Raw food - the right balance

Hi all,

I have been feeding Bali raw for about 6 weeks now, and she's loving it, but I just want to check I'm still on the right tracks, as her poo's have been a bit runny recently!

Her diet is mainly based on beef and lamb pieces that I get weekly from my local butcher for free, but I also add chicken wings, drumsticks, sardines, eggs and tripe. A sample for a few days would be:

AM1 - Lamb chunks with sardines in sunflower oil

PM1 - Beef chunks with a chicken drumstick and a dash of olive oil

AM2 - Beef chunks with a duck neck

PM2 - Lamb chunks with tripe

AM3 - Beef mince with a chicken wing and 1 egg

PM3 - Lamb pieces with a chicken drumstick

That is pretty much the basis of her diet, with the occasional dash of yoghurt or cottage cheese, and probably one spoon of pulped veg a week. One thing I can't get her to eat is offal, so I have to chop it really small
and add it to her chunks or mince. I made the mistake of adding it to all her bags of meat when I was preparing it 2 Fridays ago, so she had liver nearly every day last week, and I'm thinking that this may be why she's so loose at the moment! Finally, how often can I feed tripe? Can she have it every day? she absolutely loves it, and I know it's really good for her.

Thanks for listening, and I look forward to your views.

[GSD-Jay]

Seems we've both posted a similar thread at the same time. I will watch both for replies. Your menu sounds pretty decent though.

[pangolin]

For the prey model diet, the ratio is 80% meat, 10% bone and 10% offal so you could always weigh the components to compare if you want to check it's right, though allow for bone in minces and meat on bones. However, using the consistancy of their stool is a good way to judge whether you've got it right. I'd cut the offal down, as you've said, and if the poos still need a little firming up, try increasing the amount of bone bit by bit until you get firm (but not too chalky) poos without the dog obviously straining to pass them. What I find works for my dogs is giving them offal with bone, and they counteract the effects of each other - the bone firms the looseness caused by offal.
Tripe counts as meat in terms of raw feeding, as it's mainly stomach muscle. You could feed it daily if you wanted but it is worth noting that it can be higher in fat than other meats, so personally I don't feed it daily. Unbleached tripe has a bit of veg content too, so if you follow the BARF school of thoughts re. dogs needing veg, you can factor that into the equation too.
When feeding offal, the organs that count are liver, kidney, pancreas, brain and I think lungs. Heart is a big muscle so doesn't really count. The other organs all have different vitamins and minerals in them to muscle meat, the way to look at them is sort of as natural vitamin supplements, it tops up the dog's vitamin levels (like Vitamin A from liver) and the essential fatty acids etc. that aren't found in high enough levels in muscle meat.

[maxandskye]

Hi Jamie, I see you have made the change over.

IMHO I feel there is not enough bone in this diet & not enough variety of proteins, eg; Pork, fish, venison, rabbit, & tripe to name a few.

You really shouldnt have to be adding so much oil too, especially of the same kind. Udos oil is an excellent choice, as it contains omegas 3, 6 & 9.


If you feed excessive meat off the bone, it can throw the whole balance of the theory behind a raw meaty bone diet, the same applies to too many veggies.

One ounce of liver a day is a must too.

Hope this helps.

[pangolin]

On the subject of meat variety actually, it may be worth noting that there are some studies that show red meats may aggravate arthritis and perhaps other joint problems. I've decided to limit the red meat in my dogs' diet because of the GSD proneness to hip dysplasia and Rottweiler's disposition to arthritis. I feed a mostly chicken based diet now, with fish as the secondary meat, then the odd rabbit (maybe one or two a month), sometimes some lamb (not on its own as too much makes mine windy, but I get a lamb/tripe mixed mince) and the odd block of beef mince or chunked of ox heart. I don't exclude red meat entirely as the evidence doesn't seem to be solid and I feel they need some variety for both mental stimulation and to balance the diet more efficiently but I don't have it make up the bulk of their diet.

[Yanniebe]

Hi I have a two week menu Jo kindly give me. If you would like to have a look I could forward it to you. You can pm me your email address

I would also cut out the oil you are giving,.. one of the best ways in which to give oil is by feeding fish,.. they get the right oils and a none fat giveing meat,..all dogs love fish.

If the fish is in the range of something up to a foot, then just give it as it is,... no need to gut it feed it whole,.. I can get larger fish from the smoke houses here if I wanted to, but find the bones are a bit too ridged in the larger fish, so I get given the heads and the tails

Originally Posted by Jamie

Hi all,

I have been feeding Bali raw for about 6 weeks now, and she's loving it, but I just want to check I'm still on the right tracks, as her poo's have been a bit runny recently!

Her diet is mainly based on beef and lamb pieces that I get weekly from my local butcher for free, but I also add chicken wings, drumsticks, sardines, eggs and tripe. A sample for a few days would be:

AM1 - Lamb chunks with sardines in sunflower oil

PM1 - Beef chunks with a chicken drumstick and a dash of olive oil

AM2 - Beef chunks with a duck neck

PM2 - Lamb chunks with tripe

AM3 - Beef mince with a chicken wing and 1 egg

PM3 - Lamb pieces with a chicken drumstick

That is pretty much the basis of her diet, with the occasional dash of yoghurt or cottage cheese, and probably one spoon of pulped veg a week. One thing I can't get her to eat is offal, so I have to chop it really small
and add it to her chunks or mince. I made the mistake of adding it to all her bags of meat when I was preparing it 2 Fridays ago, so she had liver nearly every day last week, and I'm thinking that this may be why she's so loose at the moment! Finally, how often can I feed tripe? Can she have it every day? she absolutely loves it, and I know it's really good for her.

Thanks for listening, and I look forward to your views.

I only feed tripe three times a weekas it can increase weight a bit too much

[wildmoor]

Biotin (B7 or Vit H) liver, kidneys, egg yolk and grains.
Selenium meat, fish & grains too little will cause atrophy of muscles too much will cause toxicity giving rise to brittle hair/nails. You also need Vit e to go with this which you will get from a vegetable oil such as Udos

Please research more