So a lot of people have asked me how I feed raw and especially since I have 5 dogs... So tonight during prep I took the camera along with me.

This is our basic set-up. Mishka gets the blue mat because she likes to pick her food out of the bowl and drop it all over the floor. She gets really excited when it makes a SPLAT! sound Mickey and Odin eat out of the big metal bowls. Cheyenne gets the plastic bowl with the TOTW in it (she's anti-raw for the moment.) They used to all have mats until a certain Border Collie decided to chew a hole through the other 3....



This is my preferred method of storing the raw. I buy raw once a week and weigh/portion everything into tupperware for each dog for that week (i'll have to show you guys that process at some point, pretty interesting lol) Each tupperware contains 2 days worth of raw (these, although, only have tonights meal) and I freeze what i'm not using currently. The night when I finish up a container (like tonight) i'll take each dogs ration out of the freezer and put it in the fridge. The next AM i'll take it out to defrost for the evening. They can (and have) eaten it frozen... but they don't particularly like that.




Here we are all sorted out with their supplements in (Vitamin E and Omega 3) all ready to go.




Cheyenne has always had this aversion to eating... So the fact that i've found a mixture that she will eat is AMAZING. Honestly, hers takes longer than the raw fed dogs And! I've been able to get her to eat raw chicken wings lately! Big step for my Cheyenne baby. Some people say that it's wrong to feed raw and kibble together in the same meal but i've not had any issues feeding Cheyenne this way.




MMMM Tasty!!!







And of course some noming pictures. No, Odin isn't growling at me... I just caught him in the middle of a chomp. Some people feel nervous and scared about feeding raw because they think their animals will turn "feral" and "bloodthirsty." This isn't true. Truthfully raw is actually very plain as it is what it is. Just plain raw food. There are no additives/carbs/salts to make it smell "tasty." Of course for a dog eating raw it is a totally different thing from them eating kibble. They have to rip and pull as well as chew thoroughly. They become very involved in their food and it's no longer just kibble in a bowl. It's an exercise (in a way.) Some dogs may become possessive over their raw simply because they are more involved and focusing more on their food than before.







Proof dogs can eat in harmony! Regardless of how much I know and trust my dogs I would never leave them alone to eat without being kenneled. That's asking for trouble, IMO.

Hope you enjoyed a peek into our feeding!




And Cheyenne of course...

With the supplements do you just feed them the whole pill as it is in the pic? Everyone I know who uses supplements generally pops open the capsules/pills over the raw meat.

My boy is the same as Mishka with taking meat out of the bowl. I put his meat on a cutting board on the floor. Faith has to eat her raw food in her crate otherwise she drags it all over the house, on the carpets, in the dog beds, blankets, etc.

I agree with you on the raw plus kibble in one feeding. Many say not to feed it at the same time as kibble due to them digesting at different rates, which is true. They do digest at different rates however I don't really believe they need to be fed at different meals either. There's been a lot of discussion on feeding raw and kibble at the same time on one of the dog food forums I'm on, and none of us have seen any reason for feeding them separate. I've not heard of any dogs having problems with kibble and raw in the same meal.

Definitely agree that raw feeding is an exercise and mental stimulation in and of itself. It draws out dinner time from woofing down kibble in 10 seconds to gnawing and working on their food for a good 10-20 minutes on average for mine.

Great post! Thanks, Kristina

Yeah I feed them as a whole pill, I used to try to pop them open but I would just get it all over myself and i'm highly allergic to fish! lol oops!

Cheyenne has not had any sort of issue with raw/kibble combined so it doesn't bother me. People will sometimes jump down my throat for doing it but hey raw+kibble is better than no raw at all! And she's just so darn picky... Oh well

It's so funny they go into this "zone" when they eat and you can see that all they are thinking about is the food. Totally different experience than kibble!

ok so ive occasionally fed raw...like bites of steak as im prepping our food or a piece of cut up chicken. is it ok for them to eat the bones? so i can go buy chicken at the market and its ok to give them directly? which pieces are the best for them to eat raw? i would love to do this on a regular basis as a snack or a treat so kibble doesnt get old LOL. cant wait to learn and provide with RAW fo rmy girl! My pug wont and cant eat raw...she will and then she pukes it all back up! so we dont feed her anything like that.

Any bone is ok for them as long as its uncooked. Just be careful feeding anything too large as it can cause their teeth to break

Generally when speaking about bone I feel that raw chicken/rabbit/fish bone is the easiest and safest. Turkey can sometimes have difficult bones. Chicken leg quarters are a staple in our house.

I've noticed that when eating turkey legs my did sometimes pass undigested bone so i agree that the smaller animal bones are much safer to feed and easier for did to chew and digest

ok i just worry about like you said w/ the un-digested bones! cuz im sure SNIPEr will eat and not chew the bones! and cant afford another vet bill after the 2 GI surgeries! so..maybe we should start w/ boneless! LOL

Just remember boneless can cause really nasty wet diarrhea. It needs the bone to form a solid (for a full raw diet.)

firefighterchik04 wrote:

ok i just worry about like you said w/ the un-digested bones! cuz im sure SNIPEr will eat and not chew the bones! and cant afford another vet bill after the 2 GI surgeries! so..maybe we should start w/ boneless! LOL

I highly recommend chicken quarters for the occasional raw snack. They have enough bone content to keep the stool nice and firm yet the bones are small enough that they won't really cause any problems. Plus chicken quarters are really easy to get and super cheap. I feed boneless beef to my dogs all the time and never have any problem at all. Pork ribs are good too because they get a fair amount of meat and the bones are not too heavy either. I feed chicken parts the most since that's what I can get cheapest. The entire chicken is really good for them, I feed all parts (quarters, wings, neck, backs, breast). I feed turkey too but I always separate the meat from the bone and only feed the meat, that bone size worries me.

Thanks u guys :-)

I'm digging up an old thread but I just wanted to say this was really helpful! I've been considering going raw for a long time because it seems so much better for the dog. But! I'm a vegetarian so my biggest issue is the thought of handling and preparing the raw meat. This has helped in my pondering/preparing. So thanks!