Hey everyone,
This post is kind of old now and there is lots of good information here already, but I saw a comment about a grocery list or recipe to follow, so I thought I'd add my two cents here because when I was looking into a raw food diet, this is what I wanted as well, but could never find anything helpful.
Meat
I primarily feed Hally ground meat. The meat is made up of 50% actual meat and 50% bone. The trick was finding a place to do this that was econmincal and good quality. I started buying my meats at Global Pet Food, but they were charging almost $5.00 per pound for ground chicken and turkey, which was obscene!! For anyone in the GTA or within driving distance of Whitby, ON, I can send you some information on a fabulous place to get raw food products for your pet.
Anyway, here is my meat grocery list:
1. Ground Chicken (with bones)
2. Ground Turkey (with bones)
3. Ground Lamb
4. Ground Duck (with bones)
5. Ground Bison
6. Ostrich meat pieces
7. Turkey necks
8. Chicken and Turkey bones (you can buy these cheap at any grocery store...they sell them for people to make soup)
9. Chicken Feet, Duck Feet
10. Eggs
Hally is currently 9 months old (approx 42 lbs.) and will eat about 1lb. of meat per day. I break this into 3 meals. Her main meals are the ground meats. She will get an entire unbroken egg every couple of days. She thinks trying to break it is lots of fun too!
Fruits and Veggies
With each meal, I also give 1/2 cup of veggies and some fruit as well. You have to mash, puree, or finely chop the veggies in the food processor so that the dog doesn't just pass them without absorbing the nutrients (dogs have a smaller digestive system then we do, so don't have enough time to fully process large hunks of vegtables). When I started doing this, I would package each vegetable separately in the fridge and make combinations with each of Hally's meals. Once I learned what she liked (and what she didn't), I now just make one big veggie combination which is easier and takes up less room in the fridge
I use: carrots, sweet potato, squash, turnip, jicama, red and green cabbage, swiss chard, broccoli, celery and beets.
Occassionaly (based on what is in the fridge), I may also add in green or red sweet peppers, peas, bok choy, okra.
For fruits - Hally's favourite is Mango, so the fruit mix is highly mango based (tropical fruits are full of nutrients!) I also add in some apple, pear, blueberries and sometime the juice of an orange.
Organs
2-3 times per week, organ meat needs to be added to the meal to make it complete. Hally's absolute favourite is tripe (smelly, smelly stuff), but I will also occassionally use offal as well as chicken/turley liver and hearts.
Bones
Because the meals are mostly ground, I have to give Hally bones 2-3 times per week to keep her jaw and teeth strong. This is where the turkey necks, chicken feet and bones come in handy. I do not decrease the amount of ground food Hally gets on a day where she will get a bone too. I do watch her weight to make sure she isn't gaining too quickly and if she starts to look heavy, I would start to do this. the chicken (and duck!) feet are pretty high in glucosomine, which is an added benefit. The feet are Hally's favourite!
Supplements
I also use the following supplements:
1. a Multi Vitamin/Mineral. 2 times per week (One tablet)
2. Dried Kelp. I mix this into one meal per day. (about a teaspoon)
3. ground Flax Seed. Again, I mix this into one meal per day (about a teaspoon)
4. Fish Oil. I use tablets containing sardine, anchovy and salmon oil). One tablet per day.
5. not really a supplement, but no where else to add it = Yogurt. A few Tablespoons of plain, organic yogurt twice per week
And there you have it. A complete grocery list with some basic idea on how to put everything together.
