How I feed my dogs...

A lot of people who come in the store ask what I feed my own dogs. I raised Rose, my oldest on Science Diet Large Breed Puppy, per my vet’s recommendation. I wish I knew then what I know now. By the time I got Shortstack, I was at least feeding better quality kibble, Nutro –but still a far cry from the best kibbles on the market. Now I feed them both a combination of raw and kibble. I’ll describe and photo journal a typical meal for them:

To start, I buy chicken quarters in bulk. A ten pound bag of legs and thighs costs about 80 cents per pound, far less than kibble! I’ll alternate this with lean cuts of beef as needed, but tend to stay away from feeding raw pork, personally, but I will use extra venison or rabbit from hunting buddies.


Then I'll add some organ meat, in this case a beef kidney:

If in a hurry, I won’t even cut up the meats at all. If time allows, I tear some meat from the bone.

Then I grind a small amount of carrot, celery, and broccoli –or whatever dog healthy veggies I have on hand:

Add to the raw meat and bone mix:

Then add a high quality grain-free kibble:

Split a capsule of vitamin E, I aim for at least 400 units daily:

A fish oil tablet:

A couple of eggs, shell included:

The final product:

Then the dogs must remain in a down/stay until called for the meal. This goes a long way in obedience training!

The dogs love it! It may take some getting used to hearing bones crunch, but everything you’ve heard about bones being dangerous probably came from cooked bones. Chickens are commercially slaughtered as early as 8 weeks old, and the raw bones are easily digested. Even old turkey legs and beef bones have never been a problem.

Interesting! I've always heard bad things about bones. Your dogs don't have any problems with them? My dogs just get kibble, they would be totally jealous of yours!

Right now I am trying to buy a house and move. Once I get moved and set up, I will get off of Nutro and get on to BARF. Love the concept. Great pics and post.

Very, very interesting Chip. I should eat so good as your dogs. But they are beautiful. What exactly is the taller, brindle one?

I feed my dog solid gold, with snacks of carrots, apples, and other fruits and veggies. But I wonder is the raw diet safe for all size dogs? my dog is only 8 pounds, would he just get tiny portions? I don't plan on switching to raw anytime soon, but it does sound interesting and perhaps I will look more into it.

cathiasplace said:

Interesting! I've always heard bad things about bones. Your dogs don't have any problems with them? My dogs just get kibble, they would be totally jealous of yours!

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Nah, I've been feeding more and more raw bones over the last year. The top police K9 trainers feed exclusively raw, and this has nothing to do with different types of work they do. One cooked wing scrap from hot wing night could cause an operation, but raw bones seem to be what they were meant to eat!

mike17l said:

Right now I am trying to buy a house and move. Once I get moved and set up, I will get off of Nutro and get on to BARF. Love the concept. Great pics and post.

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Taste of The Wild is cheaper and better than Nutro. I'd start with barf slowly now, if I were you. Just put a raw leg or wing in the bowl from time to time. Wings are mostly skin and fat, but seem to taste great! And a raw egg on the dish (shell and all) is a bonus, and helps make their skin glossy. It's amazing how fit my once fat little English bulldog has gotten since this change. Her eyes and ears are way cleaner, too. The vet always comments on how white their teeth are for adult dogs, and the gas that bullies are known for really subsides with this.
I know it looks like a lot of work, but I can "fix their dinner" in three minutes if I don't cut up the meat at all.:cheers:

vetusvates said:

Very, very interesting Chip. I should eat so good as your dogs. But they are beautiful. What exactly is the taller, brindle one?

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She's an American bulldog, here's close up pic:

ZoologyGirl said:

I feed my dog solid gold, with snacks of carrots, apples, and other fruits and veggies. But I wonder is the raw diet safe for all size dogs? my dog is only 8 pounds, would he just get tiny portions? I don't plan on switching to raw anytime soon, but it does sound interesting and perhaps I will look more into it.

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Raw is great (best, according to nutritionists) for all dogs, but you might want to invest in a meat grinder for a tiny pooch. You can run the whole leg, etc. through that and feed. You'll notice the clean breath and softer coat in a week or two! Obviously, you would feed a smaller dog smaller portions, but aside from that, it's just like feeding straight kibble. I'd go 100% BARF if I had the time to rotate and supplement properly.

That sounds way more appetizing than kibble. I love the idea, and your dogs look fantastic. I wonder if I could even partially supplement my dogs food with a raw diet... How would you recommend breaking them in to it?

Both of mine sit, down & stay and wait for my command before they can chow down. The only thing I can't control is their drooling prior to my "OK"!

Oh yeah, we also get a bag of carrots a week and we'll give them pieces of carrot as healthy snacks. They go crazy for them.

Some do it cold turkey (pun intended), others mix it with kibble like I still do. I like using kibble when using really good quality. To do straight raw/BARF correctly, you really have to supplement and use specific foods/portions. I rely on kibble to cover nutrients I'd either miss or don't have time to include in rotation. Leerburg.com/diet has some great information on pure raw.

I don't think I'd be able to do 100% raw...I can see times it would be difficult, ie traveling with the dogs this summer for a week to a family reunion.

I think I'd like to supplement their kibble with some natural goodies, more of a variety than I use now (ie just carrots). I will check out that link later, thanks.

Pretty much any fresh raw meat will help their skin and coat, and it's really a net cost savings over anything but the cheapest grocery store dry food. It isn't something you can throw in a Tupperware like kibble though, I'll grant you that! It's really not a hassle when you're home, but I don't give my girls many 100% raw meals. But if I'm on a road trip or global warming makes cows and chickens extinct, dry won't be completely unfamiliar to 'em!

wow, what a WONDERFUL thread!!

i am completely, 100% all for raw food! where i work we are fortunate to be able to get completely, 100% balanced raw food diets directly from a slaughterhouse, who actually work with a pet-food nutritionist. this is their site if anyone is interested:

Johnston's Butcher Shop/Bramblehill's Dog Food

i have seen so many dogs with issue after issue after issue. skin and coat problems, digestive problems (which lead to the problem of you cleaning up a lot of...messes to put it lightly) yeast infections, goopy eyes, etc etc. and i can 100% stand behind my opinion that raw food will help if not totally eliminate almost all of these problems, not to mention, save you on vet bills, EVEN if the initial cost of raw food is more expensive than if you were to feed kibble.

it is rather unfortunate that there are so many horrible pet foods out there that charge WAY too much money for what you're actually getting. NUTRO Natural Choice for example,their Chicken Large Breed formula has went up almost 50% in the last year! and to be quite honest, it is NOT worth paying that much money, because essentially all you get is dehydrated meat products and a whole bunch of fillers and CRAP. also so so so many people listen to veterinarians about pet food. what many, many people don't know, is when a vet goes through school, they are NOT required to have any nutritional training whatsoever, and they recommend foods like Hill's Science Diet, and Medi-Cal, and so on, because THOSE are the companies that give grants and sponsorships to vet schools! vets that are actually trained in pet nutrition are few and far between, and like i said my area is fortunate enough to be blessed with not 1 pet nutritionist, but TWO!

vet foods cost SO much money, and really, all you get is a little bit of meat (if you're lucky), a lot of fillers (white rice, barley, etc) and a whole lot of those ingredients that you have NO idea what they're for, NO idea how to pronounce them, and NO idea weather they're even safe for consumption! and another thing with vet foods is the dog or cat will eat and eat, and the fillers just flow right through them, and they're hungry again, which can lead to obesity, which can lead to joint problems, and so on.

also with the raw diet, which is actually VERY important to know when switching from kibble to raw, is that you do NOT need to feed as much raw as you think. when a dog is used to kibble, there is so much more volume that they need to consume in order to get all the proper nutrience (if there is even the proper nutrience in the food in the first place). with raw, it's so concentrated that at first, it may SEEM like your pet is starving, but that is just because their stomachs have stretched from all the kibble. a good way to wean off kibble and onto raw is to do 2 feedings, one in the morning of kibble, and one in the evening of raw. and in the morning with the kibble feeding, slowly decrease the amount of kibble that the dog gets.

now the reason i say to do 2 separate feedings, one of kibble and one of raw, is because the dog or cat actually needs 2 different kinds of enzymes to digest the 2 different kinds of foods.

elrojo - i'm not sure if you know this, but i see in your post that you mix raw and kibble. i would definitely suggest feeding the kibble and the raw separately, it makes it so much easier on your dogs tummy.

anyways, i didn't mean to turn this into a novel, but i work at a pet store, and i deal with this EVERY day, and i truly do see a huge benefit with raw dog food.

very interesting Chip. I just may try that when I get mey next dog in a year or so....thanks for sharing...reps coming...

I did all raw for several years. Then I got too many dogs & a girl friend which meant lots of traveling everyweek. It became too inconvenient and too expensive as a couple of the dogs refuse parts or even pieces (need to make or buy ground)

I switched to Evo kibble ( I can't get Orajen or Taste of the Wild through the distributor we use at work) but really am wanting to start doing at least part raw. My dogs & cats looked sooo much better when I was feeding fresh!

I recently added some chicken grind (ground whole chickens with bone & organ meat) I got from Premier; The dogs went CRAZY over it for 2 days after that my youngest wouldn't eat her kibble without something yummy mixed into it.

katia said:

now the reason i say to do 2 separate feedings, one of kibble and one of raw, is because the dog or cat actually needs 2 different kinds of enzymes to digest the 2 different kinds of foods.

elrojo - i'm not sure if you know this, but i see in your post that you mix raw and kibble. i would definitely suggest feeding the kibble and the raw separately, it makes it so much easier on your dogs tummy.

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From my understanding of the research I have done in to RAW and BARF, the reason for this is because most kibbles are grain based. I think Chip said that the one he feeds has no grain. Its pretty ingenious, when he travels, he has no worries about having to carry around 15 chicken quarters every where he goes.

I have been feeding Evo (grain free) for about 1.5 years. I switched after my Whippet, Chase, was diagnosed with cancer. I do add some raw meat and fresh raw veggies (whatever I am feeding the Bearded Dragons).

I can't help but say this, as gross as it seems. But for those of us with little dogs, a F/T mouse couldn't be a bad thing could it? I mean imagine all that organ meat, enzymes in the gut etc, same reason it's such good food for snakes.

Jen would absolutely kill me if I offered one to the dog, but between you and me, I happen to know that he really wants one, lol. He sits at my feet and does the poodle beg (praying paws) while I feed the snakes.

We were feeding the 6 fish by Orijen, but we had to mail order it. Eventually we switched to the dog whisperer stuff, which I think is not great but better than some..

Per pound, that would be an expensive meal, but I see no difference in a mouse in a grinder vs. a rabbit! Either way, you'd want to skin them, but if they are fresh and pathogen-free, I really can't see why not. I'm sure many a dog has eaten many a smaller rodent over history. Can't see bringing myself to do it, but nutritionally, it makes sense at least on the surface.

elrojo said:

Per pound, that would be an expensive meal

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That's right. I think even for my poodle it would take about 3 lol.

Maybe I'll talk to Jen about the BARF plan though, see if she could go for it (with chicken that is). It really makes sense to me.