Supplementing raw

I'm thinking of supplementing my two dogs with raw. They are currently on a limited ingredient holistic food that is 25% protein, 14% fat, 4% fiber, 2.1% calcium, and 1.5% phosphorus. It works very well for them. They both have mild allergies to grains.

I have access to lots of fresh veggies for free and can get a dozen organic free-range eggs for $3 per dozen as well as chicken feet for $1 per lb. That is where I would want to start. And then, if I found other inexpensive but good options I would add that as well. I do not want to go all raw due to time and convenience. I would like to supplement because I think it would be healthy and frankly, the food I feed them is really expensive, hard to find, and with limited ingredients, I would like to see them get a wider variety. I do feed toppers of grain free holistic canned food and vary the types of protein.

Is there anything wrong with this plan?

In an effort to keep the boys slim (they have a tendency to gain weight) I'm assuming I should look at calories and reduce the kibble the amount of calories of the raw food (with exception of the veggies)?

With raw, we feed 2-3% of body weight. So, you will feed half of that amount. Just remember not to feed kibble and raw in the same meal. It's best to give two meals 12 hours apart, due to different digestion times.

However, raw is not just chicken feet. Chicken feet are primarily bone, and you will need to feed more meat.

I would be worried that too many feet would be too much bone. It's either going to come up one side or clog up the other. Until the dogs are used to it, it's finding that balance between bone, organ and muscle meat.

Grizz got his first chicken leg today. He wasn't sure how to crunch it up, but he was SURE he didn't want anyone else to have it. :)

Perhaps I would be better giving these things to them as occasional treats? And taking away kibble accordingly? Like, on training nights I might feed them half a meal due to all the treats. Something like that? An egg or two per week? A chicken foot now and again? I actually can't wait to get a photo of them with chicken toes hanging out of their mouths. Is that sick? :dog:

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Originally Posted by Labradorks

Perhaps I would be better giving these things to them as occasional treats? And taking away kibble accordingly? Like, on training nights I might feed them half a meal due to all the treats. Something like that? An egg or two per week? A chicken foot now and again? I actually can't wait to get a photo of them with chicken toes hanging out of their mouths. Is that sick? :dog:

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I feed about 60 to 70 percent kibble, the rest is real meats, veggies, fruits, eggs, oatmeal, rice, sweet potatoes. Zoey eats approx. 3 eggs a week

I do give raw chicken as a treat and also raw beef.

I don't take away from meals when I feed raw treats but then again I don't give them a large amounts

I don't see an issue with giving an egg mixed with kibble here and there. Shell and all!

People do give raw meaty bones to their dogs while also on kibble, just not all the time. One thing that is relatively cheap and easy is green tripe. Some folks say you can feed that exclusively. It's not my idea of balance but I have read about dogs that do thrive on it. You could replace a couple meals a week with that. You could also give turkey necks and chicken backs, which are usually pretty cheap. Just swap out a meal. As mentioned, give about 12 hours between raw and kibble. Honestly though, when I was transitioning Charlie to raw I was feeding him Nature's Logic kibble and giving him turkey necks as a mid day snack and he never had any kind of upset. Then we did one raw meal and one kibble meal until we finally just did all raw. Prepackaged with rmbs, not PMR.

Sounds to me like you are just wanting to add something more natural to your dog's diet and not really depend on it for 100% of the diet. I don't think you should worry too much about it then. Personally I would start with Turkey Necks because there is a bigger dental benefit and jaw workout with all the chewing involved. I have even seen turkey necks at the grocery store somewhere around a buck a pound. You can also do chicken backs and chicken leg quarters which I think would give more benefit than the feet as well. I would not recommend swapping meals daily though, as I would think that it would create an unbalance.

Let us know what you end up doing!

I did read that chicken feet are full of glucosamine. I will look into the necks and backs as well. Thanks for the input!

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Originally Posted by Labradorks

I did read that chicken feet are full of glucosamine. I will look into the necks and backs as well. Thanks for the input!

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They are a great source of glucosamine, if you want to feed them certainly you can, but just my personal pref that I wouldn't start out with them. Often when I feed them I will clump half a pound together and freeze them, feeding them frozen so that they still need to be chewed instead of swallowed whole.

You want to be sure your dogs learn to chew the RMBs so that the get the benefit of massaging the gums, cleaning the teeth and working the jaw, but also so that they do not choke on them.

Feeding raw once or twice a week is recommended if you want to improve your dogs health but do not want to feed raw fulltime.

If you do, then on these days just feed raw and as it is "balance overtime" there is no need to worry about percentages.

Just a reminder, you cannot equate volume or weight of kibble with raw. They are not equivalent and the protein in raw is a much higher quantity and quality. So you can't compare the protein figures either because of the differences.

So one day a week you can feed raw, chicken necks, backs, feet etc for a meal and perhaps some muscle meat for another meal.
Or you could just give raw meaty bones or chicken feet etc. for one meal, the smaller meal of the day, once a week.

Now if you are serious and want to know more, Steve Brown's book, "Unlocking the Canine Ancestral
Diet" is a very easy book to glance at and he specifically talks about how to feed raw when you only want to feed it once a week. Basically, feeding raw even one day a week is going to have benefits.

You could also make some natural gelatine cubes stuffed with veggies, gelatine works as a good condroprotective.