The Benefits Of A Prey Model Diet

[Wylie's Mom]

Hi Raw feeders !! Just fyi - I was emailing with RawfedYorkieluv - one of our resident prey model experts - and I wanted to let you know that she might not be on this thread for a while. I know , I miss her too. She is reallllly busy with her house right now and with her son and a whole bunch of other things - so she said she likely wouldn't be on YT much. Anyway, I just wanted to pass that along for her.

[AngelWorks]

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

Hi Raw feeders !! Just fyi - I was emailing with RawfedYorkieluv - one of our resident prey model experts - and I wanted to let you know that she might not be on this thread for a while. I know , I miss her too. She is reallllly busy with her house right now and with her son and a whole bunch of other things - so she said she likely wouldn't be on YT much. Anyway, I just wanted to pass that along for her.

Tell her we said HI!

[CupofDog]

Originally Posted by AngelWorks

Tell her we said HI!

Ann, Tell her we miss her!! I have tons of questions about feeding organs - so if anyone else on here has advice, please bring it on!

Where do I get beef heart?
What other organs should I be feeding?
Where can I buy them?
Where can i buy chicken feet??

Thanks for the help! My monsters are tearing up their new prey model diet and LOVING it. Their teeth are already cleaner! I am so glad I made this switch, its also sooo much more economical. I am planning to go to the grocer today and stock up!

[omega]

Originally Posted by CupofDog

Ann, Tell her we miss her!! I have tons of questions about feeding organs - so if anyone else on here has advice, please bring it on!

Where do I get beef heart?
What other organs should I be feeding?
Where can I buy them?
Where can i buy chicken feet??

Thanks for the help! My monsters are tearing up their new prey model diet and LOVING it. Their teeth are already cleaner! I am so glad I made this switch, its also sooo much more economical. I am planning to go to the grocer today and stock up!

I get beef heart through a local buying group but you could call your local butchers and groceries. Also check at Asian markets for heart, chicken feet, fish and other different kinds of meat you can't find in "regular" markets.

Any kind of organs from any animals. Beef liver, calves liver, chicken heart, kidney, etc... I'm pretty sure no organ is off limits... someone correct me if I am wrong.

Remember to start with just tiny pieces of organ meat and build up over a longer period of time or you will end up with cannon butt. Not something that is fun to deal with.

[TLC]

Originally Posted by omega

I get beef heart through a local buying group but you could call your local butchers and groceries. Also check at Asian markets for heart, chicken feet, fish and other different kinds of meat you can't find in "regular" markets.

Any kind of organs from any animals. Beef liver, calves liver, chicken heart, kidney, etc... I'm pretty sure no organ is off limits... someone correct me if I am wrong.

Remember to start with just tiny pieces of organ meat and build up over a longer period of time or you will end up with
cannon butt. Not something that is fun to deal with.

...sorry...that was a good one

[omega]

Originally Posted by TLC

...sorry...that was a good one

no need to apologize.

[Michmill]

Hi guys, its been awhile. Chewy is doing real good. He got some fleas that irritated him and he has sores on his back again, but over all he is much better and is loving his diet of raw.
I recently lost his daughter to parvo. Gidget was a tiny 3lb sweety and it has left me a little down lately. Here is a pic of her if I can get it to upload. lol

[Cinq1964]

Originally Posted by Michmill

Hi guys, its been awhile. Chewy is doing real good. He got some fleas that irritated him and he has sores on his back again, but over all he is much better and is loving his diet of raw.
I recently lost his daughter to parvo. Gidget was a tiny 3lb sweety and it has left me a little down lately. Here is a pic of her if I can get it to upload. lol

So sorry for your loss.

[duckie215]

Hi. So i realize this thread is pretty much an antique, but I have a few questions. My little story is posted in another thread, so here's just a little recap. We currently live in Germany and I speak no German so buying decent kibble was a bit difficult. I was looking for other options including mail order and came across raw feeding. Think its an excellent option. Going to start Early Next week as my husband will be gone so I will have a chance to get Walker on a Schedule and establish new habits without interruption

Do you ever buy pre-frozen meat? Like frozen fish or chicken? or just buy the fresh and freeze it?

How exactly do you predict the adult weight for a larger yorkie? I know its a rough estimate any time, but Walker is 5 lbs at 13 weeks and I have yet to find a chart that starts that big He is healthy, not overweight. Got a nice set of ribs that i can feel but not see.

Thanks for your help!

[tjdmom]

Originally Posted by duckie215

Do you ever buy pre-frozen meat? Like frozen fish or chicken? or just buy the fresh and freeze it?

How exactly do you predict the adult weight for a larger yorkie? I know its a rough estimate any time, but Walker is 5 lbs at 13 weeks and I have yet to find a chart that starts that big He is healthy, not overweight. Got a nice set of ribs that i can feel but not see.
Thanks for your help!

As for the first part of your question.... I buy the same meat I might buy for my family at the grocery store. It's not usually totally frozen but sometimes it is. I say the same meat I might buy because my family only likes white meat so I don't necessarily feed my dogs chicken breast, I usually feed the chicken quarters as it's less expensive and my family certainly could eat it, we just prefer not too. Also, I buy liver at the grocery store for the dogs and we could certainly eat that same liver, my boys just would not be happy with that but the dogs love it! I freeze the dogs food in baggies and generally each baggie contains 2 days of food. That way I only have to take food out from the freezer every other day. And I can get away with buying a cheaper cut of meat for the dogs where my family would find it too tough. So I hope that gives you a general idea and explains what I do.

As for the second part of your question, you are right that it's hard to know the adult weight. What I would do is just weigh your little guy every day or even once a week and this will give you a general idea how he is doing. If you look and can tell that he's a little on the thin side you know that you need to up how much he's getting and vice versa. That's what I've done. Now Zoe is about 5.25 and she's a little on the thin side so I'm always trying to get her to eat a little more but if she were just right, I would just attempt to maintain her weight. I hope that helps! Good luck and feel free to pm me with any questions!

[omega]

Originally Posted by Michmill

Hi guys, its been awhile. Chewy is doing real good. He got some fleas that irritated him and he has sores on his back again, but over all he is much better and is loving his diet of raw.
I recently lost his daughter to parvo. Gidget was a tiny 3lb sweety and it has left me a little down lately. Here is a pic of her if I can get it to upload. lol

I'm just seeing this now.
I'm so sorry you lost your little Gidget. Parvo is so awful. Seems like I've been hearing too much about it lately.

Hope you're doing ok....

[omega]

Originally Posted by duckie215

Hi. So i realize this thread is pretty much an antique, but I have a few questions. My little story is posted in another thread, so here's just a little recap. We currently live in Germany and I speak no German so buying decent kibble was a bit difficult. I was looking for other options including mail order and came across raw feeding. Think its an excellent option. Going to start Early Next week as my husband will be gone so I will have a chance to get Walker on a Schedule and establish new habits without interruption

Do you ever buy pre-frozen meat? Like frozen fish or chicken? or just buy the fresh and freeze it?

How exactly do you predict the adult weight for a larger yorkie? I know its a rough estimate any time, but Walker is 5 lbs at 13 weeks and I have yet to find a chart that starts that big He is healthy, not overweight. Got a nice set of ribs that i can feel but not see.

Thanks for your help!

LOL. If this thread is antique, I must be really ancient!

Sure, you can buy it fresh or frozen. Sometimes, as with salmon, it is better to have it frozen for awhile first.

Sounds like your guy is going to be a big one!!! Since he is till so young, I would just make sure to not underfeed him. What tdjmom's said... keep an eye on him... if you think he's getting too pudgy, feed him less. Sounds like he is an ideal weight right now, so you can base your future observations from that.

Have fun!!!!

[Babz]

Greetings!

I have been researching raw for a while now and we are switching as early as next week! YAY! I'm so excited. We are going to start with chicken thighs, bone in, skin off. I'll see how they go on that, and then maybe in a few days add the skin.

I do have a few questions..

Right now my babies are free fed, and self-regulating their food really well. Should i weigh the meat I feed them? I was thinking I would throw one thigh for one dog and let them go on it, and give fillet later in the day.

Also, since I am going shopping for the meat this week, what else should I get aside from chicken thighs, breast, legs? Should I get heart, gizzards? Is it okay to feed hearts and gizzards the 1st few days, since it is considered muscle meat, not organs?

Since I cannot afford organic, I was thinking to supplement with salmon oil. But I found out salmon oil is very hard to find here, and if I can find it I suspect it'd be very expensive, as cod liver oil is already through the roof. I simply cannot afford it. So, I found out I could feed fish instead of supplementing. What kinda fish is good and high in omega 3 and 6, and should I give them the bones or just filleted fish??

Thanks so much for any help at all!!

[tjdmom]

I have been researching raw for a while now and we are switching as early as next week! YAY! I'm so excited. We are going to start with chicken thighs, bone in, skin off. I'll see how they go on that, and then maybe in a few days add the skin. Sounds like you're off to a great start!

I do have a few questions..

Should i weigh the meat I feed them? I was thinking I would throw one thigh for one dog and let them go on it, and give fillet later in the day. That sounds fine. I weighed mine at the beginning so I had more of a feel for how much the amount they eat should be. Once I knew about how much that looked like, I stopped weighing. Now I just eyeball and adjust based on how they are doing.

Also, since I am going shopping for the meat this week, what else should I get aside from chicken thighs, breast, legs? Should I get heart, gizzards? Is it okay to feed hearts and gizzards the 1st few days, since it is considered muscle meat, not organs? Mine have had absolutely no problem with gizzards and hearts. Liver I have to be more careful of.

Since I cannot afford organic, I was thinking to supplement with salmon oil. But I found out salmon oil is very hard to find here, and if I can find it I suspect it'd be very expensive, as cod liver oil is already through the roof. I simply cannot afford it. So, I found out I could feed fish instead of supplementing. What kinda fish is good and high in omega 3 and 6, and should I give them the bones or just filleted fish?? I can't help you much here. I don't feed organic either and honestly, mine aren't real big fish lovers. I keep saying I need to try a different kind of fish but haven't done that yet. When I add fish oil, I just break open one of my fish oil capsules and pour over their meat. And I don't know which fish would be high in omega 3 & 6. Sorry I'm not much help there!

Good luck and keep us posted!

[Babz]

tjdmom, thanks so much! I guess I just have to keep reminding myself to relax. You are inconsiderable help, thanks so much!

I think this forum has great support group for raw feeders