[Spy Car]

Hey Molly,

I’d suggest you look into the Prey Model of feeding raw foods. I think it would be a better match for your desire to feed whole food ingredients to your dog, and is more healthful than Dr Picairn’s regimen which is heavy on vegetables and grain, and lacks soft edible bone.

Keeping the calcium:phosphorus ratios in the correct target range is important, but by feeding PMR ratios (10% soft edible bone) it is also pretty simple. Dogs get all the nutrients they need from eating diverse animal products.

Following the 80/10/10 model (“meat”/organs/soft edible bones) while diversifying the components is a very straightforward way to feed and get the highest nutritional levels to your dog.

The elaborate recipes of some raw feeding variants put a lot of needless strain on owners, and actually reduce the nutritional value of the diet.

Soft edible bones (like chicken bones) are a great natural source of calcium. Chewing bone also tends to keep dog’s teeth clean, and it promotes strong teeth, strong jaw and neck muscles, and it relaxes dogs to chew.

Best wish on your journey.

Bill

[Crystal P]

Hey!

I am new to the whole raw diet food. I was wondering if someone can help me start off.

I am not sure if I want to start with raw chicken or beef first.

Can anyone help me with a raw diet meal plan? My boxer bella is 7 months old. I would like to start her on a raw diet this week. Any advice would help!

Thanks!!!!

[Shelby J]

Hi All!

I’m very new to the raw diet. I have 2 10 week old Golden Retrievers and now that we know they can tolerate the food (we’ve been mainly feeding them chicken and an egg (1) daily) I’m ready to move on to new protein sources and menus to make sure they get a balanced meal. I’ve seen some of the menu’s posted on here and it all seems really confusing and complicated. We aren’t overloaded with extra time but I want to make sure they get what they need. Anyone have simple, sample menus for puppies? Kilo is about 20 pounds and Murph is about 17.

Thanks!!

[Danielle T]

Hi,

I am still new to raw and want to give my puppy the best. I am struggling to work out a meal plan for him and was wondering if you minded writing up a weekly meal plan for him? He weighs 31.5kg and is 27 weeks old. I have been advised to feed between 4.5-5.5% of body weight I would rather go for the 5.5 as he is always still hungry. He has had tried most meats now and is not intolerant to anything so far. He gets beef about 4 days out of the week and I know he needs much more variety than that but I am unsure what meats are higher in fat and what ones are higher in protein and what ones are richer, I am struggling to balance it so he is not getting too much of 1 thing. Not just that I am unsure how much fat they need and how much of all the other things they need.
If you are unable to do me a meal plan, instead would you mind giving me a list of meats and stating how much fat/protein etc they have in them and how much fat/protein etc a dog should be having in a week?
If you reply on here I may not see it so if you email me on dtaplin121208@gmail.com that would be great.
Thanks in advance.
Danielle

[Jennifer S]

Hi everyone,

I am getting a puppy in a month (large breed) who is currently on a raw food/kibble diet. I am clueless about feeding anything other than kibble and I feel like I have a lot to learn in 4 weeks. Here is what the breeder has the pups on right now:
1 part Honest Kitchen freeze dried veggies
4 parts organic Menhaden fish meal
4 parts slightly cooked or raw chicken/liver/pork/turkey. (Rotating between these and what is available)
4-8 parts N&D Farmina grain free kibble from Italy. Chicken or Boar.

i would like to keep some kibble in the mix so that my newbie fears of the dog not getting all his nutrients is put to ease, but I would like to continue the basic diet that she has them on. My question is about replacing the menhaden meal. I researched it for awhile and found that it is unsustainable, is vastly overfished, and it’s use in pet food is having huge negative ripples in the ocean food chain. So I need to find something else to take the place of the fish meal. The breeder says she uses the fish to provide iodine, vit. D, and good fats. Wondering if I can use some Thorvin kelp for the iodine? How much? and some fish oil squirted on top for the fats?

What are your thoughts about what I could add to the recipe to replace the fish meal? Keep in mind that this is a large breed so I’m also trying to keep the calcium content low.

Thank you!

[Nadine H]

Send an email to daniela.machado@farmina.com . I usually talk to Josh but he’s on vacation. I’ve had good luck with her getting back with me.

[Nadine H]

Also wanted to add that Annamaet is another excellent choice. Their cs is the best that I’ve found and would recommend what would be best for your pup.

[Phyllis L]

I started feeding my32 pound dog raw 2 weeks ago, ground beef mixed with 5% liver, 5%heart and kidney mixed. I have been feeding him 4 ounces am and pm and he loves the food. I notice that if he drinks too much water after he eats that he vomits it up about an hour later. I have been giving him just a little bit of water to drink after he eats and he only spits it up a little bit but not much. Should I mix some water in with the food? Maybe his stomach is still getting use to the raw food?

[InkedMarie]

Phyllis, where is the bone?

[Spy Car]

@ Phyllis L, what are you doing to provide the calcium requirements in your dog’s diet?

Bill

[haleycookie]

I second the where’s the bone question.
Also heart is considered a muscle meat when feeding raw. Not an excretory organ like the kidneys. So I would add the heart into the over all ground beef mixture. Not the 5% excretory organs. Your ratios should be 80% muscle meat/fat (including heart), 10% bone (soft pliable bones such as turkey necks, chicken feet), 5% liver, 5% excretory organs (kidneys, lungs).
You could also do this 70% muscle/fat, 10% bone, 5% liver, 5% excretory, 7% veggies, 3% fruit.

[Phyllis L]

My dog is a gobbler and I do not give him any bone because of choking but I do add 1/4 teaspoon of ground egg shell twice daily for the calcium. I add the heart and kidney ground together and add 5% along with the 5% liver to his ground beef along with about 10% veggies ground up in the beef.

[Susan H]

I’m pretty new to this so hopefully you’ll get other replies. Egg shell is not a good source of calcium since it is not balanced with Phosphorus. You can add a human grade bone meal, I’ve ordered Kal from Amazon but haven’t used it since Katie likes chicken wings, backs, thighs and feet. You can also get a grinder, probably for around $100 and grind necks. If you want to grind anything bigger like drumsticks, I’d get a stronger grinder. It is my personal opinion that natural bone either whole and chomped or ground is better than any supplements since it is perfectly balanced. Heart is counted as muscle meat not organs. So 5% Kidney and 5% Liver is correct, heart is great but just don’t count it as organs.

[Chipy]

Thanks HDM and everyone for sharing. So happy to see these whole food menus!

I used to think that balancing home-made diets was too complicated, but luckily I have found Dr. Peter Dobias’ free online Recipe Builder for dogs and now it’s so much simpler to build Chipy’s menus and meal plans. Yay for Dr. D. He is such a genius!!

Check it out, I hope it will make your life easier too 🙂
https://recipemaker.peterdobias.com

[Jerry R]

Ground egg shells from commercial eggs also contain pesticides.
I’ve gone to pretty much all prey. I do occasionally mix fresh veggies but my dachshund doesn’t much care for them. Fruits seem to go right thru him if I can even get him to eat any so I much bother.
Given the right amounts of organ meat they really aren’t critical anyway.
Chicken feet are great for joint health and teeth cleaning. So are wings, necks.
I’m still getting into the groove so to speak but for the most part, I trust his judgement too. If he turns his nose up and walks away…yeah he’s a spoiled brat!
Grinding chicken and turkey bones is totally unnecessary. Except maybe turkey drumsticks. They’re too hard.
My boy chews most poultry bones right up and he’s a 17lb. Dachshund.

[Haley N]

Hello! I’m new to this forum and in the process of developing a raw menu for my dog. I’m really here to hopefully get my menu reviewed so I can get a second opinion on its balance. For some context I have a 64 lb medium/large dog, she is quite lazy so I am feeding once a day for 2% of her body weight (1.3 lb). I created this menu since she has a past with allergies, mainly chicken and eggs which makes me avoid one of the easiest proteins out there unfortunately. It’s a process of slowly introducing till there’s balance, any tips and insight would be well appreciated! Kelp powder is a supplement I’m highly interested in including too, does anyone know any places for that? Thanks!
MEAL PLAN
80/10/5/5 Balance over time – 1.3 lb (20.8 oz) a day
Week One (Add meat):
Morning: 1.3 lb (20.8 oz) of Beef
PROGRESS (Monitoring of stools, skin, smell, etc):
Week Two (Add bone): -2.2 lb a week of Turkey Neck-
Morning: 0.3 lb (5 oz) of Turkey Neck, 1 lb (15.8 oz) of Beef
PROGRESS (Monitoring of stools, skin, smell, etc):
Week Three (Add liver): 0.7 lb of Liver a Week
Morning: -BUILD UP TO- 0.1 lb (1 oz) of Liver, 0.3 lb (5 oz) Turkey Neck, 0.9 lb (14.8 oz) Beef
PROGRESS (Monitoring of stools, skin, smell, etc):
Week Four (Add kidney): 0.7 lb of Kidney a Week
Morning: 0.1 lb (1 oz) Liver, 0.1 lb (1 oz) Kidney 0.3 lb (5 oz) Turkey Neck, 0.9 lb (13.8 oz) Beef
PROGRESS (Monitoring of stools, skin, smell, etc):
Week Five (Add Fish): 1.3 lb (20.8 oz) of Fish a Week
Morning: 0.2 lb (3 oz) Fish, 0.1 lb (1 oz) Liver, 0.1 lb (1 oz) Kidney 0.3 lb (5 oz) Turkey Neck, 0.7 lb (10.8 oz) Beef
PROGRESS (Monitoring of stools, skin, smell, etc):

[rhodes J]

Hi Everyone
Biologically Appropriate Raw Food, or BARF, is formulated to closely match the canine diet that nature intended.
It’s a modern spin on your dog’s ancient roots.
While they may be far removed from their wild canine ancestors, your dog still has the inherited traits that allow them to break down fresh meat to keep their body running strong.
A diet of muscle meat, bones, and organs, plus eggs and fish, imitates the prey your dog would eat in the wild.
Additions like select fruit, veggies, and seeds fill in nutritional gaps so your dog can get a more fortifying diet than their ancestors ever did.
I used this for the better protein diet of my dog & it shows significant change
Dog Raw Food Diet Plan

[Bob J]

walmart hamburgers $2 / pound
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Extra-Value-Beef-Patties-20-ct-5-lb/51259087?
local groc. drumsticks 0.99
eggs

[Patricia A]

With some dogs prone to pancreatitis it’s necessary to watch the amount of fat in hamburger meat. Better to go with lean.

[Barbara C]

I have a Jack Russell and Chihuahua cross that is 2 years old. He gets diarrhea much too often, so I change his food or feed him boiled rice and hamburg till it stops. People are now telling me to put him on raw pet food diet. This food comes frozen. Is this good and safe for my dog? Any opinions/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Bob J]

expensive dog food always available. not purina(corn) $0.70 , raw chicken drumsticks $1 , raw hamburg $4 , top/bottom broiler $4 , many dogs fussy about eggs , no cooked bones.

[Author]

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