Hi,
One thing I do is to cut the chicken leg or thigh bone in half and adjust the meat accordingly - that seems to be a really good size for my girls.

How long have you been feeding prey model?

I give Walker the whole leg even though he doesn't eat it. He regulates his food really well so its never been a problem for us. He gets whole thighs, drumsticks, etc. Currently he's working on a whole guinea fowl. It'll take him about 3-4 days to make it through the entire guinea hen. He has never had a rpoblem with anything being "too big." He's on the bigger end though and weighs 11 pounds at 5 months. It may be different with a smaller pup.:) There are others that are much more knowledgable than I though.

The way to deal with a pup who has a tendency to gulp his food right down is to feed him larger pieces. It may mean that you feed a leg and he won't finish it all the first day so give him the leftovers the second day. Or you could give him a breast, bone in and again feed it over a few days. Since it will be so much larger, he will be unable to gulp it down. Good luck and let us know how you make out.

Hi. I would get whole chickens, quartered, and give a quarter to her for a meal. The breast side would be great. You can slice the meat in a couple of places to help her get leverage to bite in. Usually when I give that to my yorkie she will chomp chomp for an hour or so - great jaw and teeth workout! And I can take it from her when she finishes half and reserve the rest for the next day.

My shihtzu is a gulper too, and since I have been giving her chicken quarters rather than just pieces (breast, thigh, etc) she is much better!

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask if you need help!

Hi, thanks for all the reply's, Willie though if I give him a chicken leg, he will eat the whole thing, and if I try to take it away, he tries to swallow it fast so I don't get it, I think he would try to eat the whole chicken whole...LOL. I am trying to find small legs, maybe that will work, but he still tries to swallow the bones whole. My Willie will eat anything still or running, he just don't get enough to eat, and he is in perfect weight.
Thanks all of you for trying to help me.
Patches and Baby Willie

Hi, I gave Willie a half of breast today, he gulped it down just as fast as fast as he does the small bites. I have even fed him little pieces at a time, he still don't chew it, just get upset with me cause he wants it all. He is too small to swallow a big pork neck bone, he will chew on it for an hour, but I have not found any other things I can feed him so he will eat slower. He has not been feeling so good today, after he ate the whole half of chicken breast. Hope he get ok. Thanks for all the replies.
I love my Willie, he is my darlin baby.
'

New to prey diet, detox, parasites
 

I've been reading this thread for awhile now and have turned to the prey diet. I've been feeding our Germ. Shep. mix, Germ. Short. mix, and Silky/Yorkie raw food for ove the last week. I first started to do this cause our Short. has extremely bad allergies. He will scratch and eat his paws and break out if he has anything wheat. He also smells so bad that he can not be in the house. He has had chronic ear problems (yeast) and is on Zymox permanently to keep them at bay, but still will get them. I'm tired of the vet bills and I'm sure he's extremely miserable. For awhile I caught myself thinking he'd be better off, or at least more comfortable, dead! To tell you the truth, since the big dogs are always outside I'm not going to have the advantage of seeing all the benefits this diet has to offer. But I'm really paying attention to Dozer to see if his allergies clear up. Since he's 6 and the allergies are really bad i'm wondering how long it will take to see these benefits. And while he's detoxing, what things am I supposed to be looking for?

Of course all the dogs love the food and will eat everything I've served them so there aren't any issues there. My husband is a hunter and for the first time I actually want him to go our and shoot something! :eek: I'm mad cause he got an elk and 2 deer this past fall and he cleans them in the field leaving all the bones, legs, etc there while it could have all been free food!!!!

I was telling my mom about this new diet and she freaked out! I told her I wasn't concerned about bacteria and such, but she brought up parasites from the meat. I hadn't noticed this talked about in this thread; maybe it has been but I don't want to go through 20+ pages to find it!:D So, does anyone have info on the parasite stuff? Sorry if it's being redundant!:rolleyes:

This thread is awesome!!!

I would give him a whole breast but take it away after he's worked on it for awhile. Don't let it get small enough for him to gulp it all down. He won't feel well if he overeats.... Probably a 1/4 of the breast would be adequate for him. (i'm just basing that on my yorkie who is 5.5 lbs so if he's a lot bigger, that might not be accurate) To take it away, if you don't trust his reaction use a broom or something long that you can take it away and not worry that he might bite you by accident in his eagerness to finish. You could even try a small chicken and let him work on that a little bit every day over the span of a few days. Put it back in the fridge after 15 minutes or so....

Freezing the food for about a month is recommended especially when you are concerned about parasites. Although I know some people don't bother. I would err on the side of caution and just make sure you freeze it for about a month before serving. I wish my husband would hunt! ;) As for how long before you see benefits.... I would think that you will almost immediately see some benefits but it will probably take a good month for you to start to see a shinier coat and improved teeth and some of the other benefits. Of course, like people, each dog is different.... Good luck! Can't wait to hear how you do.... You might want to read this site as you'll probably be hearing a lot of these myths from your mom.... The Many Myths of Raw Feeding

Update
 

Hi guys, its been awhile. Chewy was doing so good on his new diet. The dry itchy tough darkening skin was getting so much better, his mood had improved as well as his diet and then, WOW!!!! It came back worse than before. Out of no where the dry itchy darkening skin is back with sores that wont heal, moodiness, loss of appetite, low energy level. Sooooo, now we are on enzymes, have been on it for three weeks. and seems to be doing some good. He eats better and the sores are now healing faster. Im just at a loss as to how it came back so bad when he was doing so good. His hair on his back where the skin is all funky is so thin that it just doesnt want to grow. Im hoping that will clear up once the skin clears up. But until then I keep him shaved in a shnauzer cut. I continue the bathing and baking soda rinses. has anyone else had this problem with it reoccurring?

Well, it's been a good 3 months since we've started the raw diet and Dozer is still chewing his paws, itching his butt on the floor, and had a nasty ear infection outbreak. These issues haven't gone away at all since starting this diet. However, he HAS gained 12 + lbs when he couldn't on kibble, has awesome teeth and eyes look clearer. I'm just not sure, like you, why these problems haven't gotton somewhat better (or in your case reoccured). That's my question, too. Maybe Dozer is allergic to beef or something? Any thoughts?

WOW this info is great. I am seriously thinking about using the prey model diet for Bonnie Is there anyway to bookmark this thread, so I can come back and read later? Thanks

I haven't read all of your posts in this thread, but since you mentioned ongoing probs w/ yeast in an earlier post - have you had his ears re-checked? You probably already know this, but the yeast could easily be systemic; if it's been around in a chronic state, I'd recommend a good enduring cycle of Fluconazole. The ears, the butt itching, the paw issues could all def. be from systemic yeast.

Also, have you ruled out other things via smears/skin-scrapings/fungal cultures etcetera?

I don't feed prey-model, I feed pre-made raw - but I just love raw! Anyway, I hope you can find a solution, I know how frustrating these kinds of issues can be! :)

Yeast
 

Hi yall, I've been on haitus for a while and will be again for a week or so....
My oldest Toy (13) has chronic systemic yeast infection. I feed all 3 of my dogs prey model. It took years to get my dog in this awful state of chronic problems and they didn't just go away over night! Toy is MUCH better than he was just 3 years ago, in fact, I had considered putting him down then.... He still has recurring incidents with yeasty ears every now and then, still licks his paws sometimes and still has some black spots on his skin, but it's a day and night difference and I know for a fact that prey model and an absolute NO to vaccinating an already compromised dog has saved his life! I'm afraid 10 years of the worst possible diet, his immune system fighting THAT plus the never ending story with vaccinations have left their mark. I can't and won't tell ANYONE how to raise their dog or try to insinuate anything, but in my own real life experience, the issue of vaccinations and why they're so bad is just as important as the diet! Yeast infection is a life long battle! It'll get better, much better in time but reoccurences will happen, especially in the beginning but they WILL happen less often over time. For the ones that do the baking soda/ and/or vinegar baths; I recently added NEEM oil to Toy's shampoo. He had a sore on his tail and it went away fast! I got organic Neem Oil off ebay. A little goes a long way and is known as a natural, powerful antiseptic/antifungal remedy! The added benefit is, it also naturally repels fleas and ticks! I've been doing the homemade oatmeal/tee tree oil shampoo combo with good results in between the baking soda thing but the Neem just worked better for the sore!
The ear thing; a daily swab with apple cider vinegar (not pouring it directly into the ear canal!) helps Toy to keep the yeasties off bay! I did find a kick-butt ear wax removal system; the Chris Christensen Mystic Ear! It's NOT oily and it doesn't make the yeast worse which I found with so many other products out there! I use it on Toy and my other dogs just before a bath, works like a charm!

Nadia

yeasty reply
 

Thank you both so much for the replies on the yeast issues. I, too, like Nadia considered whether Dozer's life was even pleasant enough to continue. The chronic ear problems, itching, chewing paws till bleeding...and all the crying!!! (Him and me;)). You're probably right in that he's systemic with the yeast. It's a guarantee that an ear problem will surface every 5 months or so; sooner if we don't keep the enzyme in his ears the vet gave us.

So what is Fluconazole? How's it work? No, we haven't done the skin scraping, fungal tests...but isn't yeast a fungas? I did start using Melaleuca Oil (a tea tree oil) which is antibacterial and anitfungal in his ears now that we ran out of the last prescription (which didn't get rid of it). By the way, those are working less and less as time progresses. I'm worried somday nothing will get rid of them! I would love this oil to work cause it's all-natural, cheap and it's not another 'drug' for the body to have side-effects to.

About the vaccinating--we don't immunize our children, but I thought it's law to vaccinate your animals. If one would bite someone else are they required to be put down then? I am on Nadia's side with the beliefs of immunizations and the negatives they actually play on one's immune system. However, I thought animals were by law required...

Dozer HAS seen certain improvements now he's been on total raw diet. But is it possible that he could also be allergic to a certain type of animal (Cow, deer, etc.) on top of a yeasty system?