To the raw feeders - help please

Dollardog

My butcher has given me some small (about1.5 inch) pieces of Oxtail, two quite thin and one thicker piece for my dog. Large 30kg dog.
He's been having a couple of raw chicken wings most evenings and chews them. Would it be safe to give him these pieces of oxtail raw or would he be likely just to swallow them whole? Does anyone else give their dog small chunks of oxtail?

Also, when I see fish in the reduced section, I always wonder if that is ok to give whole or filleted, what about fish bones, are they safe if raw?

If I buy chicken thighs or legs, I usually cook those rather than give those raw, don't really know why because he has the raw wings!!
I don't want to go wholly over to raw feeding but vary his diet between home cooked meat and very finely chopped veg some days and raw mince and veg other days, sometimes mixed with Arden Grange, sometimes with cooked rice and then raw chicken wings most days.
I did the other day buy him a bag of frozen green tripe, which he loved fed raw with rice and mixed veg pulp, still got some left and will probably buy him some more as a change.
I don't have the freezer facilities for completely feeding raw and usually buy mince or chicken from the supermarket which is a better option for me, its quite funny really, I often feed the mince raw but always cook the chicken - except for the wings which I give raw to clean his teeeth and to give him some bone.
As I said, the supermarket is always the cheapest option for me, so don't need anyone telling me where to buy from thanks.

pawsies

I would feed everything raw- cooked bones are more likely to splinter.

How does your dog normally eat? Does he gulp food or prune it? Depending on the answer would depend on the oxtail bone.

Dogs have a higher acidity level in their stomach meaning bacteria is easily killed provided you haven't let it rot!

One thing to bear in mind is that it takes 16 hours for a dog to digest kibble and only 2-3 hours to digest raw. If you are mixing the two it can therefore cause issues so I'd give Arden Grange one day and then raw next rather than at the same time.

Apart from that you sound like you are doing everything right and I'm sure your dog thanks you for it.

Fire_Fox

You might be better with canned oily fish: the heat/ pressure of the canning process makes the bones crumble rather than splinter so you can just mash them in and you have no worries about worms or how fresh the fish is. Are you sure your dog is getting the right balance of protein to minerals if you are feeding mince, cooked boneless chicken and tripe? It sounds like home prepared food is a fairly decent percentage of the diet not just a supplement.

lisawood78

I never feed full fish, I do worry about those tiny little bones, as FF says above I also feed canned oily fish here and there, it is good for coats and skin. I know you say you cook all chicken apart from wings, please say you don't feed these bone in? Cooked bones are very dangerous.
As long as your dog doesn't have a habit of wolfing food whole I would feed the oxtail, my lot have turkey necks and they are not very wide either.

Chuck a raw egg on every now and again too, dog will love you for it.

Dollardog

lisawood78 wrote: »

I never feed full fish, I do worry about those tiny little bones, as FF says above I also feed canned oily fish here and there, it is good for coats and skin. I know you say you cook all chicken apart from wings, please say you don't feed these bone in? Cooked bones are very dangerous.
As long as your dog doesn't have a habit of wolfing food whole I would feed the oxtail, my lot have turkey necks and they are not very wide either.

Chuck a raw egg on every now and again too, dog will love you for it.

I always worry about the bones!! even the chicken wings I give him, I always watch until they've gone, and make sure he has a drink to wash them down lol.
I've only recently started letting him have chicken wings raw because raw feeders on here keep saying they are good for them and good for cleaning their teeth.
I've had dogs all my life and no, never give them cooked bones, always boil up the carcass of a chicken if I have had one and stand and pick whatever meat is left on it, but always throw the bones away.

He does have canned fish as well usually a couple of times a week, sardines in olive or sunflower oil with rice for his breakfast and also natural yogurt every day.
Pulped veg and fruit and either the raw meat or cooked meat or sometimes Butchers tripe canned.

The last four nights he's had raw mince and chicken livers with rice and pulped mixed veg - not onions but apple, sweet potato, carrot, parsnip and green beans. Tomorrow he'll be having cooked chicken thighs (deboned) with the rice and pulped veg.

He does have raw eggs sometimes too when there are some going spare.

I'd better only give him Arden Grange then when he has cooked meat or canned.

littlesnuggy

Do you all feed rice / some form of carbs? My boy gets mince for breakfast and chicken necks/wings/sometimes lamb bones for dinner with some liver or veg pulp portions added in a few times a week, but no carbs. Is there any benefit to including rice?

krlyr

I don't, unless I've cooked too much/there's some left over from our own dinner. I follow the prey model diet for the most part, which is based on the carnivorous diet of wolves, so mostly meat/bone/offal. I supplement occasionally with egg, the odd bit of veggies, and occasionally pasta or rice as mentioned, but not daily.

Dollardog

I only give him the carbs to bulk his food out a bit as I don't want him losing anymore weight, I've just slimmed him down as he had put some on and he's now at 30kg.
If I gave him just meat, I think he would lose more weight.

Also. on the pack of tripe I bought, for a dog of mine's weight, they say 600 grammes of tripe, 600 grammes of rice/sweet potato/carbs and 600 grammes of pulped fruit/veg.
This in my opinion is far too much, I don't think my dog would want to eat all that, especially as they reckon 2-3% of the dogs ideal body weight should be fed per day.

Dollardog

krlyr wrote: »

I don't, unless I've cooked too much/there's some left over from our own dinner. I follow the prey model diet for the most part, which is based on the carnivorous diet of wolves, so mostly meat/bone/offal. I supplement occasionally with egg, the odd bit of veggies, and occasionally pasta or rice as mentioned, but not daily.

I really can't go over to raw completely because I don't have room for another freezer, don't have room in the freezer I have to store the food in bulk and don't have anywhere for him to be able to have a lot of bones, my floors are all carpeted and he won't stay in one place to eat them, he's ok with the chicken wings. Also, its cheaper for me to feed meat from the supermarket, I can't afford to buy the required variation in bulk.

krlyr

Dollardog wrote: »

I really can't go over to raw completely because I don't have room for another freezer, don't have room in the freezer I have to store the food in bulk and don't have anywhere for him to be able to have a lot of bones, my floors are all carpeted and he won't stay in one place to eat them, he's ok with the chicken wings. Also, its cheaper for me to feed meat from the supermarket, I can't afford to buy the required variation in bulk.

I was replying to littlesnuggy, you made it pretty clear you didn't need any advice on your feeding methods.

Dollardog

I did need advice about the bones, which is why I asked the question, I was actually hoping you would be one who would answer as I know you feed raw. I was just giving background to what else he has.