Tools and supplements

k9kreationz

k9kreationz

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Okay everyone...I'm reading up and MAY go raw with my boys (or partially raw). Mostly for Miko's kidney disease and well, since I'll already be buying stuff, might as well put Koji on it too. Let's hope I have space in the freezer.

I haven't made a decision yet, but am trying to get my ducks in a row to see if it's doable or what. I have Lew Olson's book (thanks Dawn) and have been reading as much as I can about a raw diet and kidney failure/disease.

Tools
If I go this route, I'm going to need good, but cheap. I may just go to the store and price it all out first and break it down (per meal price).

Any suggestions of knives/scissors? for breaking down organs and bones and stuff?

What about a scale?

Containers? I'm thinking I could put together all the meals once a week and then freeze them (and thaw them out in some sort of orderly fashion - i.e. thaw out Monday morning for Tuesday morning/evening meal, etc).

What other tools would I need?

Supplements
Do I need any? Some things suggest adding supplements for a "well-rounded" diet. Some say feeding a variety of certain foods is good enough. Just wondering if you add supplements or not?


One last question....I'm assuming I shouldn't feed the same raw diet to Miko (kidney disease and 13yo) and Koji (semi-active in agility and 4yo). Or do I?

Thanks for any help.
 
Tools:

I use a cleaver and scissors. Cleaver cuts through the bone quite easily and quickly. Normal kitchen cissors for cutting off smaller bits of meat or skin.

I do have a weighing scale. Just the normal sort. Not the electronic type. I tend to get blood splatter on stuff around the kitchen counter so I wanted to be sure I can rinse everything off!!

With Romeo and Juliet, I do about 1 to 2 weeks of food at a go. I use plastic containers (with pink and blue lids so I can tell whose box it is) which are just big enough to fit one day's worth of food. I'll chop up and distribute all the meats I've bought into those boxes. Then freeze them all. I will take one box out for each dog the night before to thaw in the fridge to feed to them the next day.

When I feed them, I feed half of the food in the box in the morning, half in the evening. I use the covers of the boxes as the "plates" in the AM (when the dog is done, I cover the box back up) then the box base itself as the bowl in the PM. LESS WASHING UP!!

A good chopping board is necessary. And maybe some freezer bags to bag up any meats leftover after you've filled all the boxes you can and don't have enough to make up another. I use those meats for treats.

Supplements:

Technically when you feed raw you don't need supplements at all if you feed a variety of parts from a variety of prey animals. The only one I would recommend is wild salmon oil (and vitamin E), if you don't feed grass fed meat.

I add wild salmon oil, vitamin E, vibrant pets and diatomaceous earth to my dogs' food. Having learnt my lesson with Juliet, I make sure all powders are mixed well into mince meat so there's nothing she can snort into her nose!!

The differences I can think of between Miko and Koji's meal might be how much you feed (active dog vs. not so active dog) and the meats you're feeding (low phosphorus meats - you can find a list showing how much phosphorus there is in what here). I don't think this will make it any harder to feed both dogs raw.

If you haven't signed up yet, you might find the "rawfeeding" yahoo group to be quite informative.
 
"One last question....I'm assuming I shouldn't feed the same raw diet to Miko (kidney disease and 13yo) and Koji (semi-active in agility and 4yo). Or do I?"

You are thinking in terms of kibble. Think in terms of food. : )

Raw food is raw food. There isn't a "old dog food" and "puppy food", it's all just food. All you change is the amounts, and maybe the kidney dog doesn't get as much bone. They both get meat, organs, and other whole foods. If they get fat, feed less, if they get skinny, feed more.

I have one large knife for cutting meat, and one pair of kitchen scissors. No scale. I had one for like a week, then I got over it.

The BEST food storage boxes are the Sterilite paper boxes. They are like 12x15 inches, but only 2 inches deep, and they stack nicely in the fridge/freezer. This: http://www.sterilite.com/SelectProduct.html?id=474&ProductCategory=250&section=1
 
You are thinking in terms of kibble. Think in terms of food. : )
Click to expand...

No no. That'd be too easy. I need to make this as difficult as possible. :rolleyes2:

Thanks both of you. That helped a lot. Not sure if the Sterlite containers would fit in the freezer. Maybe two of them, max? Remember, this is just a regular top freezer fridge that I'm using. And a small one at that.

Hmm.....Another question. How much food do you feed? I'm not asking for specifics, just general overall, 1cup a day, 2 cup a day. I'm trying to figure out how many containers I'd need and if it'd fit in the freezer. LOL.
 
I have five dogs:

Kate: 1 1/2 cups of kibble, or 1 whole leg quarter
Marque/Liesl/River: 1 cup kibble or 1 whole leg quarter (small ones)
Evie: 3/4 cup kibble or 1/2 leg quarter

I generally feed organ meats or other smaller meats with the Orijen.
 
The accepted food ratio is 80% meat, 10% bone, 5% liver and 5% other secreting organ. The guidance is to feed 2-3% of ideal adult body weight but that's just a guide. They are all just guides. Their poop will tell you if you're doing it right. And you don't need to give the 80-10-5-5 ratio for each meal. The mantra is "balance over time". So for example, you may skip feeding liver the whole week, then give a chunk over the weekend if your dogs can take.

Juliet is about 6 kg and she gets 100g of food a day. That's 1.7% approximately. Romeo is 9.7kg and gets 200g a day. That's about 2.1%. Any more and they'll get fat.

Their food looks like this.
food.jpg

The box just fits one drumstick diagonally.
 
forget the scale, you will figure it out after first week.
Price the meat at local market, then you might find some co-ops down the road when you figure out what your boys preferences. Mine refuse to eat raw duck or rabbit for example:(
I have heavy kitchen shears to chop up some stuff, specifically chicken necks when I use them as training treats otherwise regular knives are fine.
I use plastic bags to freeze things in/ takes very little space in the freezer/
Give less when they get heavy or more when too skinny is my motto too.
I do add VP, Salmon oil and kelp to their food.
Oh yeah, and don't forget tripe!
 
Thanks you guys.This helps me know where and how much to start with. I constantly weigh my dogs now, to make sure they're within the limits that I set for them. I think for now, I'll forego the scale and just figure it out by how much I buy (by weight).

I love Romeo and Juliet's colored coded containers. Too cute. I'm sure the local asian market near me has a ton of cheap ones. :) I like your idea of feeding them from the containers also.....so as not to have to wash a dish everyday. Nice. :)

Y'know. I bought canned tripe (Tripett), oh man, the smell. Ew! And I'm sure fresh tripe probably smells even worse. Yikes! There are two markets that have good choice of meats. I'm going to go check out one tonight and price things. This way, it'll give me a realistic idea of how much I'll need to spend. I'm already on a tight budget and well, if this doesn't work, ugh, Miko may be getting his Hill's K/D for awhile.
 
I can probably eyeball it but I like using the scale, also coz if I have to get my husband to do it, my dogs will probably end up horribly fat by his judgement. It's easier to tell him XXX grams! :lol:

Oh holy cow, yes. The canned tripe smells like death. When I first took a whiff I thought it was poop. :dead:

I echo SheltieChe's comment about dog's preferences. Romeo hates duck and rabbit. Juliet will eat just about anything.
 
Okay. I priced out meat on Saturday. I felt bad, there was a "whole" rabbit. It was so sad looking. I have to make a spreadsheet of $/lb and go from there.

After some reading about raw, I also realized....for Miko, because he has kidney disease, I will have to feed differently. Therefore, if I go this route, it will most likely be for just him, until I can afford it for both. I doubt it'll come out cheaper than a bag of dog food since I don't have a big freezer to buy in bigger quantities.
 
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