17 replies to this topic

[zeusthedapple]

I'm curious as to how much bone you give your little guys (I'm talking 10lb and under pups). My chihuahua used to get bone-in every day (I balance every day) and he would have more consistently firm poops with the occasional soft poop here and there, and some small moments of "too firm" poops. However, I've tried doing bone-in every other day and now his poops are more consistently runny with no firm poops. His poops when soft/runny look more like poops that are reflective of too much organ but he gets 0.02oz of organs daily (.01oz - liver/ .01oz - secreting other). I'm interested in how your little ones' poops look most the time and what you guys are doing for organs and bone-in bits.

 

I honestly think I'm going to put him back to bone-in every day, it's the best luck I have with him.

[Spy Car]

I wonder if I'd try feeder rats?

 

Cornish hens seem likely. 10 lbs and under seems harder than 60.

 

Bill

[zeusthedapple]

I'm not really for feeding rats. I've fed cornish. I have no problem finding bone-in sources, he has plenty of options. I'm just not sure how much luck small dogs have with their poops and how frequent their bone-in meals are given. I've talked to a couple other raw fed chi's and they have similar experiences. :/

[naturalfeddogs]

I have fed frog legs to puppies before, so that may be an option. Its something different anyway.

[Poodlebeguiled]

I started out feeding a bone every other day but their poops were inconsistent...sometimes so hard I thought they were getting impacted, some days really loose or diarrhea. So, then upon Spycar's advice, I went to feeding a balanced meal every day. I feed once a day except for a tiny snack most mornings. (egg or yogurt, just a tad) Anyhow, I started feeding a part of a bone every day. The bones that I feed are not heavy enough of meat so they get meat separately. The bones or part of a bone they get are a choking risk. But they seem to be careful. I have some poultry shears and mostly they eat chicken wing parts, backs or necks. Just part because I have to make the bone 10% of the meal. They don't get too long a time chewing though so I wonder what good it's doing their teeth. Maybe okay since it's every day. (?) Anyhow, since doing it this way, they usually have good poops. 

 

In this picture it looks like there's too much bone. Anyhow, sometimes I get a little too much or too little, sometimes on purpose if their poop wasn't so good the last time. Anyhow, this is approximately how their bowls look. There is about a half tsp or little more of vegetable mixture along with some additional muscle meat, including tripe, which I add every day and some organ. The muscle meat varies a lot. The bones, not so much...mostly chicken. They have a little trouble with very dense bones. They can do rabbit all right but the goat proved too dense. I took it away, fearing a broken tooth and swapped them for something else one time. Now i just cut off the meat and give it to them with a chicken bone. Hope that's all right that the bones are mostly chicken. Anyhow, this is how we've been going along for a while now and it seems to work. Oh, and a squirt of sardine/anchovy oil from Hare Today on top when they're not fed fish.

 

[Poodlebeguiled]

Those pictures are for the Poodles. Jose`, doesn't chew bones. He gets them ground or egg shell that's been ground up. 

[zeusthedapple]

Interesting, love hearing how you feed your little ones. I'm sure it's fine that his only bone source is chicken. Zeus' predominant source for bone is a chicken foot. When I get backs, he'll get chunks of back, the occasional neck. Zeus can handle duck well, so he can get pretty much any bone-in duck cut I offer him. He can only handle juvenile rabbit bones, adult proves too difficult for him. Whenever anything proves too difficult to chew, he goes straight to gulping (even bone-in). The only goat bone-in he's received is the stillborn, obv they can all handle that.

 

I feed twice a day, personal preference. They do fine on it, it works for all of us.

 

Zeus' poop looked perfect yesterday and we're still on bone-in every other day. I've also been giving him a pinch less organ, I'm hoping that makes a difference. I'm excited to see how his poop looks today.

[Poodlebeguiled]

It sounds like things are going along quite well. I think we're an exclusive crowd...we get excited with anticipation of what will be presented to us out of our dogs' behinds.    lol. 

[Poodlebeguiled]

I wonder if I'd try feeder rats?

 

Cornish hens seem likely. 10 lbs and under seems harder than 60.

 

Bill

 That is soooooo not going to happen. lol. I love rats...use to have them as pets. 

[zeusthedapple]

Lol, right. We are an different group of people. Well, Zeus' poop was runny. :/ Idk, prob going to do bone every day again.

[Poodlebeguiled]

Awww...poor Zeus. Yeah, I don't know why it works for some dogs, but mine definitely seem to be more on an even keel when every day is relatively balanced. Good luck.

[naturalfeddogs]

Lol, right. We are an different group of people. Well, Zeus' poop was runny. :/ Idk, prob going to do bone every day again.

Some just need it everyday. They are as individual as we are.

[zeusthedapple]

Yeah, I just started to worry if it was actually too frequent bone. But if that's what he needs, I don't mind. Plus I get chicken feet a dollar per pound and then some, so I don't mind at all lol

 

I might soon have access to farm raised duck eggs, opinions? Also these ducks are free range, I visit this farm often and their animals happily graze as they please through many acres. The poultry there are the least confined animals.

[naturalfeddogs]

Free range duck eggs are fine. I personally haven't ever fed them, because I don't have acsess  to any. 

[TRDmom]

I might soon have access to farm raised duck eggs, opinions? Also these ducks are free range, I visit this farm often and their animals happily graze as they please through many acres. The poultry there are the least confined animals.

 

They are great! We have our own free range, organic-fed ducks. We love the eggs and so do the dogs. They're more tasty and nutrient-rich than chicken eggs. If your dogs eat the shell, its a complete meal. If they don't eat it, add something boney.

[Poodlebeguiled]

I'm jealous Zeusthedapple! You are very lucky. Free range duck eggs are awesome! What's your address TRD mom? I'm sneaking stealthily in on the next dark night.  (j/k)

 

I feed chicken eggs about every other day...free range from the grocery store. I called around to see about some local farm eggs and they want $6 a dozen. Well, the way we go through eggs around here, the dogs and the humans, forget it. So I get the best I can find at the store. If they're not as good, well too bad. They're still better than kibble. If I still lived on acreage like I have most of my life, I could raise my own. But where I am, the HOA doesn't go for it, even though the city would. Oh well. I don't need more animals to take care of anyhow I guess. But that's coolio you guys who have access to nice, big, fat duck eggs!

[Iorveth]

Definitely go for the duck eggs. Our neighbor (as in down the road a few miles since our neighborhood is made up of large properties) sells duck eggs and we stop and buy some whenever we see her sign on the road. They are DELICIOUS! Far more tasty than store bought chicken eggs and bigger too (although I suppose that probably depends on the breed of duck). I do share them with the dogs, but I love them so much it's hard to watch them eat them as if they are no different than anything else they get. Ha! 

 

 That is soooooo not going to happen. lol. I love rats...use to have them as pets. 

 

I could feed rats. I had them as pets my whole life up until three years ago and will have them again in the future, but I've also had plenty of experience with rats bred as feeders... Because they're not being sold as pets, they are often VERY nasty little vermin. The ones I dealt with (from multiple sources) were nasty from the start because there was no kind of selective breeding for temperament going on. I don't know if they are all this way, but they definitely managed to convince me not to feel bad about feeding feeder rats to other animals!

I do get where you're coming from though. I know I am going to have a hard time when we start raising livestock, especially with the goats. I'll have my pets, but the meat goats will have to be kept AWAY from the house so they don't become pets!

 

 

 

You know, sometimes I envy you guys as I checkout at the grocery store with my 50 lbs of meat that will last me little more than a week, but then I realize how easy it is to hand my dogs a ginormous hunk of meat and call it a day. You guys get to feed less, but you often have to work harder to adapt the diet to their size so I suppose it balances out

[TRDmom]

Poodlebeguiled, just knock on the door instead. LOL