[golden_dane]

Hi everyone,

I just started feeding my 7 years old Golden girl raw, and I have some questions that hopefully you can help me with.

1. How much to feed? I read it should be 2-3% of ideal body weight, and here is my problem:
she is overweight, 67 pounds. Her ideal weight should be around 60 pound. Should I feed her 2% of 60 pounds - which would be 1.2 pound per day, or more? She seems hungry, but she always acts hungry I can give her green beens to make her happy

2. Turkey - are all bones OK, or only the smaller bones are safe for Golden? And do you give a bone as it is, or grind it? I was giving her ribs from turkey, and chicken neck/wing bones so far.

3. She is swallowing the pieces without chewing it. Is it OK, or should I give her larger pieces so she can't eat it without chewing, or should cut it into smaller/bite size pieces? She will chew it only if I'm holding the piece

thank you!

 

[Bender]

Hi there,

I would suggest feeding her one pound a day, till she's down to her ideal weight, then you can bump it up. Now, you can also work that as 7 lbs per week, so if you have to over feed one day and underfeed another, that's OK!!! Don't stress out trying to cut up bones/etc. to get exactly the right amount (you don't measure your food that closely, right?). It totally varies how much each dog actually needs and it does change from month to month - Storee is 55 lbs but eats 3 lbs a day usually to keep from looking thin, Bender is 60 and eats 1-2 lbs a day. You can give bigger bones to keep her busy, and yes, most dogs will pretend they are starving!

I love turkey frames and backs, great for teaching dogs to CHEW because they can't gulp them down, and they aren't too much meat bone (usually) for them. At most I usually split the back if it's a big one. Whole pork necks are another good meal and usually about a pound (the ones I get are cut in half down the spine). Just weigh them, and then maybe feed a ground/veggie meal the next day keeping the 7 lbs in mind. I would caution feeding necks/wings to a new golden simply because it's more likely they will gulp them down. Drumsticks might not be the best idea (turkey more so) at this point either, because they are harder bones.

Once she's been eating raw for a while her system will adapt and she will be more able to digest unchewed bones, until then it might be an idea to feed the bigger items she has to chew and make sure there's a good amount of meat on them. Depends on the dog too of course, some are better than others. I know with my crew, I can toss them almost anything now and they'll take their time and discard the bones that are too hard to swallow - they may chew them apart a bit to get the marrow but they leave the rest. If anything I feed too much bone and not enough ground, but I have yet to win the lottery to afford doing so (with feeding 5-6 lbs a day, OUCH!). That being said Bender is 12 and a bit now, still eating her bones, still doing very well for her age (standing on her hind legs to clear off the highchair), and she's been on raw for 10 years or so.

Hope that helps!!!

Lana

 

[golden_dane]

thank you!
>>you don't measure your food that closely, right?
sure I am - on a kitchen scales I hope I'll get over it soon
BTW, she loves her new diet