Further to my post about reducing my garbage production, I thought I’d share how we eliminated a big part, which for us has to do with raw feeding our dog. I also thought this might be a good opportunity to share a bit about how we raw feed our dog, Oscar.
We used to individually package each of our dog’s meals in baggies to save on mess and deal with sometimes frozen stuck meat. We bought containers that are big enough to hold no more than a week’s worth of food. Too long and some of it would really be off by the time we fed him, not that he’d mind but gosh, the smell! We’ve always kept a container of meals in the fridge to thaw but now we do it without any trash. We put wax paper under the top meal in case it’s still frozen when we take it out to feed. This is easily reused since it’s only for dog food and it keeps the first meal from being frozen solid to the rest.
We feed Oscar a “Raw Meaty Bones” diet or as some call it, a “Franken-Prey” diet. We feed as close as we can all the parts of the animal a raw eating carnivore would, but over the course of a week or month.
Because of his weight of 50-60lbs, we feed him about a pound of food every night. Sometimes the meals are bigger and sometimes we’ll fast him for a night. The meals contain about 80% meat and 20% bone and a few times a week we’ll add organ meat. Meatier meals = looser poops and meals high in bone = drier crumbly poops. This is a good way to see what the ratio of his diet is of meat and bone.
Don’t take my mentioning this as a sign that feeding this way is sophisticated or at all complicated. Raw feeding can be incredibly easy, although sometimes to save money we buy big pieces of meat that we butcher ourselves. (Okay, Cam butchers it.)
Once a year, grocery stores sell pork leg for .99 cents/lb which is a very good deal. The other day, I bought three for Cam to butcher.
He cut it first in half beside the bone with a knife but needed the saw for cutting through the bone. Oscar will eat most, if not all of this bone. Unlike some cow leg or knuckle bones, this isn’t too hard for him to eat and it won’t crack his teeth. When bone is cooked it’s dangerous since it will then splinter. Raw bone is not only safe but an important part of this diet.
Oscar offered to help in any way he could. Isn’t he sweet? (That’s paint on the garbage can rim- not blood. We would never waste such a coveted commodity!)
Finished container with added organ meat. This will feed Oscar for a week.
Ready to go in the freezer. These are filled a bit more than we would normally but we had so much meat and not enough containers. Something I’ll remedy soon!
I try and find people who hunt or who actually butcher animals (not just a regular butcher because they don’t often have the extra bits that humans don’t typically eat). Getting bits like the tripe (green, not bleached), organs, feet… could be very cheap or free because they have to get rid of it somehow. Asian markets are also a good place to look. I’ve thought about raising rabbits to feed my dog- chickens are cheap too but a bit more work to raise. Freecycle is a great resource for freezer burnt meat. When we buy meat (this pertains mainly to supermarket meat) we try to keep to $1-2/lb.
Some benefits to feeding raw:
- Helps with dog’s behaviour (mellow them out while still having tons energy at the appropriate times thanks to missing the useless high/ lows from carbs in kibble)
- Cleaner teeth
- Nicer coats
- Excellent exercise to eat these meals
- Drink less water
- Easier to maintain appropriate body mass
- Smaller and easier to decompose poops (not to mention less disgusting)
- A more natural existence for dogs who are, in fact, carnivores
- Less trips to the vet because healthier….
This isn’t by any means a comprehensive explanation. For example, I didn’t touch on starting to raw feed and the need to stay away from too much variety for the first couple weeks… Here are a few more online resources:
Jane Anderson’s Raw Learning site
Switching to Raw Feeding/ Myths
Rawfeeding Dogs and Cats Yahoo Group
Part one of Oscar eating. He’s acting a bit shy with me staring at him with the camera:
Part two:
Brilliant post. I’m on the verge of changing Willow’s diet to a raw one. Trouble is that it’s really hard to get decently reared, reasonably priced meat round here. I can probably get some game at the moment, but after the seasons over I’m not sure I can source a consistent supply.
Do you know if it’s true that dogs can’t digest pork? Sounds like rubbish to me but someone mentioned it to me a while back.
Anyway, thanks for this info and the inspiration to get back on the job sorting out this diet for Willow!
hen
xx
Thanks for sharing this…If we ever get a dog, we would raw feed…
do you still have the video of him eating? you should definitely put it up also!
Hen- I thought it would be harder to find meat than it turned out to be but then we live in different places. I know quite a few that hunt here or have older chickens that they don’t need… I also pay more to rawfeed than to feed “good quality” kibble and there have been times I’ve paid more than I’ve wanted to but other times I find free meat- especially the bits people don’t like to eat! I hope you find some sources! Maybe you need to raise rabbits!? Ha.
My dog eats pork just fine BUT I think what the issue is is that pork outside North America is prone to some sort of bacteria or something that dogs can’t consume safely. Gosh, I wish I could remember the particulars and hope I’m not starting rumour.
Paxye- Thanks for the reminder about the video. I’ll go find that!
You’ve really opened my eyes to a whole new way of feeding my dog! I’d have to get hubby on board, though, because I’m really gaggy about cutting meat LOL.
Right now, our dog gets some dog food, by mostly leftover people food, and lots of fruit (he loves fruit ??)
Thanks for the food for thought! (pun intended)
I was REALLY gaggy about the meat when we first started. Dh and I just started eating a little meat more recently and I always thought it was funny that we ate a fairly vegan looking diet but had a freezer full of meat for the dog. Ha.
I just want to say for the record and all those that know me irl, that I am much better with meat these days. I can even touch it without my yellow rubber gloves most of the time. Fish still icks me out though. It’s the smell that never comes off!
We fed our lab raw food for 2 years but when I got pregnant, I couldn’t do it anymore. We have been meaning to do it again as I believe that his health totally improved while eating raw. Thanks for the reminder.