So, Ginger had the same enthusiasm with her wing this evening...I just gave it to her, went to wash my hands realy quick, and by the time I turned around to get the camera out and turned back around, she was done with her wing!

I stood there in shock because it was gone SO fast! I waited to see if she was going to choke or gag or something! But she just laid there licking her chops!

Maybe she was hungry...or maybe she's starting to dig her wing!...I still seared it, so maybe next time I'll try giving it to her un-seared and see if she'll still crunch away!

yay!!!

Now I think she's eating her wing a little too fast!
I still have to sear it, but I can give it to her whole instead of having to cut the bone apart.

(sorry for the shaky video, but I sat across the room so she could enjoy it, but maybe I should've stayed close by)

what a good girl! I don't think that's fast at all, compared to how Luk wolfs down his food

That's not too fast at all don't worry. That's about the same speed as Cheyenne eats her wings and she really detests raw

That would have been gone in 5 seconds with my others, wings are like nothin' to them.

Agreed, that's not fast at all. No worries, perfectly safe and normal eating speed! Wings are so small and the bones are small too that they can eat them faster than other items like chicken breast for example. She's doing great!

Whew!
Thanks for the confirmation, Ladies!
Since I'm leaving this afternoon on a business trip and don't come back 'til Thursday night, Ginger won't get another raw wing until Friday...Maybe I'll upgrade her and add a drummette to that wing!

I've given Luk breast halves with the bone, but am thinking I'm gonna get quarters next time. No way could I give him something as small as a wing, because he'd just swallow it whole!

I gave Ginger a chicken neck at lunch today. Totally raw - didn't have to sear it. And she ate it with gusto! But my concern is that she chomped on it maybe a few times and then swalled it. It almost looked like she swallowed it whole it was so fast. It was only about a 2 inch long piece but still...is that too fast? I realize the bone in chicken neck are not a "solid" piece of bone, but still...just had to ask...

I think it's fine, necks are so small it shouldn't be a concern. Even when I feed chicken breast or quarters my boy does swallow some larger chunks of bone on occasion and they always pass through without issue.

With small stuff like that it's normal for them to swallow it quickly since they don't need to chew much as you saw, perfectly normal.

I am so happy to hear that she ate it with gusto without having it seared! Now that's excellent progress!

So are her BM's still on track with all these wings and necks so far? Any plans to incorporate something larger like split breast or quarters or maybe try a different source like turkey necks?

Oh that's so wonderful that she's starting to adapt to her new diet! Are you just giving it to her plain, or adding something like garlic?

I am giving it to her plain - nothing on it.

Since I've been out of town this past week, I didn't give her any wings, BUT! hubby said he did give her a wing, seared it for a few seconds and she ate it right up! So hubby is starting to feel better about the wings, but when he saw her gulp down the neck, he had worry written across his face and was waiting for her to choke. All the meantime, Ginger sat there and looked at him as if to say, 'Don't worry daddy, I won't choke!'

I will try to give her wings totally raw now since she took the neck totally raw and ate it as if it was part of her usual food.

I went to the store to get more wings (to include drummettes), and portioned them out with a piece of neck with either a wing or drummette. So I'm adding a little more raw in the 'single serving packets' that I freeze. (Yes, I'm a dork like that!)

I do plan to eventually get her up to a leg quarter and/or split breast, and when I was at the store yesterday getting her more chicken, I asked about turkey necks, and turkey wings, but they didn't have any.

Her BMs are still nice and firm! (Although sometimes I think they may be a little too firm and think I may need to add a little more fiber to her diet...?)

I'm so excited that she's making good progress! I do still need to take it slow for 2 reasons: hubby still wants to make sure she does fine on raw as far as not choking, and hubby still wants to make sure her belly doesn't get screwed up on raw.

He's so funny because after she ate her neck, he was so worried that he said, 'If she chokes and dies, it on YOU! ' My reply? 'She hasn't gotten sick on my feeding yet and in fact, I'm the one that got her back on track with her BMs!...And don't forget, I'm not the one that gave her ground beef and rice and made her throw it all up!'

He said, 'You're right, I trust you...'

Ginger's so lucky to have you as her mommy! She's so loved and well taken care of! Glad to hear she's continuing to do well.

When the stool is too firm or they are having difficulty defecating on raw it is often because of too much bone in the diet. Likewise, if their stool is too soft it can indicate not enough bone in the diet or too much fat and skin. If you were to back off of the chicken wings and increase THK, does her stool get a little less firm? Sometimes adding a bit more boneless meat can help soften the uber firm stools a bit. I use raw boneless ground turkey or ground beef and it works out nicely, makes the stool a bit softer and easier to pass. Maybe for you a bit more raw chicken meat and a bit less bone?

She only gets 1 wing a day as of right now. Yesterday was a 2 inch piece of neck. So she doesn't get much raw in a day. She's still pretty firm on THK (with 2 tablespoons of Orijen as a topper).

I'll try giving her a drummette today since that has more meat on it than a wing.

ok...what's THK and orijen?

Luk Luk's Mom wrote:

ok...what's THK and orijen?

The Honest Kitchen is a dehydrated raw dog food. More info on it here: The Honest Kitchen

Orijen is a a premium, high protein, low carb, grain free kibble. More info here: Orijen


I feed THK dehydrated raw to my dogs as well as raw. It's a versatile food that can be combined with raw, kibble, homecooked or canned food. Dehydrated and freeze dried foods are the next best thing to a PMR diet as far as prepared foods go generally because they are essentially raw themselves and contain more nutrients than highly processed foods that have all the nutrients cooked out of them. I prefer THK because it is the only dehydrated food that is not just made with human grade ingredients, it is actually safe for human consumption and is made in a human food processing facility. There are plenty of other freeze dried and dehydrated products out there like Ziwipeak (the creme de la creme of dehydrated food, second only to raw), Stella & Chewy's, Grandma Lucy's, Addiction, Sojos and more.

Orijen is what I would consider the best of the best in terms of kibble on the market all things considered, that's just my personal opinion though.

thanks AGAIN Val!

Hi!

So, I'm starting Kody on raw ground turkey tomorrow. Just a little bit at first mixed in with his ground beef and THK. If he does well on it (fingers crossed) I would like to try chicken next a few weeks down the line. I also want to try it with Mya. I think a wing might be too small (especially for Kody). Kristina mentioned at the meet up today that she feeds leg quarters so I'm thinking about going with that. Is that a good start for both of them (Mya has never had raw)? The bone makes me nervous. I know you've heard that 1000 times! lol

Melissa...I was nervous at first too, about giving Luk anything with a bone in it, but I just hold the chicken, until he's been eating raw for awhile, so he doesn't swallow something too big.
I mixed in some raw egg(shell and all) with some cheese, into ground turkey for Luk this morning and he LOVED it!

Ginger had a drummette first and she ate with gusto raw - no sear needed. So I think she's ok going totally raw now! Yipee!

After she ate her drummette, she got her THK with a chicken neck in it and she ate it all up and licked her bowl clean!

I'm a proud momma!

Hubby is also starting to get more comfortable with watching her eat raw and him feeding her raw! (I'm a proud wife!)

MelissaI wrote:

I think a wing might be too small (especially for Kody). Kristina mentioned at the meet up today that she feeds leg quarters so I'm thinking about going with that. Is that a good start for both of them (Mya has never had raw)? The bone makes me nervous. I know you've heard that 1000 times! lol

You should be fine starting out with chicken quarters, they are big enough to force them to chew them up which is a good thing. Just keep a close eye on them to make sure they don't swallow down unreasonable chunks that might cause a problem. Some people start out holding it at first just to be safe if there is any doubt.



Claudia, that's awesome! So happy with the progress that Ginger and JD are making together!

Janelle, I'll definitely hold it for them at first. With these crazy dogs you never know

Val, thanks! I'll check back in with you girls in a few weeks once Kody is good on the ground turkey. For sure I'll be watching closely

Claudia, my hubby is EXACTLY like JD with the raw thing!!! He's so paranoid and argues that he knows more! I honestly don't know a lot about it, but to me just knowing that you girls are comfortable with it and seeing how many other people are also makes me a lot more comfortable with it. I think in the end it will be better for them and they will definitely enjoy it more. As of now he's ok with the raw beef and turkey, but when the chicken and bones come along he'll freak..LOL!!!

I bet the crunching will really get him! LOL

arooroomom wrote:

I bet the crunching will really get him! LOL

FOR SURE!!!!

When JD first heard Ginger crunch on chicken bones, the look on his face was priceless!
LOL!