I have been feeding raw to both my dogs and cats for years. I offer a ton of variety. They rarely get grains, usually in a treat, but not within the base of their diet. The cats don't usually appreciate veggies in their food, but they get some, because I often feed them what the dogs are getting. The dogs do not get a ton of veggie either..but I do include some. I used to make a "glop" of all the left over greens, fruits, veggies from my family. Now it's just me and the bf so there isn't enough to do this on a regular basis. When I was doing that I saved all the carrot tops, peels, dark green leaf lettuces that were not fresh enough that I wanted to eat them.....I basically cleaned out my fridge once a week, blended it together and added things like duck eggs my neighbor gave me for free, fish oils, my step dad would bring me large frozen bags of fish parts and I would toss those in as well. I differed greatly from week to week. This glop would get tossed over the meat and bone. Maybe turkey necks, chicken backs, lamb necks..etc. Now I basically feed Columbia River Raw or Northwest Naturals Raw. I'm busy..too busy to collect ingredients the way I used to. Columbia River comes in 2# chubs and it is basically lightly ground chicken, guinea hen, turkey, poussin, duck, pheasant..necks backs etc. Some come with organ meats included..they get those about 4 times a week. They also have beef, lamb, buffalo....they are more expensive and do not have the bone included. My dogs get these less often. The Northwest Naturals comes all done for you..complete. They come in one pound flat bars and are easy to defrost quickly when I have forgotten to pull something from the freezer in the morning. I always keep some of these on hand for just that reason. I generally buy those in the beef, lamb or bison so the dogs get red meats with bone included. It keeps the variety going that I want. For cost reasons they eat a lot of chicken, turkey and guinea hen. The Columbia River I often give without any fruit or veggie mix..but when I do I get either Honest Kitchens Preference or Sojos Fruit and Veggie mix..they are dehydrated. Just add water and toss it in with the meat one and organ meat.
I often add fish oils, sometimes a little bee pollen, rose hips...depends on what I see the individual dog may be needing. I have one dog who needs more essential fatty acids than my other dogs..so she always gets extra.
If I come across a deal on say 30 lbs of turkey necks at a good price..I grab it. I picked up a small upright freezer for $30 at a garage sale years ago..it's the "dog freezer".
They get raw bones at least once a week. Treats often include raw chicken feet, turkey gizzards, dehydrated pigs hearts..stuff like that. My cats get raw chicken necks often for meals as it keeps their teeth in great shape.
There are many ways to feed raw, sometimes people get pretty fanatical on both sides of the issue. My oldest dog is 11 years old, if he were keel over dead from eating raw I would think he would have done so by now. My traditional vet is against raw feeding..we don't discuss nutrition. My holistic vet is all for it. I think you should do what you are comfortable with, when I first started I had certain things I wasn't comfy with..like feeding raw pork. I'm over it now =) BUT it took me some time to work out what worked well for myself and my dogs. Do your homework and do what works for you and your dog.
