Happy Raw Anniversary!

Where is the beef!

Today is Saya's anniversary switching to raw full time! Hurray!

As a pup she ate chicken soup for puppy's lover soul and then switched to wellness puppy food and then at 6months she was switched to wellness core ocean.

During times she ate puppy kibble and adult kibble she also got things like caned sardines, salmon, mackerel, and once in blue moon caned tuna not often due to the mercury thing. She also got cooked veggies, fruits, and meat every so often as a treat and cooked egg too.

She got solid gold seameal and grizzly salmon oil with her kibble each meal.

I gotten a 6lb semi boneless leg of lamb and two lamb shanks both items were on a decent sale and since lamb is her favorite I thought I'd get them.

The leg of lamb was for her 3 year anniversary meal and the shank is for her birthday the other shank is for Bella to enjoy too.

All for me?! Thank you!

Saya has had lamb before, but recently only lamb meals she has been having is lamb kidney, lamb liver, and lamb rocky mountain oysters.. I haven't gotten lamb ribs since she has plenty of bone in items. I'm sure she'll do fine with it.

I offered her yummy meal this morning, but she didn't want it at all so I put it in fridge for later.

After a nice walk and a cool down I tried again to see if she was hungry and fed her at 12pm and she ate 11.88oz of it. I gave her a chicken foot and then at 4pm she got an egg.

She really loved the fat side she chowed down on the meaty part then she didn't want anymore I flipped it and she at a bit of the fat part. Yummy. She didn't eat too much just enough.

I think this was the second most pricey item I've gotten Saya first was a bison roast it was grass fed coarse most bison is, but she loved it.

Buying good food is worth it especially with how well behave she is.

Must been delicious! Big shiba tongue!

I hope to get her own freezer about a 7.5Cu foot kind like this 7.0 cu. ft. chest freezer.

My mom has talked about getting another freezer and splitting the costs with this type freezer it'd be 114$ for me to pay maybe bit more with tax and stuff.

Part of me says just pay for it full so then whenever I get on my feet and move I can bring it with me and half says take it $114 is better then paying full $229.. Then if I move and want to bring it or let parent's have it maybe they can give me my half on it..

I talked with mom on how a lot of bad kibble companies don't use good ingredients by products, corn and gluten so on.  She asked if we should switch Bella to raw full time?

I told her kibble she is on now is good and she does get raw once to four times a week as dinner instead of kibble. plus cooked meat sometimes in her kibble.

I'd love to get her on full raw, but I don't want my parent's doing it if they don't want to.. If we do it I'd be handling the switch.  once she is transitioned and does good on her food then it'd be easy for them since there won't be so much issue with tummy upsets or loose poop.

Coarse it could happen since Saya sometimes have loose poop, but it usually clear up and it doesn't happen much since she been on it for while.

I might get a few books and sites lined up for mom to read so if she decides she wants to try it she'll be ready. I'll coarse be at home and be able to tell her how much to give at first and monitor her and up or decrease if she gains or looses weight.

I think feeding both Saya and Bella can be managed especially if they got their own freezer so hard to stock up on deals with people food in the way. lol

The local meat processor near me sells beef scraps for 1$ which is a good deal I know it comes with heart, tongue, liver, scrap meat I'll inquire if they can hold things like kidneys, lungs, trachea, and gullet too.

I can usually find chicken for decent deal and pork goes on sale on and off so I think it can be manage plus with farmer market coming soon I'll be able to get heart, tongue and meat of lamb, beef, and pork pretty easily.

Hunk of grass fed beef tongue

Coarse when you see me feed things like tongue, liver, heart, kidney, thymus, pancreas, lung, gullet, and gizzards it can be confusing huh?

I don't like lower end kibble due to their ingredients of byproducts, corn, gluten, and various items.

Keyword here is BYPRODUCTS most time they just put chicken byproducts or beef byproducts or so on.. What kind of by products? Is it just kidneys, chicken heads, just the chicken frames, intestines, feet etc.

I want to know what it is. Some dogs are allergic to certain proteins thankfully Saya hasn't shown any food allergies yet.

So some unknown ingredient is not good if the dog is allergic who knows maybe if it's labeled as animal by product it could be beef one batch then pork the next then chicken etc.

I of coarse don't know much of how kibble works especially with the lower quality kind..

Beef gullet from hare-today

If you feed kibble be sure the kind you feed the ingredients are good and work for your dog.

I know raw isn't for everyone it's lot of work and nutrition of your dog is put in your hand and can be tricky if you live somewhere where ethnic markets, farmer markets and butchers are hard to come by.

Sadly some people are catching on to the raw feeding trend butchers selling organ mixes for $ where used to be free.

Meat processor near me sells for $1 lb, but even so still good deal seeing as beef heart, tongue and liver is usually 2$ lb at places. Once I get my own dog freezer I plan to make an inquiry to see what all comes with the beef scraps. I'd love to get hands on trachea, gullet and lung.. Trachea and gullet is good for dog's joints and lungs well I figure if I try to feed close to a prey item as I can a wolf does eventually eat the lungs..

I guess one con of more people doing raw is people will start to charge for items that used to be free since such items are usually thrown away or taken somewhere..

Saya eating a Pacific Saury

I don't mind paying for scrap as long as it's priced right. If people are buying stuff for their dogs that's great variety is great for humans and dogs.

Our past dogs always ate same kibble once in a blue moon we'd switch brand dunno why maybe due to lower price? They'd also once in a while get caned dog food and a cooked egg.

I guess they did get some variety coarse the family was bad about giving them table scraps at the Table~! lol  so they begged a lot.

I just dunno it seems boring to get same kibble sure it has all nutrition a dog needs, meat, veggies, fruits, and vitamins and minerals, but still.

That's what I been doing with Bella she gets caned sardines, salmon, mackerel, cooked turkey and cooked egg sometimes. Coarse she gets raw treat once or four times a week it depends she also gets plain greek yogurt when I have it on hand she likes the stuff.

eating boneless goose breast meat

Coarse if your dog doesn't do well on variety due to medical reason, allergy and so on I understand.
It can be hard on the dog if it upsets their tummy due to it.

I'm not anti kibble either and I hope I never come off as it.

Raw works best for me and I feel it is what works for Saya and her health has turned out for the better thanks to it. Coarse raw isn't a miracle cure all ailment type of thing.

For some if your having issues with it might be due to few things usually starting with chicken at first is recommended, but if dog is allergic to chicken it might be an issue and you might want to try pork as starting meat. pork ribs are pretty edible I'd recommend trimming fat till dog is used to raw then slowly introduce it in.

Some dogs allergic to chicken are allergic to cooked kind, but do fine with raw, but sometimes they're allergic to both cooked and raw there's a few that are like it so it happens.

Some dogs need a bit help to get the gut used to raw and giving a probiotic or prebiotic can help with it some can't, but worth try just in case.

I'd probably do a probiotic not yogurt though different kind I know someone who used Ark naturals Gentle digest and it helped with the transition.

I finally found a place that sells the stuff so that will be good in case I need it for Bella or for my second dog.

Saya as a puppy!

Anyways I'm enjoy having Saya with me and she's taught me a lot with dog nutrition and has helped me through hard times. She's worth spending a bit of money to keep her happy. :)