and Solid Gold have a canned tripe as well. I also like to use freeze dried raw too and my dogs are small so it doesn’t cost alot and it is convenient.
You can get greentripe.com products easily since you are in Cali. I get the green tripe, xkaliber, tripe stuffed cow hooves and trachea from them.
Based on what I’ve seen of Hare Today, it’s totally great! BUT I live all the way over here in California, and the shipping costs will equal the price of all of the food in my cart no matter what I do 🙁
Does anyone have any suggestions as far as retailers for me that are similar to Hare Today, but closer to me?
These meals look so complex and scary to me! I’m trying to do some shopping but it’s very overwhelming.
It looks really fatty in the packaging, but I wasn’t sure if that was excessive or normal.
What proteins are lower in fat? Also, do you ladies recommend Hare Today for buying the raw? What are their shipping costs like?
I just wanted to start a thread to tell everyone about Canine Caviar 🙂
Its very similar to a raw diet but in kibble form. There is many options to choose from aswell.
Grain free has 3 options – venison, duck, herring (all are single protein, no potatoe)
Lamb and pearl millet
Chicken and pearl millet
Special Needs
Puppy grain free
The special needs diet can replace almost all Science diets from a-z from the vets office. Personally i have my girl who has a liver disease on it and is doing better then ever.
Its great food for diabetics, sensitive stomachs, dogs who throw up alot, colitis, ibs, kidney problems, pancreas problems, and more.
the food has a proper alkaline level and pH level as well. i have seen this food do fantastic things for dogs (i work with clients directly helping choose dog foods and nutritional based questions).
For any dog with allergies this food i great because there is no grain, no potato, and no chicken in 3 of its options.
For dogs with sensitive stomachs, colitis, ibs, any tummy problems, the entire line has pre and probiotics in the food too, as well as peppermint to help calm the stomach. Check the food out for yourself and put your dog on it and you will see amazing results.. !!
The food i would Suggest eliminates Chicken, Potato and ANY grain altogether.. its called Canine Caviar. it has venison, duck, or herring available for the grain free diets. its very similar to a raw diet but in kibble form (dehydrated raw pretty much).
this food has prebiotics and probiotics in the food so its Fantastic for allergy prone dogs, it also has Kelp which is good for fighting off any pollutants as well.
I would HIGHLY recommend this food since you would not have to add any supplements to the food at all. look the food up, its extremely limited in the ingredients and you will understand what each ingredient is which is always a benefit.
this food will help with dogs who throw up a lot, i work in a global pet foods in Ontario and ive seen this food do fantastic things for dogs with the exact same symptoms. i hope this helps.
The food i would Suggest eliminates Chicken, Potato and ANY grain altogether.. its called Canine Caviar. it has venison, duck, or herring available for the grain free diets. its very similar to a raw diet but in kibble form (dehydrated raw pretty much).
this food has prebiotics and probiotics in the food so its Fantastic for allergy prone dogs, it also has Kelp which is good for fighting off any pollutants as well.
I would HIGHLY recommend this food since you would not have to add any supplements to the food at all. look the food up, its extremely limited in the ingredients and you will understand what each ingredient is which is always a benefit.
Canine Caviar is perfect for a dog with Colitis. Its formulated with Pro and Prebiotics in the kibble and the foods is also flash cooked for 6 sections making it extremely comparable to a Raw diet (which ultimately is always the best in my opinion).
With Colitis you want limited ingredients as well, as to not bugger up the system. You could do the Duck, Venison or Herring formula which is all grain free as well, and the entire line of food has Peppermint in the food which is perfect for colitis and IBS systems in dogs.
its an American company and has been around for over 15 years now. because its so closely similar to a raw diet but in kibble form this would be ideal for a dog with Colitis.
Of course switching foods isnt always the first choice, however with Canine caviar there is absolutely no need for a transition which is very nice as well..
I’m pretty sure my marrow bones are several months old.
I clip the bag closed after I open it and have had stuff be fine for well over a month. BTW, dogs don’t mind freezer burn like people do. My dogs get all my freezer burned meat, for that matter, they get other peoples freezer burned meat too.
The yeast starvation diet is how I started feeding raw. It really worked amazingly well for my dogs.
How long do the raw marrow bones stay fresh in the freezer once the bag has been opened? I’m going to feed Mila’s first raw bone tomorrow! 🙂
LOL well now that you bring up Rabbit, The Rabbit I get from Hare Today looked like chicken. It was the same color as chicken but it was tougher. Well I ordered the Vital Essentials from a local Company and when I got there to pick it up the patties were bright red and I thought to myself that it did not look right but I took it home and tried it with my dogs the next day after I thawed a patty over night and it was a Big no go with my dogs….none of them wanted to touch it. I took it back and told them what had happened and they said it was more red because the company adds in extra blood for more nutrients and I thought to myself well looks like some color was added too. I wasn’t impressed with it but the place where I took it back said it was one of the best Raw patties on the market.
Well I went to a different store but same chain store and the guy working there told me that Natures Variety Instinct was the best on the market but it has veggies added so its for sure a no go in this house. A lot of different advice out there.
I would worry that cushion meat might be really high fat. Pork is usually high fat and cheaper cuts are usually high fat so cheap cuts of pork might be off the chart. As long as your dog is taking his time to chew the meat then leaving the bone in is great. If you were going to feed completely raw then I would say you shouldn’t be switching meats up this much this early, but since it is a small portion of his food you can get away with that more. If you are feeding 20% or less of his diet with foods that are not balanced then you are fine. If you’re feeding more than that you need to start watching how all your dog’s nutrients come together over time.
HI! I’d like to ask a question or two!
I just started incorporating some raw meat into my dog’s diet. Here’s what I’ve been doing: 2 tbsp or low fat, plain yogurt, 1 tbsp of flax seed, 1/2 cup of Earthborn Holistic Primitive Natural (as opposed to the 3/4 cup recommendation), and some muscle meat (first I saw doing pre-ground chicken, now I’ve started on half breasts, and some Earthborn Holistic moist tubs-the lamb formula). Thanks to the RMB topic that HDM started, I’m going to be feeding Louie some pork necks that have been in our freezer for a VERY long time, as well. This is just my way of incorporating raw into his current diet slowly. Maybe this is the wrong way to do it, if so, please yell at me and tell me the right way lol.
My first question! Like I said, I’ve been feeding my Louie meat from half breasts (chicken). These half breasts naturally have bone in them (ribs, etc.) but I’ve been cutting away the bone and just feeding the meat. Should I NOT cut away the bone? Should I just chop it up and serve it with the ribs and the rest?
Second question! I found some pork cushion meat at Costco for $1.29 a pound. I have no idea if it would be a good idea to buy it and serve it when we run out of the chicken, or if I should not buy cushion meat (for some reason) .I’m not sure what cushion meat actually is, I’ll probably look it up after I’m done posting this.
Anyway, thanks!!
Some products such as Darwin’s raw frozen food provide the guaranteed analysis of vitamins and minerals in grams per 1000 kcal ME. Since the amount of calcium and phosphorus is important for large breed puppies, I’m hoping someone knows an easy method to convert grams per 1000 kcal ME to dry matter.
I have found a few products such as Darwin’s raw frozen food where the guaranteed analysis of vitamins and minerals is given in grams per 1000 kcal ME. The amount of calcium and phosphorus in dog foods are important to know for large breed puppies. I’m hoping that you can discuss how to compare products that provide nutrients in this way. Hopefully there is a easy calculation to convert grams per 1000 kcal ME to dry matter.
I know whatever pork grower advertizes on TV every once in a while calls it the other white meat, but some raw feeding sites have said it is red meat. So I don’t know. I’ve also heard rabbit is an excellent red meat and an excellent white meat. Go figure.
Probably good enough. I usually feed one meal a week of oily fish. I don’t really know how that compares to the amount you are giving yours divided up. If mine aren’t getting a fish meal a week, I add krill or fish oil every day. And that is with feeding kibble with omega 3s too. I just try to add the amount of fish, fish oil, krill oil for the amount of raw that I’m feeding.
I have not Patty, I did not think they needed it if just on Raw part time even though I did open one of the sardine packages that I got from Hare Today and only once I gave them a teaspoon of that each. Today I gave them all 1/2 sardine each out of the can and they loved it. I still got 3 packages of Raw sardines and the one package I opened I vacuum packed it and froze it again. So you think Sardines twice a week will be enough? I don’t want to over do it or under do it.
I tried the See spot live longer Dinner mixes with Raw rabbit and I ended up rinsing it off the rabbit bits because my dogs would not eat it. I have 2 unopened bags if anyone wants them, I can ship them to you so just let me know if u are interested in them? US only please 🙂
I have had the same problem with my pups with the intermittent loose stools. Recently, I made my own fruitable concoction. I mixed pure pumpkin with a little organic no sugar added applesauce and then added Honest Kitchen’s Perfect Form herbal supplement to it. Mixed it all up and add a heaping table spoon to each of their meals. It has made a huge difference in their stools. They still are a little loose when out on a walk though. Like I read from another poster recently on a different thread, it can be very embarrassing and hard to clean up with one of those doggie bags. Yuck! I’m wondering if its ok to keep adding to their food for long term? Any opinions? I did buy some DE the other day and plan to incorporate into their food. Just a little nervous about it. I had never heard of it before. Of course, I had never fed pumpkin or raw bones before I started checking out this website either. Lol!
The wings are high bone but I mentioned it due to it’s small size since I have small dogs to begin with! Mine can also eat pork ribs easily. The beef ribs are too hard. They just gnaw on those after the meat is gone.
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This reply was modified 12 years, 6 months ago by
pugmomsandy.
Thanks pugsmomsandy, that makes sense. They do have raw so I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the issue, just the increased amount of bone like you said. I will look into getting chicken legs/wings.
beaglemom,
Necks are very high in bone content and they are probably not use to digesting that much or even digesting real raw bones to begin with. The meat from the necks probably digested well and quickly as compared to kibble that can take up to 12 hours or more. I’d wait a couple days to give them another one and even introduce something with more meat like a whole leg (skinless to begin with) or give them half a neck with some additional meat/organs. You can also introduce more bone (and raw in general) into their diet to get them used to it with commercial products. I fed mine commercial patties for several months before doing RMB and started mine with chicken wings and then drumsticks. My recipe book calls for x amount of necks with x amount of meat so just a neck by itself if just too much bone. BUT given just a few times a week should be ok once they work their way up to it.
🙂 Thanks Cyndi & NectarMom… yea, mine have been having ground raw (Darwin’s, Primal, etc.) for about 2 months now and haven’t had any trouble with it. I know there’s ground bone in that but thought maybe the RMBs might have sat differently since the dogs probably swallowed bigger pieces of bone than they’d ever had before (but still small obviously, since they chewed them up). I was surprised it took over 12 hours to resurface such as it did. I’m keeping an eye on them but otherwise they’re great… I just hope it doesn’t mean that having a duck neck or whatever causes them to throw up each time. They clearly digested the meat well, just not all of the bone.
I had that happen too and I think. I over reacted too quickly and rushed mine to the vet. A good friend of mine has been feeding her Danes Raw for 12yrs and she said every now and then one of her Danes will throw up and she says it is common and just a case of mild Pancreatitis. It is scary though and freaks you out. I am one of those that is terrified of my dogs choking on raw bones. I am so stupid paranoid that I had ordered them raw rabbit chunks with bone and I cut the meat off away from the bone and threw the bone away. I am so weird.
When I started my dog on raw about a month and a half ago, she did the same thing the next day. But she just threw up the once and had a bit of runny poop. I think it might be just their systems getting accustomed to real food and not kibble, if I’m not mistaken. I’m sure HDM or someone else can give you a better answer, but I just wanted to let you know that it’s probably normal and my dog was fine and is thriving on raw now. Good Luck! 🙂
Oh, and I felt the same way as you did the first meal my Bailey ate raw. I don’t know if I was more nervous or excited or what. It was very interesting to watch her at work on the bones and using her teeth the way the were meant to be used instead of just crunching a bowl of kibble. I still enjoy watching her eat.
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This reply was modified 12 years, 6 months ago by Cyndi.
