# Egg Shells enough as calcium supplement?



## rippedcb (Jun 3, 2010)

Hi There,
Great forum here. I have a quick question. I feed raw to my 9 month old. Currently we buy chicken/veg/bone combination pre-prepared. I was thinking about switching her food so she gets some diversity, but the problem is that i have to buy the food in bulk (50lbs min) and that takes up most of the room in our freezer. I can get beef or buffalo but it doesn't come with bone in it and ofcourse my 9 month old needs her calcium at this age. She loves to eat eggs and she will eat the shells if i can grind and mix them in the food. So my quick question is: would 1 egg shell/day be enough as a source of calcium if i was to mix it with beef/bison meat??
thanks,


PS: My beautiful Hannah is 75% AmStaff, 12.5% Lab and 12.5% Rotti and 100% AMAZING


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## DobManiac (Aug 12, 2007)

> Ground eggshell can be used as a calcium supplement. Rinse eggshells and dry them on a counter overnight, or in the oven, then grind them in a clean coffee grinder. One large eggshell provides one teaspoon of ground eggshell, which contains 2,000 mg of calcium, so add ½ teaspoon ground eggshell per pound of food fed. Don’t use eggshells that haven’t been ground to powder, as they may not be absorbed as well.


That is a quote on eggshells from dogaware.com. Your issue is going to be a lack of fiber in the diet. Bone would serve this purpuse if you planed on feeding it. Without it you can use pulerized veggies or some sort of cooked grain. 30% veggies would work or about 50% grains. 

The diet will also be lacking diversity, which is essential in a RAW diet. This link might:

http://www.dogaware.com/articles/wdjhomemade2.html

Also, check out the stickies for RAW diets at the top of the food forum.


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## rippedcb (Jun 3, 2010)

Thank you for your reply. I will definately be adding veggies to it. But I don't believe in giving grains to dogs so that won't be happening. I was worried if there will be enough calcium in 1 egg shell and according to your quote there should be. Thank you very much for the answer. I will read more from the link you provided.


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## DobManiac (Aug 12, 2007)

You don't want to do extra calcium, so make sure you follow the measurements. Also are planing on adding organ meat? It's essential for certian vitamins and minerals.


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## ioreks_mom (Oct 1, 2008)

From experience, I know that adding just egg shell to meat only will result in runny poops. Definitely add veggies to help firm up the poopies. 

Before you start feeding meat that is not a premix you should make sure to do a lot of research if you haven't already. You want to make sure you are feeding a balanced diet, especially for a growing pup.


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## rippedcb (Jun 3, 2010)

DobManiac said:


> You don't want to do extra calcium, so make sure you follow the measurements. Also are planing on adding organ meat? It's essential for certian vitamins and minerals.


yes.. Hannah weighs approx 45lbs at 9months and eats 1.5lbs of raw meat a day so 1tsp of egg shells should be good.. no?
As for organ meat.. yes, Beef will come with organ meat. But Lamb.. they use a whole leg (without the bone) and grind it up so that won't have any organ meat. I suppose i can purchase chicken offal to add to Lamb or buffalo.. Thanks again. Does that sound good?


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## rippedcb (Jun 3, 2010)

ioreks_mom said:


> Before you start feeding meat that is not a premix you should make sure to do a lot of research if you haven't already. You want to make sure you are feeding a balanced diet, especially for a growing pup.


Thats exactly what i'm doing.. trying to learn from you guys who have so much more experience then me. You're very right about running poops. I gave Hannah egg shells and didn't grind them to powder and she had really runny poop.. But food did have veggies in it.. i will definately be adding veggies. 

Does anyone have good veggie recipe? i know i can take bunch of veg's and puree' them up, but last time i did that my dog wouldn't touch the meat it was mixed in. Maybe i had too many bitter vegs?

Thanks guys..


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## ioreks_mom (Oct 1, 2008)

I'm sorry, I don't have any veggie recipes since I don't feed veggies at all. I do the prey model, 80% meat, 10% bone, and 10% organs (1/2 of that liver). I have since added a chicken leg or something like that to the meals that I used eggshell for. The "fibre" from the bone works nicely to firm things up.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Not interested in feeding real bones at this point? It really is the simplest way to go. You are doing BARF without the chicken bony bits, look up glop recipes? 

My dogs like carrots, broccoli, pumpkin, sweet potato, potato, celery, zucchini just fine. Try one at a time and don't make up a huge batch of glop without knowing your dog will eat the stuff.

Maybe you are using too much veggie to meat? I only needs to be 25% veggies.


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## rippedcb (Jun 3, 2010)

Kathyy said:


> Not interested in feeding real bones at this point? It really is the simplest way to go. You are doing BARF without the chicken bony bits, look up glop recipes?
> 
> My dogs like carrots, broccoli, pumpkin, sweet potato, potato, celery, zucchini just fine. Try one at a time and don't make up a huge batch of glop without knowing your dog will eat the stuff.
> 
> Maybe you are using too much veggie to meat? I only needs to be 25% veggies.


I know i didn't put too much veggies in it, but i think i might've used too many bitter one's. I don't mind feeding bones at all.. infact thats what i've been doing. But if you read my first post you'll notice that i want to try to give my dog lamb/buffalo/beef and the place i get it from doesn't have bone premixed in these meats. The only bones are with chicken/turkey/duck and if i buy a mix of chicken/beef (which is mostly chicken anyways). 

would it be okay to add chicken bones to lamb/buffalo meat?? maybe i can buy chicken necks and add 1 to each meal?? or i think eggshells should do.. as long as i can grind them to powder..


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## dieterherzog (Sep 28, 2009)

rippedcb said:


> I know i didn't put too much veggies in it, but i think i might've used too many bitter one's. I don't mind feeding bones at all.. infact thats what i've been doing. But if you read my first post you'll notice that i want to try to give my dog lamb/buffalo/beef and the place i get it from doesn't have bone premixed in these meats. The only bones are with chicken/turkey/duck and if i buy a mix of chicken/beef (which is mostly chicken anyways).
> 
> would it be okay to add chicken bones to lamb/buffalo meat?? maybe i can buy chicken necks and add 1 to each meal?? or i think eggshells should do.. as long as i can grind them to powder..


Instead of buying premixed stuff, why don't you buy some beef back ribs and feed that as a meal instead? That settles the meat and bone part. Lamb neck is also good as RMB and you probably save more money than buying a premixed. 

My vege recipe for my dog: I used 2 carrots, 1/2 canned organic sweet potato (or pumpkin)puree, 1 tbsp plain yogurt, 2 stalks celery, 1 cup green vege of any kind, 400 IU vitamin E, 1000mg vitamin C, 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar and 1 tbsp Bragg Liquid Amino. Puree in blender or food processor and store in little containers. They freeze really well and last a long time.


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## rippedcb (Jun 3, 2010)

Thanks for the recipe.. i will try to duplicate it to as close as possible and see how Hannah likes it. I really do appreciate you sharing that with me. 
one more quick q: how about using bone meal for calcium instead of having to grind egg shells? That really is annoying  or how about grinding calcium citrate/calcium carbonate tabs and adding that to the food? I'm thinking bone meal should be the best choice.. right? as long as it doesn't have anything other then grinded bone...


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## dieterherzog (Sep 28, 2009)

rippedcb said:


> Thanks for the recipe.. i will try to duplicate it to as close as possible and see how Hannah likes it. I really do appreciate you sharing that with me.
> one more quick q: how about using bone meal for calcium instead of having to grind egg shells? That really is annoying  or how about grinding calcium citrate/calcium carbonate tabs and adding that to the food? I'm thinking bone meal should be the best choice.. right? as long as it doesn't have anything other then grinded bone...


Bone meal works fine. But remember that bone meal also contains phosphorus and when feeding raw, you need to balance that out to 2parts calcium: 1 part phosphorus. I find it really complicated to use bone meal since I don't like sussing out the whole mineral ratio stuff.

I think calcium carbonate tabs would work better - since 1 tsp of eggshells contains about 2000mg of elemental calcium and you feed about 1/2 tsp per pound of meat, that means you need to give about 1000mg of calcium per pound of meat. You can adjust this accordingly with your calcium tabs. Just make sure it's ground up very finely to aid absorption. 

Again, don't forget the best thing for your dog is still RMBs, so feed that at least 2 times a week.


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## rippedcb (Jun 3, 2010)

dieterherzog said:


> Bone meal works fine. But remember that bone meal also contains phosphorus and when feeding raw, you need to balance that out to 2parts calcium: 1 part phosphorus. I find it really complicated to use bone meal since I don't like sussing out the whole mineral ratio stuff.


I read that somewhere too.. but it makes no sense to me. I thought bone meal was just bones grounded up? How would that be any different then our dogs eating bones?? why does this issue arise when only giving bone meal and not when giving bones??



dieterherzog said:


> Again, don't forget the best thing for your dog is still RMBs, so feed that at least 2 times a week.


She definatey gets RMB (lamb necks) and i'll make sure its atleast twice a week.

I guess i will likely end up doing calcium carbonate or calcium citrate. Thanks again for all the help... you guys are awesome on this board


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## rippedcb (Jun 3, 2010)

Here is something else i found in this article:
http://www.dog-articles.net/articles/Vegetables-Fruit-and-Bone-Meal-for-Dogs.html

Bone meal contains calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium in almost the exact ratio required by a dog. As long as it is fed in a finely ground form, most of the mineral it contains will be usable by the dog. Bone meal should be added at about 1/2 ounce for every pound of raw meat put into a dog's diet. It should never be added in excess of 1/2 ounce per pound of the total diet.

Because it is inexpensive and easily available, bone meal is too often fed as the cure-all for any dietary mineral problem. This invariably leads to a greater imbalance in the mineral portion of the diet, not to its correction.

So although bone meal is an important component of your dog's healthy diet, the lesson here is to go easy on the bone meal. Use your discretion.


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## dieterherzog (Sep 28, 2009)

Hi, rippedcb - if you are feeding the prey model diet and using bones from that as your calcium source, it all balances out with the right Cah ratio. That's just how nature works. For example, egg yolks are high in phosphorus, the shells are high in calcium. If you feed a chicken breast one day, and the back the next day, it balances out. 

Bone meal is first cooked to dehydrate, then ground into powder form. So first off, all the natural enzymes and protein are leached when cooking. Also, for me at least, I am not sure how much bone is actually used to produce say 1 tsp of bone meal. I personally find it really complicated to use and to try to balance the whole Cah thing out. That is why even Dr. Pitcairn warns that when using bone meal, you must be very careful to not overdose. In fact if you look at his recipes that include ground meat and bone meal, he also adds a plain calcium supplement. 

Obviously the safest method of ensuring that your dog gets the right balance is to feed whole prey. But if that's something you can't do, then I would strongly suggest picking up Dr.Pitcairn's book. It's a very very good investment and the recipes are super easy to follow and should give you the peace of mind.  You will find that if you follow the recipes, the cost of doing that vs. buying premix is much cheaper!


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