I do a bony meal about every 3rd or 4th meal. The way I do it is pretty simple. I cut up a one pound cornish hen into about 8 chunks of skin/meat/bone. Throw it in the freezer. So each chunk is about 2 ounces which is a meal. I also cut up a tray of chicken wings. We like them, so I save the little drumstick and the middle section for us and put all the chicken wing tips in the freezer.
I do red meat meals in between the cornish hen chunk meals. Beef, pork, bison, venison, lamb. That is the bulk of his diet. He does occasionally get chicken meat, but not often, as red meat is much more nutrient dense than poultry.
About once a week I do a larger more complicated meal of a beef or pork rib or pork neck section. Sometimes these are two meals, depending on the size. Brody likes to work all the meat off the rib and then gnaw on the ends of the bones. Great teeth cleaners and recreational chewing. I don't let him finish the whole thing, way too much bone. But he generally can spend an hour or so just gnawing away and polishing those teeth. Then I pick the stripped bone and throw it out.
On the weekend, I do 2 meals that contain organs, along with a chicken wing tip. Usually beef or bison liver and beef kidney. Occasionally venison liver and kidney if I can get it. Some people prefer to do organs throughout the week. Its just easier for me to remember to do them on the weekends. He has worked up to that. A new to raw dog might have loose stools if an organ meal is given all at once.
Throughout the week if I see a looser stool, I just throw him a chicken wing tip. Chomp chomp and its down the hatch and it firms the stool right up so we don't get into that downward spiral of loose stools, which can make them feel puny and then they don't want to eat, etc. I don't stress over every stool... what goes in must come out and they aren't going to be like kibble stools which are the same each time because you are feeding the same recipe. With raw, there might be a lighter colored stool, or a darker one (esp after organs). If I see a crumbly hard whitish stool that indictates too much bone and he gets several meat meals in a row with no bone when I see that. It is a case of knowing your dog and making adjustments.
Just remember to look at the big picture... 80% meat (most of it red meat), 10% bone, 10% organs with 5% liver and 5% kidney or other secreting organ.
If I feel like doing a novelty meal, I have done whole quail, whole rabbits, and mice. These don't go over very well here. Brody is not a fan. But just throwing that out there as variety is great. Try to vary the age of the meat as well... calf liver instead of beef liver for instance. Or lamb vs mutton. Or a chick versus a full grown quail.
Eggs can be thrown in once in awhile too if you like. They are a meal. Save for experienced raw eaters as they can cause loose stools. That's where those chicken wing tips come in handy.
Oh, and if your dogs like fish - oily fish is great for them. Salmon (Atlantic only, not pacific northwest), mackerel, smelt, sardines. Or supplement with fish oil.
Oops... didn't mean to write a book.
Help! Brodysmom
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