RAW Feeders

[FloorCandy]

Because Its whole lamb livers, I can't put the whole liver in the meal. I need to cut it into chunks to mix into the food.
I could grind it, but haven't found any time to grind ALL of the liver I got from my neighbors recent butcher.

I don’t raw feed any more, but when I did, I froze the liver and cut it into chunks. I hated dealing with raw liver. It doesn’t freeze super hard, it’s still chewyish even frozen for a week+.

 

[Weeg]

I don’t raw feed any more, but when I did, I froze the liver and cut it into chunks. I hated dealing with raw liver. It doesn’t freeze super hard, it’s still chewyish even frozen for a week+.

Ya, its bad lol! I've found online sellers selling precut organs, but I don't understand how it comes all the way to you and doesn't go bad. And what if your not home when it gets here, does it sit in the mailbox? That doesn't make sense to me.

 

[saysfaa]

Because Its whole lamb livers, I can't put the whole liver in the meal. I need to cut it into chunks to mix into the food.
I could grind it, but haven't found any time to grind ALL of the liver I got from my neighbors recent butcher.

There is nothing wrong with chopping it up if someone wanted to but what possible reason could there be that it would need to be done?

 

[Weeg]

There is nothing wrong with chopping it up if someone wanted to but what possible reason could there be that it would need to be done?

The dogs can't eat a whole liver, and it wouldn't incorporate correctly into the mix if I didn't? What other option are you thinking? Grinding it?

 

[saysfaa]

Dogs do eat livers whole all the time. They eat whole big racks of ribs in twenty seconds sometimes (you may ask me how I know - that was meant for the people's and their guests dinner). They don't chew; they chomp until it is malleable enough to fit down and then gulp. Or they gnaw. Liver goes down very easily. It might take a bit of time for a newby to figure it out (or believe she is so lucky, maybe.)

I was suggesting feeding it whole. Or whacking off a piece about the right size and weigh it. It cut much less grossly when you just have to snip connections between the lobes. If you miss a bit big or small, aim for a bit the other way next time. I can see why you wouldn't want to feed a whole beef liver with a pup that might not be entirely housebroken, anyway. But a lamb liver isn't very big.

Why does it need to incorporate into the mix? I get there may need to be some mix to get the pup to eat any less palatable bits but you've got the meat for that. It would be a rare lab who needed much encouragement to eat meat.

 

[Weeg]

Dogs do eat livers whole all the time. They eat whole big racks of ribs in twenty seconds sometimes (you may ask me how I know - that was meant for the people's and their guests dinner). They don't chew; they chomp until it is malleable enough to fit down and then gulp. Or they gnaw. Liver goes down very easily. It might take a bit of time for a newby to figure it out (or believe she is so lucky, maybe.)

I was suggesting feeding it whole. Or whacking off a piece about the right size and weigh it. It cut much less grossly when you just have to snip connections between the lobes. If you miss a bit big or small, aim for a bit the other way next time. I can see why you wouldn't want to feed a whole beef liver with a pup that might not be entirely housebroken, anyway. But a lamb liver isn't very big.

Why does it need to incorporate into the mix? I get there may need to be some mix to get the pup to eat any less palatable bits but you've got the meat for that. It would be a rare lab who needed much encouragement to eat meat.

Interesting, I use recipes constructed by Dogs Naturally to feed the dogs. It says to incorporate all the ingredients into the mixture, (ground beef, pureed veggies plus fruits, organs...) so that you know that they're getting enough of everything.
What about camping trips, (which we take a lot of) in that situation it would be difficult to keep a large chunk of liver in the color lol, but I guess I could mix it in for special occasions. You have a good point, thank you!

 

[saysfaa]

Well, if they eat it all then they get the same amount of each thing no matter what form it is in as it goes between their teeth.

A cooler could work. I might freeze it in meal size portions each in a different freezer bag before freezing it. thawing liver juice in a cooler is .... unpleasant....you may ask how I know that too). We didn't camp but we regularily visited family a 12 hr drive away.

Then you wouldn't need to leave space for ice. How do you keep the chopped liver from spoiling when you go camping?

Only food for thought, no push intended, but grower or layer or whatever is really important for chickens. They will certainly pick out what they like otherwise. And they usually aren't fed individually so whoever picks first gets one part and the last to eat gets something quite different. Likely smaller bodies means less ability to store nutrients so less flexibility in the composition of any given meal is more important. On the rawfeeders group, one of the most common things said was "balance over time." There is almost always more than one way to do something well. Balance in every mouthful works well. It isn't the only thing that works well.

I think Ember and sorry, didn't remember the other dog's name, are both very lucky.

 

[BlueHorse17]

Hey guys, I'm really starting to dislike making raw dog food. The recipes I'm using are approved by some abbreviation, (FDDAAC lol, or something like that) so I'm very confident in the raw I'm feeding. Though making it has become such a process and gross, to the point that I want to put it aside all together. I never want to switch back to kibble, and even pre-made raw is packed with preservatives, grains and legumes, so of course I don't want to switch to that. I'll deal with it for the health of my dogs, but I would prefer not to dislike it so much. Haha!
I'm wondering if you guys have any tricks to make it less gross. Its the liver I have a hard time with, everything else isn't that big of a deal to me. I've been meaning to grind it, but haven't gotten a chance.

Also, I've found that the all life stages recipe I'm using is expensive! It is all life stages, so I have to buy good beef, and twice as much heart as usual, so that gets more expensive. Plus I don't have a enough chickens to hold up the hefty amount of 30 eggs her batch, thats 30 eggs a week! The whole thing is expensive. I know it will get cheeper once Ember gets bigger and I can switch to an adult diet. It will also be less gross lol, since there are less ingredients.
Any tips? Did anyone have the same problem as me with the yuck factor haha, I'm interested to see if you have any suggestions. Thanks!

When I started raw feeding I thought it was a bit weird to put chicken feet and duck heads in the dog bowls. As mentioned, having the organs frozen does help with cutting, along with the smell. If you don’t like liver you can always go to other organs; kidney, spleen, brain, etc. Anything else that is secreting.

I give my dogs 10% bone, 80% chicken meat, 5% organ/5% organ. Lately I personally have been using chicken livers and pork kidneys. That’s just me though. I’ve noticed a lot of people stop raw feeding because of the organs and such. Which I totally understand. Maybe grinding will help you out?

Also if you are running out of eggs, you can always get bone meal powder.

 

[Phaedra Geiermann]

I always buy chicken/lamp/turkey/beef organs: liver, spleen, kidney, cut them into smaller pieces and make a 2-day portion for my cats/dogs. Usually the meal will include 10% organ, among them -- 50% liver, 25% spleen and 25% kidney.

 

[LaFleche]

That is so great to hear! I’ve noticed, unfortunately, a lot of vets don’t support raw diets.

Of course they don't, as they will not profit from healthy dogs and cannot sell their dog food or medications to you!