Friday, October 01, 2010
Day Six For The Cats, One Week And A Day For The Dogs
Here is what happened today in the raw feeding department:
Day 6: Breakfast of canned sardines, (in spring water only) and canned herring, (also in water).
Rani, DST, Casper and Serenity chowed down.
Blondie required a bit of canned food on top.
Shadow ate canned food.
Morticia said, “NO!”
Tha hell? Morticia?!
Dinner of canned sardines, canned herring and raw skinless, boneless chicken.
Rani, DST, Casper, Morticia and Serenity all said, “HELLS YAH!” and ate greedily.
Blondie required a bit of canned food mixed in.
And in a shocking turn of events...Shadow surprised me. See, there I was, preparing the dishes for the cats. I had Shadow’s bowl on the counter top, filled with canned food as I doled out the portions of fish and chicken in to the other bowls. To fool Shadow, I took some of the herring juice and poured it over her canned food. (hahahahahahha! Now what, cat?!) I had the towels down, the cats were meowing their fool heads off at me, jumping up on the counter, being generally impatient about the whole thing. Typically I will put three bowls on the towel, feed Rani and Shadow on the dining table, (at opposite ends), feed Blondie at one end of the towel with close monitoring to keep the other cats away from her food and feed Serenity on a chair.
I put the three bowls of food down and was preparing Blondie’s bowl. I turned to put it down and what did I see? First of all, I saw Rani eating from a bowl on the towel. This? Does not happen. Rani has had incidents with some of the other cats and is leery of them all except for Serenity. She does not sit and eat, calmly, next to another cat. But there she was, doing just that. Woah!
The next thing I noticed? Shadow. Shadow was on the towel eating out of the same bowl of ONLY raw food as DST. I did a double take because sometimes I get Shadow and Morticia mixed up and have to look again. It was Shadow. Eating raw food. I secretly threw a party inside my head, (didn’t want to startle anyone away from the bowls), and left her bowl on the counter.
Serenity also wanted to eat on the towel tonight. What the hell! All these cats want to dine together tonight? This. Does. Not. Happen!
Blondie needed her bit of canned food so I put her bowl away from the others and then saw Morticia sitting on the chair where Serenity normally sits and waits. I thought she was going to be stubborn about the whole thing again but I took a bowl of raw and put it between her paws on the chair. She ate.
Shadow ate maybe 5-6 bites of raw before walking away. I took her bowl and put some raw in there, hidden, and put her and the bowl up on the table. She ate it. Suckah! I am going to win this one! Huzzah!
So, tonight, not ONLY did 6 of the 7 eat totally raw, (I count Shadow in that because she did eat totally raw in the beginning and made no complaints), they all ate together PEACEFULLY! There was peace in this house, at last! I have high hopes for this diet.
I also noticed, later tonight, Serenity going to climb on the couch. Granted, she’s still not jumping but she climbed up with much more ease than I’ve seen her do in a long time. The cats were calmer, more willing to eat the new stuff, ate together in harmony and Serenity is climbing better.
I cannot believe the difference in these cats in less than a week on the raw diet. I’m astounded and beyond happy.
Now, for the dogs, they are on day 8. I started it off a little wrong but not totally. I only had boneless/skinless chicken breast to feed them until I had a day off and could go to the store. I also had to convince my landlord that having an outdoor chest freezer was ok, I’d keep it hidden from the neighbors, (since he was sure that if they saw me with one, they would all want one), before I could really get in to this. He finally relented so on Tuesday, I did some major shopping. In the meantime, I was reading. I also joined a forum and read everything there. (This forum is not just for raw feeders, it’s for anyone with dogs...most tend to be raw feeders but they don’t give anyone a hard time for choosing to feed their dog commercial brands, either.) I learned what to get, how much to get, what to avoid, what to watch out for, how much to feed, how to make things easier on myself, etc. I was bombarded and overloaded with information when I woke up on Tuesday to begin my full on dive in to the raw feeding world.
What I had learned was that one should not feed their dog any “weight bearing bone” from a large animal, like a cow because the bones are hard and can break the dog’s teeth. I also learned to be careful with smaller chicken pieces like wings and drumsticks because not all dogs are chewers. If your dog inhales their food, they can choke. If your dog chews their food, like a civilized canine, you can feed them the smaller chicken parts but of course, never leave them while they eat, JUST in case. (There is never a 100% guarantee on anything.) Also, some meat has too much fat and should be avoided unless you want to use it as a treat, once in awhile. I learned that they should have organ meat but only about 10% of the diet, (about once a week), it should be given. Also, make sure that it’s organ and not a muscle meat. I also learned that dogs can eat eggs. Whole. In shell. Some dogs won’t eat the shell, some will but they can have it. Many enjoy it. Keep the sodium low, stay away from white fish, don’t get anything that has been “enhanced”, basically, try to feed the dog what it would normally eat in the wild.
So you can imagine that I learned a lot about what to get and what not to get and what to be careful with, etc.
Here is what I wrote for the forum after getting back on Tuesday:
This has been quite a day. The first thing I did was go to Home Depot to look for a freezer. They just so happened to have a 7cu ft freezer for a really good price so I asked for that and asked if I could have it delivered.
I went up to the Service desk and was told that soonest delivery was tomorrow. Can’t, work again tomorrow. But I did notice they rented trucks so I asked about that. No problem.
A couple of years passed by and I finally got the freezer and the truck all ready. Brought the freezer home, enlisted the help of a neighbor, set it up on the pallet, (it’s outside), threw the tarp over it, bunjeed it and plugged it in. Light is on? Yes? Off to the trash then to return the truck then to get the meat.
Got done with all that and shot off to the store. My mind was racing with what to get and I practically ran to the meat aisle. Someone wrote a post somewhere, I think it was on (the dog forum), about getting excited to do this stuff. When I read it last night I thought, “I don’t find this exciting” but when I got to the store, yah, I found myself excited. Think of all the good things I was going to get my dogs and cats! Hurray!
I screeched to a stop at the chicken and started throwing things in the cart. Chicken wings for the cats, gizzards, necks, whole fryer cut with giblets, toss, toss, toss in to the cart they all went. I must have filled the cart 1/4 of the way with just chicken and I was mentally calculating the entire time. I think I spent about $40 on chicken, in total. (Hey, I have a new freezer, I can do this!)
Then I glanced to the left and right of the chicken. Gasp! Turkey! They all talked about turkey on those forums, I can get turkey! Oh look, turkey necks, I know they mentioned those! Grab, grab, grab, drumsticks! Yes! Holy cow look at the size of these things! My dogs are going to love me forever! Toss, toss, toss in to the cart!
What else, what else...my head jerked back and forth as my eyes scanned the array of goodness.
Pig! Yes! Ribs! Perfect! Two at a time, I remember that! I grabbed a couple of packs of those.
Feet, legs.....er....am I allowed to do those? They have skin, skin was mentioned to be a good thing....but legs....and feet with hooves....smoke started to pour out of my ears…
“I’m givin’ her all she’s got, Cap’n.”
Uh...let’s move on to the beef.
OMG! There’s lamb here! Everyone talks about lamb! Grabbed the only two packs of lambs meat...who the heck knows what it was but it was meaty and had bone and it wasn’t a leg. In to the cart with you, little lamb!
My cart was half full with just meat by this time. BEEF! Here we go.
Ok, ribs, yep, two at a time, grabbed a bunch of those, necks, yep, can do that.....and then? My mind seized up.
It went completely blank.
I had no idea what I was actually able to get the dogs and I started to panic. I looked in to my cart and wondered if I got the right things.
Can dogs have chicken wings? I totally forget! I cannot remember anything! Can they have the pigs feet and leg? There’s cow tongue but is that muscle or organ...I don’t know! Can they have beef neck? What about this piece of meat here....no, wait...that’s a shoulder...well, is that considered “weight bearing” bone?
I don’t remember!!!!!!!!!
I actually stood there, in the middle of the meat aisle and started to sweat as I stared, numbly, at all the meat, so confused as the information came at me and retreated, over and over again, mocking me.
“Turkey necks, get those, do not get bones too small for your dog’s mouth, be careful with pork, stay away from white fish, they need organs but make sure it’s an organ and not muscle, lamb is good, we all serve lamb, don’t you want to give your dog lamb, too but make sure it’s not weight bearing, you’ll KILL YOUR DOG! Ahahahahahahahhahahaaa.....”
I froze in terror.
I had to walk away from the cart.
When I turned to do that, I stumbled upon the gory stuff, the organs. Liver and kidney...get those. I know they can have those. I can’t remember for the life of me how much right now but I know I’m supposed to get those.
Duck...did someone mention duck? Can I get duck? Do wolves eat ducks naturally? Where the heck do wolves live again? What are wolves? Who am I? No, duck costs too much, I don’t care, I’ve spent enough today...that can come later.
Turkey, whole turkey...that’s good....wait, no, it’s not...it says, “enhanced” with a bunch of stuff including salt. Look on the back, 4 oz has 270mg of salt...no, that’s bad, put it back, no more than 100..right? Anyone? Bueller?
Fish...let’s go look at fish. Can have salmon but be careful with Pacific Northwest salmon. Ok, this salmon is from Norway, this is good. I think. Get some. Shrimp....I have no idea...but I’ve given it to the cats in the past as a Christmas present...get some. Cod, it’s white. No. This one is white. No. Mahi....has anyone ever mentioned dolphin? Octopus? Squid? I don’t think wolves go swimming in the sea and cats sure don’t but the dry food always says, “Seafood Catch” and talks about how tasty it all is...do cats eat fish? Why do I have pets? I suck at this!
OMG this all so overwhelming!
I have plenty of meat, let’s just leave the meat department before I lose it. Ziploc bags, gotta have those…
Pushed the cart down the aisle, no cheese, no milk, no veggies, they don’t eat all that crap. I walked past the pet food aisle, smugly, I think I may have even scoffed in its general direction.
OH! Look! Eggs! Yes, I can get eggs! You just toss the whole thing to the dog. I remember that for sure.
Disinfectant wipes for the mess raw leaves behind....and it was time to go before I had a melt down.
I got to the cashier and started putting the meat on the belt. My own eyes grew wide as it continued to pile up on the belt. This is going to be expensive....oh man....
Under $200.
That was all for the meat. I have pounds and pounds and pounds and pounds and pounds of meat.
Came home, started putting meal baggies together to be stored in the freezer. Hey, this IS kinda fun. Until I got to the kidney....what a putrid smell, I canNOT believe they enjoy that.
I made bags for an eternity. Finally, all the meat was bagged for meals. I could not see my huge kitchen counter, around my sink, my stove top or half of the kitchen floor that is how much meat I got.
For 7 cats and 2 dogs I spent under $200 on meat and I do believe it will last over a month. I won’t always get salmon or shrimp so that will bring the price down at least $20 but I figured I did pretty good for my very first shopping for raw experience. As time goes on, I’ll find the deals, I’ll find the places to go, I’ll find ways to get meat cheaper but today, I got the freezer, I got the meat, I bagged it all up and we are good for awhile and one day, in the future, I’ll actually remember what I’m supposed to get.
I think I did ok.
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Now, the other thing with the dogs was that I was feeding them too much meat, not enough bone. Like I said, I dove in to this before I had all my supplies. Their....deposits....were not looking the way they were supposed to look. They are supposed to be small, dark and hard. (They will deposit less...so much less...because they use their food more efficiently.) Thus far, while it was less, it wasn’t hard nor dark. I inquired and was told for the first two weeks, because it’s a transition, to start off feeding only chicken parts, with bone, (like backs and legs and wings), and nothing else. I was told to fast them for 12 hours and then start this.
I did that.
And this afternoon? I got the results I was looking for. This is what I wrote to the forum when I discovered that:
Boo! Yah!
You guys are fabulous poo experts! I did what you said and I got the results! Huzzah!
I fasted them, (a little longer than 12 hours but not too long, they are puppies), and then last night I gave them only chicken pieces.
Shasta got the back. I think. Do you know? I think it was the back and part of a breast. It had a lot of bone.
Sakari got two chicken legs and a wing.
That was it. No matter how much they pleaded, “Please sir, may we have another?” I was not going to fall for their dark brown eyed puppy look, (and how dare they call me “sir”!). I’m immune! I told them.
Just came home for lunch and one of them completed a transaction....it was a small amount, it was dark and it was mostly hard! Joy! (Teensy bit of softness--meaning it wasn’t like a rock but it was solid!)
You know, the only time I’ve ever been happy about my dogs’ poo is when they did it so that we could continue on already with the fun stuff-play time but now I’m sitting here excited and thrilled that my dog pooped solid dark stuff! I mean, seriously? I saw it and clapped my hands with glee and danced a little jig.
I then stared at it for a couple of minutes to bask in the glory of it all.
Thank you all for the advice and thank you especially for being here so that I have someone to share with. No one in the outside world cares about my dogs’ poo like you all do. (Most of them would think I’ve done gone and lost it if I shared this. Only YOU realize how wonderful it truly is.)
You are da best!! All of ya!
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Now, I would like you to know, that’s probably the last time I’m going to talk about my dogs’ deposits to the Green Lawn Bank because...gross, who wants to read about that? But I did include it because I know I have at the least, one reader who is interested in the raw diet and that is for informational purposes. Keep the deposits looking like that, you are doing it right. If it starts to get a little soft, up the bone.
Tonight we did the same thing with the chicken.
OH, wanted to mention, not only is the stuff smaller, they don’t go nearly as much. Again, they use it more efficiently. Another thing to note, I don’t have to feed them as much. By that I mean, what I might normally think is enough food for them is probably too much and again, it’s because they use it more efficiently. Most say to feed 2-3% of their ideal adult target weight, daily. If they are looking thin or fat, adjust. But they don’t eat as much and that will also save money in the long run. And finally, they don’t drink nearly the amount of water that they used to drink because it’s coming from the raw diet. I buy bottled water, (in the gallon jugs), because the water where I live doesn’t look or taste right. I was going through a lot of gallons on the commercial food diet, refilling the water dish at least twice a day...and it’s a big dish. Since going raw? The last time I had to fill the water dish was two days ago. Same with the cats, they are drinking way less water and I’m not having to fill their bowls constantly. The cats have three water dishes, (they are typical cat dish size), and two of them, I don’t remember when the last time I filled them. One I tossed and refilled because it had cat hair in it. But I’m saving money on water, as well.
So, where I spend a bit more on the food, I save in other areas. And for the dogs, although they are puppies and puppies typically have shiny coats, these dogs have even shinier coats than before. It practically glistens in the light.
So far, so good, everything is going really well. When I first started, I was overwhelmed. Bagging all that meat took a long time, remembering what to get, what not to get, was overload. But once you get started, it’s easy. And you know what? It does not take all that much time like most people think. The most time consuming part is when I go to the store, get the meat and bring it home. I separate it in to Ziploc bags and put them in the freezer. This way, all I have to do is take out the meal of the day for the dogs and for the cats, put it in the fridge to defrost and when I come home, I empty the contents in to bowls.
I have to clean the counter and dog crates out when done and wash the bowls but you should be doing that crap anyway so that does not take up more time than when feeding kibble.
I’m loving this raw diet and it’s easy to get obsessed with it. The people on the forum are just as obsessed as I am but it’s a good obsession. It’s doing good for the pets.
