raw foods: Hi Guys, I have a 1 and a half yr old female German Shepherd and I want to switch her over to a raw diet because I want her to be as healthy as possible. My question is, EXACTLY which meats do I feed her (cuts etc), which veggies and so on. And exactly how should I prepare and portion it. Thanks in Advance!|||It sounds as though you are happily leaping into fad diets. DON'T get sucked in by finicky "diets" called BARF, RAW, or anything else "cutesy". So far as dietary ingredients are concerned, you need remember just 2 things: #1: The canid digestive system (acid strength, available enzymes, gut length) evolved to perfectly suit anything that fits into the category of "raw animal protein" - birds, eggs, fish (but NOT those needles, please), insects*, mammals, reptiles. #2: During the millennia of domestication, dogs adapted to thrive on cooked table scraps (but not baked/roasted bones, please). Almost any cooked thing fit for you to eat is fit for a dog to eat - just avoid strong doses of such as chili. (*My long-ago Ciwa had a marigold plant that she'd lie by for hours, waiting for an insect to land, so that she could snap it up. I twice had to take her to the vet for antihistamine injections after a bee got a sting into her throat before dying. Some wolves and coyotes have been found to have a stomach bulging with grasshoppers.) Avoid those massive ox-leg bones that supermarkets love to offer - because of the weight of the beast they come from, they are denser/harder than your pet's teeth. But small game can be served as is after skinning, with bones & all being digested. Unless your area has completely eliminated hydatids and sheep measles (unlikely - I think my country is the only one that can claim to have managed that), all farm-offals should be thoroughly cooked, to kill any encysted larvae. Lamb briskets are the main ingredient in what my adult dogs chomp on. The 5 GSDs that had to be put down in the last 20 years averaged life-spans of 13 years, with the oldest reaching 15陆. An Oklahoma member of my e-group is gloating - a friendly hunter has emptied his deep freeze of last year's now-freezer-burnt elk, and the bits are now in her freezers, apart from what she thawed out and fed to her thoroughly-approving dogs yesterday Cuts? That's what a skinning knife does as you carve a larger carcass into chunks suitable for thawing when you get them out of your freezer as needed. Don't buy expensive supermarket-butchery cuts - find an abattoir and bring home whole dressed carcasses or whatever is currently cheapest - such as throats, pestle-bases, shark cutlets, tripe. 鈥?Add http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/The_G鈥?/a> to your browser's Bookmarks or Favorites so that you can easily look up such as rescue groups, feeding, vaccinations, worming, clubs, weights, teething, neutering, disorders, genetics. 鈥?To ask about GSDs, join some of the 400+ YahooGroups dedicated to various aspects of living with them. Each group's Home page tells you which aspects they like to discuss, and how active they are. Unlike YA, they are set up so that you can have an ongoing discussion with follow-up questions for clarification. Most allow you to include photos in your messages. Les P, owner of GSD_Friendly: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/GSD_F鈥?/a> "In GSDs" as of 1967|||Thanks for the points, voters. It's a pity that [DLUD] (DeLUdeD?) wasn't interested enough to choose a Best Answer himself, eh! Les P Report Abuse |||I use the raw food diet for both of my dogs and they love it. I feed my dogs mostly chicken quarters they get one each night. Also i will feed them some canned salmon this helps get their coat shinny. also they get things like chicken hearts and beef hearts. they can also have things like liver(uncooked), kidneys, etc. hope that helps!! Courtney|||The answer is, ANY meat cut is good. Start with chicken (quarters, ideally) for a few weeks until he's settled (firm consistent stools). Then move to red meats (pork, beef, etc.) After he's settled on that, start to introduce liver and kidney in small amounts. For a more in depth answer, join this group: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfe鈥?/a> 80% muscle meat, 10% bones, and 5% liver, 5% other organ. Feed 2-3% of ideal weight daily. Adjust according to individual needs. Dogs are carnivores, why would they need veggies????|||No veggies 80% muscle meat 10%bone 5%liver 5%other secreting organ Anything. My critters get a diet mostly of venison, chicken, and beef. But sometimes I'll get pork, bison, turkey, etc for them. I started out feeding 2%, cut down to 1.5% of my dogs ideal weight|||No veggies, meat, bones, and organs.