Prepackaged Raw

[mafiaprincess]

What are your thoughts on it for lazy folk?

I was looking at healthypaws (I think the website bites hard though) www.tryhealthypaws.com global locally carries it..

But from their website, they take what was supposed to be convenience (being in patties) and turn it into a production.. I was wondering what anyone's thoughts were on prepackaged patties..

I had to cook for Cider tonight.. and likely will be for a few days, and it turned the kitchen into an affair trying to make her dinner and the family's dinner..

One thing to add in some extras to raw, but from their description I might dread mealtime from here on out.. Bravo and Nature's variety sell premade raw too, but to find someone who sells it.. ehhhh..

[Prin]

DVP came out with frozen raw already too. It's not widely available yet though. I think it's a good idea if it doesn't break the bank.

Here: http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/RAW.html

[technodoll]

good lord, they do make it sound so complicated, LOL!

i don't agree with so much veggies though... the premise behind the BARF diet is that there are so many bones (necks, backs, etc) and not enough meat, that dogs get constipated, so you need all these veggies to get things moving again Nature doesn't work like that! wolves actually shake out the stomach contents of the large ungulates they catch (who wants to eat a stomachful of acid and bile?!) before eating the stomach itself, so that theory flies out the door...

If you can find Urban Carnivore frozen patties (or any other similar) which is pure ground meat & bones (chicken, lamb, beef, venison, turkey, etc), you can simply thaw & serve that for dinner, adding the occasional veggie if your dog likes it, the occasional yogurt, and 10% of the diet should include organ meats too, and add as much muscle meat and whole eggs as you want to the meals. It's really simple once you've done it for a few days

if Healthy Paws patties are just meat & bones (i can't find the ingredients) then by all means follow the above

[mafiaprincess]

I looked at some of them (in store) I'd never heard of them.. I know someone who used to feed bravo and went to NV.

I was looking at meat types, but wasn't actually reading the ingredients lists, since we have 3 small bags of kibble to 'tide us over' till we come up with a real solution..

But she's mighty interested in the NV freeze dried sitting downstairs.. If she could get it open I think she would have sampled it already..

See.. you make it sound far simpler. Except any organ meats would have to be in a patty already, because she won't touch them uncooked.. she may not notice if they are already ground up..

But the premise of a patty, some extras but not dependant on add ons and some meaty bones sounds far easier..

We aren't there *yet* but I'm looking more into it.. Expect more Qs

[technodoll]

Except any organ meats would have to be in a patty already, because she won't touch them uncooked

no worries... neither of mine will get within 10 feet of raw liver or kidneys, LOL! but once baked it becomes Food of the Gods oh and hearts (beef, chicken, pork...) is actually a muscle meat and not an organ meat, cheap to feed and easy to find, very rich meat though

even if you feed some cooked and some raw, it's still better than no raw at all, you know? i'm not a believer of absolutes...

good luck with your new stash! it all sounds great! (btw i really liked the NV venison formula before they changed it to have less meat and more grains, grrr but overall a nice choice). let us know how your girl likes it all!

[mafiaprincess]

That makes you doggie homemaker Mommy :love:

I found it a pain in the bum to be cooking ground beef for a short while while making dinner. Not sure I'm homemakery enough to be baking organs, lol.

I'm actually not sure how people homecook for their dog nightly.. I have new respect for the time it takes..

I tried chicken hearts, liver and kidneys and raw it was a no no.. I ended up microwaving them (omg what a mess) and she wanted them, but couldn't figure out how to eat them... I actually had to make them more bite sized.. She'd carry too nig a piece from room to room while crying...

I'm sending Cider over to watch doggies eat raw like pros

Isn't an immediate worry, but I've gotten to thinking about a 'total' food change over..

[technodoll]

I tried chicken hearts, liver and kidneys and raw it was a no no.. I ended up microwaving them (omg what a mess)

oh my gaaaaaaaaaaawd!!! i tried that ONCE with chicken hearts and i no idea they would explode like that! what a MESS... bang! pop! kapow!

however i did learn a neat trick to clean a microwave after that incident... just take a microwave-safe bowl and fill it with water (you can add a few drops of lemon juice if you like), microwave on high for about 2 minutes to get a nice boil.... take the bowl out and the inside of the microwave will be covered in steam droplets, all stuck-on cooked food ready to be gently wiped off with paper towels, greasy stuff included. It's a breeze! No scrubbing, no chemical products, no sweat

[muckypup]

I was looking at the Healthy Paws frozen patties yesterday when I went to get dog food. It was about $24 for a pack of 24 patties...for an 80lb dog you feed 8 patties a day (which seemed like a lot tho - they were the size of big hamburger patties)... so that would be for me $16/day to feed my dogs, that's too much...almost $500 a month.
If I had a small dog I would feed it in a second.

[technodoll]

muckypup that is insane! and outrageous

how much do the patties weigh, do you know? an 80 lbs dog should eat, on average, about 1.6 lbs of raw food per day (assuming a 2% body weight intake). by making your own, you'd be paying MAX $2/day to feed your dog (many do it for $1/day)... so $60 per month or $30 if you can find the cheap deals.

[mafiaprincess]

If they are like other people's patties.. they are telling you to over feed double..

But, they could be packaging them smaller..

With NV raw patties Cider would eat just under one a day.. therefore, 24 bucks for 24 would be fine when I look at what I pay for kibble..

Looking at their packaging, it was like Cider should eat 2 and a bit a day..

[technodoll]

neither of my dogs will eat pre-packaged raw diets - which is a blessing because i could never afford it! as i type, maika is busy gnawing and scraping away at a chunk of bone-in goat meat, she's having a great time... totally neglecting her nylabone on the floor next to her. all things being equal, if my dog wants to chew on something, i'd rather it be totally digestible... so yeah i feed some home-made ground stuff BUT i do also give them difficult, edible bones to chew on.

[SchnauzerGirl]

I really like Urban Carnivore because it is just meat that is ground up with all the goodies! I still make Veggies for Schultz - with a food processor it is super easy to grind up. Before I switched to raw I was cooking meat for him and yep, it was a lot of work. I love feeding raw! So easy to unthaw in the fridge the night before and ta-dah, dinner is served.

I bought some raw stuff from the vets (venison, goat and bison) but I don't really like it, since it isn't bone ground in, just organ meats. Schultz threw up bile the other morning after eating the venison the night before... do you think it could be because it might be too rich?

I was also told by my distributor that you have to be careful about the amount of bone that is ground in the pre-made patties. Too much bone isn't good. For the life of me, I cannot remember what she told me to aviod. I can email her and ask if you are interested (plus it would be good to have a list now that I have moved).