raw diet, fresh or frozen?

[abbiesdogs]

I've been reading all the posts on raw and I am going to try to get lottie to eat it, the question is should I be freezing it first, then defrosting, because at the moment I'v only
only given fresh from the butchers. (Dillon, my dobe loves raw so he gets it) I've only tried beef so far but I will persevere with lottie, at the moment she turns her nose up and walks away.

Abbie

[Luvtails]

My dogs eat it either way. I usually buy prepared raw in frozen 2lb chubs and thaw each day what I need. If I buy fresh meat I separate it into 1-2lb bags and freeze what I won't use in 3-4 days. Some people tell me they let is start to spoil but I can't bring myself to doing it. I am afraid of bacteria on spoiling meat. to get her to eat it you can try putting some broth or gravy on it. mine had prob with beef at first and now love it. I just kept putting it in front of them. good luck

[rottcrazed]

My guys started out a little rough, but once they realized how good raw is, there was no turning back.

What I still do with my old girl who from time to time turns her princess nose up to things, is I open a can of sardines and dump the juice on her food. The sardines then get split by everyone else.

I too, feed either fresh if it is within days of buying fresh meat, or freeze and defront the day of ....

Krist

[AngelBunny]

The only reason to freeze is if you have too much raw on hand for your dog to eat in a couple of days.

[turbodx]

I'm also new to the RAW feeding but I've learned so far that raw meat doesn't smell as strong as kibble , so what i did to get my 8 weeks old to start eating raw was to rub a hand full of kibble into the raw meat , after 1 week of eating this I stopped with the kibble and now he gobbles down the chicken with no problems.

[abbiesdogs]

Thanks for the input, Just tried again, even put a bit of gravy on the minced beef, she still turned her nose up, so yet again I ended up cooking it. I meant to ask earlier how much sardines (tinned) with kibble and how many times a week should they have fish.
thankyou.
Abbie

[AngelBunny]

Originally Posted by abbiesdogs

Thanks for the input, Just tried again, even put a bit of gravy on the minced beef, she still turned her nose up, so yet again I ended up cooking it...

Did you try just lightly cooking it?? If you keep offering raw, sooner or later your girl will eat what you're offering. My [adult] dogs had no trouble eating raw from the get-go--perhaps because they always got raw chicken skin and the innards when we had chicken.

Originally Posted by abbiesdogs

...how much sardines (tinned) with kibble and how many times a week should they have fish....

I don't know how much canned sardines dogs should have because I feed raw.

I feed whole frozen 6" sardines once in a while. I certainly don't feed them weekly due to mercury.

[abbiesdogs]

Thanks Angelbunny, I did only lightly cook the meat I suppose if I cook it less and less she may not notice it's raw in a few days. I'm going to the fish market soon, what fish is best for her to eat often that doesn't have high mercury content. I think she'll eat raw fish better than meat. thanks
Abbie

[AngelBunny]

Originally Posted by abbiesdogs

...I'm going to the fish market soon, what fish is best for her to eat often that doesn't have high mercury content. I think she'll eat raw fish better than meat.

The issue with buying fish from the market is that it's cleaned and gutted. The idea with raw is to feed as close to the whole food as possible. Thus, when I feed sardines, I feed the whole fish--heads, innards, tail, scales.

As far as what fish has "acceptable" mercury levels--that's a good question. I don't know. Maybe another RDNer knows. I know I space out eating the lake trout our fishermen friends give us.

I'm very interested in hearing if your girl like raw fish better than raw meat.

Our youngest girl, up until I tried feeding her sardines, ate anything. She wrinkled back her lips the first time I put sardines in her bowl, picked up the fish, dropped it, picked it up again, wrinkling her lips, shaking her head. She half-heartedly bit at the fish, nibbled at it, then left it completely.

I tried offering her sardines several times. The last time she picked it up to remove it from her bowl, ate everything else, and left the fish on the lawn.

I went so far as to put a sardine in a fry pan and lightly fried the fish in a bit of oil. Still no go.

So, no sardines for Moxie!

Our other two dogs chow them down.

I haven't tried other raw fish, so I don't know if it's just sardines Mox doesn't like or if it's fish in general.

[abbiesdogs]

I think Lottie was a cat in a previous life:) It's funny though because Dillon loves raw but will only eat fish if there's nothing else. Thankyou for your help, will try and find out about mercury levels in other fish.
Abbie

[s1960]

Sardines are actually one of the safest fish as far as mercury is concerned.
Pacific sardines (U.S.) - Seafood Selector - Environmental Defense Fund
Here's a link that can answer some of your questions on fish. If you google sardines+mercury you get a few.
I include fish but only a couple of times a week.

[abbiesdogs]

Wow thanks for for that s1960, I'll keep that web site for future reference, I was thinking of mackeral, I' m glad I didn't it's definatly a no no. I was pleased to see that tinned tuna was ok though so she can have that now and again.
Abbie

[s1960]

Atlantic Mackerel is fine, just as safe as sardines.