Are you considering a raw diet?

[Lucy]

www.rawmeatybones.com/diet/exp-diet-guide.pdf

[rachel]

Mine all had duck necks today for the first time. They all went nuts for them!

[millymolly]

Thanks to info from you guys I changed my 3 Chi's to Ziwi a couple of months back. I felt a total varied raw diet to be too complicated for my wee brain and Ziwi is so convienient. I have now conviced a friend to give Ziwi a try but as she breeds the odd litter she was wondering if its ok to feed to bitches in whelp and nursing and what about when the pups start on solids can they go straight onto it, perhaps the tinned version? We have looked on their website but cant see anything that answers these questions. Any advice please

[Sarah]

Yes it's perfect for bitches in whelp. And yes to weaning litters. Heather weaned Maris litter onto it. If it was me I would start with the wet and mix it with some goats milk to water it down... Although if she waits long enough she should be able to go straight onto it without watering Down as it's quite a runny wet!!!

[millymolly]

Thankyou Sarah thats great x

[nataliee]

We are nearly out of kibble now and then I intend on switching to raw. Stupid question, and I think I've asked it before too, but how do you know what percentage is bone, like on a chicken wing how would I know what percentage of it was bone and what was meat?
I also need a pre made to use a few times a week, what would be a good one?

[Lucy]

Personally, I don't work out the percentage of bone in a chicken wing, that's just WAY too complicated to get in to. I count the whole thing as bone, as there's not much meat on a wing anyway and I usually trim on excess skin if its a baggy one lol. But the skin is good, of course.

I am a bit OCD about weights etc, but that's mostly because I have to monitor Kiki's diet because she has SUCH a high metabolism and loses weight really quickly.

For example, Kiki eats 84grams per day.
That is 588 grams for a week.
10% = 58.8grams.
So I know that in a week, Kiki needs to eat 470g of meaty meat,
58g of raw meaty bones,
and 58g of organ- 29g of which MUST be liver.

That was how I was working it out before Sarah and I found the ground mixes we now use. We still give other meats, fish, chicken wings, and also add in extra liver just to be safe.

The best way to really see if your dogs are getting enough bone is by looking at their stools. I even do this now. If they're too loose, I give them a wing (or wing tip with the next meal). If they're too firm and the dog is having trouble going, I feed less.

Sorry if I've made it sound complicated lol but trust me, after a while you'll learn to read your dog's bodies to know what they need

I'm not sure about pre-mades but I know a few people feed ZiwiPeak. The ground mixes we use are from DAF. They're the manufacturers so if you go on their website, it should be able to give you an idea of a retailer near you (I'm not sure where you're located).

There's also Natural Instinct.

[nataliee]

Apr 15, 2012 14:36:04 GMT Lucy said:

Personally, I don't work out the percentage of bone in a chicken wing, that's just WAY too complicated to get in to. I count the whole thing as bone, as there's not much meat on a wing anyway and I usually trim on excess skin if its a baggy one lol. But the skin is good, of course.

I am a bit OCD about weights etc, but that's mostly because I have to monitor Kiki's diet because she has SUCH a high metabolism and loses weight really quickly.

For example, Kiki eats 84grams per day.
That is 588 grams for a week.
10% = 58.8grams.
So I know that in a week, Kiki needs to eat 470g of meaty meat,
58g of raw meaty bones,
and 58g of organ- 29g of which MUST be liver.

That was how I was working it out before Sarah and I found the ground mixes we now use. We still give other meats, fish, chicken wings, and also add in extra liver just to be safe.

The best way to really see if your dogs are getting enough bone is by looking at their stools. I even do this now. If they're too loose, I give them a wing (or wing tip with the next meal). If they're too firm and the dog is having trouble going, I feed less.

Sorry if I've made it sound complicated lol but trust me, after a while you'll learn to read your dog's bodies to know what they need

I'm not sure about pre-mades but I know a few people feed ZiwiPeak. The ground mixes we use are from DAF. They're the manufacturers so if you go on their website, it should be able to give you an idea of a retailer near you (I'm not sure where you're located).

There's also Natural Instinct.

Ah ok that helps thank u
Had a look on the DAF website but they don't deliver in my area (Warwickshire)
Do i need to start them on just chicken wings, as not keen on giving wings to my mums dog they're a bit too small for him