Raw feeding at my house has gotten infinitely easier which will be reflected in my blog posts this year. In 2017, I embraced the “balance over time” theory of raw feeding and stopped worrying about calculating bone percentages. I no longer buy into the 80/10/10 – while I do believe that this is a great starting point, I don’t think that’s the end of the story. Instead, I do strive for a semblance of balance by making sure my dogs are getting muscle meat, bone, liver and offal in their diet. My dogs also get raw eggs, raw sardines, boiled oysters, grass-fed butter, fermented vegetables, kefir, and goats milk.
Ingredients
- Rabbit (ground) by Columbia River
- Bone broth
- Organ blend (heart, lungs, liver, spleen, pancreas, and green tripe)
- Green beans
I was in a hurry this morning, so the dogs got a very simple meal. The green beans are for the girls because they’re both on a diet.
Equipment
- Stainless steel dog dishes
- Digital kitchen scale; this is the one I use: http://amzn.to/2D4sXT7 (aff)
Preparation
I no longer mix everything together like I used to; instead, I keep everything in separate containers and spoon an amount (I eyeball everything) into each dog’s dish. I base how much I feed on a set amount (ounces) of what each dog eats per meal (my dogs eat twice daily).
Sydney and Zoey are on a diet, so I’ve decreased their meal sizes.
I invested in a home scale for the dogs (http://amzn.to/2FngMT5 – aff) and I use that to track their weight. I increase and decrease how much I feed them based on their activity level, their individual weight, and their goal weights.
Serving Amounts
I include everything in the weight of the food I feed; nothing is fed as a “meal topper” unless it’s truly marketed as such. This is a change I made about a year ago. The amount of meat/organs I give to my dogs depends on their size; the following are the amounts of whole food supplements I give to each dog.
Tonight, I’ll be added raw eggs and oysters to their meal.
- One raw egg per dog, every other day. I feed raw eggs about 4 days a week. I don’t feed the shell because my dogs won’t eat them.
- Three raw sardines per dog, weekly. I source my raw sardines from OC Raw. There are approximately 12 in a bag and I thaw out one bag every week or every other week. I alternate the sardines with fish oil and oysters.
- One 8 ounce can of boiled oysters (boiled in water, never smoked). I split the can between each dog equally.
- Raw goats milk and kefir; 4 tablespoons of raw goats milk or kefir three or four days a week.
- I give each dog a tablespoon of fermented vegetables once or twice daily, at least five days a week.
Other Supplements
For more information about the supplements, I add to my dogs’ raw meals, check out this blog post: https://keepthetailwagging.com/dog-supplements-2018/
