Keep the diet tips questions coming! I liked this one:
Question: Does anyone know a good way to transition into this? I also am a bit worried about serving him raw chicken due to salmonella. Can dogs get it? Any recipes that you suggest would be great too. Thank you in advance.
Answer: The recipe (*not to be followed daily though it can be, the goal is to balance over 1 - 2 weeks) is really just 80% meat (half red meat is nutritionally a good goal), 10% bone (covered by meat), 5% liver, and 5% other organs (any mix)
Salmonella probably has a better chance being found in your cereal, tomatoes or kibble than causing harm in your dog from eating raw chicken!
Definately join yahoo groups "rawfeeding" and "RawChat" for much more help and discussion.
Here is a site with a simple menu plan if you’d like an example:
http://www.rawessentials.co.nz/content/page61/Large+Dog.html
And here’s a kind of fun recipe site;)
http://www.rawfeddogs.net/Recipe/List
Dogs can get salmonella from anything, including and most often commercial kibble, but dogs have a totally different digestive structure and therefore VERY rarely would they succomb to salmonella. Dogs are naturally scavengers and will gleefully eat soil, faeces, buried bones and decaying carcasses given half a chance, with no problem providing they are normal and healthy.
I am giving you some good links on raw feeding information. Join an email list, get a book or two, research and happy hunting !
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Be prepared for lots of negative comments from those that have not researched natural feeding and are yet misinformed.
Comment by Jayse à Think before you breed — April 28, 2010 @ 12:40 pm
http://www.barfworld.com/ has pretty much everything you need to know.
salmonella is totally not a concern: it’s not something they get from meat left lying around. salmonella is found on meat or eggs from sick birds - a bird infected with salmonella is *sick* and looks sick. otherwise, we’d be dropping like flies from it.
food poisoning in dogs is very rare - their stomach acid is much more powerful than ours. human stomach acid has a pH of about 5 while dog’s stomach acid is more like a pH of 1 or 2 - when you figure human stomach acid can damage steel…!
bones are also not a concern as long as they’re raw - dog’s more likely to choke on kibble, statistically speaking. i’ve fed three dogs raw food diet and not one episode of choking - chicken bones, deer, moose, beef, goat, pork, beaver, you name it. no problem.
Comment by threenorns — April 28, 2010 @ 12:54 pm
Ingredients
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 pounds chicken legs and thighs
* 1 (26 ounce) jar Rag u® Chunky Pasta Sauce
Directions
1. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat and brown chicken. Stir in pasta sauce. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer covered 45 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.
Comment by Manal S — April 28, 2010 @ 1:20 pm
Ingredients
* 4 fully-cooked breaded chicken cutlets*
* 1 (24 ounce) jar Bertolli® Vidalia Onion with Roasted Garlic Sauce
* 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (optional)
* 8 ounces pasta, cooked and drained
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Arrange chicken in 9×13 inch baking dish. Pour sauce over chicken, then sprinkle with cheese. Bake 15 minutes or until heated through. Serve over hot bow ties.
Footnotes
*Find prepared cooked chicken cutlets or patties in your grocers deli case or frozen foods aisle.
Comment by Manal K — April 28, 2010 @ 2:12 pm