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Post by sibemom on Mar 11, 2004 5:37:21 GMT -5
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Post by boxerlover on Mar 11, 2004 11:42:29 GMT -5
OK Me again.... Talked with hubby and he is supportive of trying this! Can I hear some more opinions about feeding in the crate? My dogs have NO food aggression. 4 reasons I want to crate them for feeding RAW meat... 1) Cody / age 8 2) Summer / age 4 3) Sierra / age 2 4) Savana / age 1 The Veggie Mash I suppose would be fed in the regular feed bowls. Keep talking to me gang. Please!
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Post by Willow on Mar 11, 2004 12:26:04 GMT -5
Hi Boxerlover, I am glad to hear you are going to go raw. It is definately the best for your dogs. I have been feeding raw for about 8 months now and my dogs have never been healthier or looked better. Of course, I have also decided to go no vacc's, preventatives etc. too. I wouldn't bother making the veggie mush at all. It is really not necessary. What I do is just feed my dogs any leftover cooked veg's we have left from a meal or will give them raw veggie's as a *treat*, but mine will only eat them with ranch dip on them! ;D With raw or cooked veggies you have to grind or mash them up, because a dogs digestive tract is not designed to digest/utilize veg's and they will come out exactly the way they went in if they are not ground or mashed (in the case of cooked). Sibemom is also correct about aggression. Feeding raw causing it is a myth. Some do feed their dogs in their crates, and this might be best for you, at first at least, since you are feeding so many dogs. I am feeding two and I just feed them out in our yard. I say their names and give them their rmb's and have never had a problem with fighting or anything, but not all dogs are alike. I would definately go to the yahoo raw feeding list and join that too. There is a wealth of information on that list. www.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfeeding/
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Post by Willow on Mar 11, 2004 12:33:21 GMT -5
I am not into *Sheep heads* or any other kind of *heads* either!!!! Sorry, but my dogs will have to be content to eat what we eat, meat and poultry cut up and wrapped in plastic, and bought from the grocery store/meat market, except for the occassional venison meal, also cut up, from leftover venison from my husbands deer from last fall.
I also refuse to feed green tripe (cow stomach) after hearing how terrible it smells. Actually, I have never even seen it around here. I saw some bleached, which isn't worth feeding, I hear, at Walmart, but I passed on it.
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Post by amyjo on Mar 11, 2004 12:36:02 GMT -5
I too thought it was going to be some kind of flesh ripping mad free for all. I thought my otherwise civilized dogs would tear each other apart over raw meat.
Never happened.
I think feeding in the crate is fine if you feel strongly about it - but I would wipe them out with some vinegar water after just to be on the safe side.
I should clarify - I don't feed veggie mush anymore either unless I have left over veggies - that I can mix in with some canned fish, ground turkey or when they get liver....Mostly I just throw meat out the back door though.
Oh yeah and I wanted to say one more thing. I don't have kids but I have neigbors, friends and family that bring thier children over and I think the single most important thing to teach a kid about dogs is not to mess with his food or toys ( I think it is equally important to teach the dog to be tolerant if it happens) But anyway - every kid that comes to my house gets the same lecture.
I pull Elvis's lips back, show off those big old teeth and explain that he is a nice dog but that he has very big teeth and we should be careful and respectful and not take his toys or tease him because he might make a mistake with those teeth trying to get his stuff back..works like a charm.
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Post by Willow on Mar 11, 2004 12:45:08 GMT -5
Good advise, Amyjo. ;D
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Post by boxerlover on Mar 11, 2004 13:10:16 GMT -5
Willow......I only have 2 dogs....the 4 names and ages I mentioned are my human children! LOL Sorry I did not clarify. I have about a half bag of dog food and in the mean time I want to read, read, read! I also want to go price checking. Price is a HUGE factor for our family. So some of you feed veggies and others dont? Ok, I am going to read Amyjo's thread now...got sleepy lastnight.
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Post by boxerlover on Mar 11, 2004 14:21:36 GMT -5
Have not even started the RAW diet yet.....have recieved 2 critisms from 2 different family members. Also, noticed dog growling towards 1 of the kids and mostly the other dog...he is knawing on a beef bone. I put him and his bone in the crate... Any advice??? When my dogs eat their dry food....NO growling ever! The dogs eat side by side and the kids are always around! So I do have a concern there....ok, I am running off to read at Yahoo.
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Post by Willow on Mar 11, 2004 15:33:39 GMT -5
Willow......I only have 2 dogs....the 4 names and ages I mentioned are my human children! LOL Sorry I did not clarify. So some of you feed veggies and others dont? Oops! Sorry! You probably said that somewhere, but I often don't have time to read all the posts etc. As far as veggies...yes...it's whatever you are comfortable with, but the point in feeding anything other than RMB's is not to feed so much *other* stuff that your dogs are not getting the amount of RMB's they need to be healthy. Also...some dogs are allergic to veg's and grains and it's not a good thing to feed grains at all. Once in awhile if I have left over rice or noodles I will mix it in with their muscle meat, but I don't do this on a regular basis. For one thing, grains are not digested by a dog either and you will have more poop to cleanup if you feed grains. That's why kibble fed dogs poop so much! The grains are passing through undigested. Grains also cause weight gain in dogs because of the carbohydrate (starch) content. There are some good books to read too: "Raw Meaty Bones" by Tom Lonsdale "Switching to Raw" by Susan K. Johnson Another thing we haven't discussed in this thread is what RMB's do for your dogs teeth/gums. Dogs need bones for healthy teeth/gums, and raw chicken has something in it that cleans the tartar off of a dogs teeth. ALL kibble fed cats/dogs have peridontal disease, some by as early as 9 mo. old, but all by 2yrs. of age.
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Post by sibemom on Mar 11, 2004 15:45:21 GMT -5
Ok lets talk about the growling. I am glad you are crating the dog when it has it's bone, but this is something that you should attend to because of your children. Just because your dog has shown no sign of aggresion when eating kibble if it growls when it has it's bone THAT IS FOOD AGGRESION. I do not tolerate ANY growling wether it be with food, toys, or a bone. If you want we can all give you suggestions on how to curb this habit Now as far as cost you will find that actually it is cheaper to feed raw than a premium kibble. Most of the food that I feed Blade is between 29 cents to 99 cents a pound. I feed him 1 and 1/2 to two pounds of food per day. I spent about $25 to $30 a month on good quality kibble so I am doing much better wallet wise and I know my dog is healthy
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Post by Brooke on Mar 11, 2004 15:53:35 GMT -5
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Post by sibemom on Mar 11, 2004 19:00:11 GMT -5
Thanks Brooke I found it.
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