I've been delaying this for YEARS. We had a foster that was on a terrible and joke of a "raw" diet a couple of years ago and I had a horrible time with it. I had just been researching RAW at the time and had planned on switching my then two dogs over but changed my mind.
Basically, they had been feeding him Chicken Quarters. That's it. Nothing else at all. And he wouldn't eat them whole. We had to chop them. With no real good way of doing so, it became an extremely large chore. He was a 100lb very young and active GSD. We tried adding other meats and he refused them. Was too used to his yummy chicken. I'd spend half my day every Sunday with a huge knife and a huge cutting board whacking away at those chicken quarters. Cutting bone, I decided, was not fun. I vowed then to never feed my dogs a raw diet.
However, I'd never actually given up wanting to do it properly with my crew. I now have four dogs. Two female Collies(ages 5 and 2), a male Collie(8 months) and a female GSD(4) that I would be switching.
The thing is, I'm still very nervous about processing it. Do I have to cut up bones again? I'm not an overly strong person and my hubby is a truck driver who is rarely home. I simply do not want to spend hours chopping meat for four large dogs.
However, I want to try them on it. Always have. I have read and read and read. What I am looking for, I suppose is advice on how to prepare it. Give me a rough example of what you feed in a week to your dogs, please. And, how you feed it.
I want to do this. I don't want one bad experience to ruin it for me, but I can't seem to get past that. I don't mind spending a while once a week preparing a weeks worth of food. No worries there. It's the chopping. Even my hubby had a hard time with it.
I've also read about doing it on and off. As in kibble four days and raw the other three. Is that a good way for both the dogs and I to transition?
Any advice is appreciated. We're ready to give this a shot.
Basically, they had been feeding him Chicken Quarters. That's it. Nothing else at all. And he wouldn't eat them whole. We had to chop them. With no real good way of doing so, it became an extremely large chore. He was a 100lb very young and active GSD. We tried adding other meats and he refused them. Was too used to his yummy chicken. I'd spend half my day every Sunday with a huge knife and a huge cutting board whacking away at those chicken quarters. Cutting bone, I decided, was not fun. I vowed then to never feed my dogs a raw diet.
However, I'd never actually given up wanting to do it properly with my crew. I now have four dogs. Two female Collies(ages 5 and 2), a male Collie(8 months) and a female GSD(4) that I would be switching.
The thing is, I'm still very nervous about processing it. Do I have to cut up bones again? I'm not an overly strong person and my hubby is a truck driver who is rarely home. I simply do not want to spend hours chopping meat for four large dogs.
However, I want to try them on it. Always have. I have read and read and read. What I am looking for, I suppose is advice on how to prepare it. Give me a rough example of what you feed in a week to your dogs, please. And, how you feed it.
I want to do this. I don't want one bad experience to ruin it for me, but I can't seem to get past that. I don't mind spending a while once a week preparing a weeks worth of food. No worries there. It's the chopping. Even my hubby had a hard time with it.
I've also read about doing it on and off. As in kibble four days and raw the other three. Is that a good way for both the dogs and I to transition?
Any advice is appreciated. We're ready to give this a shot.