iRawFeed

RMB Bliss

2010-04-25T21:20:00.005-04:00

Sundays at our house usually involve raw meaty bones. Ever since I hit the Deer Lottery over the winter, it's been mainly venison. Tonight, the pups got deer necks.

This is what they looked like before the dogs got a hold of them.

As you can see, they are quite large. We are having a violent thunderstorm here, so both dogs ate inside. Piper in the crate in the kitchen, and Blake in the x-pen in the family room.

Piper had no issues tackling her RMB.

Blake was equally as enthusiastic.

So, it turns out that after about 45 minutes, I realized that even though Blake has eaten many a deer neck (in their entirety), he was not making much progress with the bones in this particular neck. I didn't hear the crunching sounds that are the usual sound track to Sunday dinner. Instead, I heard his teeth scraping across the bones. So, I decided to trade him what was left of the neck. This is what I found. A rather cool neck/vertebrae that was mostly stripped of meat.

This serves as a reminder that even after 4 years of raw feeding, I must always supervise raw meals.

As for Piper, I have no idea what her's is going to look like when she is done. She is still upstairs gnawing away. Her puppy teeth and weaker puppy jaw muscles don't give her the same chance to get through the bone, so her experience is mainly consisting of a meat meal and a lot of hard work.

Piper Versus the Pig Foot

2010-03-21T21:11:00.008-04:00

Piper experienced her first true Raw Meaty Bone today. It was a pig foot. She loved it. LOVED IT! I let her work on it for about an hour, and it was an hour of total bliss. She made hardly any progress with actually consuming the meal, so after an hour, I traded her the pig foot for a chicken wing, which she was able to actually eat. I will offer her the foot for the next several days for a great chew toy.

Piper meets the Piggie foot:

"Can I haz it, Mama?"

"I iz nommin' dis little piggie."

Raw for puppies

2010-03-19T11:47:00.003-04:00

So, I've neglected my blog. Such a terrible, terrible thing to do. And so early in its development. I have no real good excuses, but the one excuse that I will offer is that we got a new puppy! Piper, a 12 week Golden Retriever, joined our family a couple weeks ago, and it is love. I'll go ahead and say that the whole family is rather smitten. Well, except for Blake. But, he's adjusting to sharing his throne.

Certainly you are not wondering what Piper is eating, because certainly you know that there is only one doggie diet in this house, and that's the raw diet. We picked Piper up on a Sunday afternoon, and she had her first raw meal that evening. Much to my surprise, she did not take to it immediately. The first thing I offered was several chicken gizzards. She simply did not know what to do with them. I suspect she had been eating a kibble mush of some sort, and she didn't know yet how to chew. So, I cut them up for her. No dice. She still didn't eat them. So, I offered some ground salmon and ground beef. Success!

For the first week, I kept her on a BARF-style pre-made, balanced raw diet as I offered her new, whole items one by one. My reason for this is because puppies have strict vitamin and mineral requirements for growth and development. I never worry about short term deficiencies in adult dogs who don't have a balanced diet during the switch, but this is not something I wanted to risk with my pup. So, I put her on an all life stages ground raw diet. I fed this for 2 meals per day, and for the third meal I fed whatever was on Blake's menu for the day. After her initial hesitation, she has eaten everything. So far, she has had:

chicken foot
chicken wing
chicken breast (bone in)
chicken gizzards and hearts
ground beef
boneless beef (not ground)
ground whole salmon (with bone)

Since this is my first puppy, it's somewhat of an experiment for me, as well. I have been feeding amounts based on her projected adult weight, so she and Blake have been eating about the same amount of food, only hers is split between 3 daily meals versus his one.

Some benefits I have noticed already:

1. Long mealtimes. Anyone else not know how to keep your puppy *constructively* occupied? Give her a chicken wing and let her go to town for half an hour!

2. Mental workouts. This girl has to think and consider and reposition herself time and time again as she chows down on a meal. She gets a mental workout trying to figure out how to attack each meal. There's simply no substitution for that.

3. Productive chewing. Why not give a puppy something they're allowed to chew and they want to chew 3x/day?!

Sadly, I do not just yet have any Piper raw feeding pictures (shame, shame, I know). But, I will make sure to snap some this weekend, and upload asap! After all, a picture is worth a thousand RMBs.

A week of food in photos

2010-02-15T17:20:00.009-05:00

Once you understand the concept of feeding a raw diet, I know it's hard sometimes to actually visualize doing it. You may be wondering, "What does mealtime actually look like?" Well, here you go: here is a week of food in photos. This is a typical week of food for a pretty active, 6 year old, 70 lb Lab. Happy eating!

Monday: beef heart

Tuesday: chicken quarter, liver

Wednesday: boneless venison

Thursday: chicken quarter, liver

Friday: boneless beef

Saturday: boneless beef, ground salmon (bone in)

Sunday: deer neck

Venny ribs: round 2

2010-01-31T19:46:00.009-05:00

Another Sunday, another rack of venison ribs. This meal was bigger than last week's- probably around 3 lbs, which is a good portion of Blake's weekly intake (11 lbs, give or take). There were no issues (ahem- digestive problems, if you know what I mean) from last week's meal, so I decided to go ahead and offer the entire half rack at once.

Here's the meal:

The reason I love, LOVE this meal so much is because it is a true RMB: bone(s) slathered with luscious, thick, glorious meat. Many people focus so much on the bone and not enough on the meat. Meat rules the diet and is the key to making bone safely edible.

And, here's a shot from the other side. There is a pretty big layer of fat here, but fat is important in every dog's diet, too. Some dogs cannot handle a fatty meal like this, but Blake has never had issues from that, so I decided to feed it as-is.

Blake has really learned how to manipulate a meal for the best nom-ing angle.

See how Blake uses his strong jaw muscles and his back teeth- not the front ones- for chomping and crushing the bone?

Once again, I overestimated the challenge level that a meal of venison ribs would provide. Blake had finished eating AND powerwashing the table cloth in under 20 lbs. Geez, this dog is an efficient eater! :)

I took a quick video. Notice the crunching sounds. I think they are so cool. My little carnivore handled the ribs easily, and the surrounding meat allow them to travel safely through his system.

A rack of venison ribs

2010-01-24T22:06:00.009-05:00

This afternoon was Blake's first go at venny ribs. A couple weeks ago, I was able to score a huge load of venison (blog entry detailing this score forthcoming). So that weekend, I fed 2 consecutive meals of venison- a miscellaneous leg bone while I was cutting/bagging/dividing the venison, and a neck the next day. He didn't take to it right away; surprisingly he required a bit of cajoling to eat it. (And, this is a dog who eats anything not red hot or tied down!) But, once he got over the gaminess and figured out that it was, in fact food, he did pretty well. However, the venison gave him some loose stool. Not surprising, since he ate little of the bone either day AND it was a new protein for him. So, I took a break from the venny for a while and fed stuff that he is accustomed to.

So, this weekend was our second go at it. It's rainy and cool here today, so I had to feed him inside in his xpen on an outdoor table cloth. 99% of the time he eats outside, and I've been known to feed him in the rain, but I wanted to keep a close eye on him this afternoon, so inside it was!

Blake gets his first taste of venison ribs.

To my surprise, he dug right in!

To give you an idea, the meal was made up of about 4 ribs with all the meat attached. It was somewhere around 2-3 lbs total, and probably 6 inches long.

He had this finished in about 20 minutes- much, much less time that I expected.

And, after the ribs, all he wanted to do was sleep. Zzzzzzzz.

Let's talk poop

2010-01-22T20:35:00.002-05:00

If you've talked about raw feeding in any great detail, the topic of poop has probably come up, and as unpleasant as that may be to you, it is not without good reason. Many raw feeders will say that small, infrequent poops are a benefit of feeding this way, and I agree. Most kibbles are chock full of carbohydrates and vegetables, which are not the easiest food items for a carnivore to digest. For this reason, kibble fed dogs often have large, frequent bowel movements. And by frequent, I mean 2-3 per day. Or more. (I won't go into what I mean by large!) If you really think about this logically, it should give you an indication of how inefficiently the body is using the food it is being offered.

On the other hand, raw fed dogs often only have a bowel movement once a day or less, and it is usually substantially smaller. That's because they are being offered species appropriate food in a bio-available form. The body can use it immediately without the pre-processing that is required of a kibble meal.

One thing to keep in mind with poop is that whatever comes out of the body should reflect what went into the body. So, if you are feeding kibble, your dog's stool should be very predictable. If the same thing goes in every single day, the same thing should come out every single day. And, with a kibble fed dog, a loose stool or diarrhea should not go without notice. I'm not saying that every loose stool deserves a trip to the vet, but it's certainly something to keep an eye on.

However, this is just not so with raw. Every meal is different- or can be different- and so every poop can be, too. The important question is: can the poop be explained? As I have mentioned before, the fiber and calcium in bone firms poops. On the other hand, organ meats, eggs and fat tend to loosen stool. So, if your dog produces a loose stool don't immediately freak out. Instead, ask yourself, "Have I fed something that can explain this poop?"

Other things that can cause lose stools:

rich organ meat, eggs and fat
a new protein
skin
not enough bone
chemicals or "salt solutions" that are added to some meats
too much food
stress
exercise
bully sticks/rawhides

So, if you are feeding a varied raw diet, you may have different poop every single day! A firm poop after a bone-heavy day, a soft poop after a boneless meal, a loose poop after a helping of organs. Which brings me to possibly the most important part of this entry. The definition of some very important terms.

Constipation: this is when the dog strains and strains to go poop and has a hard time producing. He may pace around the yard and try to go multiple times. Owner error: fed too much bone.

Chalky crumbly poop: common after a couple bone-in meals. Will probably turn white and crumble up and blow away within a couple days.

Formed poop: this is what I, personally, usually see from Blake. It's easy to pass, small and semi-firm.

Soft poop: still holds it's shape, but it's a bit softer than a formed poop. Also, very common- maybe after a boneless day.

Loose poop: also referred to as pudding poop, this has the consistency of pudding. It comes out easily and forms a puddle. This is not, however, very easy to remove from your neighbors' yards. This could be a result of a little too much organ meat or a new protein. Blake had pudding poop a couple weekends ago after his first go at venison. 2 days of venny meant a day or two of loose stool. I gave his system a rest (fed chicken), and he was good as new the next day.

Diarrhea: also known as OMG, GET ME TO THE BACK YARD AS SOON AS POSSIBLE OR I WILL BE DECORATING THE WALLS. Seriously, folks, diarrhea is not pretty. The dog has no control over where or when this comes out. He will soil the house, the crate, and anywhere else when this hits. This is not a normal symptom of feeding raw. Owner error can cause diarrhea as can illness, but a healthy dog on a proper raw diet does not suffer from diarrhea on a regular basis. Sometimes I think that there is a misconception that our dogs go around having diarrhea all the time.

Okay, so I hope that all this talk about poop has cleared some things up for some folks.

After my last entry, I told myself that I would not be making any new entries without relevant pictures. However, given the topic of this particular blog, I think I will hold off on the pictures until next time. :)

Getting started

2010-01-19T12:13:00.002-05:00

So, you've done your research, and you're ready to embark on a new way of feeding. You're ready to "think outside of the bag", so to speak. But, how do you get started?

Starting raw feeding can be as simple as feeding kibble one day and raw the next. My suggestion is to start with chicken, and there are several reasons for that. First, it's pretty cheap and easy to find. Secondly, most chicken pieces are a pretty good combination of meat and bone. Third, chicken is a pretty bland, easy-on-the-system protein. So, go to the store and get a couple whole birds, which you can whack into meal sized pieces. Or, if you wish, get some chicken pieces already cut for you: bone-in breasts, thighs, or quarters. I don't love wings or drumsticks (too boney), but they could do for a smaller dog. I have always told newbies to take their time and stick with chicken for a week or two or longer. Basically, you should continue with the first protein until you feel that you (and your dog) are comfortable. Sometimes a major change in diet can give a dog the runs. Sometimes dogs who are new to raw are unsure about eating their meals. Sometimes, they will have to go to the bathroom more often than on kibble, sometimes less often. Allow these changes to run their course before you consider moving to the next protein. Get used to the new diet, and allow your dog to do the same. Once a chicken meal is boring and ordinary, then it's time to start thinking about your next step.

From chicken, you can really go in any direction: pork or beef would be some options. When working in a new protein, it's good to again- go slow. So, feed 3/4 of the meal old protein, 1/4 of the meal new protein. So, if you started with chicken, give a bone-in breast, and a small hunk of boneless pork. Continue with this unless you see anything you don't like. If your dog has loose stools (and that makes you uncomfortable), back off the new protein and go back to the old one. Give his system a rest, and offer pork again in a day or two. The key here is to go slow. There is really no such thing as taking this too slowly. Have I mentioned to...TAKE YOUR TIME?!

Over the first month, a goal may be to introduce each of the protein types that you think you'll be feeding (so, maybe chicken, turkey, pork and beef). After you have a good variety as far as proteins go, you can think about introducing organ meat- again, in small amounts with items your dog is already accustomed to. OR, if you prefer, you can introduce organ as you go through the proteins (so, your progression would be chicken pieces, chicken organs, beef, beef organs, pork, pork organs, etc). It really doesn't matter how you do it. That's one of the super cool things about designing your own diet. Just remember: don't rush it.

So, it sounds easy, right? Well, overall, it is. But, of course, you could run into some problems. Some of the most common issues I hear from newbies are:

1- My dog won't eat. This could be any number of things. Your dog might not fully understand that this raw meat really is dinner. He might think he'll get in trouble for eating "human food". Often raw meat doesn't have the smells associated with dog food, so it might not smell like food. He might not like his food cold, straight from the fridge. Give it time. No healthy dog will starve himself. You can practice tough love: present the food, give him 15 minutes to eat and then remove whatever is not eaten to be presented at the next meal. Or, you may play around with altering his food to make it more appetizing. Some dogs need their food sprinkled with parmesan cheese or served at room temperature at first. Just remember, be very careful about catering to your dog at this phase. The ultimate goal is for Fido to eat what you present, no questions asked. Don't set yourself up for a future of begging and pleading your dog to eat.

2- Ahh!! He threw up!! Throwing up is one of the body's defense mechanisms. And, a very useful one. A good throw-er uppper is acutally a good thing. :) Sometimes newbies will find that their dog has thrown up a small pile of yellow, sometimes foamy biley throwup. Sometimes it has bones in it, sometimes not, and oftentimes this occurs at night or during a workday- either way, it's usually a while since the dog has been fed. This is the typical my-stomach-is-empty bile pukey. It will probably go away with time, but for now you can feed a small snack at irregular times between meals to ward this off.

Then, there's the yum-yum-yum, lemme hork my food down, uh, oh, here it comes back up throw up. Actually, regurgitation would be a more correct term for that. This, too, should stop with time. Since dogs don't really chew their food as humans do, they really just have to process it enough to get it down their throats. Kibble fed dogs often don't have experience with how much chewing that requires, so they sometimes try the minimum amount only to find out that is not enough. They'll figure it out: I promise. If it weirds you out, feed bigger pieces that cannot be gulped down.

Lastly, there's the "I am emptying the contents of my stomach" throw up. This would indicate that your dog is sick. Raw fed dogs do not routinely vomit entire meals. Treat this as you would have treated it with a kibble fed dog. I would fast for a day and then provide a bland meal of bone in chicken. Of course, you should watch for signs of dehydration and other signs of illness.

3- Looooose stools, make them go away! Remember: when you feed kibble, the same thing goes in every.single.day. So, obviously, what comes out will be the same every day, and if it's not that is cause for concern. Not so with raw feeding. Each meal can be different, so each stool could also be different. If your dog has loose stools, think about what you fed him. Bone firms stool, so have you fed enough bone? Have you fed too much of something he's not used to? Too much rich, rich organs? Too many (also rich) eggs? What goes in must come out, and there should be a logical link between the two. As you become more experienced, a little bit of pudding poop won't phase you. But, if it does for now, feed a little bone at each meal.

My last suggestion for you newbies out there is to try to find a raw feeding mentor. Anyone who knows what they are doing and has been sucessfully feeding this way for several years. You don't have to find this person in real life; there are tons of online raw feeding groups. It is invaluable to have a friend or mentor who can allay your fears and keep you on track.

raw feeding: the hows

2010-01-13T19:06:00.002-05:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know- many of my readers (crosses fingers, looks to the heavens and hopes she has readers) already know the hows of raw feeding. But, I feel that I owe it to anyone who doesn't know the hows to go over them. Then, I promise I'll start blogging about the good stuff.

So, the hows. The hows of raw feeding a prey model style of raw are pretty simple. Open fridge. Grab food. Give to dog. And, that's about it. Remember- we're approximating what the wolf eats in the wild, so there's no grinding, no real prepping, and certainly no cooking.

How much?
With regards to how much to feed, it has been said that a good place to start is with 2-3% of your dog's ideal weight. So, for a 50 lb dog, that means feeding around 1 - 1 1/2 lbs of food per day. This is a flexible starting point, though. Certainly some healthy dogs will need more than that, and some will need less. Most definitely puppies and pregnant/nursing dogs will need more. But, you have to start somewhere. Obviously, this type of feeding requires that you be in tune with your dog's physical condition. Losing weight? Feed more. Gaining weight? Feed less. It's simple, really.

What to feed?
The sky's the limit with this one. Some things have I fed are: chicken, turkey, quail, rabbit, fish, pork, beef, venison, veal, buffalo, goat, and lamb. I have heard of raw feeders feeding things like alligator, groundhogs, and frogs. When I'm trying to figure out whether or not to fed a particular animal, I try to answer the question: is it biologically appropriate? Would a wolf- in good times and in a land of plenty- chose to eat this in the wild? If then answer is yes, then I'll probably feed it. Another thing I keep in mind is that animals can survive eating a lot of things, but that doesn't make them ideal. In fact, I personally would love a diet of twix bars and vitamin water, but I don' think I'll be trying that anytime soon.

More info please!
Okay, so have I lost you yet? The final guideline that most of us PMR'ers use is the 80:10:10 ratio. This is the approximate ratio of muscle meat/other:edible bone:secreting organ that makes up the diet of a wolf over time. That means, this is what we strive for in the diet of our dog over time. In general, this ratio can be achieved by feeding a diet ruled by meat with a little bone and a little organs. Think of a pie cut into 10 slices. 8 of those slices will be meat/other, 1 will be bone, and 1 will be organ.

A menu, please!
I don't really do menus. The reason for that is that there is more than one way to skin a cat. For the most part I like to think that if you are feeding a variety of parts from a variety of animals and you're keeping the 80:10:10 number in the back of your head, you are probably okay. But, if I must, I will give you an idea of what Blake might eat over a 7 day period:

Day 1: 3 lb deer neck
Day 2: 1 lb pork heart
Day 3: 1 lb bone in chicken, 1/2 lb beef kidney
Day 4: 2 lbs boneless beef
Day 5: 1 lb turkey wing, 1/2 lb beef liver
Day 6: 1 lb tripe
Day 7: 1 lb ground salmon

So, at the end of the 7 day period, Blake has eaten 11 lbs total (or 1.57 lbs per day), which averages to be about 2.25% of his ideal weight of 70 lbs. You'll notice that the "menu" has some days with bone, some days without, some days with organ, some without, but that every day has loads and loads of luscious meat. I'm also feeding a variety of different parts from a variety of different animals- 6 in the example above.

Okay, I think that is enough for tonight. Blake has gone for a walk, enjoyed a pork heart, and is now beckoning me from the couch. His endless brown eyes are begging me to fold up the laptop and snuggle in with him for the evening, and I feel compelled to oblige.

raw feeding: the whys

2010-01-12T13:02:00.003-05:00

The process of starting raw feeding began for me about 4 years ago. I was a new dog owner and was in the process of learning a lot of things about dog ownership, only one of which was how to properly feed a dog. When I first adopted Blake, I started him on kibble without giving it a whole lot of thought. I mean, what else would I possibly feed him? But, then I came to learn that several friends of mine fed an alternative diet. One friend in particular fed something called BARF. Sounded unappetizing, but intriguing nonetheless. As she told me about the special orders from the grocery store, about the selecting and pureeing of vegetables, and about the supplementation, it did not- at first- sound like anything I was interested in. It sounded very labor intensive and confusing. But, I didn't decide against it immediately. I actually liked the idea of feeding something other than dry kibble day in and day out, but I'll admit: I was intimidated. So, I did some research on my own at my own pace. I learned that this BARF diet was designed by a man named Dr. Billinghurst. I got my hands on his books, and visited his website. As I went along in my search, however, I found another approach to raw feeding. A similar yet simpler approach. Something called prey model raw. Like the BARF diet, PMR (prey model raw) also has it's own poster child, so to speak. That man is Tom Lonsdale. The more I read of his ideas, the more I liked them and favored them over a BARF style of feeding.

The premise of a raw diet is simple: dogs are carnivores and should be fed as such. God gave them all of the tools they need to eat the diet of a carnivore, from their dentition to their digestive tract. What is the diet of a carnivore? Whole prey items. For a dog or wolf, that would likely be whole deer, sheep, goats, rabbits, the occasional fowl, and maybe some fish depending on breed and geographic location. Of course, the average dog owner doesn't have access to these whole prey items, so we approximate. A wing from a turkey, a thigh and leg from a chicken, muscle meat from a cow, a neck from a deer, a head from a fish, internal organs from a pig. There are a few hard and fast rules with raw feeding, but for the most part it is up to you to design as you wish.

So, now here I am, 4 years later. A successful raw feeder who will never look back.

first.blog.ever

2010-01-12T08:45:00.003-05:00

So, at the urging of a Facebook friend, here I am. Starting a blog. A blog on raw feeding, of all things.

I have to say, blogging has been something that has intrigued me for a long time. I've dreamed of having a blog of my very own. With a reading audience of my very own, too, of course. But, can I write a blog? Don't you have to be witty? What would I write about? What if I ran out of interesting stuff? How do you even get a blog? Do you have to know html?!!!

Enter blogspot: a free blog hosting site that appears to make this process very easy.

So, here goes. I am embarking on my very own blog. And, because I feel that it is the most blog worthy activity in my life, this blog will be devoted to raw feeding. What is raw feeding, you may ask? Well, I guess you'll just have to read my blog, now won't you. ;)