Mary, cooks for all of ours and the strays that show up and never leave. She bakes chicken thighs then debones them and puts them in the food processor with peas and carrots. We put a scoop over the dogs blue buffalo and the cats love it with some dry food

One of our dogs I swear is a vegetarian. She loves any fruit or vegie except celery

I very intentionally never fed my cats table food (one lived 20 years and the other 13 years) or food that resembled table food.

They were annoying enough in the recliner hounding me for cheese dust (e.g. Doritos). Once older, they waited somewhat patiently to clean the cheese dust off my fingers. When young, they tried to get in the bag or even chew through the bottom of the bag.

The only exception is the cat that lived to be 20 developed advanced stage kidney disease and stopping eating would be deadly so I threw out that rule to keep her eating. Once she quit eating the prescription kidney food, I switched her to Gerber 2nd foods to keep her going another couple months and surprisingly she liked ham which was even lower salt than chicken.

We feed our dogs high grade dry food from the local co-op,and anything that hits their bowl. And eggs from the chicken coop

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:
So you just feed the meat to them raw?

Well, yes ... when say feed a raw meat diet, it means that the meat is "raw", like in not cooked ... "raw".

The last dog we had spent her last 2 years on a 100% raw meat diet. She absolutely loved it, her energy was up, her shedding was lessened, and overall fur quality seemed much nicer.

And it was much cheaper than even buying the Costco kibble.

What we did was make friends with the assistant manager of the meat counter at a Sprouts. Anything from their department that went past date they’d toss in large boxes in their freezer and they’d let me know when a box was full and I’d go get it. Sometimes it was free, sometimes it was $10. It always had a huge assortment but often a good amount of chicken pieces with bones, various ground meats, and usually a few steaks and few pieces of seafood. I’d say it was at least 25-30lbs per box.

I’d just package it up in ziplocks… 1 bag per meal, and typically each meal contained a mixture of items. Into the freezer it went. Her favorite was a bone in chicken leg or quarter.

I got the idea to go this way when we were out fishing one day and she decided she was hungry and started eating trout in my stringer as I was fishing.

Besides her being so very happy there was one more major advantage… her excrement literally stopped stinking much and it basically disintegrated with a few days. We never really had to pick it up once she was on that diet. It would very quickly turn whitish, dry up, and then just kinda crumble away into the ground without a stench.

Canned and dry cat food for our 5 month old kitten.

My cat generally gets a small share of chicken, ham or beef when I am eating. But I dont buy any meat just for him. Wait... Maybe I do!

The thread title is a double entendre.

I look at it the other way.

If its good enough for my dog, its good enough for me.

Add a couple eggs, its a meal fit for a king.

I don't know of anything wrong with at least supplementing a pet's diet with, say, a boiled chicken.

I'm not worried about worms for several reasons. 1) Ahyoka is and parasite control medicine, what I use controls more than heart worms. I feed her raw pumpkin seeds and diatomaceous earth, both are natural dewormers.

If feeding raw, you have to make sure that you are providing complete and balanced meal. Midwest Legacy Beef BLT+bone is a complete and balanced meal, at 1-3% heart, 10% unwashed fatty tripe, 3% liver, 6% ground bone, 78-80% beef.

As I said before I also feed chicken Paws, with chicken wings every so often. Ahyoka gets whole raw eggs 3 or 4 times a week, with sardines in water 2 to 3 times a week. I also give her a little of organic coconut oil, and extra virgin olive oil a couple times a week.

I also will add others raw meats and such here and there. I try to add different proteins. A place that I use from time to time is My Pet Carnivore, they have beaver, rabbit, well all kinds of stuff.

I feed Ahyoka 8oz of raw a day, 4oz in the morning, and 4oz in the evening. Sometimes when pressed for time in the morning I just give her The Honest Kitchen dehydrated food, and some of the homemade cooked food and give her 8oz of raw in the evening.

After a lot of reading and research, I came to the conclusion that raw was where I wanted to be. I can't afford to feed raw exclusively, so I picked a very high quality dehydrated food, and a homemade cooked to round things up, so she gets a 3rd of each. 1/4 cup of homemade cooked, The Honest Kitchen dehydrated, and 4oz of raw (for her size Ahyoka should get 1 1/2 pounds of raw per day). Ahyoka also gets a serving of Goats Milk, either raw Goats Milk or The Honest Kitchen dehydrated Goats Milk.

I have learned a lot from Paws of Pray on YouTube. Here is a link to one of her videos. She is very informative!

https://youtu.be/ukZmX7keGfw.

As for the homemade cooked food. It was developed by a Vet, it's a balanced meal. I change things up here and there, this makes two 1 gallon riplock bags worth, I freeze one and use the other. It's about a months worth for the amount I feed Ahyoka.

1 large sweet potato (2 small)
2 large carrots
2 ribs celery
2 beets (I save all the trimmings, leaves and stems, you'll see at the end)
A half bunch of Kale (or a whole bunch if you don't use spinach) destemed
A half bunch of spinach.
A bunch of parsley
1) 1.25lbs of chicken liver
1) 1.25lbs of chicken hearts and gizzard
1) 1lbs ground beef
1) 1lbs ground chicken and/or turkey
1) 1lbs ground pork
Optional
1) 1lbs ground lamb,or bison
1) beef liver.
Also I will have add fresh green beans, and the like. All are cut up/chopped.
2/3 cup brown rice
3/4 cup oats
1/2 cup quinoa
1/4 cup ground flaxseed.
2 cups of water, in Instant Pot and cook for 30 minutes. 10 minutes natural release and the a quick release after.
Then a can of mackerel, a can of salmon 3 whole eggs, I Crack them and mix it into the mix. A can of pumpkin puree.
A couple on tablespoon of coconut oil, a spoon of extra virgin olive oil. Let cool and bag up.

With the trimmings, I put in the blinder with some bone broth and turn into a paste. I add this raw to her food, about a teaspoon.

I try to use organic, I look for sales and this usually cost my $30.00 - $40.00, but sometimes cheaper.

I just got some beef liver and a tongue and some trim from a coworker that jut got a side of beef.

Ahyoka has a beautiful shiny coat, beautiful bright eyes, she does not smell, itch, good poops, lots of energy, white teeth, she doesn't shed a lot (she's an Australian Shepherd). Her Vet didn't think much of the raw/homemade cooked diet at first, but she's impressed on how beautiful she is and her excellent health.

With the rehydrate The Honest Kitchen, raw food and homemade cooked, with the Goats Milk, Ahyoka drinks very little water, because she's not getting dehydrated from the dry kibble.

I usually pour out her water bowl every two days, clean it and add fresh filtered water.

ARman

I used to feed my pups beef stew meat. It changed their behavior. They became calmer.

I wanted to feed them only meat. And liver as a point. It's what wolfs eat. I saw their behavior when I gave them meat. I think Dog Food is processed garbage. They don't want that.

I couldn't afford it full time back then, but I gave them as much as I could and they didn't want the dog food. Even the good Kirkland one.

My next dog my plan is to only feed them meat. It's basically all I eat too. Liver is dirt cheap at the store, and the alpha wolf eats the liver first. Super high in Choline, makes the brain happy.

The dogs would almost smile at me like a buddha when I gave em meat. And they would watch me without blinking and would sit still. Almost eerie. Which was a high contrast of a almost hyperactive or restless disposition as the standard.

Good information, thanks. I see many of you are much more serious about feeding real and raw meat to your pets than I just started doing.
I will keep trying to add a sunny side up egg more often and maybe they'll learn to like them.

Careful with the egg yolks. 1-2 a week is awesome for them, if they get too much it jacks up something in them and they will scream in pain. I think it was a pancreas type situation from what I recall back then. My cousin feeds his labs the whole egg, shell and all and they destroy it. Pretty funny.

Meat is the way to go. I'd cook it most of the time, never know with raw, unless it's higher quality or a deer you shot, etc.

Bones too, they love that crap. All the stuff you don't want or trim off they go ape shit over it.

I think dogs pretty much lived on table and kitchen scraps, until WWII or so…

We never feed them anything but quality dry dog food. No scraps, no canned.
They love it and our dogs have lived long and healthy lives.

Purina for sensitive stomachs and topped off with some canned dog food and a slice of fresh dog roll.

My dog is around 10-12 and has stomach issues when fed table scraps.

He sits quietly and stares at us when eating.

He also gets a stick with three pieces of dried protein as a treat after dinner.

He goes crazy for his nightly stick.

Feed your dogs anything you like, it is no skin off my nose.

But why the sanctimony about "no table scraps?" What is wrong with giving them a leftover piece of chicken or uneaten bit of a pork chop? Dogs (and cats) like meat, and it is what they eat. So what that you salted and peppered it and broiled it? I'm not saying that you should feed them on birthday cake, but I can see nothing wrong with appropriate, meaty table scraps.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jhe888,

Right?
My pups always got to have first dibs on the dirty plates and pans along with scraps and leftovers. (as long as it was good for them like meat or veggies) It's a pre-wash cycle for my dishwasher. haha
My issue with "quality" dry or wet store bought food is most is the nutritional equivalent of me eating Doritos for every meal.
I've researched a lot and found a good brand that makes quality stuff but then they quietly sell to Purina or another off shore brand that keep the name and packaging but suddenly I'm getting pet food from China or other god awful place of low quality.
Better to know what I'm getting.

Open Farms Lamb and cook her pork patties which we cut up and mix with her dry food.