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Raw Diet

I apologize for bringing this up again, i am interested in starting the dogs on a totally raw diet, I remember seeing Steve you posted a basic raw diet recipe, can you post it again because I can not find it anywhere! Ivy my friend is going to go raw and I think I may do it too, I just want to find a recipe with everything in it that I just cant possibly screw up. I am very paranoid to get them sick, or do it wrong. Everything I read online is just so much to take in!
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  • BulliesofNCBulliesofNC Richlands, NC
    Attached are two really good recipes. In the event your dogs don't do well with grain omit the wheat germ.
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    Raw Canine Weight Gain Recipe.pdf
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    Canine Fat Logs.pdf
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    - Steve Gogulski
    "It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
    www.bulliesofnc.com
  • BulliesofNCBulliesofNC Richlands, NC
    There's tons of really good recipes on line for everyday raw meat diets. Many people utilize BARF and many others create their own recipes based off the available diets from BARF.
    - Steve Gogulski
    "It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
    www.bulliesofnc.com
  • Ima prey model raw kinda girl, but i had a pretty good start in elarning all about dog nutrition as a few freinds of mine from forums have been studing dog nutrition for years and years.
    prey model is pretty easy stuff and i just LOVE IT!! 2 months ago our power was out for a while and all my raw meat went spoiled! my bf offerd to buy them some kibble and i was stumped and gave in, he bought me a small bag of orijen. the dogs kept taking huge craps, there poop reeked and htey kept farting UGH! i said then and there NEVER AGAIN will my dogs ever eat kibble again!

    you really have no idea how great prey model is untill your dogs have been on it for a few months! with 3 dogs in a tiny ass yard i NEVER had to pick up poop, 55-60 pound Cesars poop is smaller then my sisters toy poodles poop and he only goes about once per day i could stick my nose 2 inches from it and i doubt i would be able to smell anything.

    no more gas,no more itchy skin, no ear infections, no dirty ears, no dog breath or dog smell period (not even wet dog smell) no runny eyes or eye boogers.

    and you can put 5-10 pounds or drop 5-10 pounds from your dog within weeks, i had to up Cesars fat intake for the winter as his skin gets dry from the heaters and dry weather, started adding more fat and hes gained 5 pounds in a week (im cutting back on the meat/fat so he drops the weight relativly quickly)

    another side effect is, dogs are about 10 times more CALM, they are more stable in energy levels its like if your dog was up and down and up and down and up and down suddenly they are just calmer. nervous dogs become calmer and more relaxed hyper dogs burn energy easier it seems, its fantastic. i was a HUGE skeptic for a long time about raw i was so freaked out about parasites, salmonella, and bone shards.
    now i dont worry one single bit and i know its the best thing ever!
  • BARF is fantastic, i started my youngest girl on the barf diet only a few weeks ago and have seen fantastic results, she is filling out more and her coat looks fantastic
  • Chicken wings and breast it is good or no bones...cuz i friend of mine give chicken wings to his bully so he recommended....????????????????

  • raw chicken bones are fine-mine eat raw chicken ribs,wings,drumsticks ect without issue-its when they are cooked it becomes dangerous as cooking changes the densety of the bone.
  • @xchairity_casex What is your raw recipes, or what do you feed you dogs exactly. I'm wanting the smaller poop! Hahaha! Any info would be great.
  • @BulliesofNC I know you mix kibble and raw, do you notice smaller nuggets in your yard as well?
  • @ Boyda, Prey model raw is an all meat diet. no fruits or veggies  or kibble necessary.

    The basic principles of prey model raw is

    10% of the over-all diet should be organ meats (organs are a MUST!)

    10% of the over-all diet should be bones(also a must!)

    and 80% should be meat.

    prey model means feeding all parts of the prey animal, fat, bones, organs, tendons, blood, skin even parts humans would not consume like genitalia,eyes, faces,ears etc.

    these parts are very important-you CANNOT feed a dog JUST chicken breast or even just chicken, it needs to be varied.

    My dogs will eat whole grouse-feathers,feet and heads.

    whole parts of  deer including fur and hooves.

    and even whole fish including heads and scales. (Cesar loves fish scales!)

    even whole raw eggs.

    I feed a lot of wild game such as raw venison, raw grouse, raw wild caught fish.

    but I also fee the basics, turkey, pork, beef, chicken, etc.

    here are a few meals for my dogs in the photos

    FOR THE SQUIMISH-DONT LOOK!!

     

     

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  • BulliesofNCBulliesofNC Richlands, NC
    @Boyda - They're definitely not leaving nuggets and they aren't small. However, my lawnmower isn't challenged with mulching them up during my weekly grass cutting chore. I've got a lot of property so to be honest I'm not bothered by the scattered land mines over 5 acres of land they run around on. I wouldn't change the diet I provide my bullies because I want to ensure they're provided the nutrition that maximizes the development of muscle and mass. Raw meats are great but if the main ingredient of the kibble I provide my Bullies is Beaf Meal which contains 300% more protein than Raw Beaf than I have no problem spending the money to achieve superior nutritional value. Bullies love raw meats though and adding raw meats to any meal is a welcomed treat with other nutritional benefits. I value the nutrition and health of my Bullies more than my worries about the decorations they leave on my property. ;)
    One thing to remember is that all dogs get used to eating what they're fed and their digestive systems adjust to it. Give a dog raw meat when they aren't used to it and you wont see nuggets but you can stand by to see them get the Hershey squirts for 24 hours and provide you with hourly farts for days. Although I feed my dogs the same food I do notice that each of them expel different size manure. Each dogs digestive system is slightly different.


    - Steve Gogulski
    "It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
    www.bulliesofnc.com
  • edited October 2013
    There's so many train of thoughts to how people raise their bully whether it be training, diet, exercise - you name it. All I'm going to say is I won't criticize you in any way as long as the bully is healthy and is living a good life. As long as you feed it something that is showing great results you should be fine.

    I had to adjust Spud's diet as his immune system and skin can take a hit otherwise. I started feeding kibble supplemented with raw at about 60 to 40 percent respectively. This weekend is the end of the second week on half chicken quarters M/W/F/Sat//Sun. I did add a little duck gizzard left overs his first weekend. So far he's poopin less and they are firm to the point of leaving no marks although he did have a little soft during his first day or two.

    One thing I've noticed is Spud has a bald patch due to a few bites and collar burn. There was a period where I was bag blaming it which I still do but the hair wasn't growing back so I decided to put him from TOTW High Prarie to Pacific Stream on the start of part raw and the hair is growing back pretty rapidly. I'll have more updates and pictures after a few weeks.
  • I will say that stoegers diet consists of a lot of raw meat and some kibble for breakfast, and he poops a lot less than when he was on mainly kibble. He has a high quality kibble but when is diet was mostly kibble he would poop all the time. Now that he is on a more raw food diet he poops a little less...... I'm not sure if it has to do with age or diet.
  • I feed my dogs both kibble and raw, but have to say I feed more kibble then raw and was thinking to switching it over to more raw and less kibble (I do about 80 kibble/20 Raw which is usually goat/beef meat). My dogs make huge mud pies and when I read that XChairity had little pies I got excited! I yard is tiny compared to your 5 acres Steve, so I dream of smaller poop! Hahahaha! Also, thanks for the great replies everyone and the awesome pictures @xchairity_casex
  • @xchairity_casex what are those yellow ball things in the bowl?
  • They look like maybe fish eggs? Ido have a question, when you feed legs for you leave the nails on the prey?
    Also, we are thinking about feeding like rabbits, squirrels ext, do we gut then freeze and feed or jut freeze the whole thing and then thaw and feed?
  • edited October 2013

    @ Boyda- yes those balls are trout eggs, trout "rou" Me and my boyfriend do not like trout, so when he caught this monster female the entire thing was used as dog food (including the eggs inside!)

    my dogs loved them-as did my rats.

     

    @ Stoges_mom-yep, i left the nails on when i fed the grouse legs, if you are worried about scratches, you can take them off or file them down, i like giving all parts of animals because it offers a wide variety of nutrients you might not get in just the meat.

    feeding any wild  animal SHOULD be frozen for a while, warm blooded animals should can be frozen for a week or two-some people perfere longer, but i know some who don't freeze at all-i personally do just to kill any parasites.

    fish should be froze for longer because they are cold blooded i like to freeze fish for 4-6 weeks.

    i like to remove the stomach and intestinal tract, that's where most parasites would hang out-not to mention, many dogs eat around this part anyway in larger prey animals (dogs who are allowed to gorge on whole deer wont eat those parts)

    so i like to cut them out then freeze so its easier. same for fish-when feeding wild caught fish make sure you check for any swallowed hooks from other fisherman so your puppies don't end uphooked.

    you can thaw it and feed if you like-i personally like to feed my dogs frozen food simply because they have to work harder at eating it-and that allows me a "time out" for myself!

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  • Something i want to clear up also is-a raw diet is not as high in protein as everyone assumes.

    feeding an all raw diet a dog would get about 18-30% protein depending on the  part of the animal they are eating or the animal.

    say, if i a dog is eating a whole chicken (including feathers) they would be getting a much higher content of protein due to the feathers-if a dog is eating a pork chop, much less.

    raw meat is around 70% water.

     

    Water is needed for the kidneys to function, and most raw fed dogs only drink water occasionally (usually just when they are really hot and want a cool down)

     

    A dogs body only needs so much protein the rest is simply pooped out.

     

  • BulliesofNCBulliesofNC Richlands, NC
    I think when it comes to opinions on raw meats, kibble, fruits, veggies, supplements, etc everyone will have their own opinions on what is best for their dog.
    It's great to be able to experiment with different quality foods whether it be raw meats, kibble, or both until you visually see what proves to provide the most benefits for your dog. I've experimented with foods for many years with dogs that lived to ripe old ages. My confidence of the diet I provide isn't based on results of my present dogs but more so on the historical results of past dogs that remained healthy into old age. I've always stuck to high quality grain free kibble and I still like to experiment with different brands that have excellent reviews. I think one of the benefits with a top quality kibble is that it's made with complete balance in mind. A diet strictly in Raw Meats requires focus in many areas of nutrition in order to ensure a well balanced diet is achieved. Often supplements or vitamins are required in order to maintain this nutrition level because a Raw Meat diet that isn't calculated to ensure a balance of nutrition is achieved will leave that dog lacking in proper nutrition. This may be why there are many websites explaining that a diet consisting of 100% Raw Meats can be hazardous to their health.
    Again, no two people will ever agree 100% on what is and what is not considered to be the best diet for their own dog. As long as the dog is in optimal health and possesses the physical appearance that's desired that is the key to success for a long happy and energetic life.
     
    - Steve Gogulski
    "It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
    www.bulliesofnc.com
  • I agree with you Steve! I don't know if I could trust myself to feed 100% raw/BARF. I feel better feeding a mix of victors grain free along with Darwin's and whatever I decided to throw into his bowl. Having the manufacturer peemake the Darwin's gives me confidence that it has everything that needs to be in there. I also like the kibble and I give him meaty bones to help clean his teeth.
    I'm not a scientist and I don't really know wht percentage I give of what, I kinda eyeball it as I know about how much he will eat. Stoeger seems to like everything so far.

    Oh and on a side note, I've cut eggs out of his diet all together because of his reaction to the raw eggs. Even with cooked eggs his toenails were turning dark and I read up and found that it could be caused by an allergy or age. Being still a puppy I went with an allergy and figured since he couldn't handle the raw maybe he couldn't handle the cooked either. Since cutting eggs from his diet his toenails seem much better and not brittle and his gas has pretty much disappeared.... He has only produced the toxic green cloud maybe twice in the last two weeks without egg.
  • I dunno...Maya throwing the clouds up kind of takes the blame and pressure off of me.
  • lol@Xtracho

    Yup, we stopped raw/cooked eggs and Stoge's rear end stopped making noises.

    Unfortunately, yesterday he dug up some onions and ate them!!!

    Poor pup has been throwing up anything he eats. I think we're gonna have to give him cooked chicken and rice as I've read on this forum to be good at settling down the stomach.
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    food dehydrator - raw beef and heart on the bottom two layers for dog treats,fruit on the others. Yum yum!

  • philsergeantphilsergeant Palm City, Florida, USA
    Stoeger, Yes, and acidophilus ...
    DianeWright, please could you provide me with the UPS tracking number, so nice of you to ship that wonderful package to my kids for early Christmas,  you're a peach!

    In the beginning God created English Bull Terriers, in the image of EBT's, God created all other breeds.
  • phil....lol....looking for it to arrive at my house 'in my wildest dreams' 

    :-j
  • Does dehydrating meat like that make your house smell? Just curious to know, might want to try it!
  • Don't know.  (Just kidding, I didn't buy this)  I found this on the internet.  I guess there are a lot of people that do this.
  • philsergeantphilsergeant Palm City, Florida, USA
    In Africa we used to make " Biltong" which is the equivalent ( but much better) to American jerky. Big slabs of meat that look somewhat like Bulls Tongues... Thus the name. All you have is a container, my son made an awesome one out of a plastic storage container , an electric fan and a light bulb... You make holes in the side and top of the container for flow, the fan provides that and the light bulb provides the heat... Best meat to hang is London Broil.... And in a couple of days you have great tasting dehydrated meat.
    In the beginning God created English Bull Terriers, in the image of EBT's, God created all other breeds.
  • An episode of duck dynasty had biltong and I have to say it looked delicious!
  • philsergeantphilsergeant Palm City, Florida, USA
    If you get the marinade and the seasoning right it's fabulous.... You can hang buck, ostrich, beef... If you don't over dry it and especially if it has a fat strip... Yum, yum.
    In the beginning God created English Bull Terriers, in the image of EBT's, God created all other breeds.
  • BulliesofNCBulliesofNC Richlands, NC
    Here's a good video on Feeding Raw that I thought I'd share. This guy makes a real nice raw meat dinner:


    - Steve Gogulski
    "It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
    www.bulliesofnc.com
  • @Boyda-yes, whatever you put into your dehydrator WILL make your house smell.

    I have one and I make my own dog treats, jerky for me, dried fruit for snacking, and dried veggies for soups and rats.

     

    this year I bought a HUGE pumpkin and turned a lot of it into seasoned pumpkin bites with honey, cinnamon glaze.

    and then just recently got done making bear jerky bits for the dogs.

     

    I especially love to dry fruit, mangos, kiwi, banana, strawberries, blueberries  and peaches will make your entire house smell like a fruit smoothy

  • Mmm dehydrated rats! My favorite!!!
  • Since we started talking about raw food in the dry food section, thought I would switch the thread up. @soapskid, I have to shop around for everything, I have found that one store will have great priced organs, while the other has a better price on whole meats with bones. So far I've found that Lucky's has the best priced chicken, 10lbs for 8.80! But I have to go the the mexican mart for the livers, etc. Which is 1.29/lb. I feed my girls 2lbs a day, but my big guy is currently getting 3lbs a day, split in two feedings. I also found a somewhat local green tripe distributor that blends organs, meat, bones, and the green tripe into a mix and they sell it in 5lb rolls. I purchased 50lbs of it and I'll be picking it up later this week. I'm hoping with that I can replace my never ending trip to the meat counter since it's conveniently packed. My biggest joy of my dogs being on a raw only diet is that their poops don't smell and they are not as big as they were! Yay for better dog crap! Hahaha!
  • The only down fall is the planning, I have to plan out and package each dogs food for the week, once a week. I do miss the convenience of scoop and forget! I also have to plan everything around the wallet, I ended up dividing what I normally spend on dog food per week and try to fit the raw into that budget, which has been my biggest hurtle. I
  • edited March 2014
    @Boyda - there are a few supermarkets in the area where you can get chicken quarters as low as $0.59 but mainly hovers at $0.69 to $0.79. I will wait for whole chickens too at $0.70 and chicken breast/bone in at Smart and Final for near $0.89-0.99. I'm currently mixing it up now since an all kibble meal Spud stops eating so I'm adding quarter/half cup of Victor's Salmon/SweetPotato with half a lb of raw meaty chicken bone - the quarters are normally 24 oz or 1.5 lbs each. I understand many have mentioned that mixing raw with kibble will have two different digestive rates but Spud has shown no signs of that on a mixed plan.

    For Chicken Liver you can go to Wal Mart Supermarkets and get 1.25 lbs for about $1.30. I haven't fed this whole yet but may be adding a pound to his diet weekly. What I do is puree the livers, add one cup whole wheat flour with bananas and peanut butter mixed in. Spread onto a pizza pan and baked for 30 minutes. Take out and use pizza slicer to make tiny pieces and throw in bag and into freezer for the night. These are his training treats as I know what's in the treats and he loves them.

    As for monthly calculations, I'm buying chicken quarters around 15-20 lbs a month, 5-10 lbs of sale chicken (gizzards, hearts) and maybe adding 1-2 lbs liver over the month now. This honestly comes out cheaper ($20-25 a month) than kibble in terms of long term health and obviously the pain of not having to pick up poop often. The only problem is Spud can have at times a runny stomach and I'm trying to figure out how to curb this - it only happens about once a week.

    Yes; the planning. Must be done weekly and consistently. I think I spend more on Spud's diet than mine.
  • Hey Boyda, what's the reason for different amounts for the girls and boys? Spud will only likely fill out to maybe 55-60 lbs. He's current 51 lbs right now at 13 months. I'm feeding 2% of 55 lbs at 1-1.2 lbs daily now. Is this enough or do you gauge by what you see with them?
  • I've found chicken at a cheaper rate when it's one sale, and I typically buy it all up, but most of the time I'm not able to find it lower then .88/lb. as for the organs/gizzards, you'll have to let me know which stores you go to for the low prices, I haven't been able to find them under 1.29/lb. When Spud gets a runny tummy is it after you feed him the organs? To many organs can do this and I would suggest lighting that load up and see if it helps.
    I feed the girls 2lbs, it's over the 2% of their body weight, if we were not as active as we were I'd only be feeding them about 1.3lbs a day. I feed my boy 3lbs a day for the same reason, plus he's only 7 months and still needs the extra food just to help maintain a growing guy. I can really feed him 2.4lbs a day, but see no harm in the little extra, plus he's not overweight. As soon as he hits his peak, I might scale down a little bit if he shows signs of flab instead of fab.
  • I normally just give chicken quarters cut up or whole depending on how active he was that day. I haven't added true organs just yet just chicken breast, quarters, gizzards to supplement his kibble but now want to almost go completely raw seeing the price and health benefits with his cost and skin.

    As for the tripe, how much are you paying per pound? I've been able to get chicken gizzards, beef lips, pork loin - all for $.99 at the Mexican markets out here. Spud had issues with beef before so I cut it out the diet. I try to stick to turkey, chicken, some fish and duck sometimes.

    If Spud is 51-52 lbs now and exited to maybe fill a little more for the new few months what do you think I should feed in raw for an active dog - dog park for two hours five times a week, pulling daily for short periods and daily walks.
  • edited March 2014
    Since you also feed him kibble, I wouldn't over load him with raw, a pound or even less should suffice with more meaty bones then organs, since kibble is a pretty balanced. If you notice that he is getting a bit leaner, I would up the feeding a bit more.
    I'm getting a blend of Green Tripe, Muscle Meat, Heart, Tongue, Trachea/Gullet and Ground Bone for 2.15/1lb. It's a bit pricey but I'm going to give it a try, if I don't like the results I'm going to switch it to just tripe and continue with what I'm doing now. It's hard to find green tripe locally!
    http://www.greentripe.com
  • Thanks Boyda - I'm going to feed him probably a little under a pound while still giving about half a cup to cup of kibble daily. So far solid poops and no issues. I may go to a complete raw diet but it might be difficult since I'd need to follow his diet consistently.

    I have no problem with a kibble supplemented with raw foods and may reintroduce red meats slowly to see if it was really causing any issues. 
  • Yum, yum!
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  • philsergeantphilsergeant Palm City, Florida, USA
    Looks great! I'm sure he loves ya for it.... We are keeping the kids off raw red meat for a while, just raw chicken, turkey and duck.... We think the red gives them skin issues... Have seen a marked improvement but it'll take another month to be sure
    In the beginning God created English Bull Terriers, in the image of EBT's, God created all other breeds.
  • BulliesofNCBulliesofNC Richlands, NC
    My bullies would go through depression if I took them off raw red meats.  :-((

    - Steve Gogulski
    "It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
    www.bulliesofnc.com
  • edited April 2014
    Regarding raw feed, how do you deal with salmonella in raw chicken ? I would love to feed my bully chicken.
  • My puppy Stella is on a completely raw diet (I follow PMR) and I don't even rinse the meat I give her. 

    I've done all kinds of research, and from what I've read, a dog's stomach has a ph level that is great for digesting raw meat, so I believe this is why people don't worry about salmonella with their dog.

    I've never had any issues but then again all of the guides and forums I've read have never mentioned anything regarding salmonella. I took the plunge with chicken leg quarters and never looked back. I do however make sure the meat I buy is not enhanced as I have heard that they cause problems with some dogs. 

    I'm a little over a month in and Stella has eaten chicken, turkey, and duck and we're moving onto beef next. 
  • edited April 2014
    You will very rarely, if at all, hear of a raw dog becoming sick of chicken. As Stella mentioned, a dogs stomach can handle just about anything because of how their stomach balances everything. Dogs have a pH balance between 1.5-2.1, bacteria have a hard time surviving anything below a pH of 3. If you're wondering why sometimes there is a recall on dry dog food because of salmonella and how come they are not able to handle the risk then, it's because kibble takes a lot longer to digest then raw. The longer the food sits in the stomach, the higher risk of salmonella. Dogs also drink a lot more water when on dry food, more water ingested along with saliva with change the pH balance of the stomach. Hopefully this clears things up for you! I will have to search for the study I stumbled upon about digestive times of raw vs kibble and I'll post it later for reference. I buy 40lbs of chicken quarters at a time and break down for the weeks to come. It's a lot of chicken! lol!
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  • Thank you everybody for very important information regarding chicken. My bully loves raw whole fish, raw beef. I can't wait to give him chicken.
  • Tonight's special.
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  • BulliesofNCBulliesofNC Richlands, NC
    Spoiling them Bullies Ashlee!  (*)  They're going to love that feast!

    - Steve Gogulski
    "It's not just a Dog, it's a Bull Terrier!"
    www.bulliesofnc.com
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