Tags
chicken, chicken feet, congee, dehydrated dog food, dog food, green tripe, honest kitchen, raw chicken, raw diet, raw fish, raw meaty bones, raw turkey
Because I document mundane things obsessively, I decided to track what the Bows ate for dinner every night for about a month. Full records can be found in this Flickr set.
Dinner at the House of Two Bows, mosaic built with Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker
Breakfast is not pictured because it’s pretty much always the same — fish-based kibble, with a side of about a tablespoon of plain yogurt. Kibble amounts are adjusted in anticipation of how much dinner meat each dog is to eat.
Observations and notes from this exercise:
- Bowdu has mastered “Sit to say please.” Or in his case, it’s more like PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE OH PUH-LEEEEZ!
- Bowpi, on the other hand, is very fidgety, and even moreso when I’m taking my time photographing her food. I wonder if someone taught her to walk on her hind legs at some point, because that’s her natural inclination when pushed to impatience. Or maybe it’s a breed thing.
- Honest Kitchen products made an appearance at virtually every dinner. We regularly feed their complete meals (HK Embark, a grain-free turkey recipe, is their main course at the moment), their pre-mix HK Preference, or one of their supplements, which sprinkles easily onto meat if not mixed into wet food. I had never planned on such an expensive brand becoming a regular part of their diet, but given the way we mix in fresh proteins and veggies, each box goes a long way!
- I do not count calories or calculate nutrients, in part because I rely on conveniently pre-formulated, commercial supplements to do the numbers for me. Except I don’t follow the instructions. For example, it’s supposed to be one part HK Preference (dry) to one part meat, but if I did that, I’d be overfeeding them — so I usually cut down on the pre-mix. I’d eventually like to prepare and freeze my own veggie mixtures, but currently, I spend as much time creating perfectly balanced meals for them as I do for myself, which is to say… not a whole lot. I know what’s good for me and what I like to eat; my feeding philosophy for both humans and pets is built from the intersection of these two primary categories.
- We do not regularly feed red or dark meats, and this may be a problem. The green tripe/trachea/gullet mix, which only Bowdu accepts, and cut up pig’s heart are about the only proteins from four-legged animals that are regularly consumed here. So even though Bowdu’s latest blood test showed that he’s in great shape with a steady diet of poultry and fish, and I’m expecting the same for Bowpi, I want to think about how to fill in this part.
- The Bows are always very happy at mealtime!
very cool mosaic!
is there a reason you don’t feed red meats? bowdu allergies?
because we found that our dogs really like eating goat chunks, which is surprisingly the cheapest chunked red meat I can find at our farmer’s market! I’ve never seen a recall for goat meat, and its pretty lean. Kitsu tries to roll on it, but he ends up eating it pretty fast.
I always thought red meat kept their coat and skin healthy, so we still try to incorporate it.
Their skin and coat look and feel great… but I’ve read that beef and red meats are more nutrient dense, and really need to be incorporated to round out a full raw diet. There’s a danger of trending towards zinc, iron, copper, B vitamin deficiencies if you feed only poultry, but I’m hoping that some of this is mediated by my use of commercial supplements.
In general, we don’t feed ungulates because a) neither dog seemed to tolerate beef very well, especially when Bowdu was at the worst of his allergies. But since he’s better now, and the occasional bully stick or green tripe doesn’t set him off, I might try to experiment… I know a place where I can get good looking beef meat and organ grinds in small portions, so that’s a start.
b) Bowpi flat out rejects ungulates! And just about any raw meat on four legs! It’s kind of interesting… she just knows, somehow, and she’ll go so far as to eat all around whatever the offending meat is, but she won’t touch it.
c) Lamb is okay, but it makes Bowdu really gassy, and it is expensive. It won’t break the bank to feed it occasionally, though. It’s almost never on sale.
d) Pork is economical, and so I am more willing to purchase pork. But RJ and I have increasing qualms about how factory farmed pigs are kept. I mean, there are ethical concerns with ALL factory farmed meat, and it seems truly arbitrary to single out pig farming… I know, I know. I can actually taste a significant difference with pork though, and so even my own pork consumption has been minimized as I think about how to work with this and learn more about industrial meat packing. Until then, Bowdu gets some raw pork after freezing, and Bowpi rejects most of it (hearts seem okay if they’re chopped up).
I’ll keep an eye out for goat. I hadn’t given much thought to it because it seemed like quite bony fare, from the one place that I knew of with goat readily in stock. But yes, it *does* seem cheaper than lamb, and could be something to seriously consider.
This is my kind of geekery. We have a sample of HK Embark that I desperately need to try. It would be so very handy for travel, and I really need a non-refrigerated food for hurricane season. It’s safe from an allergy standpoint, but Silas is also a weird, fussy eater.
I wonder about the tripe. Is it a mix that you’re getting locally, frozen or some such? Silas patently refused the frozen mix that *we* could get locally, but he adores Tripett’s canned tripe.
I hope Silas likes it! Both my guys take pretty readily to wet, mushy foods, and I really like the company.
The tripe we get is frozen in chubs and local — greentripe.com. But I believe they also have broader distribution. I thaw and slightly warm up the stinky stuff (letting a pre-bagged portion sit in hot water for a bit) before serving. Bowdu loves it. Warm, frozen, in gulpable chunks or thoroughly mixed into her food… it doesn’t seem to make a difference with Bowpi, who does NOT like it. Never tried it canned, though.
That’s an awesome mosaic! It really shows the variety and awesomeness of their diet. I think your dogs probably eat better than most people do!
Love love love this! We also feed HK Preference and it’s been working out really well for Shio and I’m happy that there’s a viable commercial product out there that we can trust.
How do they do with the raw eggs? Whenever we gave it to Shio in the past, we’d always have to wake up at 4am to run outside bc it always gave him an upset tummy.
Poor Shio. =(
The Bows have no problem with eggs. Sometimes I’ll soft or hard-boil the eggs and stick ‘em in the fridge (I like to have a couple on hand for my own salads). Yes, you lose some nutrients, but they’re still yummy.
Yummy variety of items.
Maybe try give Shio smaller portion of eggs? it’s rich yummy stuff, but some dogs do have issues with certain things so maybe eggs aren’t for your dog?
Does cooked egg have same effect?
Saya does fine with eggs cooked or raw. Bella too she likes both.
I’ve gotten a 10lb thing of honest kitchen love formula both dogs love it.
I usually give it for Saya as a snack or small meal mixed with either liver, egg, chicken hearts, caned fish, or ground meat.
I see you feed Pacific saury(mackerel pike) Saya and loves those fish they come with organs which is nice.
I’ve cooked it to try it taste ok, but I gave the organs to Saya she gladly ate that while I ate the meat. lol
I don’t feed much chicken need get some maybe there’ll be a deal on chicken at the farmer’s market..
Saya’s white meat is mostly smelt, saury, mackerel, ground turkey and chicken feet. she also gets whole rabbit and used get whole quail.
I need get more quail once room in the freezer fills up. lol
I think what your feeding is good nice variety and your dogs look pretty healthy.
I never realized the Pacific Saury of which you speak is the same thing as Pike Mackerel! LOL.
I eat a good amount of fish (just signed up for a seafood CSA, even!), but don’t like the little ones that the dogs seem to enjoy. The smaller and skinnier it is, the fishier it seems to be… no sardines or mackerel or anchovies for me, but those make the dogs very happy.
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