Prey Model Raw

I don’t know how many times I’ve had people ask or tell me that raw feeding creates an aggressive dog. That the blood and meat make dogs vicious. Whoever believes this or experienced it, probably didn’t do some really simple training and focus work with their dogs. It’s highly important to train any dog, with any food to be easily handled or messed with while eating. This for sure doesn’t mean just grab food out of a dog’s mouth if it hasn’t been trained or conditioned to this kind of activity.

I’ve always started my dogs out with very controlled food wait and focus work. They’re not even allowed to touch the food, sniff it or anything until I give them the release….which is the cue word “OK!” with direct eye contact. So, I could be looking just to the left of their eyes and say ok, and they still wouldn’t be able to take their food. If they go for it before I release, I body block them and they don’t eat that day. Yep, pretty strict punishment but it’s very effective! Pushy dogs don’t get food!

Then for comfortable and easy management during meal times, I’ve trained a “drop it” that I just apply to their food. In the early stages of training this, I would feed them something boring like chicken and have something way better sitting aside, like beef heart. I’d ask for them to drop it, if they did they’d receive beef heart in return. Whatever you have to trade them should be better than what they’re eating. Once this skill is trained you don’t necessarily have to trade them when you ask them to drop it, they just do because it’s habit for them to listen.

Simple training and conditioning is all it takes to prevent food aggression!

What can I give my dog for training treats that is appropriate when feeding a raw diet?

Most excellent question. Why put forth so much energy and thought into providing your dog the most natural and healthy diet out there, to just hand out total crap treats? While it’s highly important to give treats that dogs love, it’s also important to think about what is IN those treats. Even small amounts of low quality ingredients, grains, chemical preservatives and artificial coloring can cause GI problems which pretty much negate the whole benefits of going all natural and raw. Not to mention the downright scary recalls that have been popping up recently that could easily cause serious harm to your best friend.

I’ve learned that even labeling can be tricky and falsely lead you to believe that treats are safe for your pets. ANYTHING sourced from China is a huge red flag and reason enough for me to put a product back on the shelf and walk away. Manufacturers are now using American raised livestock, then shipping them across seas to be butchered and processed and made into treats. This way they can list on the label “100% USA sourced meats” but the meat is actually processed over in China, with their food safety regulations which, a lot of us know how lax they are. Who pays the price for cheap treats? Our dogs.

So what to use for training treats with a raw fed dog? Home made stuff! Making your own treats can be so easy, and I pretty much guarantee your dogs will drool as you prep them, dehydrate them and bag them up. Dehydrating meat has become a regular part of our meat preparation and butcher work. Certain parts of an animal we butcher we use for treats. Lung for instance is the perfect meat to dehydrate as it’s naturally lean and light. The diaphragm is another great part to use as it’s literally paper thin already, and usually pretty lean. Organ meats are also great, but really I prefer to leave those meats fresh and raw because they carry the most essential nutrients that do in fact get denatured during dehydration. This is the reason why you cannot replace organ meats with dehydrated forms. Organ meats also dehydrate super thick and can be hard to break up into small pieces that are ideal for training (the ideal size of a training treat is a the size of a pea). Heart meat too, as its lean and easily cut into small pieces.

How to start:

1) Get a good, and I mean good dehydrator. We got a Nesco dehydrator as our first one, thought it was great. And it did work great, at the time. After using the Excalibur I realized what a difference in time it took to dehydrate our normal meats. Not only does it take less time with the higher quality unit, but it seems like they get even more dry….if that’s even possible. Which is important because the treats will keep longer since we don’t want to use preservatives. Our Nesco died after…oh…maybe 9 months of regular dehydrating. After that we upgraded and I couldn’t be happier with that choice. If you don’t have the funds to drop on an Excalibur, the Nesco is still a good choice, just don’t run it a lot.

2) Invest in good knives. I assume most of you raw feeders have good, sharp knives for prepping meals. In my experience, treat cutting really is when a sharp knife is most important. Making lots of precise and tedious cuts is a lot harder with a dull knife. I’ve found that if my knife isn’t that sharp or gets dull easily my treat sizes start getting progressively bigger- which really defeats the purpose of cutting up nice sized training treats.

3) Find a source of meats good for dehydrating. Lung will always be my first choice because of consistency it has naturally, not to mention most dogs don’t like raw lung….I don’t blame them because it’s downright weird. Farmers are a source for unwanted meats, cuts and scrap. Any lean muscle meat will dehydrate fine into jerky.

4) Experiment with size and shape of your treats. Everyone has their own preferences for treat size and shape so it’s impossible for me to tell you what to do with that. My favorite shape is long and skinny because it’s easy to break it up into smaller pieces during a training session. Not to mention less cutting! You can also experiment with different seasonings, but from my experience the meat doesn’t need extras as my dogs love it au natural!

What NOT to do:

1) Don’t spend hours cutting up treats and then have the brilliant idea to store them outside on the deck. Your dogs will eat them ALL. I did this once. Got the hookup with nearly 40 pounds of beef lung from a local farmer. I spent a few hours cutting it all up to be dehydrated. Since all of it wouldn’t fit in the dehydrator and I didn’t want to store it in the fridge, I put it outside on the patio in a sealed container since it’s winter time right now. I woke up the next day to an empty container. Needless to say, they wont be getting beef lung treats until next butcher season.

2) Placement of your dehydrator is crucial. Put it somewhere that you wont be able to smell it while dehydrating because the odors produced are foul and at times nauseating. We made this mistake once by putting it in our kitchen….yeah.

3) I don’t recommend storing your home made treats in sealed, air tight containers because mold may set in. Because we don’t use any preservatives, the meat wont stay as fresh for as long. We keep ours in open containers in a cold dry place. Refrigeration or freezing can prolong the shelf life as well.

What if you don’t want to spend time and energy sourcing high quality meats, cutting things up, smelling the dehydration process, etc, etc….

We are going into dog treat production! We will offer all kinds of high quality treats of all kinds of sources- and you will know they’re safe because we give them to our own girls. We would never sell anything that isn’t good enough for them! PreyModelRaw and Happy Tails Behavior are working together to introduce our own line of species appropriate, all natural dog treats and jerky.

Stay tuned for the launch of our treats!!!

Miss Bailey the Great Dane patiently awaiting her goodies!

I just got home from a month long journey to Thailand. Well, it’s 1am my home local time after 36 hours of traveling and I’m WIDE AWAKE. Jet lag sucks but it’s completely worth it for the ability to travel, not to mention it allows me to catch up on things I want to do…who the heck needs to sleep anyways?!?!

One of the things I learned and took away from my trip to Thailand is that most dogs there are homeless vegetarians. I was definitely reminded of how well my dogs have it compared to the street and temple dogs in Thailand. Most dogs in Thailand have no owner or home but live on the streets or flock to the temples as the people there take care of them. They essentially belong to all the local people. I saw very few dogs that had a distinct owner, on a leash or in a home. Even though the dogs there have no home or owner, they really couldn’t look happier. Of course there are the dogs that get injured with no medical care or are in particularly bad shape due to some kind of circumstance. But in general these community dogs are happy and live a full life. I almost started to feel bad for the dogs who were on leashes, or locked in a house or chained to a tree. It seems to me that the free lifestyle far outweighs the captive lifestyle, at least in general terms for Thai dogs.

Temple dogs

Street Dog

We go to long lengths to provide our pets with the proper nutrition and healthcare as well as the luxuries of home life. Some say that we as raw feeders take things to the extreme to feed our dogs an appropriate diet. Often times getting into heated debates and struggles with family to do so. But in the grand scheme of things….I feel blessed I have the ABILITY to provide for my dogs the way I do.  We all should feel this way.

It was a humbling experience to go to Thailand and see vegetarian dogs alive and happy. In the best shape? Of course not but a vegetarian diet is better than going hungry. Since a vast majority of Thai people are vegetarian, meat is hard to come by unless you’re  a falang (pronounced/alternative spelling farang) in a restaurant or a guest in someone’s home. As meat is hard to come by and rarely eaten by locals there’s not much left for dogs. I actually took homemade meat treats with me, and most of the dogs sniffed them like it was some foreign matter that needed to be rolled on instead of eaten. And the kibble they have available is not much better than a vegetarian diet.

I spent time volunteering at Elephant Nature Park with the wonderful group The Power of One directed by Blue Star of Hope. Part of our duties was to care for all the dogs rescued from the 2011 floods of Bangkok city. Many rescue organizations worked to save countless dogs displaced, wounded and stranded due to the horrendous floods. Elephant Nature Park takes in all animals in need of a safe haven. They went to great lengths to care for approximately 1000 dogs they rescued. They quickly built amazing facilities to house these dogs that put to shame any rescue shelter I’ve seen in the USA, hired staff to care for them and created a network of medical and financial help for these animals. While a lot of the pets were returned to previous owners or found new homes, they still care for approximately 300 dogs. Not to mention they take  in street dogs regularly.

These dogs are vegetarians, eating the scrap food that is left over from the kitchen and mess hall at the park. The lucky dogs get donated kibble, usually the youngest puppies who are still growing. I chatted with one of the head volunteers while staying there and she said that she’s seen a big difference in the puppies raised on the primarily rice slop they get from the kitchen and those raised on kibble (albeit low quality kibble), in that kibble fed puppies are overall healthier and more robust. This would indicate that dogs definitely do better on more adequate levels of protein, as the vegetarian slop is mostly rice.

This experience doesn’t change the way I feel about raw feeding. I wish that all dogs could be raw fed as I wholeheartedly believe that it’s the ideal type of diet for all dogs (obviously personalized tweaks for some individuals). What this journey has taught me is that while I believe raw is right, it’s not the only way things have to be done in order to keep animals alive and happy. If anything it makes the “fight for raw” in me a little more Buddhist like….in the big picture it’s not a big deal and certainly not a topic to get into fights with other people about.

Rear end paralyzed dog who has her own facility and wheelchair

These facilities have acres of open land for their rescue dogs, including pools, multilevel houses and loving staff to care for them!

While none of the above diets are really ideal, its the best they can do with what they have. It’s highly commendable all that they do at the park. Visit the links I posted above to learn more and to see what you can do to help!

Raw feeding guidelines have been established based on the average composition of relative weight of different parts prey animals: muscle meat, bone, and organ meat. These guidelines don’t include things that are considered refuse like hide and intestinal tract, basically just the edible or nutritional parts. The basic 80:10:10 ratio of meat:bone:organ respectively has been widely accepted based on average prey animal composition from larger ungulates to poultry. Some prey animals have much different ratios than others which is why an average has been used widely as a guideline. 

In my experience first hand and from other people’s first hand accounts the 80:10:10 ratio is vague and doesn’t really account for the individual animal. It’s a guideline and that tells you some animals will fall outside of it with their ideal ratios, as with all nutritional requirements for animals species wide- not just dogs. 

This guideline is more important for the transitioning of animals (particularly dogs) to raw feeding, if not for the animal, but for the human caretaker her/himself to establish good habits of keeping track meat:bone:organ ratios. We all need to have someplace to start out, eventually tweaking things as necessary to fit the individual needs. I know many seasoned raw feeders that really don’t pay much attention to ratios once they get the swing of things. 

An animal isn’t fully switched to raw feeding (unless weaned to raw) until a good 6-12 months into the process. I’ve seen a huge difference in my own dogs, as well as that of others in the ideal ratios of meat:bone:organ based on how long one has been raw feeding. Particularly the longer you’ve been raw feeding the less bone you should need to feed to keep dogs (and cats) regular in the bowel movements. The conclusion I’ve come down to is this: 

Mostly muscle meat, some bone, some organ (secreting organs like liver/kidney/pancreas), some fat and some heart meat. Which puts the ratio more like this respectively:

80:5:5:5:5

OR 

75:10:5:5:5

OR 

70:15:5:5:5

It’s pretty inaccurate to completely overlook something as vital as fat, seeing as it is the energy source for carnivores. It must be included in the overall diet composition ratio. As well as overlooking what I call “transition” meats like heart meat because it’s a rich muscle meat that has slightly different nutritional make up than both regular muscle meat and secreting organ meat.

While all this said, the above is still just a guideline. It’s just a set of numbers that is supposed to give people a general idea of how much of each nutritional “pillar” to give daily/weekly/etc. A big part of raw feeding is that overall, balanced nutrition is accomplished over time, not in each meal, although some prefer to do things this way which is perfectly fine. Raw feeding isn’t an exact science, but it needs to be structured to each individual animal based on their own specific needs and ideals. These usually don’t fluctuate much, but they do fluctuate.

The beauty and uniqueness of life is that no one living creature is exactly the same.

It is pretty typical for the raw feeding section to be full of  ”is it normal?” threads, so I thought I’d go ahead, and list out some things that while not typical on kibble, are not uncommon in a raw diet- especially for a dog newly transitioned. These are questions that very frequently pop up on dog/cat nutrition forums and lists. This particular post was written by a very good friend of mine as well as a raw feeding guru!

STOOLS
Is it normal for my dog to have runny stools?

Yes, and it indicates that you need to feed more bone for that time, and strip the chicken of all skin, fat, and organs. It can also be a good indicator that you are feeding too much, or moving too fast with introducing new proteins. Cut portions down, up the bone, proceed slowly.

Is it normal for my dog’s stools to be crumbly?

Yes, and it indicates you are feeding too much bone, and not enough muscle meat.

Is it normal for my dog’s stools to be yellow?

Yellow stools are pretty typical for dogs eating all or mostly Chicken.

Is it normal for my dog’s stools to be dark and like tar?

Dark or tar-like stools indicate that you are feeding too much organ meats at a time, and you need to cut the amount down. Sometimes darker, looser stools happen after boneless red meat meals, and that means you shouldn’t feed quite as much boneless at a time. It’s a classic sign of moving too fast.

Darker colored stools that are solid are of no significance, unless there’s a decent amount of blood present or something that is chronically happening not due to above reasons. If this occurs contact your veterinarian.
Is it normal to see bone pieces in my dog’s stools?

For some dogs, it takes a little more time for their bodies to re-learn to digest the denser parts of bone. In the beginning, you may see small fragments of bone in the stools. DO not worry about it. The digestive tract is far more durable than what you may thing. In time,your dog’s body will be accustomed to the raw bones, and you won’t see this anymore.

You may see them again when adding in more dense bones, like beef or pork bones, and just like with chicken bones, their bodies will learn to digest them.

Is it normal for my dog’s stools to be very small?

Yes! This is one of the many endless benefits to a raw diet! Your dog’s stools will be much smaller and firmer on a PMR diet than on any other diet. Small stools do not mean your dog is constipated! If your dog is constipated, they won’t poo at all.

Is it normal for my dog’s stools to turn white and crumbly?

Yes. In a couple day’s time, your dog’s stools, if left untouched outside, will dry up, turn white and crumbly, and turn to dust. Enjoy not having to do poo duty!

VOMIT VS REGURGITATION

Is it normal for my dog to regurgitate right after eating?

Yes, generally it means they didn’t chew the food enough, and their bodies told them to bring it back up, and try again. *Some puppies may even be dramatic and yelp and cry right before/ during/ after regurgitation* Most dogs will willingly re-eat the food. Let them. Sometimes dogs will act ashamed when they regurgitate, rightly so but just go about your normal business and there’s a chance your dog will re-eat it if you don’t make it a big deal at all.

Is it normal for my dog to vomit yellow bile between meals?

Affectionately known as the “hunger pukes” sometimes dogs with an empty stomach will vomit bile. Raw digests so much faster than kibble, so most dogs fed kibble are used to having residual “gunk” sitting in their bellies from their last meal long after it’s been eaten. A raw fed dog will digest and utilize their food much faster. You can feed more meals per day, which will remedy the hunger pukes, but in time their bodies will become accustomed to not having a constantly engorged belly. Also, feeding at random times of the day can help a great deal as well.

Is it normal for my dog to vomit bone chunks?

Dogs who are still getting used to eating bones may bring back up chunks of bone. It is their bodies way of telling you they can not quite digest it, and is a good sign your dog might need a slower transition. As their digestive juices work to the best of their ability, you will see less and less of this, but be aware you may need to go through this as bones of differing density are introduced.

Once a dog has been introduced to bones of all APPROPRIATE densities and is accustomed to their raw diet, you won’t see this anymore.

BODY HEALTH AND CONDITION

Is it normal to see poor side effects of a raw diet?

Some people while in the transition phase will see things like increased dandruff, eye goop, slight hair loss, etc. These are generally indicators that the built up toxins and whatnot from a previously sub par diet are coming out. You may see a slight flare up in existing problems, and then they get much better.

Is it normal for my dog’s gums to bleed on a PMR diet?

Just like when people with poor gum health chew on crunchy things, or brush their teeth and see blood, dogs with poor oral health may experience bleeding of the gums at first. You are in luck, the raw diet will greatly improve the overall condition of your dogs gums and teeth!!

PMR can improve any dog’s teeth and gums, but do not have entirely unrealistic expectations. For some, the plaque buildup and periodontal disease is so advanced, a full dental cleaning by a vet is necessary, to start with a clean slate, and then a raw diet will maintain the clean teeth and gums.

Is it easier to maintain a healthy body weight on a raw diet?

YES! With raw, you know exactly what you’re giving your dog or cat, and that it is highly digestible. For overweight pets, just feel less. It’s that simple! For underweight dogs, feed more. If you are unsure of how much to start with, calculate what 2.5 percent of your dog’s ideal adult body weight is, and go from there. Adjust accordingly.

Dog’s ideal weight x .025= good starting amount

INTRODUCING NEW PROTEINS

What can I start a raw diet with?

Chicken! You’ll want to start your dog off with bone inclusive chicken for the first week. Backs are a popular choice, but quarters are a good alternative if backs are not available. Wings and Chicken Necks are good for smaller dogs.

Even though some dogs have confirmed allergies to chicken, just try giving raw chicken a chance as most dogs do fine with raw chicken as it’s isn’t denatured during the cooking process.

How do I know when it’s ok to introduce something new?

DO not move forward with adding anything new until your dog has had at LEAST 7 days in a row of firm, solid stools.

I recommend adding new protein sources in much smaller amounts than a typical meal, and always with bone. If you know your dog is more sensitive, it’s always a good idea to strip skin and fat to start.

How Often I introduce new foods?

I don’t recommend adding more than one new food in a week’s time. SO for two weeks, feed just chicken. Week three, add a meal of bone in turkey, week four, add a meal of bone in pork, and so on. Moving faster might be ok for some dogs, but rather safe than sorry to make your transition as smooth as possible.

What do I feed after chicken?

It is recommended after chicken, to move onto bone-inclusive Turkey. Then onto pork. Then onto gutted fish (whole contain too much other stuff at this point, but if your dog has a iron gut, go ahead and try it out!) and beef, and other richer red meats.
There aren’t many edible bones for things like beef and venison, so I generally introduce them as “half” meals, with the other half being something very bone heavy, like turkey neck, and work my way up to less bone.

When do I introduce organ meats?

Don’t even think about organ meats for at least 6 weeks or so, generally even a bit longer.

You can start giving them only when your dog has been introduced to a variety of proteins (at least the ones you intend to feed regularly) and is doing well with meals that are not bone heavy. At that point, add them in very SMALL amounts. Start with a quarter-sized sliver of liver. Just as with introducing other things, only proceed to add more if your dog is first handling the small amount fine. Be on the lookout for tar-poo.

FEED WITH CAUTION OR THINGS TO AVOID

Are there any parts of an animal I should not feed?

Weight-bearing bones of large animals, such as femurs and knuckles from cows, buffalo, etc. should not be given, especially to large “aggressive chewers.” The reason being: these bones are designed to carry hundreds, if not thousands of pounds and are therefore much more dense than your dog’s teeth. This proposed a risk of cracking, chipping, or downright breaking off a tooth.

[url=http://preymodelraw.com/2010/09/17/why-ill-never-give-a-dog-a-marrow-or-knuckle-bone/]Why I’ll NEVER give a dog a marrow or knuckle bone | Prey Model Raw[/url]

There are plenty of people who argue that they’ve given these bones for years without having any bad things happen. To this argument I will say: There is never a problem- until there’s a problem.

Are there any foods that require special preparation?

Wild caught salmon from the Pacific Northwest can carry a parasite that can effect dogs, and should be frozen for a few weeks before feeding. Most salmon is farmed, and canned salmon is no issue whatsoever. Other salmonoid species can also carry the salmon poisoning disease parasite, so use caution when feeding any fish from the Pacific Northwest.

Also, bear and wild boar can carry a form of trichinosis. I suggest further researching the topic and making a decision for yourself, I’m an experienced raw feeder and wont feed either one of these proteins.

What about “enhanced meats”?

Quite a lot of the meat on the market, particularly poultry, is enhanced with up to 10% saline solution. Non enhanced meats are strongly preferred. That being said, most enhanced meats are more affordable, and if that’s all you can do- you are STILL leaps and bounds ahead of ANY commercially diet. Stray away from enhanced meats as much as possible, but don’t sweat the occasional enhanced meal. You can try soaking them to get some of the solution out.
If your dog (or cat, or ferret) is having a tough time making the transition, try using un-enhanced chicken and you may have better luck.

course you want all the meats you feed to be as close to their natural state as possible.

Raw feeding really isn’t possible without some kind of freezer. Whether you feed less than a pound a day or you feed 25+ pounds per day you need a freezer to keep a good variety of meat, bones and organs available for rotation as we all know that variety is KEY with a good well rounded prey model raw diet. Where to start? Well, I’m writing this to save you lots of /facepalms….that I’ve had the pleasure of doing myself.

Figure out how much space is needed for storage, short term and long term if needed. This will be mostly influenced by how much you feed per day. Let’s pick a good round number like 5 pounds per day for an example, which would mean ~150 pounds per month. Based on experience of feeding 3 times that per day (LOL) its a great thing to have things stocked well for a good rotational diet. That in mind I recommend having enough freezer space to get you by for several months, which would mean for our example of 5 pounds per day, that a 28 cubic foot freezer would be ideal, or several smaller ones to accommodate all that grub. This also makes bulk orders possible for better deals on meat!

If you’re feeding a lot less than that per day, then you may consider getting a regular fridge/freezer combo that you can use for long term storage (freezer) and short term/thawing space (fridge) as your option. It’s nice to have a fridge to thaw things out as it takes longer, and you can keep several things thawed at once without them going bad.

And if you’re a stereotypical raw feeder you’ll NEVER have enough freezer space and you’ll think to yourself…..when will I ever have enough freezers? NEVER /facepalm

What kind of freezer you’ll want for your daily and long term needs. I have four freezers for our needs. I have three “long” term storage freezers (one stand up and two chest) and one daily user, an upright. I stock my daily use freezer once every few weeks with a good rotation of what I have available so I have my variety planned out roughly for the next few weeks. Once my daily freezer is empty I restock it from the long term storage freezers.

For daily use freezers I would recommend upright, standing one as they’re easier to pull things from. The downside to upright freezers is that they cannot hold as much stuff because meat has to be stacked on shelves or it’ll fall out. Chest freezers you can jam pack full of meat (well, this is NOT true and I’ll go over this below) without it falling out. Chest freezers are great for long term storage because they hold a TON! Here’s a rough estimate for chest freezers taken from a previous PMR post:

http://preymodelraw.com/2010/02/10/what-does-raw-feeding-cost/

28 cu. ft. of freezer space for ~500 lbs. of meat
14 cu. ft. of freezer space for ~250 lbs. of meat
7 c u. ft. of freezer space for ~125 lbs. of meat

How best to organize your chest freezer for ease of finding things. This is a true case of “do as I say and not as I do” as I’ve learned a lot of hard lessons when it comes to my freezers. The memory of us having to thaw out an ENTIRE freezer packed full of meat frozen, wedged together is still pretty painful and fresh! We had a huge delivery made of meat from our co op that was delivered in plastic bags. When it arrived it was partially thawed out, but we figured it would be fine just to stick in the chest freezer…NOT. When I went to grab one bag of beef from that chest freezer to stock my daily user…it was stuck. Come to find out ALL the bags of meat were stuck together. We had to thaw out the WHOLE freezer full of meat just to get it apart which took several days of running a heater on it all. /facepalm

You may find yourself compelled to just dump meat at random into your chest freezers. Pretty much all raw feeders have done this if they have chest freezers because well….we hoard meat and need to put it all someplace. This makes for getting the meat back out troublesome as you lose track of what is where and you have to dig which requires a coat and thermal gloves if you don’t want to suffer frost bite! Do yourself a favor and organize in the first place. In the long run it’ll save you a ton of time and energy.

For chest freezers I would recommend having “columns” of meat types if possible. That way certain sections of your freezer are the same meat type from top to bottom. This makes it easy as you just grab off the top rather than having to dig to find what you want.

DO NOT put thawed or partially thawed meat that is stored in bags in freezers just haphazardly or they’ll stick and you’ll end up thawing your whole freezer out like I did. This is also not a good idea because you want free air flow around your meat so that it freezes quickly and thoroughly. It can take several days for lots of meat to  fully freeze so keep that in mind when packing larger quantities of meat into a freezer. If I have a mostly empty freezer and I’m packing it full of meat stored in bags I use plastic lids to separate my bags in layers so that they lift easily off.

DO NOT put bags of meat on grated or slotted shelves in a freezer either. Yes, this is common sense but even I have made that mistake and I’d like to think I’m of average intelligence. If you do this there is a strong chance that the bag will slip down between the metal and freeze solid. That means you have to remove the whole shelf to thaw that particular bag of meat. Like I said….common sense. /facepalm

How to find the ideal freezer. Craigslist, if you’re on the planet Earth. You’d be surprised how many people have freezers for sale on there, or even for free. Three of our four came off of craigslist for free or cheap. But you have to double check the freezer for important things like seals, compressors and the basic fact of whether they work or not before committing to taking it.

Checklist:

1. Seals or gaskets. Torn or weathered ones are common with used freezers. But they’re typically pretty cheap to replace so if the unit is super cheap or free, then it may be worth it to just replace it as they’re relatively inexpensive.

2. Thermostat. If the unit doesn’t have one I would take one and see how cold it really gets. This will help determine if its worth the investment or not. Sure….if you ask the seller to plug it in to see if it works it’ll feel cold…but is it cold enough?

3. Cleanliness. How clean and well maintained does the unit seem to be? Typically the better they look the better they run…but this doesn’t mean if you run across a pristine freezer that it’ll run well. Check the floor around the unit if it happens to be in the same space it’s been stored for a long time, as the floor might indicate leaks…which would indicate that it doesn’t work well. Be weary if the seller says they’ve got it all moved and ready to go! As they may have done this to prevent you from seeing where the freezer lived for years past.

4. Location. Obviously if you have to drive 100+ miles and rent a U-Haul it may not be worth it.

5. Age. Sometimes things made eons ago work better than new things but efficiency is key as well as it DOES add up to run a bunch of freezers that DOES go into your “food” bill every month with energy costs. Keep that in mind.

Where to put these freezers. Ideally you want them inside out of the weather. BUT most freezers are pretty bombproof. We stored one outside for about a year through rain, shine, snow, etc without issue. You just want to make sure any freezers stored outside are up on some kind of base so they don’t get waterlogged. We stored our chest freezer up on cinder blocks that kept it about 6 inches off the ground on the side of the house it was most protected from the weather but it did just fine. If you don’t have a lot of extra room in an apartment, garage, house, etc outside might be a feasible option. I do know of someone who used a chest freezer as a dinner table for a while!

Here are our freezers and as you can see we didn’t do our homework with buying ours because A) there’s cinder blocks on both of our chest freezers to hold the seals B) there’s a tie down wrapped around one of our uprights to hold it shut. Do your homework about freezers and it’ll save you tons of time and energy! I’m sure there’s more I could talk about with freezers but so far so good!

Fats…are something that a lot of people are socially trained to think of as bad, unhealthy and something that shouldbe avoided. While there is SOME truth to that in regards

to some kinds of fat, good, quality fats are something that I’ve found to be as essential to a raw diet as organ meat, and bone. The general ratio breakdown for what we feed our dogs on a PMR diet has been 80:10:10 for meat:bone:organ. But the longer I’ve been feeding raw, helping others switch and seeing the long term effects of diet, I have come to find that it really should break down into a ratio like 70:10:10:10 for meat:bone:organ:fat.

Quite often I’ve found that dogs start out doing great on raw! Beautiful, lush, shiny coats and then after a few months to a year skin and coat quality start to decline. Shiny coats turn dull, healthy skin turns dry and flaky. Why is this happening?

What it really depends on what you feed on a regular basis. Is your meat sourced from factory farms or do you feed a diet of higher quality meat (organic, naturally reared, grass fed)? Higher quality meats are generally high in good fats, omega 3 fatty acids, particularly grass fed red meats. But meat from factory farmed animals (specifically grain fed animals) are lower in quality fats due to species inappropriate diets for livestock (c’mon…cows shouldn’t even eat corn!).

If your diet is sourced from factory farms I suggest adding in fat supplements like salmon oil (not a generic fish oil- you want a named fish oil so you know the source, I also don’t recommend cod liver oil as it is high in Vitamin A) or increasing grass fed red meats to help make up for the lack of omega 3 fatty acids. Another thing you can do is go to a butcher and ask if they have fat trimmings from grass fed red meats as you can add that in like a supplement…just a small glob everyday.

A lot of times factory farmed meats are fed because they’re affordable and people have to do their best at sourcing meat. Heck, we do! We buy factory farmed chicken and turkey for approximately half of our dogs’ diet to help keep cost down and while I know that it’s not ideal, I know that I’m doing what is best for my dogs in my situation. The other half of their diet consists of high quality grass fed red meats. We also supplement with salmon oil. Don’t ever feel bad about doing your best in your situation!

The “bad” thing about fats is that they are RICH! They cause digestive upset, they can cause pancreatitis if you’re not careful. How do we get around these things? Adding them in slowly, methodically like you would for organ meats. Once on a well rounded diet of varied protein sources, consider what your rotation consists of. If it’s mostly factory farmed meat, you’ll want to add in more high quality fats. Do this SLOWLY! Just like with adding in organs, add small amounts at a time (dime sized or smaller depending on size of dog). If you see GI upset, then get them back on track FIRST before trying again. Add in an amount half the size as last time and go from there. This may be tedious and take months, but slow and steady is the best thing for you, your dog and your carpets.

You also have to consider any health problems your dog has already. History of pancreatitis, liver or kidney issues, etc are all important to keep in mind when increasing the fat intake of your dog. Since dogs are all individuals, I suggest consulting your veterinarian about increasing the fat content of your dog’s diet before proceeding…of course tell them why and how. I don’t ever recommend lying to your vet about what you feed your dog. If they don’t like it either find a new one or stand up for yourself, it’s important that your veterinarian knows what you feed because it can affect what they do for your animal in their care.

Lots of people out there feed raw, whether it be whole prey, prey model (yours truly!), BARF, premade commercial, premade from a butcher….and I’m sure I’ve forgotten a method or two. Regardless of which method is chosen, one should pay particular attention to one thing in particular:

Ground meat, bones and organs

Why is grinding meat important to the overall diet? For several reasons. Think of a solid piece of foam about the size of a shoe box, now picture your dog shredding it (and having a blast of course). What happened to the surface area of the foam? It increased dramatically.

1) The process of grinding meat exposes most of the surface area to the destructive presence of oxygen. Since oxygen is a strong oxidizing agent, meaning it loves to bind to other compounds, it lends well to binding with enzymes, vitamins and minerals thus leading to degradation in quality. Does this mean that ground meats are completely devoid of nutrition? Of course not. BUT over long periods of time, if ground meats are all that is fed, then one *can* start to see the effects of feeding a ground diet.

2) The grinding process also exposes the meat to environmental contaminants. Bacteria, yeast, or mold can permeate ground meats easily because of increased surface area.  While we generally don’t worry about exposure to environmental contaminants, prolonged exposure to these bugs can cause chronic imbalances of the good and bad intestinal gut flora. The intestinal tract is the largest organ in the body (besides the skin) and when it is constantly being stressed by unnatural levels of pathogens, it can take it’s toll on overall body health and function.

3) Loss in mentally stimulating meal times. Let’s face it, feeding time isn’t a dog’s favorite time of day just because of what they eat…HOW they eat it also plays a HUGE role in overall satisfaction. Gulp, swallow is what it takes for a ground raw meal. Chomp, chew, crunch, grind, gnaw, toss around, hold with paws, flip, flop, tear, rip, shred….swallow is what it takes to feed whole, unaltered pieces of meat/bones/organs. Which would you choose?

4) Absentee dental benefits with ground meats. Dental benefits are probably the most important health benefit from a raw diet. Why skip out on the added FREE bonus to raw feeding of clean, pearly white, perfect teeth?

All that said, there are some legit cases where a ground raw diet is really necessary. With those cases I always recommend investing in your own high quality, powerful meat grinder to grind meats just before being fed. The longer meat is exposed to oxygen, environmental changes (freezing, thawing, etc) and pathogens the greater the loss of overall nutrition. The best bet is to feed a ground meat meal directly from the grinder. Lots of work eh? Yep. But over time it’ll be worth it.

Why not something commercially produced? You know the first two reasons above? Commercially processed raw diets are exposed to oxygen and pathogens galore, processed, then frozen, shipped, stocked, thawed, and then fed. The exacerbation of oxygen exposure and pathogen exposure has it’s effects on their products (even if treated with preservatives). I’ve seen quite a few animals not do so hot on commercially processed diets. This is just an observation, not a law by any means. But something to absolutely be considered by the consumer. Certainly a premade commercial raw diet is more ideal than kibble! Not to mention it can be a good first step in the right direction.

Food for thought!

Often times I hear or see people talk about how their dogs aren’t doing well on a raw diet. Either their dogs have diarrhea or vomiting, losing weight or a dull coat. This isn’t uncommon for recently switched dogs to a raw diet. Some dogs do better than others handling the transition, but those dogs that have a bit of trouble in the beginning may need some extra help. This is where this page comes in for the rescue.

Read more here….on the new HELP! page!

We scored a whole hog for free this week. Decided to feed it all in one sitting as a gorge meal. The dogs are all fat, happy and passed out.

Why feed a whole hog at once? Gorge meals are a normal thing for wolves, dogs. Their lives revolve around finding food. Either they find a carcass or they make a fresh meal but either way they eat as much as they can in one sitting because they have no idea when their next meal will come. Obviously our dogs at home know when their next meal is coming, and so do we. So, why do a gorge meals? For several reasons.

First, feeding a meal like this gives our dogs the opportunity to really get a mentally stimulating experience. It takes a lot more mental work for a dog to rip and tear meat off, crunch through bones of this kind of source. The enjoyment alone we watch from our dogs eating is reinforcing enough to do it again.

Second, it allows us to feed large meals to our big dogs. It saves us a lot of work with breaking down a whole hog, just let the dogs do the work!

Third, it may or may not provide any health benefits. There is no research, anecdotal or scientific, stating one way or the other. Many raw feeders do this and it works well for their dogs.

Gorging and fasting should not be attempted by the novice raw feeder. I highly suggest that only dogs who have been raw feeding for a few years do this. It takes some time and conditioning to get a dog’s system capable of handling such a large meal. This can be achieved by gradually increasing the size of a meal once every 2 weeks, and then increasing the space between the larger meal and their next meal. Puppies weaned to or switched to raw feeding early are better equipped to handle gorging and fasting sooner, but I don’t suggest doing it until the puppy is at least 6 months old, unless its a toy/small breed who may never be able to handle a true gorge/fast meal even as an adult. Toy or small breeds who are prone to hypoglycemia should never be fasted for long periods of time, so true gorge/fast meals may never be done with these dogs. Just proceed with caution and always supervise any feeding of any kind with a scrupulous eye!

Our dogs pictured below have been raw feeding for at least 2 years, the exceptions being two Great Dane puppies, 8 and 10 months old. All of them have been conditioned to gorge meals and handle them well!

Picture time….enjoy!