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Originally Posted by Methical
So when i give her a meaty bone, do i allow her to actually ingest the bone aswell and just let her learn how to eat bones without choking, or do i remove the bone from her once shes had a good chew ?
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Hmmm...... we are talking about a Lab here so I would be careful. Dogs tend to know which bones to eat and which ones just to get the meat off and the marrow out but Labs being Labs may like to eat the whole lot whether it's a good idea or not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Methical
How long untill i should be seeing improvements roughly? Days, weeks, months ?
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I started to see improvements in their stools the next day. Breath was fresher within a few days and they stopped having stinky rear ends after about a week. After a few weeks Milo's teeth were noticably whiter and his coat looked healthier.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Methical
What does the ideal stool from a well-fed RAW meaty bones dog look like ?
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Small and solid, colour can vary depending on what's been fed. If they've eaten a lot of chicken my lots tend to be near white, if they've eaten red meats it's darker. They should start to crumble (sp?) within a few days if left. Sometimes Milo's crumble as they hit the floor but not noticed this with the pups.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Methical
I would really appreciate just a small amount of information about what you RAW feeders first began to feed your dogs right at the begining and in what form. I feel i am well educated enough in the ways of RAW feeding now to make it well on my own. I just lack the confidence to start with something.
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From memory: I started feeding just beef mince and chicken wings then introduced kidneys and hearts towards the end of the first week and then one new thing each week after that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by coolkat
Raw chicken bones - not cooked?
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Never ever feed cooked bones. They can splinter and cause internal perforations.
Quote:
Originally Posted by coolkat
Tripe - how about cooked tripe?
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Cooking food defeats the whole object of raw. Cooked foods are not natural, the nutritional content and molecular strutcture of the food is alterted making it less digestable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by coolkat
Do you make the chicken mince or can you buy it?
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Why do you want to feed chicken mince. All meats are far more beneficial whole. Chicken mince isn't widely available but wings, thighs, legs are and are cheap give the dog a better mouth and jaw workout during feeding time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by coolkat
One more question - what happens when they go into kennels? Will it upset their tums to go back to the packet stuff?
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Simple answer; don't put them in kennels, send them to me and I'll feed them raw!
Quote:
Originally Posted by coolkat
My concern too is which type of beef mince? I saw James Martin(chef) cooking it on tv and he demonstrated how much extra fat is in the value mince copmpared to the middle of the road and then the leanest and there were big differences between the three. i don't know how much fat in a diet is a good thing or should we attempt to do the leanest meat as much as possible?
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I use butchers beef mince, no idea about the fat content but don't forget that dogs do need fat in there diet so don't be too concerned about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by coolkat
Mum says is this too quick and will it upset our tums to start this quick?
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How many new foods the dog will tolerate depends on the dog, she should be okay but if not just stick to one fairly balanced food (such as chicken wings) for a week or so and then slowly introduce more ingredients.