Noms for Pooties and Woozles or Munchies 101
Just about 12 years ago I started feeding raw food to my dogs. I had heard about it for some time and read Juliette de Baracli Levi‘s book The Complete Herbal Handbook for the Dog and Cat. Starting with my interest in natural dye plants, I had become very interested in herbs and I had been using herbs for myself and my dogs for some time. Several wolfhound people were feeding raw and and encouraged me to take the plunge. My hounds were having diarrhea with most foods and the food that worked for them was difficult to find. This diary is going to be focused on feeding raw. For those who just can't face it, I seriously urge you to look at grainless foods. There is a comparison chart further down.
At least with feeding raw I would know what they were eating, I thought. There have always been concerns about what was in pet foods and even more since the gluten horror and the aflatoxin recalls.
The first time I handed them that raw chicken wing was a real leap of faith. Crunch, crunch and they were looking for more. At that time most of us fed raw meaty bones and a vegetable mix that we blended up – raw vegetables are not digestible unless pulped so that the cell walls are broken. The idea was to try and mimic the stomach contents of what a wolf might eat. Now most of us feed more of a prey model with different meats and proteins such as beef, venison, lamb, fish, eggs,organ meats and more.
Prey model (wolf eating)
Health benefits showed up right away. Derry, Arafel's father, had atrial fibrillation, and had slowed down a bit at 7 ½. People who did not know I was raw feeding commented on how much more vigorous he was and what was I doing? Breath was fresher and it was a lot easier to clean up after them in the yard. Poo is smaller and drier and doesn’t smell so much. Another benefit is that they don't tank on water since they aren't eating food with added salt, and there is natural moisture in the food.
Arafel has continued to eat raw and is now 11 1/2. The average age for an Irish wolfhound is 7 ½ to 8 ½. Most wolfhounds have heart disease as they age, and so far she does not which is amazing since both of her parents did. She has finally started to slow down this summer and has some rear end weakness and a few other things. At her age every day is special really. She also gets a lot of herbs, hawthorn and taurine for heart health, corn silk for incontinence (she was spayed at 5), cranberry to prevent uti’s and astragalus for the immune system.
It took longer to move into raw for cats. We had a cat that died of cardiomyopathy when she was only five, back when they did not add taurine to cat food. I had never heard of Pottenger's cats, http://therawfoodsite.com/...
and my cats were doing OK with what they had, or so I thought. I was totally not interested in mixing up something special for the cats and getting it wrong. I was still haunted by Petra and her death from lack of taurine. Then they came out with the first frozen raw (prepared with taurine)for cats and we were in. They get the frozen medallions from Nature's Variety, thawed of course, usually chicken, but also rabbit.
Cats are obligate carnivores, which means that they must have meat as the mainstay of their diet (although we all have had pooties that are a little weird about this. You can use a little kibble at first to bribe them in to eating raw.
Grains are not a part of a carnivore’s diet and there is growing evidence that they may not be good for canines either. This is a food comparison chart looking at dry foods with an interesting speculation regarding kidney disease. My son’s cat that lives with me has Chronic Renal Failure and was fed grocery store kibble until she came to live here. Now she is on a blend of Nature’s Variety Raw and sometimes the dry (the dry to help control her diarrhea). She switched to raw as an older cat and loves it. She begs for raw. Slate was switched after I got him and loves it too. Metabolism changes as they age. Tabitha eats the same amount as Slate and he is over twice her size.
http://www.sahjasiamese.com/...
There are good sources for recipes to make your own cat food, now. When you are using raw food and using hearts as part of the mix taurine will be naturally included. I have the grinder so maybe I'll try it. The cost of the frozen raw is comparable to the higher quality small cans.
http://www.catinfo.org/...
A comparison chart for cat foods.
http://sequoiahumane.org/...
With raw I know what they are eating – not a mystery concoction. I feel they are healthier and need to see the vet far less than otherwise. Certainly my animals need fewer dental cleanings. At 11 1/ Arafel has never needed one. Never. Her teeth are excellent and raw knuckle bones keep them that way. Because wolfhounds can and do consume the bones completely, leaving only little tiny crumbles, I do not use beef knuckles. One of the local Italian stores has veal knuckles and lamb knuckles which are softer and not likely to cause a slab fracture.
Woozles are omnivores eating anything they can talk us into or get their teeth into, including a lot of stuff they should never ever eat.
Feeding the dogs raw is actually less expensive for me than feeding medium priced kibble, although a little more trouble in finding and freezing the food. I don’t ever want to pay over $1 per pound for anything and significantly less for the chicken that is the biggest portion of their meals. Recently I have been able to get chicken quarters for $.39 lb, livers at $.79 lb and pork hearts for $.79 lb. I also bargained a store manager into lowering the price for chicken quarters to $.49 a pound from $.89.
One chicken meal for Arafel and you can see the pill bunch all wrapped up.
Everyone always panics on how much to feed when they start out – roughly 2 % of normal body weight. Adjust up or down to fit metabolism. Arafel weighs 150 pounds more or less and gets about 3 pounds a day divided between 2 meals. Puppies start out at the same amount and adjust as needed. One way to decide is the rib test – can you feel the ribs easily and are they nicely- not heavily - covered?
The big guy, Niall, eats more and I don't cut his up.
When you start out, start with one meat and add another protein slowly (otherwise you can end up with the squirts. Euwwww) Any kind of meat is fine, but bone is very important. The ideal ratio of meat to bone is about what you find in chicken quarters. Yes, they need to eat the bones. We used to think wings but that was way too high in bone. Muscle meat with no bone will eventually kill your dog of malnutrition, the calcium and phosphorus ratio would be totally out of whack. This does not mean you can’t feed muscle meat without bones – heart is one of the best muscle meats you can feed but you need to have an appropriate amount of bone. Fish, eggs, and organs – liver, kidneys all are important. Many people like to add exotic meats such as emu and ostrich, but I question the necessity. A species appropriate diet would make those natural for breeds evolved in countries where those birds live, but for my breed, cattle, chickens, venison, etc. would be species appropriate.
Nordic breeds might thrive on more fish – just my thoughts.
I use my Kitchen Aid scissors to cut the quarters. A word about safety- I do not use gloves, but I wash my hands constantly. After all of these years I doubt if there is a salmonella bug that could get to my system.
If you have young children or an immune compromised adult I would take far more precautions. However, be aware that salmonella can be cultured from most bags of kibble after they have been open for a while.
As far as your dogs are concerned, their intestines are much shorter than humans, and it is difficult for salmonella to do much in the short time it is in their body. The only other thing I have to say is please remember where your animals lick themselves before you say anything about e- coli.
An excellent website resource is http://www.rawdogranch.com/ – this was done by a friend of mine.
There are many books available and a good place to look is www.dogwise.com, and of course Amazon also caries all kinds of books on pets and feeding.
I also add herbs to the dogs’ food but that’s for another time.
Many thanks to icanhascheezburger.com, source of many of the LOLpics.
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