Sambuca Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 I was at the store the other day and they had whole roasting chickens for $0.89 a pound. I bought 2. 1 for me, 1 for Bu. I feed partial raw when I have it around. So far I've really only fed ground beef so I want to make sure I'm doing everything right. I've been cutting off and throwing out the majority of the skin. Should I feed it to him? I thought I read it was too fatty and could cause problems. The bones are OK to feed, right? He doesn't seem to know how to handle bigger than bite size pieces and by that, I mean even 2 bite pieces seem too big for him. And the giblets . Some he enjoys, and some he won't touch. He picked up 1 piece, took a bite and spit it out while making gagging noises . I didn't know dogs could gag like that. Is this normal? It never got anywhere near his throat, so he wasn't even close to choking. I really think he just thought it was absolutely disgusting. He looked at me like I was trying to kill him. Am I doing things right or should I change something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mcsheltie Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Some dogs have no idea that a raw chicken is food. It has less smell than kibble (kibble is sprayed with liver digest or something similar to make it appealing) And the texture is vastly different. For dogs like this, lightly sauteing it in butter (make sure the interior stays cool) and sprinkling with Parmesan cheese usually gets them eating. Some dogs will eat it frozen at first, when they won't touch it thawed. You were correct in taking off the skin. Once he gets used to eating raw you can leave it on. But it does contain a lot of fat and can cause diarrhea at first. Bones are good! You might want to start with some boneless breast meat. Once he figures out it is food, you'll be good to go. If you intend to feed chicken often, make sure it is not "enhanced". Chicken is injected with sodium solution to make it plump up. Take a look at the nutrient info. There shouldn't be be over 100 mg of sodium. One chicken I bought had 1200 mg of sodium per 4 oz! I didn't want to eat that myself. If there are no contents on the package, ask the butcher. The info will be on the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sambuca Posted January 28, 2011 Author Share Posted January 28, 2011 He has no problem eating bite sized pieces of the raw chicken from my hand and a bit from the bowl, so I guess I'll just keep giving it to him like that until he gets a bit more into and slowly up the size of the pieces. I'll try just sprinkling some parm on it to see if that helps. I barely cook for me, so I'd prefer not to cook for him. The chicken falls right off the bone, so I've just been pulling stuff off since he's not eating big chunks. Thank you. I can get ground beef from a client for $1.00 a pound so I usually just stick with that and tripe, but since I saw this on sale, I figured why not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ola Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 I've never removed skin from chicken, even for their very first raw meals, so I wouldn't do it unless you see your dog has issues with it. Certainly ground beef is not fat free so his digestive tract is used to having some fat. The big globs of fat that sometimes hang around the chicken's bum I do cut off but there's no need to remove the actual skin. The disgust is probably with liver, which is just one of the items in the giblet bag (it's the squishy one). Try them one by one to see. The firmer ones will be the heart and the gizzards - those are normally well received. Liver took some convincing for both of my dogs but after initially searing it they now eat it first. You can also give it mostly frozen, that helps with the texture of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sambuca Posted January 28, 2011 Author Share Posted January 28, 2011 My boy has been known for having a sensitive belly so I try to avoid any more upset than I need to, but I'll work some skin in and see how he does. I actually think it was the heart that disgusted him. He also wasn't a fan of the liver, but my cat ate it before I could try to convince Bu to eat it. I'll probably just cut it into smaller pieces and let the cat have it (the cutting it up is so I can give him little bits until he's used to it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Swifthounds Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 You can always remove the skin, cut it into small pieces to save and add it back into the diet a bit at a time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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