# Starting a puppy on raw food?



## d2mini (Feb 17, 2010)

Hi all, first post here!

I'm wondering how to start a pup (11 weeks) on raw? I tried giving Wally some cut up chicken breast and I tried a whole drumstick, and he didn't seem to be able to handle either. The drumstick just got pushed around the crate as he attempted to bite into it, and the breast pieces got chewed on and dropped around the crate but none really eaten. He definitely seemed to want them, but it was like he was having trouble chewing through it. Is he to young? Does this just take time? After 10 minutes or so of that, i just cleaned it up because he was just making a mess of his crate.

He did eat a mushed up hamburger patty like it was going out of style. I also put some raw egg on his kibble and he sucked that right down too. 

Any help/tips/suggestions would be appreciated. 
I plan on giving him raw a few times a week to supplement his kibble. At least to start.
Thanks in advance!


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## phoebespeople (May 27, 2009)

Sometimes it takes a pup some practice eating large peices of meat and bone. To start with you might want to try feeding ground backs/necks and muscle meat. 70-80% meat to 20-30% bone is ideal. That should be all you serve for 1 - 2 weeks. If you want your pup to get good at crunching whole chicken legs, try holding on to one end while he gnaws on the other. He'll soon get the hang of it. Puppies can be weened directly on to RAW at 6 to 8 weeks old, so he's not too young. We started Phoebe on RAW at 7 weeks.
If you're going to feed RAW, donate the kibble to an animal shelter and feed only RAW. 
You want to give 10% of expected adult weight or 3% of current weight per day, divided in to 3 meals. 
http://www.totallyrawdogfood.com/MealCalculator.aspx
Here is a simple calculator for figuring out how much to feed.
We have found that RAW feeding is simple, easy, and cheap, and Phoebe is amazingly healthy. Keep asking questions, RAW feeders love to help people just starting out.


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## d2mini (Feb 17, 2010)

phoebespeople said:


> Keep asking questions, RAW feeders love to help people just starting out.


OK. 

Thanks for the info so far! But "cheap"? Really?
I'm in Houston, TX. Where should I go to save money? We normally buy the expensive hollistic dog kibbles, but raw food always seemed expensive in comparison.


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## phoebespeople (May 27, 2009)

I never spend more than $1.50/lb on phoebe's food. Try looking for an "ethnic" grocery store or market, they might have different meat products than the major US chains. We have a local Chinese grocery store chain that often has stewing hens at $1.30/lb, pork neck bones at $.97/lb, turkey necks at $1.50/lb, beef heart at $1.50/lb... I go at 8:30 saturday morning after the butcher puts the $1.00 off stickers on the things that are getting close to the best before date. If you live near a butcher shop, ask the butcher if he'll save the off-cuts of beef, pork, lamb, chicken and turkey. Sometimes they save them up anyways and sell them as RAW dog food, although our local butchers charge $2.50/lb and up for that, I can do better myself at the grocery store meat counter. Maybe there is a Houston RAW dog food Co-op you could join. If you know anyone who hunts, you can ask for the carcass and trimmings. Go to grocery stores you don't usually go to and look through the meat counter, talk to the butchers and ask about scraps or really cheap cuts. Chicken backs and necks, turkey necks, whole stewing hens, pork shoulder, beef heart, chicken liver, beef liver, beef kidney... they should all be cheap.
I know Houston and Vancouver Island are completely different, but looking for cheap RAW dog food is almost like a hobby for me now. And once you find a good supplier and get a good system for cutting it all up and dividing it in to portions and freezing a couple weeks worth of food at a time, it kinda' fun too.


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## DJEtzel (Dec 28, 2009)

phoebespeople said:


> You want to give 10% of expected adult weight or 3% of current weight per day, divided in to 3 meals.
> http://www.totallyrawdogfood.com/MealCalculator.aspx
> Here is a simple calculator for figuring out how much to feed.
> We have found that RAW feeding is simple, easy, and cheap, and Phoebe is amazingly healthy. Keep asking questions, RAW feeders love to help people just starting out.


You definitely shouldn't be feeding 10% of adult weight, that's WAY too much.

For adult dogs, feed about 2% of their weight. For puppies, generally feed a little bit more since they're growing. We feed Frag 3% of his ideal weight (100lbs) since he's a large breed dog and we don't want him growing so fast. Smaller dogs could easily do 4% of their projected weight. 

I've also found it's a lot cheaper than feeding premium kibble. 34 cents/lb for liver, 33 cents/lb for pork neck bones, 50 cent/lb for whole chickens or neck/backs or quarters. that's what we've been feeding mostly. 

The problem with Wally could be that a drumstick bone is too big for him as a puppy. Try holding a wing and letting him eat that from you so that you're sure he chews and gets the hang of it. Sometimes it takes dogs a while to catch on to eating meat, but he'll get it. 

Just make sure you're balancing his diet. Prey model RAW feeding follows an 80/10/10 ratio. 80% muscle meat, 10% bone, and 10% organ meat. Most people balance this over a week, but some balance it daily. It's easier for us to balance it daily, but a lot of people don't like feeding bone daily. Whatever works best for you as long as it's balanced.


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## phoebespeople (May 27, 2009)

DJEtzel said:


> You definitely shouldn't be feeding 10% of adult weight, that's WAY too much.


I mixed it up, for a puppy it's 10% of the current weight, or 3% of the expected adult weight. 
The online calulator is good for double checking your math.


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## DJEtzel (Dec 28, 2009)

phoebespeople said:


> I mixed it up, for a puppy it's 10% of the current weight, or 3% of the expected adult weight.
> The online calulator is good for double checking your math.


I thought you might have. 

Didn't know why anyone would think you could feed that much.. We'd be feeding Frag 10 pounds a day!


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## d2mini (Feb 17, 2010)

phoebespeople said:


> I never spend more than $1.50/lb on phoebe's food. Try looking for an "ethnic" grocery store or market, they might have different meat products than the major US chains. We have a local Chinese grocery store chain that often has stewing hens at $1.30/lb, pork neck bones at $.97/lb, turkey necks at $1.50/lb, beef heart at $1.50/lb... I go at 8:30 saturday morning after the butcher puts the $1.00 off stickers on the things that are getting close to the best before date. If you live near a butcher shop, ask the butcher if he'll save the off-cuts of beef, pork, lamb, chicken and turkey.


Oh ya, we were talking about that the other day... there are two asian markets right near my house. I will have to check there. Thanks!


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## kvogelmann (May 13, 2011)

DJEtzel said:


> You definitely shouldn't be feeding 10% of adult weight, that's WAY too much.
> 
> For adult dogs, feed about 2% of their weight. For puppies, generally feed a little bit more since they're growing. We feed Frag 3% of his ideal weight (100lbs) since he's a large breed dog and we don't want him growing so fast. Smaller dogs could easily do 4% of their projected weight.
> 
> ...


DJEtzel--I live near you and am looking for good sources of healthy raw meat for our dog. She's been getting a raw beef food and may have an allergy to it. I'm looking for alternate sources of raw meat that are better tolerated. I've heard that lamb is the least allergenic meat. Do you have a source for raw lamb that's less expensive? I'm finding only like $5-$9 per pound! Thx!


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## DJEtzel (Dec 28, 2009)

kvogelmann said:


> DJEtzel--I live near you and am looking for good sources of healthy raw meat for our dog. She's been getting a raw beef food and may have an allergy to it. I'm looking for alternate sources of raw meat that are better tolerated. I've heard that lamb is the least allergenic meat. Do you have a source for raw lamb that's less expensive? I'm finding only like $5-$9 per pound! Thx!


Ah, I'm sorry but I don't! When I was feeding raw I was buying from relatives that had a farm for the most part. You could try checking with farmers around here, I see a lot of sheep out and about, and ask if perhaps you could buy a lamp when they slaughter? Sorry I couldn't be more help!


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