raw feeding 4 dogs - advice pls?

krlyr

Yes, can be tough cutting through completely frozen blocks. If I'm portioning into smaller meals, I tend to leave the food out on delivery day to partially defrost and then portion into smaller meals.

As I say, I don't do it all the time though..with the amount they eat, I'd get fed up of it soon enough!

Fortunately, eating 3lb a day between them, I can split it fairly easily. It might be a 1lb block each for breakfast straight from the freezer, and then I'll stick the 3rd block out to defrost and split this (Casper gets slightly more, being 5kg bigger) between then for dinner.

Alternatively, it might be a block of mince each for breakfast, and then a meat chunk that weighs around half a lb or so for dinner. Or a carcass as a meal, then half a bag of mince for the other.


Going by your weights on page 1, and starting at 2.5% a day (you can then adjust up or down if needed), I work out the below

38kg @ 2.5% - 760g meat, 95g bone, 95g offal
38kg @ 2.5% - 760g meat, 95g bone, 95g offal
27kg @ 2.5% - 540g meat, 68g bone, 68g offal
9kg @ 2.5% - 180g meat, 23g bone, 23g offal

This is 2.24kg meat a day, which works out at just under 5 bags a day. So to make things easier, Ewa could defrost 5 blocks a day and divide out between them - you soon learn to portion by sight, but it may be easier to find kitchenware that works out to be roughly the right amount, e.g. it might be that a baking "cup" measure does, for example, 90g a scoop - so two scoops for Prada, 6 for Nora, 8.5 for Zara and Cortez.

If she wants to pre-prepare and refreeze, I'd maybe suggest a similar principle. E.g. freeze in 90g portions, which can multiplied for the bigger dogs. For the half portions, Ewa could just split the portion between Zara and Cortez.

I do this on a smaller scale with Casper and Kiki if I pre-prepare their meals. So I prepare the meat in 250g portions, two of these will do Kiki for the day. I then do some smaller cubes of around 75g, and two of those bump Casper up to the 650g a day he needs. Sometimes they literally just get the block from the freezer - they're find to eat it frozen and it occupies them for a bit longer, sometimes I just pop back into the takeaway tub to defrost.

75g blocks on the left - made using an XL ice cube mould which happens to fit a 454g block perfectly 250g portions in the middle, made using plastic takeaway tubs. Right is just some random beef blocks, I don't tend to weigh these as they all vary in weight but just go by eye (so if they had a big chicken carcass for breakfast, it's a smaller beef block for dinner)


Their offal is portioned up into daily portions, though with Kiki on the turmeric paste, I split the offal into 1/4 of their daily portion as I sneak a dose of paste in with it and give these spread throughout the day. Kiki is fussy with offal, so I defrost, blend in the processor, and freeze into these portions - served frozen, she eats it no problem. Again, more silicone kitchenware..have hoards of the stuff now, OH winds me up about my obsession!


The bone gets accounted for with bone-in mince and the odd chicken carcass, I feed some whole prey like rabbit, these will be one of their meals for the day (or big bunnies just do their day's food)

My methods have changed over the years, dependant on where I'm sourcing the food from (one supplier I use does 2lb bags, the other the 1lb/454g ones), how much time I have to prepare, if the dogs need to lose or gain weight, etc. but you carve your own groove and find the best way that works for you.

Fosterdog

I just take out a weeks worth to partially defrost for most of the day then it's much easier to cut through to portion up and refreeze.

Offal I do for a month at a time because I buy it in 2kg packs and that is exactly a months worth for my two (1kg each of liver and 1kg each of other offal) I have tubs that are just the right size to hold a months worth portioned up so works out well and gets fed frozen as my boy won't eat it defrosted.

Krlyr I love the way you have your blocks frozen, I may start doing that for their bone free evening meals. I could fill one freezer shelf/draw with individual servings for a whole month and take up much less space than I use now. It wouldn't work for the morning feed as that has their bone and I very rarely use boned mince I prefer to give them something different (various poultry necks and carcasses, whole fish or salmon heads, ribs, back bones and sometimes something different like horse neck) they wouldn't freeze into nice neat portions so get put in bigger tubs that take up loads of room.

I do sometimes give the meals frozen but usually only if I forget to take something out or it's a very hot day. They don't mind it frozen but do seem to enjoy their food more when it's defrosted.

paddypaws101

You really can and should let the meat defrost quite a bit before tackling it with a knife.....if you time it right it is very easy to cut and there is minimal bloody mess. I use Kuhn Rikon knives which I can keep sharpened and they work really well.
Mind you, with multiple dogs I actually don't see why you would need to cut blocks up.....just let them defrost whole in the fridge in a tub and then if you want to provide exact portions just use a digital scale to either weigh the individual food bowls as you fill them, or the original pack itself as you take food out.
Sometimes I leave a pack out overnight so it is totally defrosted by morning but as I feed it through the course of the day I really don't worry.
Who did she buy the meat from GR?

gettingready

I am not sure where she bought the meat from. But leaving it lying around out of the fridge with few dogs at home is not an option Her fridge is very small and Ewa being vegan herself...

paddypaws101

yes I understand. It must be possible to sort out some kind of safe storage out of the fridge then, so that meat can be defrosted overnight for feeding the next day.
In fact my microwave gets used most often as a space for natural defrosting

Beckyy

We've fed our dog raw for some years now and I swear by it. He is around 70kg in weight and eats approx 4lb of meat a day. I tend to feed by eye and never really weigh out anything but I guess that's easier with a giant breed.

We have a large tub we bought from one of the supermarket which holds 4/5 x 1lb blocks to defrost in the fridge. We have a chest freezer and buy chicken wings/offal from the supermarket, local butchers are good for marrow bones. We're in Scotland so can't help with a supplier but we pay £70 for 80lb of frozen mince delivered.

Would it be possible to get a small cheap fridge from gumtree or similar that could be used for defrosting? It could go in a garden shed etc. if that would be easier? I often defrost naturally or using the microwave if I've been late getting the food out but I wouldn't like to depend on it solely during warmer months.

sheramber

Does she intend to only feed it frozen?

Otherwise it will have to go somewhere to defrost.

MallyGirl

I leave to defrost in the microwave. I have a plastic tub with a lid (handy to keep tripe smells in) that holds 5 blocks so I defrost a few at a time and portion up when soft. My 2 have 1.6kg between them each day so I just save the extra in the fridge towards the next meal, plus they get chicken wings/ribs/whatever which get added to the DAF blocks I get from a local garden centre.

sheramber

Just to clarify I assume defrosting is without an power on- basically using it as a cupboard.

I am lucky that neither of my dogs will touch any food on a work surface. They stand and stare at it and 'point' with their nose but don't attempt to get it.

MallyGirl

in my case I am just using the microwave as a secure cupboard, unless I forget to take something out of the freezer in which case there might be an emergency blast on 'defrost' setting - just enough to soften and portion up as they are both fine with eating it frozen